Restoration of Coherent Population Movement from Noise-Induced Chaos in the Chemotaxis of E. Coli

Author(s):  
Pratap R. Patnaik

Bacteria navigating in a chemically guided manner are under the impact of noise from at least three sources – inside the cells, at the binding sites between chemoattractants in the environment and corresponding receptors of the cells, and in the environment itself. For Escherichia coli as model system, compounded effects of these sources of noise were investigated recently by using the fractal dimensions of the trajectories of the cells as an index of the nature of population motility. It was observed that environmental noise can drive synchronized movement of a population toward a chemoattractant into stochastic chaos. Those results have been used here to explore the effectiveness of different kinds of noise filters in restoring coherent motion of the cells. An auto-associative neural filter was the best, followed by the extended Kalman filter. The performance of either filter depended on the relative rates of motion of the bacteria and the chemoattractant, and on whether the responses of the cells to fluctuations in the external chemoattractant was non-adaptive or adaptive. The results establish: (a) the validity and usefulness of fractal indexes to characterize noise-affected chemotaxis, (b) the significance of the effect of environmental noise on chemotactic motility, and (c) the effectiveness of a neural filter in rescuing coherent population movement from noise-induced chaos.

Fractals ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (01) ◽  
pp. 1350007
Author(s):  
PRATAP R. PATNAIK

Microbioreactors operated in real environments are often subject to noise from the environment. This is commonly manifested as fluctuations in the flow rates of the feed streams. Previous studies with larger bioreactors have shown that noise can seriously impair the performance. Given this possibility, the effects of noise on the performance of a microbioreactor have been analyzed for the trans-esterification of vinyl butyrate by 1-butanol by immobilized lipase B to produce butyl butyrate. As in previous work for macrobioreactors, the analysis was done with (i) no noise, (ii) unfiltered noise, and (iii) noise filtered by four different methods, and the fractal dimension of the product was used as an index of the performance. All fractal dimensions decreased with increasing dilution rates, and significant stochastic chaos was likely at low dilution rates. Of the four types of filters, the auto-associative neural filter (ANF) was the most effective in reducing chaos and restoring of smooth, nearly noise-free performance. The ANF also does not require a process model, which is a significant advantage for real systems. Simulations also revealed that even in the absence of noise, deterministic chaos is possible at low dilution rates; this underscores the importance of efficient filtering under such conditions when external noise too is present. The results thus establish the importance of noise in microbioreactor behavior and the usefulness of the fractal dimension in characterizing the effects.


2006 ◽  
Vol 50 (6) ◽  
pp. 2030-2037 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amber J. Schmidtke ◽  
Nancy D. Hanson

ABSTRACT Mutations within the structural gene of ampD can lead to AmpC overproduction and increases in β-lactam MICs in organisms with an inducible ampC. However, identification of mutations alone cannot predict the impact that those mutations have on AmpD function. Therefore, a model system was designed to determine the effect of ampD mutations on ceftazidime MICs using an AmpD− mutant Escherichia coli strain which produced an inducible plasmid-encoded AmpC. ampD genes were amplified by PCR from strains of E. coli, Citrobacter freundii, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Also, carboxy-terminal truncations of C. freundii ampD genes were constructed representing deletions of 10, 21, or 25 codons. Amplified ampD products were cloned into pACYC184 containing inducible bla ACT-1-ampR. Plasmids were transformed into E. coli strains JRG582 (AmpD−) and K-12 259 (AmpD+). The strains were evaluated for a derepressed phenotype using ceftazidime MICs. Some mutated ampD genes, including the ampD gene of a derepressed C. freundii isolate, resulted in substantial decreases in ceftazidime MICs (from >256 μg/ml to 12 to 24 μg/ml) for the AmpD− strain, indicating no role for these mutations in derepressed phenotypes. However, ampD truncation products and ampD from a partially derepressed P. aeruginosa strain resulted in ceftazidime MICs of >256 μg/ml, indicating a role for these gene modifications in derepressed phenotypes. The use of this model system indicated that alternative mechanisms were involved in the derepressed phenotype observed in strains of C. freundii and P. aeruginosa. The alternative mechanism involved in the derepressed phenotype of the C. freundii isolate was downregulation of ampD transcription.


Domiati cheese is the most popular brand of cheese ripened in brine in the Middle East in terms of consumed quantities. This study was performed to investigate the impact of the microbiological quality of the used raw materials, the applied traditional processing techniques and ripening period on the quality and safety of the produced cheese. Three hundred random composite samples were collected from three factories at Fayoum Governorate, Egypt. Collected samples represent twenty-five each of: raw milk, table salt, calf rennet, microbial rennet, water, environmental air, whey, fresh cheese, ripened cheese & swabs from: worker hands; cheese molds and utensils; tanks. All samples were examined microbiologically for Standard Plate Count (SPC), coliforms count, Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) count, total yeast & mould count, presence of E. coli, Salmonellae and Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes). The mean value of SPC, coliforms, S. aureus and total yeast & mould counts ranged from (79×102 CFU/m3 for air to 13×108 CFU/g for fresh cheese), (7×102 MPN/ cm2 for tank swabs to 80×106 MPN/ml for raw milk), (9×102 CFU/g for salt to 69×106 CFU/g for fresh cheese) and (2×102 CFU/cm2 for hand swabs to 60×104 CFU/g for fresh cheese), respectively. Whereas, E. coli, Salmonella and L. monocytogenes failed to be detected in all examined samples. There were significant differences in all determined microbiological parameters (p ≤0.05) between fresh and ripened cheese which may be attributed to different adverse conditions such as water activity, pH, salt content and temperature carried out to improve the quality of the product.


Author(s):  
Wayan Budiarsa Suyasa ◽  
Sri Kunti Pancadewi G. A ◽  
Iryanti E. Suprihatin ◽  
Dwi Adi Suastuti G. A.

In order to maintain the environmental carrying capacity of coastal tourism, this research was conducted to determine the condition of river water environmental pollution in the Petitenget beach area and pollutant source activities. Determination of water quality is carried out by analyzing the water quality taken at several sampling points in the four rivers that lead to the Petitenget beach. Determined the pollution index value (IP) of the physical chemical and biological pollution parameters. The results showed that the four rivers that flow into the Petitenget Beach area had been contaminated with indications of pH, BOD, COD, ammonia, Coliform and E. coli which exceeded water quality category III class quality (PerGub Bali No 16 Year 2016). The four rivers are included in the criteria of severe contamination. The four rivers have experienced physical damage or structural changes that have very high discharge fluctuations both in quantity and quality. Slimy basic structure, smelly and slum aesthetic waters. While the indication of the impact of pollution is waste water which is directly discharged into the river from hotels, restaurants, homestays, commercial centers and settlements.


Author(s):  
Daniella F Lato ◽  
G Brian Golding

Abstract Increasing evidence supports the notion that different regions of a genome have unique rates of molecular change. This variation is particularly evident in bacterial genomes where previous studies have reported gene expression and essentiality tend to decrease, while substitution rates usually increases with increasing distance from the origin of replication. Genomic reorganization such as rearrangements occur frequently in bacteria and allow for the introduction and restructuring of genetic content, creating gradients of molecular traits along genomes. Here, we explore the interplay of these phenomena by mapping substitutions to the genomes of Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Streptomyces, and Sinorhizobium meliloti, quantifying how many substitutions have occurred at each position in the genome. Preceding work indicates that substitution rate significantly increases with distance from the origin. Using a larger sample size and accounting for genome rearrangements through ancestral reconstruction, our analysis demonstrates that the correlation between the number of substitutions and distance from the origin of replication is often significant but small and inconsistent in direction. Some replicons had a significantly decreasing trend (E. coli and the chromosome of S. meliloti), while others showed the opposite significant trend (B. subtilis, Streptomyces, pSymA and pSymB in S. meliloti). dN, dS and ω were examined across all genes and there was no significant correlation between those values and distance from the origin. This study highlights the impact that genomic rearrangements and location have on molecular trends in some bacteria, illustrating the importance of considering spatial trends in molecular evolutionary analysis. Assuming that molecular trends are exclusively in one direction can be problematic.


Proteomes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Shomeek Chowdhury ◽  
Stephen Hepper ◽  
Mudassir K. Lodi ◽  
Milton H. Saier ◽  
Peter Uetz

Glycolysis is regulated by numerous mechanisms including allosteric regulation, post-translational modification or protein-protein interactions (PPI). While glycolytic enzymes have been found to interact with hundreds of proteins, the impact of only some of these PPIs on glycolysis is well understood. Here we investigate which of these interactions may affect glycolysis in E. coli and possibly across numerous other bacteria, based on the stoichiometry of interacting protein pairs (from proteomic studies) and their conservation across bacteria. We present a list of 339 protein-protein interactions involving glycolytic enzymes but predict that ~70% of glycolytic interactors are not present in adequate amounts to have a significant impact on glycolysis. Finally, we identify a conserved but uncharacterized subset of interactions that are likely to affect glycolysis and deserve further study.


2021 ◽  
Vol 99 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 139-140
Author(s):  
Frédéric A Vangroenweghe

Abstract Post-weaning Escherichia coli diarrhea (PWD) remains a major cause of economic losses for the pig industry. PWD, caused by enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), typically provokes mild to severe watery diarrhea between 5–10 days after weaning. Recently, an oral live bivalent E. coli F4/F18 vaccine (Coliprotec® F4/F18; Elanco) was approved on the European market, which reduces the impact of PWD provoked by F4-ETEC and F18-ETEC. The objective was to compare technical results and antibiotic use following E. coli F4/F18 vaccination with previous standard therapeutic approach under field conditions. A 1600-sow farm (weaning at 26 days) with diagnosed problems of PWD due to F18-ETEC was selected. Piglets were vaccinated at 21 days with the oral live bivalent E. coli F4/F18 vaccine. At weaning, no standard group medication (ZnO and antibiotics) was applied for prevention of PWD. Several performance parameters were collected: treatment incidence (TI100), mortality and days in nursery. Statistical analysis was performed using JMP 14.0 – comparison of means. Oral E. coli F4/F18 vaccination significantly reduced TI100 (7 ± 2 days to 0 ± 1 days; P < 0.05). Mortality rate remained stable (2.05% in Control to 1.96% in Vaccinated group; P < 0.05). Days in nursery (40 ± 3 days) remained at the same level compared to pre-vaccination. The results show that live E. coli F4/F18 vaccination against PWD has led to similar technical performance parameters and mortality, in combination with a significant reduction in medication use. In conclusion, control of PWD through oral vaccination is a successful option in order to prevent piglets from the negative clinical outcomes of F18-ETEC infection during the post-weaning period.


Author(s):  
Fatemeh Sadat Javadian ◽  
Majid Basafa ◽  
Aidin Behravan ◽  
Atieh Hashemi

Abstract Background Overexpression of the EpCAM (epithelial cell adhesion molecule) in malignancies makes it an attractive target for passive immunotherapy in a wide range of carcinomas. In comparison with full-length antibodies, due to the small size, the scFvs (single-chain variable fragments) are more suitable for recombinant expression in E. coli (Escherichia coli). However, the proteins expressed in large amounts in E. coli tend to form inclusion bodies that need to be refolded which may result in poor recovery of bioactive proteins. Various engineered strains were shown to be able to alleviate the insolubility problem. Here, we studied the impact of four E. coli strains on the soluble level of anti-EpEX-scFv (anti-EpCAM extracellular domain-scFv) protein. Results Although results showed that the amount of soluble anti-EpEX-scFv obtained in BL21TM (DE3) (114.22 ± 3.47 mg/L) was significantly higher to those produced in the same condition in E. coli RosettaTM (DE3) (71.39 ± 0.31 mg/L), and OrigamiTM T7 (58.99 ± 0.44 mg/L) strains, it was not significantly different from that produced by E. coli SHuffleTM T7 (108.87 ± 2.71 mg/L). Furthermore, the highest volumetric productivity of protein reached 318.29 ± 26.38 mg/L in BL21TM (DE3). Conclusions Although BL21TM (DE3) can be a suitable strain for high-level production of anti-EpEX-scFv protein, due to higher solubility yield (about 55%), E. coli SHuffleTM T7 seems to be better candidate for soluble production of scfv compared to BL21TM (DE3) (solubility yield of about 30%).


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Carrasco Pro ◽  
Katia Bulekova ◽  
Brian Gregor ◽  
Adam Labadorf ◽  
Juan Ignacio Fuxman Bass

Abstract Single nucleotide variants (SNVs) located in transcriptional regulatory regions can result in gene expression changes that lead to adaptive or detrimental phenotypic outcomes. Here, we predict gain or loss of binding sites for 741 transcription factors (TFs) across the human genome. We calculated ‘gainability’ and ‘disruptability’ scores for each TF that represent the likelihood of binding sites being created or disrupted, respectively. We found that functional cis-eQTL SNVs are more likely to alter TF binding sites than rare SNVs in the human population. In addition, we show that cancer somatic mutations have different effects on TF binding sites from different TF families on a cancer-type basis. Finally, we discuss the relationship between these results and cancer mutational signatures. Altogether, we provide a blueprint to study the impact of SNVs derived from genetic variation or disease association on TF binding to gene regulatory regions.


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