Towards High Performance Robotic Actuation

The main objective of this thesis is to enable development of high performance actuation for legged, limbed and mobile robots. Due to the fact that such robots need to support their own weight, their actuators need to be light weight, compact and efficient. Furthermore, a dynamics analysis, shows that the actuators' design may have significant impact on a robot's dynamics sensitivity. These consideration motivate improvements in all actuator design aspects. First, the application-specific design of outer rotor motors with concentrated windings is considered. It is shown that an intrinsic design trade-off exists between a motor's copper loss, core loss and mass, which allows development of motors with superior performance for a particular application. The three main application categories of interest are: electric vehicles, drones and robotic joints. Due to their outstanding torque density, high pole count outer rotor motors are analysed in terms of their design and optimization for robotic applications. Motor design scaling modes are also described in order to outline the main challenges in the implementation of high torque motors. Next, the design of gearboxes for robotic actuation is discussed. A novel type of high reduction Bearingless Planetary Gearbox is introduced which allows large range of reduction ratios to be achieved in a compound planetary stage. In this concept, all gear components float in an unconstrained manner as the planet carrier is substituted with a secondary sun gear. The advantages of the Bearingless Planetary Gearbox over current approaches in terms of improved robustness, load distribution, manufacturability, and assembly are outlined. Finally, analysis, design, and prototyping of rotary planar springs for rotary series elastic actuators is described. A mathematical model, based on curved beam theory, that allows rapid design, analysis, and comparison of rotary springs is developed. Mass reduction techniques based on composite arm structures are introduced and internal arm contact modeling is presented. Motivated by strain energy density analysis, an optimization based spring design approach is developed that allows significant increase in the torque and torque density.</p

High- cholesterol diet does not alter gut microbiota composition in mice

Introduction: Western diet containing both saturated fat and cholesterol impairs cardio- metabolic health partly by modulating diversity and function of the microbiota. While diet containing only high fat has comparable effects, it is unclear how diets only enriched in cholesterol impact the microbiota. Therefore, we aimed to characterize the response of host and microbiota to a high cholesterol ( HC) diet in mice susceptible to cardio- metabolic disease. Methods: LDLR knockout mice received either 1.25% HC or no cholesterol containing control diet ( NC) for 12 weeks before characterizing host cholesterol metabolism and intestinal microbiota composition ( next generation sequencing). Results: HC diet substantially increased plasma ( 1.6- fold) and liver cholesterol levels ( 21- fold), biliary cholesterol secretion ( 4.5- fold) and fecal neutral sterol excretion ( 68- fold, each p <0.001) but not fecal bile acid excretion. Interestingly, despite the profound changes in intestinal cholesterol homeostasis no differences in microbial composition between control and HC- fed mice were detected. In both groups the main phyla were Bacteroidetes ( 55%), Firmicutes ( 27%) and Verrucomicrobia ( 14%). Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that in mice HC diet alone does not alter the microbiota composition despite inducing substantial adaptive changes in whole body cholesterol homeostasis. The impact of Western diet on intestinal microbiota thus appears to be mediated exclusively by its high fat content

Regulatory mechanisms involved in pathoadaptation of extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli

Establishment of commensal bacteria within a new niche of their host usually promotes the transition from commensalism to pathogenicity. Extraintestinal Pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) represent different pathovars with biphasic lifestyle – they can reside in the gut as commensals or they can escape and cause diseases elsewhere in the human body. Depending on the disease they are linked to, ExPEC can be divided into Uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC), Newborn Meningitis-causing E. coli (NMEC) and Sepsis-associated E. coli (SEPEC). Pathoadaptive mutations linked to c-di-GMP signaling were investigated in the NMEC strain IHE3034 which lacks the main global stress regulator RpoS. We investigated the role of ycgG2 in the lifestyle of NMEC. Deletion of ycgG2, shown by us to encode an YcgG allozyme with c-di-GMP phosphodiesterase (PDE) activity, and the restored RpoS led to a decrease in the S-fimbriae, otherwise robustly produced in artificial urine, hinting that the urinary tract could serve as a habitat for NMEC. We showed that NMEC were capable of aerobic citrate utilization in the presence of a co-substrate - a property that normally does not exist in E. coli. Our data hint that this metabolic upgrade is enhanced by the lack, or reduced activity, of c-di-GMP PDEs. We also found that citrate utilization is a property of ExPEC, since we reconstituted it in E. coli UTI89 (a cystitis isolate) via inactivation of its RpoS, and since a set of pyelonephritis E. coli isolates use citrate aerobically in the presence of glucose. The main reason for this metabolic capability is the absence of RpoS which leads to the production of the citrate transporter CitT. Furthermore, we highlighted the deletion of the fec operon (required for the ferric citrate uptake) in a large group of different ExPEC strains and we showed that NMEC can use CitT for in vitro ferric citrate uptake dependent on YcgG2 as an alternative system. Another pathoadaptive mutation which influences the fitness of ExPEC is the clyA (cytolysin A) gene inactivation, resulting from different deletions in different ExPEC genomes. When we restored the clyA+ locus, the UPEC strain 536 displayed increased susceptibility to antimicrobial peptides and urea. We also showed that the ClyA expression in 536 was increased by the presence of the DNA-binding regulator SfaX and another stand-alone PDE similar to YcgG2, called SfaY. The results were further confirmed by ClyA downregulation in NMEC deficient in SfaY and SfaX. We also studied the role of sfaY - a gene coding for another stand-alone c-di-GMP PDE. The expression of sfaY is under the regulation of the main promoter of the horizontally acquired sfa gene cluster. The latter is responsible for the regulation and assembly of the virulence-associated S-fimbriae, via which ExPEC bacteria bind to sialylated receptors. We found that NMEC are competent for filamentation because of a c-di-GMP-dependent program under the control of a phase-variation event which selectively turns ‘ON’ the sfa promoter in a subpopulation of bacteria. When SfaY is present, c-di-GMP levels are reduced, thus inducing the SOS stress response via the canonical LexA-RecA pathway. The signaling resulted in an internal differentiation of the bacterial population into a subpopulation exhibiting a filamentous morphotype (bacteria with induced SOS stress response) and a subpopulation of small motile and non-motile bacteria. Hence, this molecular program could serve as a clue to explain the formation of the intracellular bacterial communities observed during urinary tract infection by UPEC

Regulatory mechanisms involved in pathoadaptation of extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli

Establishment of commensal bacteria within a new niche of their host usually promotes the transition from commensalism to pathogenicity. Extraintestinal Pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) represent different pathovars with biphasic lifestyle – they can reside in the gut as commensals or they can escape and cause diseases elsewhere in the human body. Depending on the disease they are linked to, ExPEC can be divided into Uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC), Newborn Meningitis-causing E. coli (NMEC) and Sepsis-associated E. coli (SEPEC). Pathoadaptive mutations linked to c-di-GMP signaling were investigated in the NMEC strain IHE3034 which lacks the main global stress regulator RpoS. We investigated the role of ycgG2 in the lifestyle of NMEC. Deletion of ycgG2, shown by us to encode an YcgG allozyme with c-di-GMP phosphodiesterase (PDE) activity, and the restored RpoS led to a decrease in the S-fimbriae, otherwise robustly produced in artificial urine, hinting that the urinary tract could serve as a habitat for NMEC. We showed that NMEC were capable of aerobic citrate utilization in the presence of a co-substrate - a property that normally does not exist in E. coli. Our data hint that this metabolic upgrade is enhanced by the lack, or reduced activity, of c-di-GMP PDEs. We also found that citrate utilization is a property of ExPEC, since we reconstituted it in E. coli UTI89 (a cystitis isolate) via inactivation of its RpoS, and since a set of pyelonephritis E. coli isolates use citrate aerobically in the presence of glucose. The main reason for this metabolic capability is the absence of RpoS which leads to the production of the citrate transporter CitT. Furthermore, we highlighted the deletion of the fec operon (required for the ferric citrate uptake) in a large group of different ExPEC strains and we showed that NMEC can use CitT for in vitro ferric citrate uptake dependent on YcgG2 as an alternative system. Another pathoadaptive mutation which influences the fitness of ExPEC is the clyA (cytolysin A) gene inactivation, resulting from different deletions in different ExPEC genomes. When we restored the clyA+ locus, the UPEC strain 536 displayed increased susceptibility to antimicrobial peptides and urea. We also showed that the ClyA expression in 536 was increased by the presence of the DNA-binding regulator SfaX and another stand-alone PDE similar to YcgG2, called SfaY. The results were further confirmed by ClyA downregulation in NMEC deficient in SfaY and SfaX. We also studied the role of sfaY - a gene coding for another stand-alone c-di-GMP PDE. The expression of sfaY is under the regulation of the main promoter of the horizontally acquired sfa gene cluster. The latter is responsible for the regulation and assembly of the virulence-associated S-fimbriae, via which ExPEC bacteria bind to sialylated receptors. We found that NMEC are competent for filamentation because of a c-di-GMP-dependent program under the control of a phase-variation event which selectively turns ‘ON’ the sfa promoter in a subpopulation of bacteria. When SfaY is present, c-di-GMP levels are reduced, thus inducing the SOS stress response via the canonical LexA-RecA pathway. The signaling resulted in an internal differentiation of the bacterial population into a subpopulation exhibiting a filamentous morphotype (bacteria with induced SOS stress response) and a subpopulation of small motile and non-motile bacteria. Hence, this molecular program could serve as a clue to explain the formation of the intracellular bacterial communities observed during urinary tract infection by UPEC

Regulatory mechanisms involved in pathoadaptation of extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli

Establishment of commensal bacteria within a new niche of their host usually promotes the transition from commensalism to pathogenicity. Extraintestinal Pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) represent different pathovars with biphasic lifestyle – they can reside in the gut as commensals or they can escape and cause diseases elsewhere in the human body. Depending on the disease they are linked to, ExPEC can be divided into Uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC), Newborn Meningitis-causing E. coli (NMEC) and Sepsis-associated E. coli (SEPEC). Pathoadaptive mutations linked to c-di-GMP signaling were investigated in the NMEC strain IHE3034 which lacks the main global stress regulator RpoS. We investigated the role of ycgG2 in the lifestyle of NMEC. Deletion of ycgG2, shown by us to encode an YcgG allozyme with c-di-GMP phosphodiesterase (PDE) activity, and the restored RpoS led to a decrease in the S-fimbriae, otherwise robustly produced in artificial urine, hinting that the urinary tract could serve as a habitat for NMEC. We showed that NMEC were capable of aerobic citrate utilization in the presence of a co-substrate - a property that normally does not exist in E. coli. Our data hint that this metabolic upgrade is enhanced by the lack, or reduced activity, of c-di-GMP PDEs. We also found that citrate utilization is a property of ExPEC, since we reconstituted it in E. coli UTI89 (a cystitis isolate) via inactivation of its RpoS, and since a set of pyelonephritis E. coli isolates use citrate aerobically in the presence of glucose. The main reason for this metabolic capability is the absence of RpoS which leads to the production of the citrate transporter CitT. Furthermore, we highlighted the deletion of the fec operon (required for the ferric citrate uptake) in a large group of different ExPEC strains and we showed that NMEC can use CitT for in vitro ferric citrate uptake dependent on YcgG2 as an alternative system. Another pathoadaptive mutation which influences the fitness of ExPEC is the clyA (cytolysin A) gene inactivation, resulting from different deletions in different ExPEC genomes. When we restored the clyA+ locus, the UPEC strain 536 displayed increased susceptibility to antimicrobial peptides and urea. We also showed that the ClyA expression in 536 was increased by the presence of the DNA-binding regulator SfaX and another stand-alone PDE similar to YcgG2, called SfaY. The results were further confirmed by ClyA downregulation in NMEC deficient in SfaY and SfaX. We also studied the role of sfaY - a gene coding for another stand-alone c-di-GMP PDE. The expression of sfaY is under the regulation of the main promoter of the horizontally acquired sfa gene cluster. The latter is responsible for the regulation and assembly of the virulence-associated S-fimbriae, via which ExPEC bacteria bind to sialylated receptors. We found that NMEC are competent for filamentation because of a c-di-GMP-dependent program under the control of a phase-variation event which selectively turns ‘ON’ the sfa promoter in a subpopulation of bacteria. When SfaY is present, c-di-GMP levels are reduced, thus inducing the SOS stress response via the canonical LexA-RecA pathway. The signaling resulted in an internal differentiation of the bacterial population into a subpopulation exhibiting a filamentous morphotype (bacteria with induced SOS stress response) and a subpopulation of small motile and non-motile bacteria. Hence, this molecular program could serve as a clue to explain the formation of the intracellular bacterial communities observed during urinary tract infection by UPEC

Absence of Global Stress Regulation in Escherichia coli Promotes Pathoadaptation and Novel c-di-GMP-dependent Metabolic Capability

athoadaptive mutations linked to c-di-GMP signalling were investigated in neonatal meningitis-causing Escherichia coli (NMEC). The results indicated that NMEC strains deficient in RpoS (the global stress regulator) maintained remarkably low levels of c-di-GMP, a major bacterial sessility-motility switch. Deletion of ycgG2, shown here to encode a YcgG allozyme with c-di-GMP phosphodiesterase activity, and the restoration of RpoS led to a decrease in S-fimbriae, robustly produced in artificial urine, hinting that the urinary tract could serve as a habitat for NMEC. We showed that NMEC were skilled in aerobic citrate utilization in the presence of glucose, a property that normally does not exist in E. coli. Our data suggest that this metabolic novelty is a property of extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli since we reconstituted this ability in E. coli UTI89 (a cystitis isolate) via deactivation rpoS; additionally, a set of pyelonephritis E. coli isolates were shown here to aerobically use citrate in the presence of glucose. We found that the main reason for this metabolic capability is RpoS inactivation leading to the production of the citrate transporter CitT, exploited by NMEC for ferric citrate uptake dependent on YcgG2 (an allozyme with c-di-GMP phosphodiesterase activity).Originally included in thesis in manuscript form.</p

Comparative label-free proteomics of the neonatal meningitis-causing Escherichia coli K1 IHE3034 and RS218 morphotypes

The proteome of two newborn meningitis Escherichia coli K1 (NMEC) morphotypes was examined via a label-free proteomics approach. Besides shared NMEC virulence factors, the two strains have different evolutionary strategies-strain IHE3034 tends to perform anaerobic respiration continuously, while strain RS218 maintains its filamentous morphotype due to active SOS response

Metabolic and morphotypic trade-offs within the eco-evolutionary dynamics of Escherichia coli

Escherichia coli arbitrarily encompasses facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped bacteria with defined respiratory and fermentative types of metabolism. The species diversification has been further advanced by atypical strains whose features deviate from the essential species-specific morphological and metabolic cutoff. The morphological cutoff is exemplified by bacterial filamentation. E. coli filamentation has been studied from two different perspectives: the first considers filamentation as a result of adaptive strategies and response to stress, while the second is based on findings from the cell division of E. coli’s conditional mutants. Another cutoff is represented by E. coli’s inability to use citrate as a sole carbon and energy source. In this study, we compared two atypical E. coli strains that belong to the same neuroinvasive ecovar but exhibit either of the two phenotypes that deviate from the species’ features. While E. coli RS218 exists in the form of filaments incapable of growth on citrate, strain IHE3034 is represented as normal-sized bacteria able to ferment citrate under oxic conditions in the presence of glucose; in this paper, we show that these two phenotypes result from a bona fide trade-off. With the help of comparative proteomics and metabolomics, we discovered the proteome required for the upkeep of these phenotypes. The metabolic profiles of both strains reveal that under aerobic conditions, RS218 undergoes oxidative metabolism, while IHE3034 undergoes anaerobic respiration. Finally, we show that the use of citrate and filament formation are both linked in a trade-off occurring via a c-di-GMP-dependent phase variation event. IMPORTANCE Aerobic use of citrate and filamentous growth are arbitrary cutoffs for the Escherichia coli species. The strains that exhibit them as stable phenotypes are called atypical. In this study, we compare two atypical neuroinvasive E. coli strains, which alternatively display either of these phenotypes. We present the proteome and metabolome required for the maintenance of filamentous growth and show that anaerobic nitrate respiration is the main requirement for the use of citrate. The fact that the two phenotypes are differentially expressed by each strain prompted us to check if they are part of a trade-off. Indeed, these atypical characters are reversible and result from a c-di-GMP phase variation event. Thus, we revealed hidden links between stable morphological and metabolic phenotypes and provided information about alternative evolutionary pathways for the survival of E. coli strains in various host niches

Eco-evolutionary feedbacks mediated by bacterial membrane vesicles

Bacterial membrane vesicles (BMVs) are spherical extracellular organelles whose cargo is enclosed by a biological membrane. The cargo can be delivered to distant parts of a given habitat in a protected and concentrated manner. This review presents current knowledge about BMVs in the context of bacterial eco-evolutionary dynamics among different environments and hosts. BMVs may play an important role in establishing and stabilizing bacterial communities in such environments; for example, bacterial populations may benefit from BMVs to delay the negative effect of certain evolutionary trade-offs that can result in deleterious phenotypes. BMVs can also perform ecosystem engineering by serving as detergents, mediators in biochemical cycles, components of different biofilms, substrates for cross-feeding, defense systems against different dangers and enzyme-delivery mechanisms that can change substrate availability. BMVs further contribute to bacteria as mediators in different interactions, with either other bacterial species or their hosts. In short, BMVs extend and deliver phenotypic traits that can have ecological and evolutionary value to both their producers and the ecosystem as a whole