Detection of Emerging and Re-Emerging Pathogens in Surface Waters Close to an Urban Area

Current knowledge about the spread of pathogens in aquatic environments is scarce probably because bacteria, viruses, algae and their toxins tend to occur at low concentrations in water, making them very difficult to measure directly. The purpose of this study was the development and validation of tools to detect pathogens in freshwater systems close to an urban area. In order to evaluate anthropogenic impacts on water microbiological quality, a phylogenetic microarray was developed in the context of the EU project µAQUA to detect simultaneously numerous pathogens and applied to samples from two different locations close to an urban area located upstream and downstream of Rome in the Tiber River. Furthermore, human enteric viruses were also detected. Fifty liters of water were collected and concentrated using a hollow-fiber ultrafiltration approach. The resultant concentrate was further size-fractionated through a series of decreasing pore size filters. RNA was extracted from pooled filters and hybridized to the newly designed microarray to detect pathogenic bacteria, protozoa and toxic cyanobacteria. Diatoms as indicators of the water quality status, were also included in the microarray to evaluate water quality. The microarray results gave positive signals for bacteria, diatoms, cyanobacteria and protozoa. Cross validation of the microarray was performed using standard microbiological methods for the bacteria. The presence of oral-fecal transmitted human enteric-viruses were detected using q-PCR. Significant concentrations of Salmonella, Clostridium, Campylobacter and Staphylococcus as well as Hepatitis E Virus (HEV), noroviruses GI (NoGGI) and GII (NoGII) and human adenovirus 41 (ADV 41) were found in the Mezzocammino site, whereas lower concentrations of other bacteria and only the ADV41 virus was recovered at the Castel Giubileo site. This study revealed that the pollution level in the Tiber River was considerably higher downstream rather than upstream of Rome and the downstream location was contaminated by emerging and re-emerging pathogens

Sequence-modification in copoly(ester-imide)s: a catalytic/supramolecular approach to the evolution and reading of copolymer sequence-information

Catalytic ester-interchange reactions, analogous to mutation and recombination, allow new sequence-information to be written, statistically, into NDI-based poly(ester-imide) chains. Thus, both insertion of the cyclic ester cyclopentadecanolide ("exaltolide") into an NDI-based homopolymer, and quantitative sequence-exchange between two different homopoly(ester-imide)s, are catalysed by di-n-butyl tin(IV) oxide. Emerging sequences are identified at the triplet and quintet levels using supramolecular complexation of pyrene-d10 at the NDI residues to amplify the separation of 1H NMR resonances associated with different sequences. In such systems, pyrene is able to act as a "reader-molecule" by generating different levels of ring-current shielding from the different patterns of supramolecular binding to all the NDI-centred sequences of a given length

Ribosome formation from subunits studied by stopped-flow and Rayleigh light scattering

Light scattering and standard stopped-flow techniques were used to monitor rapid association of ribosomal subunits during initiation of eubacterial protein synthesis. The effects of the initiation factors IF1, IF2, IF3 and buffer conditions on subunit association were studied along with the role of GTP in this process. The part of light scattering theory that is essential for kinetic measurements is high-lighted in the main text and a more general treatment of Rayleigh scattering from macromolecules is given in an appendix

Proteome Analyses of Cellular Proteins in Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Treated with Rhodomyrtone, a Novel Antibiotic Candidate

The ethanolic extract from Rhodomyrtus tomentosa leaf exhibited good antibacterial activities against both methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and S. aureus ATCC 29213. Its minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values ranged from 31.25–62.5 µg/ml, and the minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) was 250 µg/ml. Rhodomyrtone, an acylphloroglucinol derivative, was 62.5–125 times more potent at inhibiting the bacteria than the ethanolic extract, the MIC and MBC values were 0.5 µg/ml and 2 µg/ml, respectively. To provide insights into antibacterial mechanisms involved, the effects of rhodomyrtone on cellular protein expression of MRSA have been investigated using proteomic approaches. Proteome analyses revealed that rhodomyrtone at subinhibitory concentration (0.174 µg/ml) affected the expression of several major functional classes of whole cell proteins in MRSA. The identified proteins involve in cell wall biosynthesis and cell division, protein degradation, stress response and oxidative stress, cell surface antigen and virulence factor, and various metabolic pathways such as amino acid, carbohydrate, energy, lipid, and nucleotide metabolism. Transmission electron micrographs confirmed the effects of rhodomyrtone on morphological and ultrastructural alterations in the treated bacterial cells. Biological processes in cell wall biosynthesis and cell division were interrupted. Prominent changes including alterations in cell wall, abnormal septum formation, cellular disintegration, and cell lysis were observed. Unusual size and shape of staphylococcal cells were obviously noted in the treated MRSA. These pioneer findings on proteomic profiling and phenotypic features of rhodomyrtone-treated MRSA may resolve its antimicrobial mechanisms which could lead to the development of a new effective regimen for the treatment of MRSA infections

A Host Defense Mechanism Involving CFTR-Mediated Bicarbonate Secretion in Bacterial Prostatitis

BACKGROUND: Prostatitis is associated with a characteristic increase in prostatic fluid pH; however, the underlying mechanism and its physiological significance have not been elucidated. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this study a primary culture of rat prostatic epithelial cells and a rat prostatitis model were used. Here we reported the involvement of CFTR, a cAMP-activated anion channel conducting both Cl(-) and HCO(3)(-), in mediating prostate HCO(3)(-) secretion and its possible role in bacterial killing. Upon Escherichia coli (E. coli)-LPS challenge, the expression of CFTR and carbonic anhydrase II (CA II), along with several pro-inflammatory cytokines was up-regulated in the primary culture of rat prostate epithelial cells. Inhibiting CFTR function in vitro or in vivo resulted in reduced bacterial killing by prostate epithelial cells or the prostate. High HCO(3)(-) content (>50 mM), rather than alkaline pH, was found to be responsible for bacterial killing. The direct action of HCO(3)(-) on bacterial killing was confirmed by its ability to increase cAMP production and suppress bacterial initiation factors in E. coli. The relevance of the CFTR-mediated HCO(3)(-) secretion in humans was demonstrated by the upregulated expression of CFTR and CAII in human prostatitis tissues. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The CFTR and its mediated HCO(3)(-) secretion may be up-regulated in prostatitis as a host defense mechanism

Structure-function relationship in Escherichia coli translational initiation factors. Characterization of IF1 by high-resolution 1H-NMR spectroscopy

Escherichia coli translational initiation factor IF1 was studied by 1H-NMR spectroscopy at 400 MHz. IF1 displays a very well resolved spectrum in both aromatic and aliphatic regions. Other spectral characteristics include relatively narrow resonance lines and lack of relevant cross-relaxation phenomena. The resonances of the aromatic residues, in particular of the two His and two Tyr, were assigned by selective chemical modifications and spectroscopic techniques to individual residues in the protein sequence. The relative mobility of various residues of IF1 has been evaluated on the basis of the spin-lattice relaxation times which are rather short and homogeneous. Overall the factor appears to have a complex secondary and tertiary structure and to be a flexible protein whose residues have a high degree of internal mobility

Structure-function relationship in Escherichia coli initiation factors. Biochemical and biophysical characterization of the interaction between IF-2 and guanosine nucleotides

Equilibrium dialysis and protection from heat inactivation and proteolysis show that initiation factor 2 (IF-2) interacts not only with GTP but also with GDP and that its conformation is changed upon binding of either nucleotide. The apparent Ka (at 25 degrees C) for the IF-2 X GDP and IF-2 X GTP complexes was 8.0 X 10(4) and 7.0 X 10(3) M(-1), respectively. The lower affinity for GTP is associated with a more negative delta S0. The interaction, monitored by 1HNMR spectroscopy, is characterized by fast exchange and results in line broadening and downfield shift of the purine C-8 and ribose C-1' protons of GTP as well as of the beta, gamma-methylene protons of (beta-gamma-methylene)guanosine 5'-triphosphate. The interaction of guanosine nucleotides with IF-2 requires an H bond donor (or acceptor) group at position C-2 of the purine and involves the beta- and/or gamma-phosphate of the nucleotide while the ribose 2'-OH group or the integrity of the furan ring are less critical. IF-2 binds to ribosomal particles with decreasing affinity: 30 S greater than 70 S greater than 50 S. GTP and GDP have no effect on the binding to 70 S. GTP stimulates the binding to the 30 S and depresses somewhat the binding to the 50 S subunits; GDP has the opposite effect. These results seem to rule out that the release of IF 2 from 70 S is due to a "GDP-conformation" of the factor incompatible with its permanence on the ribosome. The rate and the extent of 30 S initiation complex formation are approximately 2-fold higher with IF-2 X GTP than with IF-2 alone. At low concentrations of IF-2 and 30 S subunits, GDP inhibits this reaction, acting as a strong competitive inhibitor of GTP (Ki = 1.25 X 10(-5)m) and preventing IF-2 from binding to the ribosomal subunit