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Polymyxin resistance in colibactin-producing Escherichia coli induces host genotoxicity

ABSTRACT: The complex reservoir of metabolite-producing bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract contributes tremendously to human health and disease. Bacterial composition, and by extension gut metabolomic composition, is undoubtably influenced by the use of modern antibiotics. Herein, we demonstrate that polymyxin B, a last resort antibiotic used for chronic multidrug resistant infections infections, influences the production of the genotoxic metabolite colibactin from adherent-invasive Escherichia coli (AIEC) NC101. Colibactin can augment colorectal cancer (CRC) through DNA double stranded breaks and interstrand crosslinks. While the structure and biosynthesis of colibactin has been elucidated, chemical-induced regulation of its biosynthetic gene cluster and subsequent production of the genotoxin by pathogenic E. coli are largely unexplored. This research highlights the regulation of the colibactin-producing biosynthetic gene cluster under polymyxin stress. Using a multi-omic approach, we have identified that polymyxin stress enhances the abundance of colibactin biosynthesis proteins (Clbs) in multiple pks+ E. coli strains, including pro-carcinogenic AIEC: NC101, the probiotic strain: E. coli Nissle 1917, and the antibiotic testing strain: E. coli ATCC 25922. Expression analysis via qPCR revealed that increased transcription of clb genes likely contributes to elevated Clb protein levels in NC101. Enhanced production of Clbs by NC101 under polymyxin stress matched an increased production of the colibactin prodrug motif, a proxy for the mature genotoxic metabolite. Furthermore, E. coli with heightened tolerance for polymyxin antibiotics induced greater DNA damage, assessed by quantification of yH2AX staining in cultured intestinal epithelial cells. This study establishes a key link between the polymyxin B stress response and colibactin production in pks+ E. coli. Ultimately, our findings will inform future studies investigating colibactin regulation, the microbial response to antibiotics in the gut, and the ability of seemingly innocuous commensal microbes to induce host disease.

INSTRUMENT(S): Q Exactive HF-X

ORGANISM(S): Escherichia Coli

SUBMITTER: Leslie M. Hicks

PROVIDER: MSV000087101 | MassIVE | Thu Mar 25 18:00:00 GMT 2021

REPOSITORIES: MassIVE

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Project description:The complex reservoir of metabolite-producing bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract contributes tremendously to human health and disease. Bacterial composition, and by extension gut metabolomic composition, is undoubtably influenced by the use of modern antibiotics. Herein, we demonstrate that polymyxin B, a last resort antibiotic used for chronic multidrug resistant infections infections, influences the production of the genotoxic metabolite colibactin from adherent-invasive Escherichia coli (AIEC) NC101. Colibactin can augment colorectal cancer (CRC) through DNA double stranded breaks and interstrand crosslinks. While the structure and biosynthesis of colibactin has been elucidated, chemical-induced regulation of its biosynthetic gene cluster and subsequent production of the genotoxin by pathogenic E. coli are largely unexplored. This research highlights the regulation of the colibactin-producing biosynthetic gene cluster under polymyxin stress. Using a multi-omic approach, we have identified that polymyxin stress enhances the abundance of colibactin biosynthesis proteins (Clb’s) in multiple pks+ E. coli strains, including pro-carcinogenic AIEC: NC101, the probiotic strain: E. coli Nissle 1917, and the antibiotic testing strain: E. coli ATCC 25922. Expression analysis via qPCR revealed that increased transcription of clb genes likely contributes to elevated Clb protein levels in NC101. Enhanced production of Clb’s by NC101 under polymyxin stress matched an increased production of the colibactin prodrug motif, a proxy for the mature genotoxic metabolite. Furthermore, E. coli with heightened tolerance for polymyxin antibiotics induced greater DNA damage, assessed by quantification of γH2AX staining in cultured intestinal epithelial cells. This study establishes a key link between the polymyxin B stress response and colibactin production in pks+ E. coli. Ultimately, our findings will inform future studies investigating colibactin regulation, the microbial response to antibiotics in the gut, and the ability of seemingly innocuous commensal microbes to induce host disease.

Project description:Deeper understanding of antibiotic-induced physiological responses is critical to identifying means for enhancing our current antibiotic arsenal. Bactericidal antibiotics with diverse targets have been hypothesized to kill bacteria, in part, by inducing production of damaging reactive species. This notion has been supported by many groups, but recently challenged. Here we robustly test the hypothesis using biochemical, enzymatic and biophysical assays along with genetic and phenotypic experiments. We first used a novel intracellular hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) sensor, together with a chemically diverse panel of fluorescent dyes sensitive to an array of reactive species, to demonstrate that antibiotics broadly induce redox stress. Subsequent gene expression analyses reveal that complex antibiotic-induced oxidative stress responses are distinct from canonical responses generated by supra-physiological levels of H2O2. We next developed a method to dynamically quantify cellular respiration and found that bactericidal antibiotics elevate oxygen consumption, indicating significant alterations to bacterial redox physiology. We further show that catalase or DNA mismatch repair enzyme overexpression, as well as antioxidant pre-treatment limit antibiotic lethality, indicating that reactive oxygen species causatively contribute to antibiotic killing. Critically, the killing efficacy of antibiotics was diminished under strict anaerobic conditions, but could be enhanced by exposure to molecular oxygen or addition of alternative electron acceptors, suggesting that environmental factors play a role in killing cells physiologically primed for death. This work provides direct evidence that bactericidal antibiotics, downstream of their target-specific interactions, induce complex redox alterations that contribute to cellular damage and death, thus supporting an evolving, expanded model of antibiotic lethality. Here, we used microarrays to analyze oxidative stress responses to bactericidal antibiotic treatment in wildtype and mutant E coli WT or mutant E coli cells were grown to OD ~0.3. Untreated cells were harvested at time 0 as controls. Treated cells given the appropriate chemical perturbation and harvested 1 hour post-treatment. All experiments were performed in technical triplicate.

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Polymyxin resistance in colibactin-producing Escherichia coli induces host genotoxicity

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