Intact flagellar motor of Borrelia burgdorferi revealed by cryo-electron tomography: evidence for stator ring curvature and rotor/C-ring assembly flexion.

The bacterial flagellar motor is a remarkable nanomachine that provides motility through flagellar rotation. Prior structural studies have revealed the stunning complexity of the purified rotor and C-ring assemblies from flagellar motors. In this study, we used high-throughput cryo-electron tomography and image analysis of intact Borrelia burgdorferi to produce a three-dimensional (3-D) model of the in situ flagellar motor without imposing rotational symmetry. Structural details of B. burgdorferi, including a layer of outer surface proteins, were clearly visible in the resulting 3-D reconstructions. By averaging the 3-D images of approximately 1,280 flagellar motors, a approximately 3.5-nm-resolution model of the stator and rotor structures was obtained. flgI transposon mutants lacked a torus-shaped structure attached to the flagellar rod, establishing the structural location of the spirochetal P ring. Treatment of intact organisms with the nonionic detergent NP-40 resulted in dissolution of the outermost portion of the motor structure and the C ring, providing insight into the in situ arrangement of the stator and rotor structures. Structural elements associated with the stator followed the curvature of the cytoplasmic membrane. The rotor and the C ring also exhibited angular flexion, resulting in a slight narrowing of both structures in the direction perpendicular to the cell axis. These results indicate an inherent flexibility in the rotor-stator interaction. The FliG switching and energizing component likely provides much of the flexibility needed to maintain the interaction between the curved stator and the relatively symmetrical rotor/C-ring assembly during flagellar rotation

Development of a Multiplex PCR Assay for Detection of Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli, Enterohemorrhagic E. coli, and Enteropathogenic E. coli Strains

Escherichia coli O157:H7 and other pathogenic E.coli strains are enteric pathogens associated with food safety threats and which remaina significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. In the current study, we investigated whether enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), and enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) strains can be rapidly and specifically differentiated with multiplex PCR (mPCR) utilizing selected biomarkers associated with each strains respective virulence genotype. Primers were designed to amplify multiple intimin (eae) and long polar fimbriae (lpfA) variants, the bundle forming pilus gene bfpA, and the Shiga toxin encoding genes stx1 and stx2. We demonstrated consistent amplification of genes specific to the prototype EHEC O157:H7 EDL933 (lpfA1-3, lpfA2-2, stx1, stx2, and eae-gama) and EPEC O127:H6 E2348/69 (eae-alfa, lpfA1-1, and bfpA) strains using the optimized mPCR protocol with purified genomic DNA (gDNA). A screen of gDNA from isolates in a diarrheagenic E. coli collection revealed that the mPCR assay was successful in predicting the correct pathotype of EPEC and EHEC clones grouped in the distinctive phyogenetic disease clusters EPEC1 and EHEC1, and was able to differentiate EHEC1 from EHEC2 clusters. The assay detection threshold was 2×104 CFU per PCR reaction for EHEC and EPEC. mPCR was also used to screen Argentinean clinical samples from hemolytic uremic syndrome and diarrheal patients, resultingin 91 % sensitivity and 84% specificity when compared to established molecular diagnostic procedures. In conclusion, our mPCR methodology permitted differentiation of EPEC, STEC and EHEC strains from other pathogenic E.coli; therefore, the assay becomes an additional tool for rapid diagnosis of these organisms.Instituto de Genética Veterinari

Detailed Analysis of Sequence Changes Occurring during vlsE Antigenic Variation in the Mouse Model of Borrelia burgdorferi Infection

Lyme disease Borrelia can infect humans and animals for months to years, despite the presence of an active host immune response. The vls antigenic variation system, which expresses the surface-exposed lipoprotein VlsE, plays a major role in B. burgdorferi immune evasion. Gene conversion between vls silent cassettes and the vlsE expression site occurs at high frequency during mammalian infection, resulting in sequence variation in the VlsE product. In this study, we examined vlsE sequence variation in B. burgdorferi B31 during mouse infection by analyzing 1,399 clones isolated from bladder, heart, joint, ear, and skin tissues of mice infected for 4 to 365 days. The median number of codon changes increased progressively in C3H/HeN mice from 4 to 28 days post infection, and no clones retained the parental vlsE sequence at 28 days. In contrast, the decrease in the number of clones with the parental vlsE sequence and the increase in the number of sequence changes occurred more gradually in severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mice. Clones containing a stop codon were isolated, indicating that continuous expression of full-length VlsE is not required for survival in vivo; also, these clones continued to undergo vlsE recombination. Analysis of clones with apparent single recombination events indicated that recombinations into vlsE are nonselective with regard to the silent cassette utilized, as well as the length and location of the recombination event. Sequence changes as small as one base pair were common. Fifteen percent of recovered vlsE variants contained “template-independent” sequence changes, which clustered in the variable regions of vlsE. We hypothesize that the increased frequency and complexity of vlsE sequence changes observed in clones recovered from immunocompetent mice (as compared with SCID mice) is due to rapid clearance of relatively invariant clones by variable region-specific anti-VlsE antibody responses

Genome Stability of Lyme Disease Spirochetes: Comparative Genomics of Borrelia burgdorferi Plasmids

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne human illness in North America. In order to understand the molecular pathogenesis, natural diversity, population structure and epizootic spread of the North American Lyme agent, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, a much better understanding of the natural diversity of its genome will be required. Towards this end we present a comparative analysis of the nucleotide sequences of the numerous plasmids of B. burgdorferi isolates B31, N40, JD1 and 297. These strains were chosen because they include the three most commonly studied laboratory strains, and because they represent different major genetic lineages and so are informative regarding the genetic diversity and evolution of this organism. A unique feature of Borrelia genomes is that they carry a large number of linear and circular plasmids, and this work shows that strains N40, JD1, 297 and B31 carry related but non-identical sets of 16, 20, 19 and 21 plasmids, respectively, that comprise 33–40% of their genomes. We deduce that there are at least 28 plasmid compatibility types among the four strains. The B. burgdorferi ∼900 Kbp linear chromosomes are evolutionarily exceptionally stable, except for a short ≤20 Kbp plasmid-like section at the right end. A few of the plasmids, including the linear lp54 and circular cp26, are also very stable. We show here that the other plasmids, especially the linear ones, are considerably more variable. Nearly all of the linear plasmids have undergone one or more substantial inter-plasmid rearrangements since their last common ancestor. In spite of these rearrangements and differences in plasmid contents, the overall gene complement of the different isolates has remained relatively constant

Development of a Multiplex PCR Assay for Detection of Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli, Enterohemorrhagic E. coli, and Enteropathogenic E. coli Strains

Escherichia coli O157:H7 and other pathogenic E.coli strains are enteric pathogens associated with food safety threats and which remaina significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. In the current study, we investigated whether enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), and enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) strains can be rapidly and specifically differentiated with multiplex PCR (mPCR) utilizing selected biomarkers associated with each strains respective virulence genotype. Primers were designed to amplify multiple intimin (eae) and long polar fimbriae (lpfA) variants, the bundle forming pilus gene bfpA, and the Shiga toxin encoding genes stx1 and stx2. We demonstrated consistent amplification of genes specific to the prototype EHEC O157:H7 EDL933 (lpfA1-3, lpfA2-2, stx1, stx2, and eae-gama) and EPEC O127:H6 E2348/69 (eae-alfa, lpfA1-1, and bfpA) strains using the optimized mPCR protocol with purified genomic DNA (gDNA). A screen of gDNA from isolates in a diarrheagenic E. coli collection revealed that the mPCR assay was successful in predicting the correct pathotype of EPEC and EHEC clones grouped in the distinctive phyogenetic disease clusters EPEC1 and EHEC1, and was able to differentiate EHEC1 from EHEC2 clusters. The assay detection threshold was 2×104 CFU per PCR reaction for EHEC and EPEC. mPCR was also used to screen Argentinean clinical samples from hemolytic uremic syndrome and diarrheal patients, resultingin 91 % sensitivity and 84% specificity when compared to established molecular diagnostic procedures. In conclusion, our mPCR methodology permitted differentiation of EPEC, STEC and EHEC strains from other pathogenic E.coli; therefore, the assay becomes an additional tool for rapid diagnosis of these organisms. Fil: Botkin, Douglas J.. University of Texas Medical Branch; Estados UnidosFil: Galli, Lucía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; Argentina. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud “Dr. C. G. Malbrán”; Argentina. University of Texas Medical Branch; Estados UnidosFil: Sankarapani, Vinoth. University of Texas Medical Branch; Estados UnidosFil: Soler, Michael. University of Texas Medical Branch; Estados UnidosFil: Rivas, Marta. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud “Dr. C. G. Malbrán”; ArgentinaFil: Torres, Alfredo G.. University of Texas Medical Branch; Estados Unido

Identification of coli surface antigen 23, a novel adhesin of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is an important cause of diarrhea, mainly in developing countries. Although there are 25 different ETEC adhesins described in strains affecting humans, between 15% and 50% of the clinical isolates from different geographical regions are negative for these adhesins, suggesting that additional unidentified adhesion determinants might be present. Here, we report the discovery of Coli Surface Antigen 23 (CS23), a novel adhesin expressed by an ETEC serogroup O4 strain (ETEC 1766a), which was negative for the previously known ETEC adhesins, albeit it has the ability to adhere to Caco-2 cells. CS23 is encoded by an 8.8-kb locus which contains 9 open reading frames (ORFs), 7 of them sharing significant identity with genes required for assembly of K88-related fimbriae. This gene locus, named aal (adhesion-associated locus), is required for the adhesion ability of ETEC 1766a and was able to confer this adhesive phenotype to a nonadherent E. coli HB101 str

Nanopore sequencing in microgravity

Rapid DNA sequencing and analysis has been a long-sought goal in remote research and point-of-care medicine. In microgravity, DNA sequencing can facilitate novel astrobiological research and close monitoring of crew health, but spaceflight places stringent restrictions on the mass and volume of instruments, crew operation time, and instrument functionality. The recent emergence of portable, nanopore-based tools with streamlined sample preparation protocols finally enables DNA sequencing on missions in microgravity. As a first step toward sequencing in space and aboard the International Space Station (ISS), we tested the Oxford Nanopore Technologies MinION during a parabolic flight to understand the effects of variable gravity on the instrument and data. In a successful proof-of-principle experiment, we found that the instrument generated DNA reads over the course of the flight, including the first ever sequenced in microgravity, and additional reads measured after the flight concluded its parabolas. Here we detail modifications to the sample-loading procedures to facilitate nanopore sequencing aboard the ISS and in other microgravity environments. We also evaluate existing analysis methods and outline two new approaches, the first based on a wave-fingerprint method and the second on entropy signal mapping. Computationally light analysis methods offer the potential for in situ species identification, but are limited by the error profiles (stays, skips, and mismatches) of older nanopore data. Higher accuracies attainable with modified sample processing methods and the latest version of flow cells will further enable the use of nanopore sequencers for diagnostics and research in space

Nanopore DNA Sequencing and Genome Assembly on the International Space Station

Abstract We evaluated the performance of the MinION DNA sequencer in-flight on the International Space Station (ISS), and benchmarked its performance off-Earth against the MinION, Illumina MiSeq, and PacBio RS II sequencing platforms in terrestrial laboratories. Samples contained equimolar mixtures of genomic DNA from lambda bacteriophage, Escherichia coli (strain K12, MG1655) and Mus musculus (female BALB/c mouse). Nine sequencing runs were performed aboard the ISS over a 6-month period, yielding a total of 276,882 reads with no apparent decrease in performance over time. From sequence data collected aboard the ISS, we constructed directed assemblies of the ~4.6 Mb E. coli genome, ~48.5 kb lambda genome, and a representative M. musculus sequence (the ~16.3 kb mitochondrial genome), at 100%, 100%, and 96.7% consensus pairwise identity, respectively; de novo assembly of the E. coli genome from raw reads yielded a single contig comprising 99.9% of the genome at 98.6% consensus pairwise identity. Simulated real-time analyses of in-flight sequence data using an automated bioinformatic pipeline and laptop-based genomic assembly demonstrated the feasibility of sequencing analysis and microbial identification aboard the ISS. These findings illustrate the potential for sequencing applications including disease diagnosis, environmental monitoring, and elucidating the molecular basis for how organisms respond to spaceflight