Importance of sigma factor mutations in increased triclosan resistance in <i>Salmonella</i> Typhimurium

BACKGROUND: Salmonella enterica is the second most common foodborne pathogen. The use of biocides is crucial to prevent spread of foodborne pathogens, and it would be devastating for food safety if Salmonella would become resistant to the disinfectants used. Another concern is that exposure to disinfectants might lead to decreased susceptibility to antibiotics. The current study aimed to identify genetic changes causing high level triclosan resistance in S. enterica serovar Typhimurium and evaluate how these affected antibiotic resistance and efflux pump activity. RESULTS: Wild type strains S. Typhimurium 4/74 and DTU3 were adapted to increasing concentrations of the biocide triclosan by serial passage. High level triclosan resistant isolates (MIC > 1000 μg/ml) were obtained. Strains were genome sequenced, and SNPs in fabI, rpoS and rpoD were found to be associated with high level resistance. However, work with defined mutants revealed that a SNP in fabI was not sufficient to obtain high level resistance. This required additional mutations in the sigma factors rpoS or rpoD. The adapted strains showed triclosan-dependent increased efflux, increased fabI expression and reduced susceptibility towards the antibiotics enrofloxacin and sulphamethoxazole/trimethoprim. CONCLUSIONS: Medium level triclosan resistance could be obtained by fabI mutations in S. Typhimurium, however, high level resistance was found to require sigma factor mutations in addition to a fabI mutation. Reduced antibiotic sensitivity was observed for the adapted strains, which could be associated with increased efflux

The in vitro redundant enzymes PurN and PurT are both essential for systemic infection of mice in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium

Metabolic enzymes show a high degree of redundancy, and for that reason they are generally ignored in searches for novel targets for anti-infective substances. The enzymes PurN and PurT are redundant in vitro in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, in which they perform the third step of purine synthesis. Surprisingly, the results of the current study demonstrated that single-gene deletions of each of the genes encoding these enzymes caused attenuation (competitive infection indexes [CI] of <0.03) in mouse infections. While the ΔpurT mutant multiplied as fast as the wild-type strain in cultured J774A.1 macrophages, net multiplication of the ΔpurN mutant was reduced approximately 50% in 20 h. The attenuation of the ΔpurT mutant was abolished by simultaneous removal of the enzyme PurU, responsible for the formation of formate, indicating that the attenuation was related to formate accumulation or wasteful consumption of formyl tetrahydrofolate by PurU. In the process of further characterization, we disclosed that the glycine cleavage system (GCV) was the most important for formation of C(1) units in vivo (CI = 0.03 ± 0.03). In contrast, GlyA was the only important enzyme for the formation of C(1) units in vitro. The results with the ΔgcvT mutant further revealed that formation of serine by SerA and further conversion of serine into C(1) units and glycine by GlyA were not sufficient to ensure C(1) formation in S. Typhimurium in vivo. The results of the present study call for reinvestigations of the concept of metabolic redundancy in S. Typhimurium in vivo

The role of flagella and chemotaxis genes in host pathogen interaction of the host adapted Salmonella enterica serovar Dublin compared to the broad host range serovar S. Typhimurium

Background The importance of flagella and chemotaxis genes in host pathogen interaction in Salmonella enterica is mainly based on studies of the broad host range serovar, S. Typhimurium, while little is known on the importance in host specific and host adapted serovars, such as S. Dublin. In the current study we have used previously characterized insertion mutants in flagella and chemotaxis genes to investigate this and possible differences in the importance between the two serovars. Results fliC (encoding the structural protein of the flagella) was essential for adhesion and fliC and cheB (CheB restores the chemotaxis system to pre-stimulus conformation) were essential for invasion of S. Dublin into epithelial Int407 cells. In S. Typhimurium, both lack of flagella (fliC/fljB double mutant) and cheB influenced adhesion, and invasion was influenced by lack of both cheA (the histidine-kinase of the chemotaxis system), fliC/fljB and cheB mutation. Uptake in J774A.1 macrophage cells was significantly reduced in cheA, cheB and fliC mutants of S. Dublin, while cheA was dispensable in S. Typhimurium. Removal of flagella in both serotypes caused an increased ability to propagate intracellular in J774 macrophage cells and decreased cytotoxicity toward these cells. Flagella and chemotaxis genes were found not to influence the oxidative response. The induction of IL-6 from J774A-1 cells depended on the presence of flagella in S. Typhimurium, whilst this was not the case following challenge with S. Dublin. Addition of fliC from S. Typhimurium in trans to a fliC mutant of S. Dublin increased cytotoxicity but it did not increase the IL-6 production. Flagella were demonstrated to contribute to the outcome of infection following oral challenge of mice in S. Dublin, while an S. Typhimurium fliC/fljB mutant showed increased virulence following intra peritoneal challenge. Conclusions The results showed that flagella and chemotaxis genes differed in their role in host pathogen interaction between S. Dublin and S. Typhimurium. Notably, lack of flagella conferred a more virulent phenotype in S. Typhimurium at systemic sites, while this was not the case in S. Dublin. In vitro assays suggested that this could be related to flagella-induced induction of the IL-6 pro-inflammatory response, but further in vivo studies are needed to confirm this

Multistrain models predict sequential multidrug treatment strategies to result in less antimicrobial resistance than combination treatment

Background Combination treatment is increasingly used to fight infections caused by bacteria resistant to two or more antimicrobials. While multiple studies have evaluated treatment strategies to minimize the emergence of resistant strains for single antimicrobial treatment, fewer studies have considered combination treatments. The current study modeled bacterial growth in the intestine of pigs after intramuscular combination treatment (i.e. using two antibiotics simultaneously) and sequential treatments (i.e. alternating between two antibiotics) in order to identify the factors that favor the sensitive fraction of the commensal flora. Growth parameters for competing bacterial strains were estimated from the combined in vitro pharmacodynamic effect of two antimicrobials using the relationship between concentration and net bacterial growth rate. Predictions of in vivo bacterial growth were generated by a mathematical model of the competitive growth of multiple strains of Escherichia coli. Results Simulation studies showed that sequential use of tetracycline and ampicillin reduced the level of double resistance, when compared to the combination treatment. The effect of the cycling frequency (how frequently antibiotics are alternated in a sequential treatment) of the two drugs was dependent upon the order in which the two drugs were used. Conclusion Sequential treatment was more effective in preventing the growth of resistant strains when compared to the combination treatment. The cycling frequency did not play a role in suppressing the growth of resistant strains, but the specific order of the two antimicrobials did. Predictions made from the study could be used to redesign multidrug treatment strategies not only for intramuscular treatment in pigs, but also for other dosing routes

Whole-genome sequence of <em>Staphylococcus aureus</em> S54F9 isolated from a chronic disseminated porcine lung abscess and used in human infection models

We obtained a draft genome sequence of Staphylococcus aureus strain S54F9, which was isolated from a chronic disseminated porcine lung abscess and used in porcine infection models. Genes coding for a number of toxins, including enterotoxins and superantigen, were demonstrated in this strain