Project description:In Staphylococcus aureus, the role of the GGDEF domain containing protein GdpS remains poorly understood. Previous studies reported that gdpS mutant strains had decreased biofilm formation due to changes in icaADBC expression that were independent of cyclic-di-GMP levels. We deleted gdpS in three unrelated S. aureus isolates, and analyzed the resultant mutants for alterations in biofilm formation, metabolism and transcription. Dynamic imaging during biofilm development showed that GdpS inhibited early biofilm formation in only two out of the three strains examined, without affecting bacterial survival. However, quantification of biofilm formation using crystal violet staining revealed that inactivation of gdpS affected biofilm formation in all three studied strains. Extraction of metabolites from S. aureus cells confirmed the absence of cyclic-di-GMP, suggesting that biofilm formation in this species differs from that in other Gram-positive organisms. In addition, targeted mutagenesis demonstrated that the GGDEF domain was not required for GdpS activity. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that the vast majority of GGDEF-regulated genes were involved in virulence, metabolism, cell wall biogenesis and eDNA release. Finally, expression of lrgAB or deletion of cidABC in a strain lacking gdpS confirmed the role of GdpS on regulation of eDNA production that occurred without an increase in cell autolysis. In summary, S. aureus GdpS contributes to cell-to-cell interactions during early biofilm formation by influencing expression of lrgAB and cidABC mediated eDNA release. We conclude that GdpS acts as a negative regulator of eDNA release.
Project description:Although the major food-borne pathogen Campylobacter jejuni has been isolated from diverse animal, human and environmental sources, our knowledge of genomic diversity in C. jejuni is based exclusively on human or human food-chain-associated isolates. Studies employing multilocus sequence typing have indicated that some clonal complexes are more commonly associated with particular sources. Using comparative genomic hybridization on a collection of 80 isolates representing diverse sources and clonal complexes, we identified a separate clade comprising a group of water/wildlife isolates of C. jejuni with multilocus sequence types uncharacteristic of human food-chain-associated isolates. By genome sequencing one representative of this diverse group (C. jejuni 1336), and a representative of the bank-vole niche specialist ST-3704 (C. jejuni 414), we identified deletions of genomic regions normally carried by human food-chain-associated C. jejuni. Several of the deleted regions included genes implicated in chicken colonization or in virulence. Novel genomic insertions contributing to the accessory genomes of strains 1336 and 414 were identified. Comparative analysis using PCR assays indicated that novel regions were common but not ubiquitous among the water/wildlife group of isolates, indicating further genomic diversity among this group, whereas all ST-3704 isolates carried the same novel accessory regions. While strain 1336 was able to colonize chicks, strain 414 was not, suggesting that regions specifically absent from the genome of strain 414 may play an important role in this common route of Campylobacter infection of humans. We suggest that the genomic divergence observed constitutes evidence of adaptation leading to niche specialization. Data is also available from <ahref=http://bugs.sgul.ac.uk/E-BUGS-95 target=_blank>BuG@Sbase</a>
Project description:In Staphylococcus aureus, the role of the GGDEF domain containing protein GdpS remains poorly understood. Previous studies reported that gdpS mutant strains had decreased biofilm formation due to changes in icaADBC expression that were independent of cyclic-di-GMP levels. We deleted gdpS in three unrelated S. aureus isolates, and analyzed the resultant mutants for alterations in biofilm formation, metabolism and transcription. Dynamic imaging during biofilm development showed that GdpS inhibited early biofilm formation in only two out of the three strains examined, without affecting bacterial survival. However, quantification of biofilm formation using crystal violet staining revealed that inactivation of gdpS affected biofilm formation in all three studied strains. Extraction of metabolites from S. aureus cells confirmed the absence of cyclic-di-GMP, suggesting that biofilm formation in this species differs from that in other Gram-positive organisms. In addition, targeted mutagenesis demonstrated that the GGDEF domain was not required for GdpS activity. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that the vast majority of GGDEF-regulated genes were involved in virulence, metabolism, cell wall biogenesis and eDNA release. Finally, expression of lrgAB or deletion of cidABC in a strain lacking gdpS confirmed the role of GdpS on regulation of eDNA production that occurred without an increase in cell autolysis. In summary, S. aureus GdpS contributes to cell-to-cell interactions during early biofilm formation by influencing expression of lrgAB and cidABC mediated eDNA release. We conclude that GdpS acts as a negative regulator of eDNA release. Three strains UAMS-1, SA113 and SA564 were used in this study to compare wt with gdpS mutant after 5 hours of growth in static conditions (biofilm formation).
Project description:Monitoring microbial communities can aid in understanding the state of these habitats. Environmental DNA (eDNA) techniques provide efficient and comprehensive monitoring by capturing broader diversity. Besides structural profiling, eDNA methods allow the study of functional profiles, encompassing the genes within the microbial community. In this study, three methodologies were compared for functional profiling of microbial communities in estuarine and coastal sites in the Bay of Biscay. The methodologies included inference from 16S metabarcoding data using Tax4Fun, GeoChip microarrays, and shotgun metagenomics.