Project description:The interactions between Gram-negative respiratory pathogens and the host environment at the site of infection largely unknown. Pulmonary surfactant serves as an initial point of contact for inhaled bacteria entering the lung and is thought to contain molecular cues that aid colonization and pathogenesis. To gain insight into this ecological transition, we characterized the transcriptional responses of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14, Burkholderia thailandensis E264, Klebsiella pneumoniae MGH 78578, and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia K279A exposed to purified pulmonary surfactant (Survanta) through microarrays. This study provides novel insight into the interactions occurring between Gram-negative opportunistic pathogens and the host at an important infection site, and demonstrates the utility of purified lung surfactant preparations for dissecting host-lung pathogen interactions in vitro. The goal of this study was to compare the transcriptional responses of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14, Burkholderia thailandensis E264, Klebsiella pneumoniae MGH 78578, and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia K279A exposed to pulmonary surfactant using a custom affymetrix chip designed for their genomes. The goal of this study was to compare the transcriptional responses of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14, Burkholderia thailandensis E264, Klebsiella pneumoniae MGH 78578, and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia K279A exposed to pulmonary surfactant using a custom affymetrix chip designed for their genomes.
Project description:The Translocation and Assembly Module (TAM), composed of TamA and TamB, facilitates the insertion of some β-barrel proteins into the OM of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, and has also been implicated in lipid homeostasis. However, its role in Pseudomonas aeruginosa remains mostly uncharacterized. To investigate TAM’s function and drug target potential in P. aeruginosa, we generated both single gene knockouts and the tamAB double knockout and isolated outer membrane proteins (OMP) and whole cell lysate (WCP) and run mass spectrometry.
Project description:Multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria (GNB) are major contributors to the anti-microbial resistance (AMR) burden in humans and animals. AMR mechanisms are primarily mediated by proteoforms and, therefore, proteomic analyses of GNB offers a significant advantage in understanding the mechanisms of AMR. A large portion of these mechanisms are mediated by membrane proteins, however, they are often difficult to extract due to their hydrophobic nature and complex interactions with other components of the cell membrane. To extract the greatest number of proteoforms, an efficient ho-mogenisation protocol is required to effectively disrupt the rigid cell wall and membrane. Using Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa we systematically compared the extraction efficiency of bead-beating with flash frozen and lyophilized cell pellets. We demonstrate that lyophilization prior to ho-mogenisation by bead-beating increases the detection of hydrophobic, membrane pro-teins. We detected numerous unique membrane proteins in each bacterial isolate, in-cluding ABC transporters and proteins involved in lipopolysaccharide synthesis, when lyophilizing prior to bead-beating compared to only flash freezing prior. As membrane proteins play a central role in AMR resistance mechanisms, this improvement in their isolation and identification will aid in understanding the resistance and molecular mechanisms associated with multi-drug resistant GNB.
Project description:The emergence of colistin resistance in carbapenem-resistant and extended-spectrum ß-lactamase (ESBL)-producing bacteria is a significant threat to human health, and new treatment strategies are urgently required. Here we investigated the ability of the safe-for-human use ionophore PBT2 to restore antibiotic sensitivity in several polymyxin-resistant, ESBL-producing, carbapenem resistant Gram-negative human pathogens. PBT2 was observed to resensitize Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa to last-resort polymyxin class antibiotics, including a ‘next generation’ polymyxin derivative, FADDI-287. To gain additional insight into the potential mechanism of action of PBT2, we analyzed the transcriptome of K. pneumoniae and E. coli in the presence of sub-inhibitory concentrations of PBT2. Treatment with PBT2 was associated with multiple stress responses in both K. pneumoniae and E. coli. Significant changes in the transcription of transition metal ion homeostasis genes were observed in both strains.