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The probiotic Escherichia coli strain Nissle 1917 combats the lambdoid bacteriophages stx and λ

ABSTRACT: The Escherichia coli strain Nissle 1917 (EcN) is used as a probiotic for the treatment of certain gastrointestinal diseases in several European and non-European countries. In vitro studies showed EcN to efficiently inhibit the production of Shiga toxin (Stx) by Stx producing E. coli (STEC) such as Enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC). The occurrence of the latest EHEC serotype (O104:H4) responsible for the great outbreak in 2011 in Germany was due to the infection of an enteroaggregative E. coli by a Stx 2-encoding lambdoid phage turning this E. coli into a lysogenic and subsequently into a Stx producing strain. Since EHEC infected persons are not recommended to be treated with antibiotics, EcN might be an alternative medication. However, because a harmless E. coli strain might be converted into a Stx-producer after becoming host to a stx encoding prophage, we tested EcN for stx-phage genome integration. Our experiments revealed the resistance of EcN towards not only stx-phages but also against the lambda phage. This resistance was not based on the lack of or by mutated phage receptors. Rather the expression of certain genes (superinfection exclusion B (sieB) and a phage repressor (pr) gene) of a defective prophage of EcN was involved in the complete resistance of EcN to infection by the stx- and lambda phage. Obviously, EcN cannot be turned into a Stx producer. Furthermore, we observed EcN to inactivate phages and thereby to protect E. coli K-12 strains against infection by stx- as well as lambda-phages. Inactivation of lambda-phages was due to binding of lambda-phages to LamB of EcN whereas inactivation of stx-phages was caused by a thermostable protein of EcN. These properties together with its ability to inhibit Stx production make EcN a good candidate for the prevention of illness caused by EHEC and probably for the treatment of already infected people.

ORGANISM(S): Escherichia coli Nissle 1917

PROVIDER: GSE109932 | GEO | 2018/06/14

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Optimality of the spontaneous prophage induction rate. Cortes MG1, Krog J2, Balázsi G3. 1 Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA. 2 The Louis and Beatrice Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA. 3 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA. Electronic address: gabor.balazsi@stonybrook.edu. Abstract Lysogens are bacterial cells that have survived after genomically incorporating the DNA of temperate bacteriophages infecting them. If an infection results in lysogeny, the lysogen continues to grow and divide normally, seemingly unaffected by the integrated viral genome known as a prophage. However, the prophage can still have an impact on the host's phenotype and overall fitness in certain environments. Additionally, the prophage within the lysogen can activate the lytic pathway via spontaneous prophage induction (SPI), killing the lysogen and releasing new progeny phages. These new phages can then lyse or lysogenize other susceptible nonlysogens, thereby impacting the competition between lysogens and nonlysogens. In a scenario with differing growth rates, it is not clear whether SPI would be beneficial or detrimental to the lysogens since it kills the host cell but also attacks nonlysogenic competitors, either lysing or lysogenizing them. Here we study the evolutionary dynamics of a mixture of lysogens and nonlysogens and derive general conditions on SPI rates for lysogens to displace nonlysogens. We show that there exists an optimal SPI rate for bacteriophage λ and explain why it is so low. We also investigate the impact of stochasticity and conclude that even at low cell numbers SPI can still provide an advantage to the lysogens. These results corroborate recent experimental studies showing that lower SPI rates are advantageous for phage-phage competition, and establish theoretical bounds on the SPI rate in terms of ecological and environmental variables associated with lysogens having a competitive advantage over their nonlysogenic counterparts. Copyright © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Project description:Staphylococcus aureus is a Gram-positive human pathogen causing a variety of human diseases in both hospital and community settings. This bacterium is so closely associated with prophages that it is rare to find S. aureus isolates without prophages. Two phages are known to be important for staphylococcal virulence: the beta-hemolysin (hlb) converting phage and the Panton-Valentine Leukocidin (PVL) converting phage. The hlb-converting phage is found in more than 90% of clinical isolates of S. aureus. This phage produces exotoxins and immune modulatory molecules, which inhibit human innate immune responses. The PVL-converting phage produces the two-component exotoxin PVL, which can kill human leucocytes. This phage is wide-spread among community-associated methicillin resistant S. aureus (CA-MRSA). It also shows strong association with soft tissue infections and necrotizing pneumonia. Several lines of evidence suggest that staphylococcal prophages increase bacterial virulence not only by providing virulence factors but also by altering bacterial gene expression: 1) Transposon insertion into prophage regulatory genes, but not into the genes of virulence factors, reduced S. aureus killing of Caenorhabditis elegans.; 2) Although the toxins and immune modulatory molecules encoded by the hlb- converting phages do not function in the murine system, deletion of ϕNM3, the hlb-converting phage in S. aureus Newman, reduced staphylococcal virulence in the murine abscess formation model. 3) In a preliminary microarray experiment, prophages in S. aureus Newman altered the expression of more than 300 genes. In this research proposal, using microarray and high-throughput quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) technologies, we will identify the effects of the two important staphylococcal phages on the gene expression of S. aureus in both in vitro and in vivo conditions. This project is intended to be completed within one year. All the data – microarray, qRT-PCR and all the primer sequences- will be made available to public 6 month after completion. Data from this project will help us to understand the role of prophages in the S. aureus pathogenesis and can lead to development of a strategy to interfere with the pathogenesis process. Following strains were grown in TSA broth: Staphylococcus aureus USA300 (reference) Staphylococcus aureus USA300 with deletion of ϕSa2usa (Query) Staphylococcus aureus USA300 with deletion of ϕSa3usa (Query) Staphylococcus aureus USA300 Prophage-free mutant (Query) Staphylococcus aureus USA300 Prophage-free mutant lysogenized with ϕSa2mw (Query) Staphylococcus aureus USA300 Prophage-free mutant lysogenized with ϕSa3usa (Query) strain: Staphylococcus aureus USA300 Prophage-free mutant lysogenized with both ϕSa2mw and ϕSa3usa (Query) RNA samples were harvested at early log, midlog and stationary phase.Samples were hybridized on aminosilane coated slides with 70-mer oligos.

Project description:EHEC is a food-borne pathogen that colonizes human GI tract and leads to infection. To understand the process of colonization and to decipher if any factors secreted by intestinal epithelial cells help EHEC during the infection process, we studied expression of EHEC virulence gene expression when exposed to intestinal epithelial cell conditioned medium. In our study, we observed that exposure to epithelial cell conditioned medium for 1 h and 3 h increases expression of 32 out of 41 EHEC LEE virulence genes. In addition, expression of the shiga toxin 1 (Stx1) gene is up-regulated at 1 h of exposure. Also, 17 genes encoded by prophage 933W, including those for Stx2, are also upregulated at both time-points. The increase in 933W prophage expression is mirrored by a 2.7-fold increase in intracellular Stx2 phage titers. Consistent with the increase in virulence gene expression, we observed a 5-fold increase in EHEC attachment to epithelial cells when exposed to conditioned medium, suggesting that EHEC utilizes host cell molecules to increase virulence and infectivity. The molecule(s) responsible for increased EHEC virulence is heat-sensitive as heating the conditioned medium to 95oC abolishes the increase in attachment to epithelial cells. A similar decrease was observed when the conditioned medium was treated with proteinase-K to degrade the proteins. The secreted molecule(s) was found to be larger than 3 kDa and strongly suggests that the HCT-8 secreted molecule that increases EHEC virulence and colonization is a protein-based molecule. Affymetrix E. coli Genome 2.0 Arrays were used to determine the changes in EHEC virulence gene expression on exposure to intestinal epithelial cell-secreted factors (through growth in conditioned medium). Overnight cultures of EHEC were diluted in LB medium to a turbidity of 0.1 at 600 nm. The cells were allowed to grow to a turbidity of 1.0 at 600 nm at 37Â°C and the EHEC cells were then resuspended in either fresh or conditioned medium. The cultures were then allowed to grow for 1 h or 3 h before cell pellets were collected by centrifugation and stored at -80Â°C. Total RNA was isolated from the cell pellets (173) and RNA quality was assessed using gel electrophoresis. Escherichia coli Genome 2.0 arrays (Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA, USA) containing 10,208 probe sets for all 20,366 genes present in four strains of E. coli, including EHEC, were used to profile changes in gene expression using RNA samples for each treatment.

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The probiotic Escherichia coli strain Nissle 1917 combats the lambdoid bacteriophages stx and λ

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