Gut microbiota of bats: pro-mutagenic properties and possible frontiers in preventing emerging disease

Bats are potential natural reservoirs for emerging viruses, causing deadly human diseases, such as COVID-19, MERS, SARS, Nipah, Hendra, and Ebola infections. The fundamental mechanisms by which bats are considered “living bioreactors” for emerging viruses are not fully understood. Some studies suggest that tolerance to viruses is linked to suppressing antiviral immune and inflammatory responses due to DNA damage by energy generated to fly. Our study reveals that bats' gut bacteria could also be involved in the host and its microbiota's DNA damage. We performed screening of lactic acid bacteria and bacilli isolated from bats' feces for mutagenic and oxidative activity by lux-biosensors. The pro-mutagenic activity was determined when expression of recA increased with the appearance of double-strand breaks in the cell DNA, while an increase of katG expression in the presence of hydroxyl radicals indicated antioxidant activity. We identified that most of the isolated bacteria have pro-mutagenic and antioxidant properties at the same time. This study reveals new insights into bat gut microbiota's potential involvement in antiviral response and opens new frontiers in preventing emerging diseases originating from bats.

Constructing of Bacillus subtilis-Based Lux-Biosensors with the Use of Stress-Inducible Promoters

Here, we present a new lux-biosensor based on Bacillus subtilis for detecting of DNA-tropic and oxidative stress-causing agents. Hybrid plasmids pNK-DinC, pNK-AlkA, and pNK-MrgA have been constructed, in which the Photorhabdus luminescens reporter genes luxABCDE are transcribed from the stress-inducible promoters of B. subtilis: the SOS promoter PdinC, the methylation-specific response promoter PalkA, and the oxidative stress promoter PmrgA. The luminescence of B. subtilis-based biosensors specifically increases in response to the appearance in the environment of such common toxicants as mitomycin C, methyl methanesulfonate, and H2O2. Comparison with Escherichia coli-based lux-biosensors, where the promoters PdinI, PalkA, and Pdps were used, showed generally similar characteristics. However, for B. subtilis PdinC, a higher response amplitude was observed, and for B. subtilis PalkA, on the contrary, both the amplitude and the range of detectable toxicant concentrations were decreased. B. subtilis PdinC and B. subtilis PmrgA showed increased sensitivity to the genotoxic effects of the 2,2′-bis(bicyclo [2.2.1] heptane) compound, which is a promising propellant, compared to E. coli-based lux-biosensors. The obtained biosensors are applicable for detection of toxicants introduced into soil. Such bacillary biosensors can be used to study the differences in the mechanisms of toxicity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.

Influence of the luxR Regulatory Gene Dosage and Expression Level on the Sensitivity of the Whole-Cell Biosensor to Acyl-Homoserine Lactone

Aliivibrio fischeri LuxR and Aliivibrio logei LuxR1 and LuxR2 regulatory proteins are quorum sensing transcriptional (QS) activators, inducing promoters of luxICDABEG genes in the presence of an autoinducer (3-oxo-hexanoyl-l-homoserine lactone). In the Aliivibrio cells, luxR genes are regulated by HNS, CRP, LitR, etc. Here we investigated the role of the luxR expression level in LuxI/R QS system functionality and improved the whole-cell biosensor for autoinducer detection. Escherichia coli-based bacterial lux-biosensors were used, in which Photorhabdus luminescensluxCDABE genes were controlled by LuxR-dependent promoters and luxR, luxR1, or luxR2 regulatory genes. We varied either the dosage of the regulatory gene in the cells using additional plasmids, or the level of the regulatory gene expression using the lactose operon promoter. It was shown that an increase in expression level, as well as dosage of the regulatory gene in biosensor cells, leads to an increase in sensitivity (the threshold concentration of AI is reduced by one order of magnitude) and to a two to threefold reduction in response time. The best parameters were obtained for a biosensor with an increased dosage of luxRA. fischeri (sensitivity to 3-oxo-hexanoyl-l-homoserine lactone reached 30–100 pM).

The study of paraquat genotoxicity by bacterial lux-biosensors

Показано, что паракват (1,1-диметил-4,4дипиридилия дихлорид) индуцирует люминесценцию биосенсоров, несущих промоторы генов soxS и katG, специфично реагируюших на супероксид-анион радикал и перекись водорода, соответственно. Антиоксиданты глутатион и ацетилцистеин снижали уровень как люминесценции биосенсоров, так и разрывов ДНК в бактериальных клетках. It has been shown that paraquat (1,1-dimethyl-4,4 dipyridylium dichloride) induces luminescence of biosensors carrying the promoters of the soxS and katG genes that specifically react to the superoxide anion radical and hydrogen peroxide. The antioxidants glutathione and acetylcysteine reduced the level of biosensor luminescence and DNA breaks.

Toxic Effect of 2-ethyl (bicyclo[2.2.1] heptane) on Bacterial Cells

Toxic effect of 2-ethylnorbornane (2-ethyl(bicyclo[2.2.1]heptane) (EBH)) on bacteria has been studied using the E. coli pRecA-lux and E. coli pKatG- lux cells as lux-biosensors. It was shown that the addition of EBH to the incubation medium leads to death and growth retardation, high level oxidative stress and DNA damage in E. coli cells. It is assumed that the oxidation of EBH with atmospheric oxygen causes the formation of reactive oxygen species in the medium, which makes a major contribution to the toxicity of this substance. biosensor, luciferase, bioluminescence, inducible promoter, PrecA, PkatG The authors are grateful to Stanislav Filippovich Chalkin for the development of interdisciplinary ties in the scientific community. The work was financially supported by the Ministry of Higher Education and Science of Russia (Project Unique Identifier RFMEFI60417X0181, Agreement No. 14.604.21.0181 of 26.09.2017).