Project description:In the present work we compare the gene expression profile of A. baumannii and a mutant knock-out strain of A. baumannii lacking a small RNA gene 13573 and the corresponding small RNA 13573 over-producing strain. The main objective is to recognize the main pathways in which the small RNA 13573 is involved. Moreover, the same wild type strain was used to infect mice and was further analyzed after the infection with the aim of finding genes differentially expressed in vivo. Three biological replicates have been performed for each comparison. The RNA collection from Acinetobacter baumannii strain over-expresing the small RNA (sample 13573) was compared with this isolated from A. baumannii harboring the empty vector (PETRA sample) while gene expression in the knock-out strain (KO sample) was compared with the wild type strain Acinetobacter baumannii ATCC 17978 (ATCC sample). The RNA from A.baumannii recovered from the infected animals (INF sample) was compared with the wild type (ATCC).
Project description:Two Acinetobacter baumannii strains with low susceptibility to fosmidomycin and two reference with high susceptibility to fosmidomycin were DNA-sequenced to investigate the genomic determinants of fosmidomycin resistance.
Project description:Difference in RNA expression levels between Acinetobacter baumannii cells expressing high and low levels of cyclic AMP Total RNA obtained from Acineotbacter baumannii bacterial cells in Log phase gown in MH broth culture, isolated RNA in triplicate from three expreiment. cpdA::Tn mutant and 17978hm strain compared. Assessing increased levels of cAMP within the cell
Project description:Using Nanopore sequencing, our study has revealed a close correlation between genomic methylation levels and antibiotic resistance rates in Acinetobacter Baumannii. Specifically, the combined genome-wide DNA methylome and transcriptome analysis revealed the first epigenetic-based antibiotic-resistance mechanism in A. baumannii. Our findings suggest that the precise location of methylation sites along the chromosome could provide new diagnostic markers and drug targets to improve the management of multidrug-resistant A. baumannii infections.
Project description:Asymptomatic gut colonization increases the risk of clinical infection and transmission by the multidrug-resistant pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii. Ornithine utilization was shown to be critical for A. baumannii competition with the resident microbiota to persist in gut colonization, but the regulatory mechanisms and cues are unknown. Here, we identify a transcriptional regulator, AstR, that specifically activates the expression of the A. baumannii ornithine utilization operon astNOP. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that AstR was co-opted from the Acinetobacter arginine utilization ast(G)CADBE locus and is specialized to regulate ornithine utilization in A. baumannii. Reporter assays showed that astN promoter expression was activated by ornithine but inhibited by glutamate and other preferred amino acids. astN promoter expression was similarly activated by incubation with fecal samples from conventional mice but not germ-free mice, suggesting AstR-dependent activation of the astN promoter responds to intermicrobial competition for amino acids. Finally, AstR was required for A. baumannii to colonize the gut in a mouse model. Together, these results suggest that pathogenic Acinetobacter species evolved AstR to regulate ornithine catabolism, which is required to compete with the microbiota during gut colonization.
