In Silico Characterization of Toxin-Antitoxin Systems in Campylobacter Isolates Recovered from Food Sources and Sporadic Human Illness

Campylobacter spp. represents the most common cause of gastroenteritis worldwide with the potential to cause serious sequelae. The ability of Campylobacter to survive stressful environmental conditions has been directly linked with food-borne illness. Toxin-antitoxin (TA) modules play an important role as defense systems against antimicrobial agents and are considered an invaluable strategy harnessed by bacterial pathogens to survive in stressful environments. Although TA modules have been extensively studied in model organisms such as Escherichia coli K12, the TA landscape in Campylobacter remains largely unexplored. Therefore, in this study, a comprehensive in silico screen of 111 Campylobacter (90 C.jejuni and 21 C.coli) isolates recovered from different food and clinical sources was performed. We identified 10 type II TA systems belonging to four TA families predicted in Campylobacter genomes. Furthermore, there was a significant association between the clonal population structure and distribution of TA modules; more specifically, most (12/13) of the Campylobacter isolates belonging to ST-21 isolates possess HicB-HicA TA modules. Finally, we observed a high degree of shared synteny among isolates bearing certain TA systems or even coexisting pairs of TA systems. Collectively, these findings provide useful insights about the distribution of TA modules in a heterogeneous pool of Campylobacter isolates from different sources, thus developing a better understanding regarding the mechanisms by which these pathogens survive stressful environmental conditions, which will further aid in the future designing of more targeted antimicrobials.

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Proteome-Wide Mapping and Reverse Vaccinology Approaches to Design a Multi-Epitope Vaccine against Clostridium perfringens

Vaccines ◽

10.3390/vaccines9101079 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (10) ◽

pp. 1079

Author(s):

Fahad M. Aldakheel ◽

Amna Abrar ◽

Samman Munir ◽

Sehar Aslam ◽

Khaled S. Allemailem ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Molecular Docking ◽

In Silico ◽

Epitope Vaccine ◽

Ifn Gamma ◽

Cellular Immune Responses ◽

Medical Control ◽

Food Borne ◽

Food Borne Illness ◽

Cellular Immune ◽

The Brain

C. perfringens is a highly versatile bacteria of livestock and humans, causing enteritis (a common food-borne illness in humans), enterotoxaemia (in which toxins are formed in the intestine which damage and destroy organs, i.e., the brain), and gangrene (wound infection). There is no particular cure for the toxins of C. perfringens. Supportive care (medical control of pain, intravenous fluids) is the standard treatment. Therefore, a multiple-epitope vaccine (MEV) should be designed to battle against C. perfringens infection. Furthermore, the main objective of this in silico investigation is to design an MEV that targets C. perfringens. For this purpose, we selected the top three proteins that were highly antigenic using immuno-informatics approaches, including molecular docking. B-cells, IFN-gamma, and T cells for target proteins were predicted and the most conserved epitopes were selected for further investigation. For the development of the final MEV, epitopes of LBL5, CTL17, and HTL13 were linked to GPGPG, AAY, and KK linkers. The vaccine N-end was joined to an adjuvant through an EAAK linker to improve immunogenicity. After the attachment of linkers and adjuvants, the final construct was 415 amino acids. B-cell and IFN-gamma epitopes demonstrate that the model structure is enhanced for humoral and cellular immune responses. To validate the immunogenicity and safety of the final construct, various physicochemical properties, and other properties such as antigenicity and non-allergens, were evaluated. Furthermore, molecular docking was carried out for verification of vaccine compatibility with the receptor, evaluated in silico. Also, in silico cloning was employed for the verification of the proper expression and credibility of the construct.

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Food Antimicrobials Nanocarriers

The Scientific World JOURNAL ◽

10.1155/2014/837215 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 2014 ◽

pp. 1-11 ◽

Cited By ~ 38

Author(s):

Adriana Blanco-Padilla ◽

Karen M. Soto ◽

Montserrat Hernández Iturriaga ◽

Sandra Mendoza

Keyword(s):

Antimicrobial Activity ◽

Bioactive Compounds ◽

Present State ◽

Environmental Conditions ◽

State Of The Art ◽

Natural Food ◽

Food Spoilage ◽

Food Borne ◽

Food Borne Illness ◽

Stability Issues

Natural food antimicrobials are bioactive compounds that inhibit the growth of microorganisms involved in food spoilage or food-borne illness. However, stability issues result in degradation and loss of antimicrobial activity. Nanoencapsulation allows protection of antimicrobial food agents from unfavorable environmental conditions and incompatibilities. Encapsulation of food antimicrobials control delivery increasing the concentration of the antimicrobials in specific areas and the improvement of passive cellular absorption mechanisms resulted in higher antimicrobial activity. This paper reviews the present state of the art of the nanostructures used as food antimicrobial carriers including nanoemulsions, nanoliposomes, nanoparticles, and nanofibers.

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Foodborne Illness Outbreaks in Korea and Japan Studied Retrospectively

Journal of Food Protection ◽

10.4315/0362-028x-64.6.899 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 64 (6) ◽

pp. 899-902 ◽

Cited By ~ 42

Author(s):

WON-CHANG LEE ◽

MYEONG-JIN LEE ◽

JIN-SUK KIM ◽

SOON-YOUNG PARK

Keyword(s):

Case Fatality Rate ◽

Case Fatality ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Foodborne Illness ◽

Food Sources ◽

Fatality Rate ◽

Salmonella Spp ◽

Food Borne ◽

Food Borne Illness ◽

Foodborne Illness Outbreaks

The average prevalence of reported foodborne illness from 1981 to 1995 was 2.44 per 100,000 population in Korea, and 28.01 in Japan. The mean case fatality rate in Korea was 0.74% and in Japan, 0.03%. When both prevalence and case fatality rates in Korea and Japan were compared during the same period, the prevalence in Japan was much higher than that in Korea. However, the case fatality rate of patients in Korea was much higher than that in Japan. The distribution of monthly and seasonal patterns of foodborne illness outbreaks strongly indicate the outbreaks may be associated with climatic conditions, frequencies of national holidays, and vacation seasons. Comparison study indicates that the foodborne illness outbreaks in Korea most frequently involved homemade foods (47% of the total cases); in Japan, restaurants accounted for 31.3%. Food-borne illness cases of bacterial origin in Korea were 59.3% of the total and included Salmonella spp. (20.7%), Vibrio (17.4%), Staphylococcus (9.7%), pathogenic Escherichia coli (2.4%), and other species (9.1%); in Japan, 72.8% of the total cases and the majority of the bacterial foodborne illness was caused by Vibrio (32.3%), Staphylococcus (15.9%), Salmonella (14.2%), pathogenic E. coli (3.0%), and other species (7.2%). In conclusion, the outbreaks of foodborne illness in Korea and Japan may be mainly caused by improper food handling, and their occurrences may be differentiated according to food sources.

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In Silico Characterization and Comparative Analysis of Allergenicity of Allergic Proteins from Different Food Sources

American Journal of Biochemistry and Biotechnology ◽

10.3844/ajbbsp.2015.17.24 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 17-24 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Sourav Chakraborty ◽

Shakhawat Hossain Foysal ◽

Md. Nazmul Hasan ◽

Nahian Khan

Keyword(s):

Comparative Analysis ◽

In Silico ◽

Food Sources ◽

In Silico Characterization

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In Vivo, In Vitro, and In Silico Characterization of Peptoids as Antimicrobial Agents

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0135961 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. e0135961 ◽

Cited By ~ 48

Author(s):

Ann M. Czyzewski ◽

Håvard Jenssen ◽

Christopher D. Fjell ◽

Matt Waldbrook ◽

Nathaniel P. Chongsiriwatana ◽

...

Keyword(s):

In Silico ◽

Antimicrobial Agents ◽

In Silico Characterization

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Design, synthesis, in vitro and in silico characterization of new 2‐quinolone‐ L ‐alaninate‐1,2,3‐triazoles as novel antimicrobial agents

ChemMedChem ◽

10.1002/cmdc.202100714 ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Oussama Moussaoui ◽

Rajendra Bhadane ◽

Riham Sghyar ◽

Janez Ilaš ◽

El Mestafa El Hadrami ◽

...

Keyword(s):

In Silico ◽

Antimicrobial Agents ◽

Design Synthesis ◽

In Silico Characterization

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Characterization of Salmonella enterica serovar Heidelberg from Turkey-Associated Sources

Applied and Environmental Microbiology ◽

10.1128/aem.00409-08 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 74 (16) ◽

pp. 5038-5046 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

Pravin Kaldhone ◽

Rajesh Nayak ◽

Aaron M. Lynne ◽

Donna E. David ◽

Patrick F. McDermott ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Salmonella Enterica ◽

Antimicrobial Agents ◽

Profile Analysis ◽

Multidrug Resistant ◽

Plasmid Profile ◽

Associated Production ◽

Food Borne ◽

Food Borne Illness ◽

Human Infections ◽

Pfge Profiles

ABSTRACT Salmonella enterica serovar Heidelberg strains are frequently associated with food-borne illness, with recent isolates showing higher rates of resistance to multiple antimicrobial agents. One hundred eighty S. enterica serovar Heidelberg isolates, collected from turkey-associated production and processing sources, were tested for antimicrobial susceptibility and compared by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and plasmid profile analysis. The potential for the transfer of resistance between strains was studied by conjugation experiments. PFGE analysis using XbaI digestion identified eight clusters (based on 90% similarity), with the largest containing 71% of the isolates. Forty-two percent of the isolates were resistant to at least 1 of the 15 antimicrobial agents tested, and 4% of the isolates were resistant to 8 or more antimicrobial agents. Resistances to streptomycin (32%), tetracycline (30%), and kanamycin (24%) were most commonly detected. Interestingly, the XbaI PFGE profiles of selective multidrug-resistant strains (n = 22) of S. enterica serovar Heidelberg from turkey-associated sources were indistinguishable from the predominant profile (JF6X01.0022) detected in isolates associated with human infections. These isolates were further differentiated into seven distinct profiles following digestion with the BlnI enzyme, with the largest cluster comprising 15 isolates from veterinary diagnostic and turkey processing environments. Conjugation experiments indicated that resistance to multiple antimicrobial agents was transferable among strains with diverse PFGE profiles.

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Antimicrobial Susceptibility and Public Health Importance of Salmonella Isolated from Raw Chicken Egg in MizanTeferi Town, South West Ethiopia

10.21203/rs.3.rs-155972/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Shimelis Mengistu Hailu ◽

Melkamu Melese ◽

Berhanu Sibhat ◽

Pawlos Wasihun ◽

Selamawit Fentahun

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Antimicrobial Agents ◽

Open Market ◽

Salmonella Spp ◽

Public Health Importance ◽

Eastern Ethiopia ◽

Egg Consumption ◽

Food Borne ◽

Food Borne Illness ◽

Egg Shell

Abstract Background: Salmonella is a leading cause of food-borne illness in many countries with eggs and poultry being important vehicles of transmission and display high natural susceptibility levels to the most commonly used antibacterial agents. The study was carried out to estimate the prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility of Salmonella spp. isolated from fresh raw chicken eggs collected from MizanTeferi town, South Eastern, Ethiopia. Results: From the total of 366 eggs examined for Salmonella spp, 27(7.4%) were positive, of which 23 (6.3%) and 4 (1.1%) were isolated from egg shell and egg content, respectively. The prevalence of Salmonella spp. in egg and egg content from open market (7.6%), (1.6%) was significantly higher than the prevalence of Salmonella spp. in poultry farm (7.1%), (0.5%) (P<0.05) respectively. Ciprofloxacin (85.2%) showed maximum susceptibility, followed by tetracycline (77.7%) and gentamycin (66.6%). Clindamycin was the most resisted (51.8%), followed by ampicillin (44.4%), amoxicillin (40.7%) and erythromycin (33.3%). Most of the isolates are resistant to multiple antimicrobial agents tested. Questionnaire survey was also carried out on 200 consumers and egg sellers (100 from each group). Their preferred form of egg consumption revealed that 67.5% egg consumers preferred only cooked eggs while 32.5% egg consumers showed preference for raw eggs. Twenty nine (44.6%) respondents who practiced eating raw eggs faced problems like nausea and vomiting, abdominal discomfort and diarrhea, while thirty six (55.4%) faced no problems following raw eggs consumption. Conclusion: To minimize the potential contamination of the egg by the pathogen, they should be properly handled, transported, cooked and kept appropriately. In general, public health measures such as improved food hygiene and health education are of paramount importance.

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