Resistance profiling of Aspergillus fumigatus to olorofim indicates absence of intrinsic resistance and unveils the molecular mechanisms of acquired olorofim resistance

Olorofim (F901318) is a new antifungal currently under clinical development that shows both in vitro and in vivo activity against a number of filamentous fungi including Aspergillus fumigatus. In this study we screened A. fumigatus isolates for intrinsic olorofim-resistant A. fumigatus and evaluated the ability of A. fumigatus to acquire an olorofim-resistant phenotype. No intrinsic resistance was found in 975 clinical A. fumigatus isolates. However, we found that isolates with increased olorofim MICs (> 8 mg/L) could be selected using a high number of conidia and olorofim exposure under laboratory conditions. Assessment of the frequency of acquired olorofim resistance development of A. fumigatus was shown to be higher than for voriconazole but lower than for itraconazole. Sequencing the PyrE gene of isogenic isolates with olorofim MICs of >8 mg/L identified various amino acid substitutions with a hotspot at locus G119. Olorofim was shown to have reduced affinity to mutated target protein dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) and the effect of these mutations were proven by introducing the mutations directly in A. fumigatus. We then investigated whether G119 mutations were associated with a fitness cost in A. fumigatus. These experiments showed a small but significant reduction in growth rate for strains with a G119V substitution, while strains with a G119C substitution did not exhibit a reduction in growth rate. These in vitro findings were confirmed in an in vivo pathogenicity model.

Homologous recombination in Sulfolobus acidocaldarius: genetic assays and functional properties

HR (homologous recombination) is expected to play important roles in the molecular biology and genetics of archaea, but, so far, few functional properties of archaeal HR have been measured in vivo. In the extreme thermoacidophile Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, a conjugational mechanism of DNA transfer enables quantitative analysis of HR between chromosomal markers. Early studies of this system indicated that HR occurred frequently between closely spaced mutations within the pyrE gene, and this result was later supported by various analyses involving defined point mutations and deletions. These properties of intragenic HR suggested a non-reciprocal mechanism in which donor sequences become incorporated into the recipient genome as short segments. Because fragmentation of donor DNA during cell-to-cell transfer could not be excluded from contributing to this result, subsequent analyses have focused on electroporation of selectable donor DNA directly into recipient strains. For example, S. acidocaldarius was found to incorporate synthetic ssDNA (single-stranded DNA) of more than ∼20 nt readily into its genome. With respect to various molecular properties of the ssDNA substrates, the process resembled bacteriophage λRed-mediated ‘recombineering’ in Escherichia coli. Another approach used electroporation of a multiply marked pyrE gene to measure donor sequence tracts transferred to the recipient genome in individual recombination events. Initial results indicate multiple discontinuous tracts in the majority of recombinants, representing a relatively broad distribution of tract lengths. This pattern suggests that properties of the HR process could, in principle, account for many of the apparent peculiarities of intragenic recombination initiated by S. acidocaldarius conjugation.

Development of a Gene Knockout System for the Halophilic Archaeon Haloferax volcanii by Use of the pyrE Gene

ABSTRACT So far, the extremely halophilic archaeon Haloferax volcanii has the best genetic tools among the archaea. However, the lack of an efficient gene knockout system for this organism has hampered further genetic studies. In this paper we describe the development of pyrE-based positive selection and counterselection systems to generate an efficient gene knockout system. The H. volacanii pyrE1 and pyrE2 genes were isolated, and the pyrE2 gene was shown to code for the physiological enzyme orotate phosphoribosyl transferase. A ΔpyrE2 strain was constructed and used to isolate deletion mutants by the following two steps: (i) integration of a nonreplicative plasmid carrying both the pyrE2 wild-type gene, as a selectable marker, and a cloned chromosomal DNA fragment containing a deletion in the desired gene; and (ii) excision of the integrated plasmid after selection with 5-fluoroorotic acid. Application of this gene knockout system is described.

A chromosomal mutation mediating increased expression of pyrE in Salmonella typhimurium is located within the proposed attenuator

A chromosomal mutation resulting in 15- to 20-fold increased expression of the Salmonella typhimurium pyrE gene has been cloned and sequenced. The mutation was found to be a single base-pair transition of GC to AT, and occurred within a region of dyad symmetry (attenuator) located just upstream of the pyrE structural gene.