Fogedrivers9287
This work provides an elegant paradigm for systematic design of one-carbon assimilation pathways based on artificial aldolase (ALS) reactions, which could also be feasibly adapted for the mining of other metabolic pathways.The human genome bears evidence of extensive invasion by retroviruses and other retroelements, as well as by diverse RNA and DNA viruses. High frequency of somatic integration of the RNA virus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) into the DNA of infected cells was recently suggested, based on a number of observations. One key observation was the presence of chimeric RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) reads between SARS-CoV-2 RNA and RNA transcribed from human host DNA. Ladakamycin Here, we examined the possible origin specifically of human-SARS-CoV-2 chimeric reads in RNA-seq libraries and provide alternative explanations for their origin. Chimeric reads were frequently detected also between SARS-CoV-2 RNA and RNA transcribed from mitochondrial DNA or episomal adenoviral DNA present in transfected cell lines, which was unlikely the result of SARS-CoV-2 integration. Furthermore, chimeric reads between SARS-CoV-2 RNA and RNA transcribed from nuclear DNA were highly enriched for host exonic, rather than intronic or intergenic sequences and often involved the same, highly expressed host genes. Although these findings do not rule out SARS-CoV-2 somatic integration, they nevertheless suggest that human-SARS-CoV-2 chimeric reads found in RNA-seq data may arise during library preparation and do not necessarily signify SARS-CoV-2 reverse transcription, integration in to host DNA and further transcription.Data on microbiological profiles in odontogenic infections are scarce. This study aimed to analyze the spectrum of pathogens and antimicrobial resistance in clinical isolates from dental and oral-maxillofacial clinical settings in Germany. We analyzed 20,645 clinical isolates (dental practices n = 5,733; hospitals n = 14,912) from patients with odontogenic infections using data (2012-2019) from the German Antimicrobial-Resistance-Surveillance (ARS) system. A total of 224 different species from 73 genera were found in clinical isolates from dental practices, and 329 different species from 97 genera were identified in isolates from hospital patients. In both hospitals and dental practices Streptococcus spp. (33 and 36%, respectively) and Staphylococcus spp. (21 and 12%, respectively) were the most frequently isolated microorganisms. In Streptococcus spp. isolates from hospitals, penicillin and aminopenicillin resistance proportions were 8.0% (95%CI 4.7-14.9%) and 6.9% (95%CI 4.7-9.9%), respectively. Substantially lower resistance proportions of penicillin and aminopenicillin were observed in dental practices [2.6% (95%CI 1.4-4.7%) and 2.1% (95%CI 1.1-4.0%), respectively]. Among Staphylococcus aureus isolates from hospital patients methicillin resistance proportions were 12.0% (95%CI 9.7-14.8%), which was higher than in isolates from dental practices (5.8% (95%CI 4.1-8.1%)]. High clindamycin and macrolide resistance proportions (>17%) were observed in Streptococcus spp. and Staphylococcus aureus isolates. In Klebsiella spp. isolates carbapenem resistance proportions were less then 1%. In sum, substantial antibiotic resistance was observed in isolates from odontogenic infections, which calls for strengthened efforts in antibiotic stewardship and infection prevention and control measures in both hospitals and dental practices.Heterofermentative Lentilactobacillus hilgardii isolated from sugarcane silage, has recently been proposed as a silage inoculant to increase aerobic stability. Various conditions can influence the activity of LAB and their ability to alter silage quality (e.g., DM content and length of conservation). The aim of this study has been to evaluate the effect of L. hilgardii on the fermentation quality and aerobic stability of whole crop corn silage with different DM contents (from 26 to 45%), conserved for various conservation lengths (13-272 days). The silages were analyzed for their DM content, pH, fermentative profile, microbial count, and aerobic stability. L. hilgardii showed a positive effect on improving the aerobic stability of silages, due its ability to produce acetic acid, and reduced the yeast count. The acetic acid content increased as the conservation period increased and decreased as the DM content increased. The yeast count was reduced during conservation in a DM dependent manner and the inoculation with LH determined a reduction in the count of 0.48 log cfu/g. The aerobic stability increased as the conservation period increased, and the treatment with LH on average increased the aerobic stability by 19 h. The results of this experiment suggest that higher aerobic stability could be achieved in corn silages by ensiling at medium or low DM contents, or by increasing the length of conservation if a higher DM content at ensiling is needed. The inoculation with LH helps to improve the aerobic stability of corn silages by reducing the yeast count.The long-term colonization of Helicobacter pylori can cause various gastrointestinal diseases, and its high genetic variability is prone to antibiotic resistance and leads to failure of clinical treatment. Intracellular survival also contributes to the drug tolerance of H. pylori. Patchouli alcohol (PA) shows a highly efficient activity against H. pylori in vitro and in vivo. And this study aims to explore whether PA can reduce the resistance of H. pylori and determine the underlying mechanism. Checkerboard and time-kill bactericidal curve assay reveal that the combination of PA and clarithromycin (CLR) promoted the inhibition and bactericidal effect against H. pylori. Stimulation of CLR leads to the internalization of H. pylori, but PA can effectively inhibit the invasion induced by CLR. Compared with antibiotics, PA remarkably eradicated the intracellular H. pylori, and this intracellular sterilized ability was further improved in combination with antibiotics (CLR and metronidazole). The expression of H. pylori efflux pump genes (hp0605, hp1327, and hp1489) was dose-dependently downregulated by PA. Digital droplet PCR indicated that the H. pylori mutant of A2143G can be inhibited by PA. Cellular uptake and transport assays showed that PA is rapidly absorbed, which promotes its activity against intracellular bacteria. Therefore, PA can act synergistically with CLR as a candidate treatment against drug-resistant H. pylori.Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) is often associated with processed food as it can form biofilms that represent a source of contamination at all stages of the manufacturing chain. The control and prevention of biofilms in food-processing plants are of utmost importance. This study explores the efficacy of prospect molecules for counteracting bacterial mechanisms leading to biofilm formation. The compounds included the phytomolecule tomatidine, zinc chloride (ZnCl2), ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), and a more complexed mixture of bacterial compounds from coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS exoproducts). Significant inhibition of L. monocytogenes biofilm formation was evidenced using a microfluidic system and confocal microscopic analyses (p less then 0.001). Active molecules were effective at an early stage of biofilm development (≥50% of inhibition) but failed to disperse mature biofilms of L. monocytogenes. According to our findings, prevention of surface attachment was associated with a disruption of bacterial motility. Indeed, agar cell motility assays demonstrated the effectiveness of these molecules. Overall, results highlighted the critical role of motility in biofilm formation and allow to consider flagellum-mediated motility as a promising molecular target in control strategies against L. monocytogenes in food processing environments.For microbial source tracking (MST), the 16S ribosomal RNA genes (rDNA) of host-specific bacteria and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of animal species, known to cause fecal contamination of water, have been commonly used as molecular targets. However, low levels of contamination might remain undetected by using these DNA-based qPCR assays. The high copy numbers of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) could offer a solution for such applications of MST. This study compared the performance of eight MST assays GenBac3 (general Bacteroidales), HF183 (human), BacCan (dog), Rum-2-Bac (ruminant), Pig-2-Bac (swine), Gull4 (gull), GFD, and Av4143 (birds) between rRNA-based and rDNA-based approaches. Three mtDNA-based approaches were tested DogND5, SheepCytB, and HorseCytB. A total of 151 animal fecal samples and eight municipal sewage samples from four regions of Finland were collected for the marker evaluation. The usability of these markers was tested by using a total of 95 surface water samples with an unknown pollution load. Overall, e rRNA-based approach for MST assays targeting bird fecal contamination. In the case of mammal-specific MST assays, the use of the rRNA template increases the sensitivity but may reduce the specificity and accuracy of the assay. The finding of increased sensitivity calls for a further need to develop better rRNA-based approaches to reach the required assay performance.Bacterial conjugation is a widespread and particularly efficient strategy to horizontally disseminate genes in microbial populations. With a rich and dense population of microorganisms, the intestinal microbiota is often considered a fertile environment for conjugative transfer and a major reservoir of antibiotic resistance genes. In this mini-review, we summarize recent findings suggesting that few conjugative plasmid families present in Enterobacteriaceae transfer at high rates in the gut microbiota. We discuss the importance of mating pair stabilization as well as additional factors influencing DNA transfer efficiency and conjugative host range in this environment. Finally, we examine the potential repurposing of bacterial conjugation for microbiome editing.Fusarium keratoplasticum is arguably the most common Fusarium solani species complex (FSSC) species associated with human infections. Invasive fusariosis is a life-threatening fungal infection that is difficult to treat with conventional azole antifungals. Azole drug resistance is often caused by the increased expression of pleiotropic drug resistance (PDR) ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters of the ABCG sub-family. Most investigations of Fusarium ABC transporters associated with azole antifungal drug resistance are limited to plant pathogens. Through the manual curation of the entire ABCG protein family of four FSSC species including the fully annotated genome of the plant pathogen Nectria haematococca we identified PDR transporters ABC1 and ABC2 as the efflux pump candidates most likely to be associated with the innate azole resistance phenotype of Fusarium keratoplasticum. An initial investigation of the transcriptional response of logarithmic phase F. keratoplasticum cells to 16 mg/L voriconazole confirmed strong upregulation (372-fold) of ABC1 while ABC2 mRNA levels were unaffected by voriconazole exposure over a 4 h time-period. Overexpression of F. keratoplasticum ABC1 and ABC2 in the genetically modified Saccharomyces cerevisiae host ADΔΔ caused up to ∼1,024-fold increased resistance to a number of xenobiotics, including azole antifungals. Although ABC1 and ABC2 were only moderately (20% and 10%, respectively) expressed compared to the Candida albicans multidrug efflux pump CDR1, overexpression of F. keratoplasticum ABC1 caused even higher resistance levels to certain xenobiotics (e.g., rhodamine 6G and nigericin) than CDR1. Our investigations suggest an important role for ABC1 orthologues in the innate azole resistance phenotype of FSSC species.