Temporal and Spatial Diversity of the Tap Water Microbiota in a Norwegian Hospital

We analyzed the temporal and spatial diversity of the microbiota in a low-usage and a high-usage hospital tap. We identified a tap-specific colonization pattern, with potential human pathogens being overrepresented in the low-usage tap. We propose that founder effects and local adaptation caused the tap-specific colonization patterns. Our conclusion is that tap-specific colonization represents a potential challenge for water safety.Humans are exposed to and consume large amounts of tap water in their everyday life, with the tap water microbiota representing a potent reservoir for pathogens (8). Despite the potential impact, our knowledge about the ecological diversification processes of the tap water microbiota is limited (4, 11).The aim of the present work was to determine the temporal and spatial distribution patterns of the planktonic tap water microbiota. We compared the summer and winter microbiota from two hospital taps supplied from the same water source. We analyzed 16S rRNA gene clone libraries by using a novel alignment-independent approach for operational taxonomic unit (OTU) designation (6), while established OTU diversity and richness estimators were used for the ecological interpretations.Tap water samples (1 liter) from a high-usage kitchen and a low-usage toilet cold-water tap in Akershus University Hospital, Lørenskog, Norway, were collected in January and July 2006. The total DNA was isolated and the 16S rRNA gene PCR amplified and sequenced. Based on the sequences, we estimated the species richness and diversity, we calculated the distances between the communities, and trees were constructed to reflect the relatedness of the microbiota in the samples analyzed. Details about these analytical approaches are given in the materials and methods section in the supplemental material.Our initial analysis of species composition was done using the RDPII hierarchical classifier. We found that the majority of pathogen-related bacteria in our data set belonged to the class Gammaproteobacteria. The genera encompassed Legionella, Pseudomonas, and Vibrio (Table ​(Table1).1). We found a significant overrepresentation of pathogen-related bacteria in the toilet tap (P = 0.04), while there were no significant differences between summer and winter samples. Legionella showed the highest relative abundance for the pathogen-related bacteria. With respect to the total diversity, we found that Proteobacteria dominated the tap water microbiota (representing 86% of the taxa) (see Table S1 in the supplemental material). There was, however, a large portion (56%) of the taxa that could not be assigned to the genus level using this classifier.

TABLE 1.

Cloned sequences related to human pathogens^a

Unsuitability of Quantitative Bacteroidales 16S rRNA Gene Assays for Discerning Fecal Contamination of Drinking Water

Bacteroidales species were detected in (tap) water samples from treatment plants with three different PCR assays. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that the sequences had an environmental rather than fecal origin. We conclude that assays for Bacteroidales 16S rRNA genes are not specific enough to discern fecal contamination of drinking water in the Netherlands.Drinking water in many countries is routinely monitored for recent fecal contamination by testing for fecal indicator organisms Escherichia coli, thermotolerant coliforms, and/or intestinal enterococci to demonstrate microbial safety (13, 21, 42). Although these indicator organisms have been used for many decades, they have some limitations: the number of E. coli/coliform/enterococcus bacteria in feces is relatively low (18, 38), and they sometimes might be able to grow in the environment (10, 11, 14, 27). Consequently, scientists have been searching for alternative indicator organisms to determine fecal contamination of water. In 1967, bacteria belonging to the genus Bacteroides were suggested as alternative indicator organisms (26). Bacteroides spp. might have some advantages over the traditional indicator organisms. The numbers of Bacteroides spp. in the intestinal tract of humans and animals are 10 to 100 times higher than the numbers of E. coli or intestinal enterococci (1, 2, 12, 26). However, the use of Bacteroides spp. as indicator organisms was hampered by the complex cultivation conditions required (1, 2). The introduction of molecular methods made it possible to detect bacterial species that belong to the order Bacteroidales, an order that includes the genus Bacteroides, without cultivation. As a result, real-time PCR methods were developed for the quantitative detection of Bacteroidales in surface and recreation water and the potential of Bacteroidales species as an indication of fecal contamination of recreational waters was demonstrated (6, 12, 16, 19, 20, 29). Bacteroidales species might be useful indicator organisms for fecal contamination of drinking water as well. However, methods to detect fecal contamination in drinking water should be more sensitive, because people ingest more drinking water and the quality assessments and standards for fecal contamination are stricter than for bathing water. Studies exploring real-time PCR for the detection of Bacteroidales genes in drinking water have not been published to our knowledge. The objective of our study was, therefore, to determine if assays for the detection of Bacteroidales 16S rRNA genes can be used to detect fecal contamination in drinking water.Unchlorinated tap water samples were obtained in November 2007 and February 2010 from one or more locations in the distribution systems of nine different drinking water treatment plants (plants A to I; Table ​Table1)1) that produced unchlorinated drinking water from confined (plants B, C, E, F, and G) and unconfined (plants A, D, H, and I) groundwater. The treatment plants are located in the central part of the Netherlands within 90 km of each other. In addition, untreated groundwater from extraction wells and/or untreated raw groundwater (mixture of groundwater from different extraction wells) was sampled in March 2008 (Table ​(Table1).1). Water samples (100 ml) were filtered over a 25-mm polycarbonate filter (0.22-μm pore size, type GTTP; Millipore, Netherlands) and a DNA fragment was added as internal control to determine the recovery efficiency of DNA isolation and PCR analysis (2a, 40). DNA was isolated using a FastDNA spin kit for soil (Qbiogene, United States) according to the supplier''s protocol. Primer sets AllBac 296f and AllBac 412r, resulting in a PCR product of 108 bp, were used in combination with TaqMan probe AllBac375Bhqr to quantitatively determine the number of Bacteroidales 16S rRNA gene copies in the water samples using a real-time PCR instrument (20). The PCR cycle after which the fluorescence signal of the amplified DNA was detected (threshold cycle [C_T]) was used to quantify the concentration of 16S rRNA gene copies. Quantification was based on comparison of the sample C_T value with the C_T values of a calibration curve graphed using known copy numbers of the Bacteroidales 16S rRNA gene, as previously described (12, 20). The correlation coefficient of the calibration curve was 0.99, and the efficiency of the PCR 95 to 105%. Finally, the Bacteroidales cell number was calculated by using the recovery rate of the internal standard and assuming five 16S rRNA gene copy numbers per cell (5). The detection limit of this gene assay was 50 Bacteroidales cells 100 ml⁻¹ (corresponding to 10 16S rRNA gene copies per reaction mixture). Furthermore, the 16S rRNA genes that were obtained from several water samples from treatment plant C with the AllBac and TotBac (12) primer sets were sequenced, and the nearest relatives were obtained from the GenBank database using BLAST searches.

TABLE 1.

Numbers of Bacteroidales cells in extraction wells, raw groundwater, and unchlorinated tap water of nine different groundwater plants in the Netherlands^a

Elimination of Lyme Disease Spirochetes from Ticks Feeding on Domestic Ruminants

To determine whether and which spirochetes are cleared from Ixodes ricinus ticks during feeding on ruminants, ticks were removed from goats and cattle grazing on tick-infested pastures. Although about a quarter of ticks questing on the pasture were infected by spirochetes, no molted ticks that had previously engorged to repletion on ruminants harbored Lyme disease spirochetes. Borrelia miyamotoi spirochetes, however, appear not to be eliminated. Thus, the more subadult ticks are diverted from reservoir-competent hosts to zooprophylactic ruminants, the smaller the risk of infection by Lyme disease spirochetes is.Various vertebrates serve as reservoir hosts for the tick-borne agents of Lyme disease. A competent reservoir host acquires Lyme disease spirochetes when an infected tick feeds on it and maintains them to become and remain infectious for feeding ticks (10). It appears that each of the seven genospecies of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato prevalent in Central Europe is associated with particular reservoir hosts. Whereas rodents serve as a reservoir for B. afzelii and the recently differentiated but not yet validated “Borrelia bavariensis,” birds maintain B. garinii and B. valaisiana (3, 4). B. lusitaniae and B. spielmanii, on the other hand, seem to be limited to lizards and dormice, respectively (9, 12, 13). Ticks harboring rodent-associated spirochetes from their larval blood meal may lose the infectious burden when feeding as nymphs on a bird and vice versa (5). It appears that solely B. burgdorferi sensu stricto constitutes an intermediate position, since it may be perpetuated by birds and rodents (10, 11). As a generalist, B. burgdorferi sensu stricto appears to be less efficiently adapted to rodents than is the specialist B. afzelii. A host that is competent for one genospecies seems less competent or incompetent for another.The Central European vector tick, Ixodes ricinus, not only feeds on small animals. Wild ruminants, such as red, roe, and fallow deer, are frequently infested by all three stages of this tick (2, 6, 15). Interestingly, virtually no spirochetes were detected microscopically in ticks recovered from shot deer. On pastures, where domesticated ruminants graze at an extensive density, spirochetal infection in questing ticks is less prevalent than in nearby nonpastured sites (8). These ruminants appear to exert a zooprophylactic effect. Ruminants, although feeding numerous ticks, appear to be incompetent hosts for Lyme disease spirochetes. It is not known whether the incompetence of ruminants eliminates spirochetes in the feeding tick and whether it extends to each of the Lyme disease genospecies.To determine whether and which spirochetes are cleared from ticks feeding on ruminants, ticks were removed from goats and cattle grazing on tick-infested pastures and examined at various developmental stages for Lyme disease genospecies and B. miyamotoi. Infection rates in ruminant-derived ticks were compared to that in ticks questing on the pastures.The cattle study site was located southwest of the city of Flensburg, Germany, at the German-Danish border. The former training area of the German armed forces is used as low-intensity pasture, covering about 400 ha. Galloway cattle, in herds of mother cows, and Konik horses are allowed to graze year-round and are rotated on grazing patches. Most cattle which were examined for feeding ticks grazed in a 40-ha area which has been pastured since October 2004 and from which cattle and horses are excluded each year from April through June to permit rare plants to bloom and seed. The approximate grazing density of 0.25 livestock units (LU)/ha throughout the rest of the year fails to keep the vegetation short. The goat site was located about 50 km southeast of Stuttgart, Germany, near the village of Gruibingen in the Swabian highlands. Beech and juniper heath characterize the southern-facing mountain slopes, where goats were allowed to graze in a rotating regime during the vegetation period. The sites were in use as pastures for different lengths of time, with the oldest dating back to 2004.To obtain feeding ticks from cattle and goats, two approaches were used. For the yearly blood sampling in the spring, cattle were corralled into squeeze chutes. The head of each animal was examined for ticks. Feeding ticks were carefully removed with forceps, and replete ticks were gently rubbed off onto a sheet of fabric positioned under the cow''s head. From April through October 2006 and 2007 and in May of 2008, tame goats were examined individually for feeding ticks monthly and feeding ticks were removed with forceps. Ticks recovered from an individual animal were confined in screened vials and stored at 22°C to permit molting and/or until they were examined for spirochetes. Questing ticks were collected monthly from April through October 2008 in the cattle site and from April through October 2005 through 2007 at the goat site. They were collected by means of a flannel flag, identified to stage and species by microscopy, and preserved in 80% ethanol. To detect and identify the various spirochetes that may be present in questing or host-derived ticks, DNA from individual ticks was isolated, and a 600-nucleotide fragment of the gene carrying the 16S rRNA gene was amplified by nested PCR and sequenced as described previously (12). This method detects as little as a single spirochete even in the presence of tick and ruminant DNA. Each resulting sequence was compared with sequences of the same gene fragment representing various spirochetal genospecies. The following sequences were used for comparison: GenBank accession numbers {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"X85196","term_id":"793782","term_text":"X85196"}}X85196 and {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"X85203","term_id":"793783","term_text":"X85203"}}X85203 for B. burgdorferi sensu stricto, {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"X85190","term_id":"793772","term_text":"X85190"}}X85190, {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"X85192","term_id":"793777","term_text":"X85192"}}X85192, and {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"X85194","term_id":"793778","term_text":"X85194"}}X85194 for B. afzelii, {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"X85193","term_id":"793775","term_text":"X85193"}}X85193, {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"X85199","term_id":"793785","term_text":"X85199"}}X85199, and {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"M64311","term_id":"173944","term_text":"M64311"}}M64311 for B. garinii, {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"X98228","term_id":"1769932","term_text":"X98228"}}X98228 and {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"X98229","term_id":"1769933","term_text":"X98229"}}X98229 for B. lusitaniae, {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"X98232","term_id":"1769937","term_text":"X98232"}}X98232 and {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"X98233","term_id":"1769936","term_text":"X98233"}}X98233 for B. valaisiana, {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"AY147008","term_id":"34391538","term_text":"AY147008"}}AY147008 for B. spielmanii, and {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"AY253149","term_id":"34223988","term_text":"AY253149"}}AY253149 for B. miyamotoi. A complete match, permitting no more than two nucleotide changes, was required.Ticks removed while feeding on cattle or goats were examined for spirochetal DNA by nested PCR. Nineteen larvae were obtained during their feeding on goats, but none of the 17 engorged larvae and 2 resulting nymphs contained spirochetal DNA (Table ​(Table1).1). Of the 416 nymphal ticks that were obtained from 80 goats, only 9% developed to the adult stage, because most of the nymphs were only partially fed. None of the 37 resulting adults contained spirochetal DNA. However, three partially fed nymphal ticks were infected by Lyme disease spirochetes (0.8%), one each by B. afzelii, B. valaisiana, and B. lusitaniae. In three additional nymphs (0.8%), DNA of B. miyamotoi was detected. Of the 415 engorged nymphal ticks obtained from 42 cattle, as many as 319 (77%) molted to the adult stage, because mostly replete ticks had been collected from the cattle''s heads. None of the cattle-derived molted ticks harbored DNA of Lyme disease spirochetes. Four ticks, a nymph and three adults (one male and two females), contained DNA of B. miyamotoi. Of 306 partially engorged females removed from 68 goats, spirochetal DNA was detected in 9 females (2.9%); three harbored B. afzelii, four B. miyamotoi, and one each B. garinii and B. lusitaniae. In addition, 30 females which had fully engorged on cattle were tested for spirochetal DNA after egg-laying. None of these contained spirochetal DNA. Although DNA of Lyme disease spirochetes was detected in a rare partially fed tick, no molted tick that had previously engorged to repletion on a ruminant was infected by Lyme disease spirochetes. In contrast, B. miyamotoi appears to be present in ruminant-fed ticks regardless of their feeding state.

TABLE 1.

Borrelia genospecies detected in I. ricinus ticks that had engorged as larvae, nymphs, or adults on goats or cattle

Detection and Quantification of the Coral Pathogen Vibrio coralliilyticus by Real-Time PCR with TaqMan Fluorescent Probes

A real-time quantitative PCR-based detection assay targeting the dnaJ gene (encoding heat shock protein 40) of the coral pathogen Vibrio coralliilyticus was developed. The assay is sensitive, detecting as little as 1 CFU per ml in seawater and 10⁴ CFU per cm² of coral tissue. Moreover, inhibition by DNA and cells derived from bacteria other than V. coralliilyticus was minimal. This assay represents a novel approach to coral disease diagnosis that will advance the field of coral disease research.Vibrio coralliilyticus has recently emerged as a coral pathogen of concern on reefs throughout the Indo-Pacific. It was first implicated as the etiological agent responsible for bleaching and tissue lysis of the coral Pocillopora damicornis on Zanzibar reefs (2). More recently, V. coralliilyticus has been identified as the causative agent of white syndrome (WS) outbreaks on several Pacific reefs (14). WS is a collective term describing coral diseases characterized by a spreading band of tissue loss exposing white skeleton on Indo-Pacific scleractinian corals (16). V. coralliilyticus is an emerging model pathogen for understanding the mechanisms linking bacterial infection and coral disease (13) and therefore provides an ideal model for the development of diagnostic assays to detect coral disease. Current coral disease diagnostic methods, which are based primarily upon field-based observations of macroscopic disease signs, often detect disease only at the latest stages of infection, when control measures are least effective. The development of diagnostic tools targeting pathogens underlying coral disease pathologies may provide early indications of infection, aid the identification of disease vectors and reservoirs, and assist managers in developing strategies to prevent the spread of coral disease outbreaks. In this paper, we describe the development and validation of a TaqMan-based real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay that targets a segment of the V. coralliilyticus heat shock protein 40-encoding gene (dnaJ).Nucleotide sequences of the dnaJ gene were retrieved from relevant Vibrio species, including V. coralliilyticus (LMG 20984), using the National Center for Biotechnology Information''s (NCBI) Entrez Nucleotide Database search tool (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/). Gene sequences of strains not available in public databases (V. coralliilyticus strains LMG 21348, LMG 21349, LMG 21350, LMG 10953, LMG 20538, LMG 23696, LMG 23691, LMG 23693, LMG 23692, and LMG 23694) were obtained through extraction of total DNA using a Promega Wizard Prep DNA Purification Kit (Promega, Sydney, Australia), PCR amplification, and sequencing using primers and thermal cycling parameters described by Nhung et al. (8). A 128-bp region (nucleotides 363 to 490) containing high concentrations of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which were conserved within V. coralliilyticus strains but differed from non-V. coralliilyticus strains, was identified, and oligonucleotide primers Vc_dnaJ_F1 (5′-CGG TTC GYG GTG TTT CAA AA-3′) and Vc_dnaJ_R1 (5′-AAC CTG ACC ATG ACC GTG ACA-3′) and a TaqMan probe, Vc_dnaJ_TMP (5′-6-FAM-CAG TGG CGC GAA G-MGBNFQ-3′; 6-FAM is 6-carboxyfluorescein and MGBNFQ is molecular groove binding nonfluorescent quencher), were designed to target this region. The qPCR assay was optimized and validated using DNA extracted from V. coralliilyticus isolates, nontarget Vibrio species, and other bacterial species grown in marine broth (MB) (Table ​(Table1),1), under the following optimal conditions: 1× TaqMan buffer A, 0.5 U of AmpliTaq Gold DNA polymerase, 200 μM deoxynucleotide triphosphates (with 400 μM dUTP replacing deoxythymidine triphosphate), 0.2 U of AmpErase uracil N-glycosylase (UNG), 3 mM MgCl₂, 0.6 μM each primer, 0.2 μM fluorophore-labeled TaqMan, 1 μl of template, and sterile MilliQ water for a total reaction volume to 20 μl. All assays were conducted on a RotoGene 300 (Corbett Research, Sydney, Australia) real-time analyzer with the following cycling parameters: 50°C for 120 s (UNG activation) and 95°C for 10 min (AmpliTaq Gold DNA polymerase activation), followed by 40 cycles of 95°C for 15 s (denaturation) and 60°C for 60 s (annealing/extension). During the annealing/extension phase of each thermal cycle, fluorescence was measured in the FAM channel (470-nm excitation and 510-nm detection).

TABLE 1.

Species, strain, and threshold cycle for all bacterial strains tested^a

Novel Carbohydrate-Binding Module Identified in a Ruminal Metagenomic Endoglucanase

Endoglucanase C5614-1 comprises a catalytic module (CM) and an X module (XM). The XM showed no significant homology with known carbohydrate-binding modules (CBMs). Recombinant full-length endoglucanase could bind Avicel, whereas the CM could not. The XM could bind various polysaccharides. The results demonstrated that the XM was a new CBM.Most cellulases are modular proteins that comprise two or more discrete modules, such as catalytic modules (CMs) and carbohydrate-binding modules (CBMs), each of which can function independently (9). CBMs are classified into 59 families based on their amino acid similarity in the CAZY database (http://www.cazy.org/fam/acc_CBM.html). The main functions of CBMs are to recognize and bind polysaccharides and to increase the hydrolytic activities of the enzymes against insoluble and soluble substrates (3). Endoglucanase C5614-1 (GenBank accession no. {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"ACA61140","term_id":"169640132","term_text":"ACA61140"}}ACA61140), which was identified from the metagenome of the contents of buffalo rumen (5), is a modular enzyme comprising an N-terminal signal peptide (amino acids [aa] 1 to 20), a CM belonging to the glycosyl hydrolase family 5 (aa 40 to 334), and a C-terminal X module (XM) of unknown function (aa 335 to 537) (Fig. ​(Fig.1A).1A). No linker region rich in Ser/Pro/Thr was found between the CM and the XM. In this study, we aimed to ascertain the function of the XM in the endoglucanase C5614-1.Open in a separate windowFIG. 1.Endoglucanase C5614-1 and its derivatives. (A) Modular organization of C5614-1 and its truncated derivatives. Abbreviations: SP, signal peptide; GHF5, GHF5 catalytic module; X, the X module (XM). (B) SDS-PAGE of purified recombinant proteins. Protein samples were analyzed on a 10% gel. Lane 1, protein molecular mass standard (molecular masses are shown on the left); lane 2, rC5614-1; lane 3, rGHF5; lane 4, rX.The XM showed no significant homology to known CBMs. The XM shared 25% to 33% identities and 41% to 45% similarities with about 200 amino acids at the C terminus of a xylanase (GenBank accession no. {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"AAC36862","term_id":"143974","term_text":"AAC36862"}}AAC36862) from the ruminal bacterium Prevotella ruminicola, uncultured ruminal microbial cellulases ({"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"ABX76045","term_id":"161898163","term_text":"ABX76045"}}ABX76045, {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"ACA61132","term_id":"169640121","term_text":"ACA61132"}}ACA61132, {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"ACA61135","term_id":"169640125","term_text":"ACA61135"}}ACA61135, {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"ACA61137","term_id":"169640128","term_text":"ACA61137"}}ACA61137, and {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"ABB46200","term_id":"78522584","term_text":"ABB46200"}}ABB46200), and an uncultured bacterial bifunctional mannanase-xyloglucanase ({"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"ADA62505","term_id":"281335881","term_text":"ADA62505"}}ADA62505). None of these homologous polypeptides was confirmed to show carbohydrate-binding activity. An alignment of XM with these homologous sequences using ClustalW (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/Tools/clustalw) is shown in Fig. ​Fig.2.2. Seven conserved aromatic amino acid residues were found in the respective sequences. Aromatic amino acid residues in CBMs play critical roles in recognizing and binding polysaccharides (4).Open in a separate windowFIG. 2.Multiple sequence alignment of the XM (203 aa) in endoglucanase C5614-1 (aa 335 to 537), with its homologous sequences. The identical and similar amino acid residues are indicated by asterisks and dots, respectively, below the alignment. The conserved aromatic amino acid residues are indicated by arrows. GenBank accession no. {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"AAC36862","term_id":"143974","term_text":"AAC36862"}}AAC36862, Prevotella ruminicola xylanase (aa 376 to 584); {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"ABB46200","term_id":"78522584","term_text":"ABB46200"}}ABB46200, ruminal uncultured bacterium endoglycosidase precursor protein (aa 719 to 917); {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"ABX76045","term_id":"161898163","term_text":"ABX76045"}}ABX76045, ruminal uncultured microorganism endo-1,4-beta-d-glucanase (aa 342 to 552); {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"ADA62505","term_id":"281335881","term_text":"ADA62505"}}ADA62505, ruminal uncultured bacterium bifunctional mannanase-xyloglucanase (aa 721 to 919); {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"ACA61132","term_id":"169640121","term_text":"ACA61132"}}ACA61132, ruminal uncultured microorganism cellulase C29-2 (aa 341 to 553); {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"ACA61135","term_id":"169640125","term_text":"ACA61135"}}ACA61135, ruminal uncultured microorganism cellulase C35-2 (aa 337 to 552); {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"ACA61137","term_id":"169640128","term_text":"ACA61137"}}ACA61137, ruminal uncultured microorganism cellulase C67-1 (aa 335 to 546). The amino acid numbers in each of the parentheses above define the range of the homologous region in each sequence.A PCR-based approach was used to produce constructs expressing C5614-1 derivatives (Fig. ​(Fig.1A).1A). Plasmid C5614 (5), carrying the endoglucanase gene C5614-1, was used as a PCR template. The primer pairs used to amplify the portions of C5614-1 encoding C5614-1 amino acids 20 to 537 (recombinant C5614-1 [rC5614-1], comprising the CM and the XM), 20 to 348 (rGHF5, containing the CM only), and 349 to 537 (rX, containing the XM only) are, respectively, as follows: C5614-1F (5′CAGCCATGGAGGCACAAGATTTTGAGACTGCTACCGAA-3′) and C5614-1R (5′-GACCTCGAGTTGTGCTATGTATTTTTTGCCGTTCTGG-3′), C5614-1F and C5614-1CM (5′-GGGCTCGAGGGTTAATGTCTCAGCCAGGTCAGGCTG-3′), and C5614-1X (5′-GGGCCATGGCCAAAGCCTATCATGGCAGCGCGTTC-3′) and C5614-1R. The underlined sequences in the primers are NcoI and XhoI restriction sites.The digested PCR products were ligated into the same digested expression vector, pET-30a(+) (Novagen, Madison, WI). The recombinant plasmids were transformed into Escherichia coli Rosetta(DE3)pLysS (Novagen), and the cloned fragments were expressed as proteins with 6×His tags at both the N and C termini. The recombinant C5614-1 derivatives were purified by affinity chromatography with Cobalt immobilized metal chromatography resin (Clontech, Palo Alto, CA), according to the user manual. Each of the purified proteins produced a single band on an SDS-PAGE gel (8), and their molecular sizes were in agreement with those of the deduced polypeptides (Fig. ​(Fig.1B1B).The hydrolytic activities of rC5614-1 and rGHF5 toward carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) were determined essentially as described by Duan et al. (5). The pH profiles of the enzymatic reactions of rC5614-1 and rGHF5 were similar, and both showed maximum activities at pH 5.0 (data not shown). However, rC5614-1 and rGHF5 showed different temperature profiles (Fig. ​(Fig.3A).3A). The rGHF5 showed narrower pH stability and lower temperature stability profiles than those of rC5614-1 (Fig. 3B and C). These results indicated that the XM is required for the stability of rC5614-1.Open in a separate windowFIG. 3.Effects of pH and temperature on the activities and stability of rC5614-1 and rGHF5. (A) Influence of temperature on the activities of rC5614-1 and rGHF5. Cellulase activity was measured at pH 5.0 in citrate-phosphate buffer at the indicated temperatures for 10 min. Values are expressed as percentages of maximal activity at 50°C and 35°C for rC5614-1 and rGHF5, respectively. (B) Influence of pH on rC5614-1 and rGHF5 stability. Purified enzyme was first incubated in citrate-phosphate buffer (pH 2.5 to 7.0), 0.1 M Tris-HCl buffer (pH 7.5 to 8.5), or 0.1 M glycine-NaOH buffer (pH 9.0 to 12) at 4°C for 24 h, and activity was measured under optimal conditions for 10 min. Values are expressed as percentages of maximal activity when the sample was incubated under pH 5.5 and pH 6.0 for rC5614-1 and rGHF5, respectively. (C) Thermal stability of recombinant rC5614-1 and rGHF5. Purified enzymes were first incubated at the indicated temperatures for 1 h; activity was then measured under optimal conditions for 10 min. Values are expressed as percentages of untreated-sample activity.The hydrolytic activities of rC5614-1 toward particle substrates, including birch wood xylan, lichenan, and acid-swollen cellulose (ASC), were about three times greater than those of rGHF5; however, rC5614-1 and rGHF5 showed similar hydrolytic activities toward soluble substrates (Table ​(Table1).1). This result indicated that the presence of the XM enhanced the hydrolytic activity of the enzyme toward insoluble substrates but not toward soluble substrates. Similar phenomena were reported for Irpex lacteus exocellulase I (7), Clostridium thermocellum Xyn10C (1), and Clostridium stercorarium Xyn10B (2).

TABLE 1.

Specific activities of rC5614-1 and rGHF5 toward various substrates

Increased Crystalline Cellulose Activity via Combinations of Amino Acid Changes in the Family 9 Catalytic Domain and Family 3c Cellulose Binding Module of Thermobifida fusca Cel9A

Amino acid modifications of the Thermobifida fusca Cel9A-68 catalytic domain or carbohydrate binding module 3c (CBM3c) were combined to create enzymes with changed amino acids in both domains. Bacterial crystalline cellulose (BC) and swollen cellulose (SWC) assays of the expressed and purified enzymes showed that three combinations resulted in 150% and 200% increased activity, respectively, and also increased synergistic activity with other cellulases. Several other combinations resulted in drastically lowered activity, giving insight into the need for a balance between the binding in the catalytic cleft on either side of the cleavage site, as well as coordination between binding affinity for the catalytic domain and CBM3c. The same combinations of amino acid variants in the whole enzyme, Cel9A-90, did not increase BC or SWC activity but did have higher filter paper (FP) activity at 12% digestion.Cellulases catalyze the breakdown of cellulose into simple sugars that can be fermented to ethanol. The large amount of natural cellulose available is an exciting potential source of fuels and chemicals. However, the detailed molecular mechanisms of crystalline cellulose degradation by glycoside hydrolases are still not well understood and their low efficiency is a major barrier to cellulosic ethanol production.Thermobifida fusca is a filamentous soil bacterium that grows at 50°C in defined medium and can utilize cellulose as its sole carbon source. It is a major degrader of plant cell walls in heated organic materials such as compost piles and rotting hay and produces a set of enzymes that includes six different cellulases, three xylanases, a xyloglucanase, and two CBM33 binding proteins (12). Among them are three endocellulases, Cel9B, Cel6A, and Cel5A (7, 8), two exocellulases, Cel48A and Cel6B (6, 19), and a processive endocellulase, Cel9A (5, 7).T. fusca Cel9A-90 (Uniprot {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"P26221","term_id":"2506384","term_text":"P26221"}}P26221 and {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"YP_290232","term_id":"72162575","term_text":"YP_290232"}}YP_290232) is a multidomain enzyme consisting of a family 9 catalytic domain (CD) rigidly attached by a short linker to a family 3c cellulose binding module (CBM3c), followed by a fibronectin III-like domain and a family 2 CBM (CBM2). Cel9A-68 consists of the family 9 CD and CBM3c. The crystal structure of this species (Fig. ​(Fig.1)1) was determined by X-ray crystallography at 1.9 Å resolution (Protein Data Bank [PDB] code 4tf4) (15). Previous work has shown that E424 is the catalytic acid and D58 is the catalytic base (11, 20). H125 and Y206 were shown to play an important role in activity by forming a hydrogen bonding network with D58, an important supporting residue, D55, and Glc(−1)O1. Several enzymes with amino acid changes in subsites Glc(−1) to Glc(−4) had less than 20% activity on bacterial cellulose (BC) and markedly reduced processivity. It was proposed that these modifications disturb the coordination between product release and the subsequent binding of a cellulose chain into subsites Glc(−1) to Glc(−4) (11). Another variant enzyme with a deletion of a group of amino acids forming a block at the end of the catalytic cleft, Cel9A-68 Δ(T245-L251)R252K (DEL), showed slightly improved filter paper (FP) activity and binding to BC (20).Open in a separate windowFIG. 1.Crystal structure of Cel9A-68 (PDB code 4tf4) showing the locations of the variant residues, catalytic acid E424, catalytic base D58, hydrogen bonding network residues D55, H125, and Y206, and six glucose residues, Glc(−4) to Glc(+2). Part of the linker is visible in dark blue.The CBM3c domain is critical for hydrolysis and processivity. Cel9A-51, an enzyme with the family 9 CD and the linker but without CBM3c, had low activity on carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), BC, and swollen cellulose (SWC) and showed no processivity (4). The role of CBM3c was investigated by mutagenesis, and one modified enzyme, R557A/E559A, had impaired activity on all of these substrates but normal binding and processivity (11). Variants with changes at five other CBM3c residues were found to slightly lower the activity of the modified enzymes, while Cel9A-68 enzymes containing either F476A, D513A, or I514H were found to have slightly increased binding and processivity (11) (see Table ​Table1).1). In the present work, CBM3c has been investigated more extensively to identify residues involved in substrate binding and processivity, understand the role of CBM3c more clearly, and study the coordination between the CD and CBM3c. An additional goal was to combine amino acid variants showing increased crystalline cellulose activity to see if this further increased activity. Finally, we have investigated whether the changes that improved the activity of Cel9A-68 also enhanced the activity of intact Cel9A-90.

TABLE 1.

Activities of Cel9A-68 CBM3c variant enzymes and CD variant enzymes used to create the double variants

Association of Campylobacter jejuni Cj0859c Gene (fspA) Variants with Different C. jejuni Multilocus Sequence Types

Cj0859c variants fspA1 and fspA2 from 669 human, poultry, and bovine Campylobacter jejuni strains were associated with certain hosts and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) types. Among the human and poultry strains, fspA1 was significantly (P < 0.001) more common than fspA2. FspA2 amino acid sequences were the most diverse and were often truncated.Campylobacter jejuni is the leading cause of bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide and responsible for more than 90% of Campylobacter infections (7). Case-control studies have identified consumption or handling of raw and undercooked poultry meat, drinking unpasteurized milk, and swimming in natural water sources as risk factors for acquiring domestic campylobacteriosis in Finland (7, 9). Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) has been employed to study the molecular epidemiology of Campylobacter (4) and can contribute to virulotyping when combined with known virulence factors (5). FspA proteins are small, acidic, flagellum-secreted nonflagellar proteins of C. jejuni that are encoded by Cj0859c, which is expressed by a σ²⁸ promoter (8). Both FspA1 and FspA2 were shown to be immunogenic in mice and protected against disease after challenge with a homologous strain (1). However, FspA1 also protected against illness after challenge with a heterologous strain, whereas FspA2 failed to do the same at a significant level. Neither FspA1 nor FspA2 protected against colonization (1). On the other hand, FspA2 has been shown to induce apoptosis in INT407 cells, a feature not exhibited by FspA1 (8). Therefore, our aim was to study the distributions of fspA1 and fspA2 among MLST types of Finnish human, chicken, and bovine strains.In total, 367 human isolates, 183 chicken isolates, and 119 bovine isolates (n = 669) were included in the analyses (3). PCR primers for Cj0859c were used as described previously (8). Primer pgo6.13 (5′-TTGTTGCAGTTCCAGCATCGGT-3′) was designed to sequence fspA1. Fisher''s exact test or a chi-square test was used to assess the associations between sequence types (STs) and Cj0859c. The SignalP 3.0 server was used for prediction of signal peptides (2).The fspA1 and fspA2 variants were found in 62.6% and 37.4% of the strains, respectively. In 0.3% of the strains, neither isoform was found. Among the human and chicken strains, fspA1 was significantly more common, whereas fspA2 was significantly more frequent among the bovine isolates (Table ​(Table1).1). Among the MLST clonal complexes (CCs), fspA1 was associated with the ST-22, ST-45, ST-283, and ST-677 CCs and fspA2 was associated with the ST-21, ST-52, ST-61, ST-206, ST-692, and ST-1332 CCs and ST-58, ST-475, and ST-4001. Although strong CC associations of fspA1 and fspA2 were found, the ST-48 complex showed a heterogeneous distribution of fspA1 and fspA2. Most isolates carried fspA2, and ST-475 was associated with fspA2. On the contrary, ST-48 commonly carried fspA1 (Table ​(Table1).1). In our previous studies, ST-48 was found in human isolates only (6), while ST-475 was found in both human and bovine isolates (3, 6). The strict host associations and striking difference between fspA variants in human ST-48 isolates and human/bovine ST-475 isolates suggest that fspA could be important in host adaptation.

TABLE 1.

Percent distributions of fspA1 and fspA2 variants among 669 human, poultry, and bovine Campylobacter jejuni strains and their associations with hosts, STs, and CCs

Evolutionary Strata in a Small Mating-Type-Specific Region of the Smut Fungus Microbotryum violaceum

DNA sequence analysis and genetic mapping of loci from mating-type-specific chromosomes of the smut fungus Microbotryum violaceum demonstrated that the nonrecombining mating-type-specific region in this species comprises ∼25% (∼1 Mb) of the chromosome length. Divergence between homologous mating-type-linked genes in this region varies between 0 and 8.6%, resembling the evolutionary strata of vertebrate and plant sex chromosomes.EVOLUTION of mating types or sex-determining systems often involves the suppression of recombination around the primary sex-determining or mating-type-determining locus. In animals and plants, it is often an entire or almost entire chromosome (Y or W in male or female heterogametic species, respectively) that ceases to recombine with its homologous (X or Z) chromosome (Charlesworth and Charlesworth 2000; Charlesworth 2008). Self-incompatibility loci in plants are also thought to be located in regions of suppressed recombination (Charlesworth et al. 2005; Kamau and Charlesworth 2005; Kamau et al. 2007; Li et al. 2007; Yang et al. 2007). Regardless of the phylogenetic position of a species, such nonrecombining regions are known to follow similar evolutionary trajectories. The nonrecombining region on the sex-specific chromosome expands in several steps, forming evolutionary strata—regions of different X/Y (or Z/W) divergence (Lahn and Page 1999; Handley et al. 2004; Sandstedt and Tucker 2004; Nicolas et al. 2005)—and genes in the nonrecombining regions gradually accumulate deleterious mutations that eventually render them dysfunctional (Charlesworth and Charlesworth 2005; Charlesworth 2008).Fungal mating-type systems are very diverse, with the number of mating types varying from two to several hundred (Casselton 2002). Like sex chromosomes in several animals and plants, suppressed recombination has evolved in regions near fungal mating-type loci, including in Ustilago hordei (Lee et al. 1999), Cryptococcus neoformans (Lengeler et al. 2002), and Neurospora tetrasperma (Menkis et al. 2008). These species have two mating types, but no morphologically distinct sexes. The mating-type locus (the region of suppressed recombination) of C. neoformans is small (∼100 kb) compared with known sex chromosomes and contains only ∼20 genes that, unlike many sex chromosomes (Y or W chromosomes), show no obvious signs of genetic degeneration (Lengeler et al. 2002; Fraser et al. 2004). Judging from the divergence between the homologous genes on the two mating-type-specific chromosomes, C. neoformans started to evolve sex chromosomes a long time ago because silent divergence between the two mating types in the most ancient region exceeds 100% (Fraser et al. 2004). Genes in the younger mating-type-specific region are much less diverged between the two sex chromosomes, suggesting that the evolution of the sex locus in C. neoformans might have proceeded through several steps. The nonrecombining region around the mating-type locus of N. tetrasperma is much larger than in C. neoformans (at least 6.6 Mb), and silent divergence between homologous genes on the mating-type-specific chromosomes ranges from zero to 9%, demonstrating that these mating-type-specific chromosomes evolved recently (Menkis et al. 2008).M. violaceum, which causes anther smut disease in Silene latifolia and other species in the family Caryophyllaceae, has two mating types, A1 and A2 (reviewed by Giraud et al. 2008), which are determined by the presence of mating-type-specific chromosomes (hereafter A1 and A2 chromosomes, or sex chromosomes) in the haploid stage of the life cycle (Hood 2002; Hood et al. 2004). The A1 and A2 chromosomes are distinguishable by size in pulsed-field electrophoresis, and it is possible to isolate individual chromosomes electrophoretically (Hood et al. 2004). Random fragments of A1 and A2 chromosomes have previously been isolated from mating-type-specific bands of pulsed-field separated chromosomes of M. violaceum (Hood et al. 2004). These fragments were assumed to be linked to mating type. The same method was used to isolate fragments of non-mating-type-specific chromosomes. On the basis of the analysis of their sequences, (Hood et al. 2004) proposed that mating-type-specific chromosomes in M. violaceum might be degenerate because they contained a lower proportion of protein-coding genes than other chromosomes. However, it was not determined whether the sequences isolated from the mating-type chromosomes originated from the mating-type-specific or from the recombining regions (Hood et al. 2004), and the relative sizes of these regions are not known for these M. violaceum chromosomes. We tested the mating-type specificity of 86 of these fragments and demonstrate that fewer than a quarter of these loci are located in the mating-type-specific region, suggesting that the nonrecombining region on the A1 and A2 chromosomes is quite small, while the rest of the chromosome probably recombines (like pseudoautosomal regions of sex chromosomes) and is therefore not expected to undergo genetic degeneration. Genetic mapping confirms the presence of two pseudoautosomal regions in the M. violaceum mating-type-specific chromosomes.As these chromosomes are mating type specific in the haploid stage of M. violaceum, mating-type-specific loci (or DNA fragments) can be identified by testing whether they are present exclusively in A1 or A2 haploid strains. We therefore prepared haploid A1 and A2 M. violaceum cultures from S. latifolia plants from two geographically remote locations (accessions Sl405 from Sweden and Sl127 from the French Pyrenees). Haploid sporidial cultures were isolated by a standard dilution method (Kaltz and Shykoff 1997; Oudemans and Alexander 1998). Mating types were determined by PCR amplification of each culture with primers designed for A1 and A2 pheromone receptor genes linked to A1 and A2 mating types (Yockteng et al. 2007). The primers were as follows: 5′-TGGCATCCCTCAATGTTTCC-3′ and 5′-CACCTTTTGATGAGAGGCCG-3′ for the A1 pheromone receptor (GenBank accession no. {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"EF584742","term_id":"156254864","term_text":"EF584742"}}EF584742) and 5′-TGACGAGAGCATTCCTACCG-3′ and 5′-GAAGCGGAACTTGCCTTTCT-3′ for the A2 pheromone receptor (GenBank accession no. {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"EF584741","term_id":"156254862","term_text":"EF584741"}}EF584741). Cultures with PCR product amplified only from an A1 or A2 pheromone receptor gene were selected for further use. The mating types of the cultures were verified by conjugating them in all combinations.The GenBank nucleotide database was searched using BLAST for sequences similar to those isolated by Hood et al. (2004). Sequences with similarity to transposable elements (TE) and other repeats were excluded. The resulting set of nonredundant sequences was used to design PCR primers for 98 fragments. Half of these were originally isolated from the A1 and half from the A2 chromosomes and are hereafter called A1-NNN or A2-NNN (where NNN is the locus number; supporting information, Table S1), which does not imply that these loci are A1 or A2 specific, but merely indicates that they were originally isolated from the A1 or A2 chromosomes. Amplification of these regions from new A1 and A2 M. violaceum cultures, independently isolated by ourselves, revealed that only 5 of the 49 loci isolated from the A1 chromosome are indeed A1 specific and only 6 of 49 isolated from the A2 chromosome are A2 specific. All other loci amplified from both A1 and A2 cultures. Figure 1 illustrates some of these results from the Swedish sample (Sl405).Open in a separate windowFigure 1.—Testing of mating-type specificity for loci isolated from A1 and A2 chromosomes. (a) PCR amplifications from haploid cultures from Sl405 using primers designed from six A1-originated loci. Loci in which a PCR product could be amplified only from A1 cultures (boxed) were classified as specific to mating type A1. (b) PCR tests of six A2-originated loci on the same set of haploids as in a. Loci in which a PCR product amplified only from A2 cultures (boxed) were classified as specific to mating type A2. Loci amplified from both A1 and A2 cultures are not mating type specific.The fragments that amplified from both A1 and A2 mating types may be in recombining regions, or they could be present in mating-type-specific regions on both A1 and A2 chromosomes. If they are in recombining regions, the A1- and A2-linked homologs should not be diverged from each other, but if they are in nonrecombining, mating-type-specific regions, the divergence of the A1- and A2-linked homologs should be roughly proportional to the time since recombination stopped in the region. We therefore sequenced and compared PCR fragments amplified from the two mating types of Sl405 or Sl127 cultures (GenBank accession nos. {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"FI855822","term_id":"258612459","term_text":"FI855822"}}FI855822–{"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"FI856001","term_id":"258612570","term_text":"FI856001"}}FI856001). Sequencing of PCR products showed that 12 (4 A1 and 8 A2) loci have more than one copy, and they were excluded from further analysis. Sequences of 61 loci were identical between the A1 and A2 strains, and four loci demonstrated low total divergence (0.24–0.61%) between the two mating types (otintseva and D. Filatov, unpublished results). Thus, these loci might be located in the recombining part of the mating-type-specific chromosomes. Ten of 75 loci that amplified in both mating types demonstrated multiple polymorphisms fixed between the mating types rather than between the locations. Given that the strains that we used in the analysis originated from two geographically distant locations, it is highly unlikely that multiple polymorphisms distinguishing the A1 and A2 sequences arose purely by chance; thus, these loci are probably located in the nonrecombining mating-type-specific region of the M. violaceum A1 and A2 chromosomes.

TABLE 1

Loci from mating-type-specific chromosomes of M. violaceum used for PCR analysis and genetic map construction

		With nonzero A1/A2 divergenceb
Loci	Mating type specific	<1%	>1%	With zero A1/A2 divergenceb	Total
A1a	5	2 (1)	3 (3)	35 (3)	45 (7)
A2a	6	2 (0)	7 (7)	26 (3)	41 (10)
Subtotal		4 (1)	10 (10)
Total	11	14 (11)		61 (6)	86 (17)

Open in a separate window^aA1, loci originated from the A1 sex chromosome; A2, loci originated from the A2 sex chromosome.^bThe number of loci used for genetic map construction is in parentheses.To confirm the mating-type-specific or pseudoautosomal locations of the loci with and without A1/A2 divergence, we conducted genetic mapping in a family of 99 individuals, 50 of which were of mating type A1 and 49 of mating type A2. The family was generated by a cross between A1 and A2 M. violaceum strains from S. latifolia accessions Sl405 (Sweden) and Sl127 (France), respectively. The choice of strains from geographically distant locations was motivated by the hope of maximizing the number of DNA sequence differences between them that can be used as molecular genetic markers in segregation analysis. We inoculated S. latifolia seedlings with sporidial cultures of both mating types. For inoculation, petri dishes with 12-day-old seedlings of S. latifolia were flooded with 2.5 ml of inoculum suspension. Inoculum suspension consisted of equal volumes of the A1 and A2 sporidial cultures that were mixed and conjugated overnight at 14° under rotation (Biere and Honders 1996; Van Putten et al. 2003). Seedlings were potted 3 days after inoculation. Two months later, teliospores were collected from the flowers of the infected plant and grown in petri dishes on 3.6% potato dextrose agar medium. Haploid sporidia formed after meiosis were isolated and grown as separate cultures for DNA extraction. The mating types of single sporidia cultures were identified as described above. The loci analyzed in the segregation analysis were sequenced in the two parental haploid strains and in 99 (50 A1 and 49 A2) haploid strains that were generated in the cross. Single nucleotide differences between the parental strains were used as molecular genetic markers for segregation analysis in the progeny. The genetic map was constructed using MAPMAKER/EXP v3.0 (Lincoln et al. 1992) and MapDisto v1.7 (http://mapdisto.free.fr/).The resulting genetic map is shown in Figure 2. As expected, no recombination was observed between the 10 loci with diverged A1- and A2-linked copies. In addition, one marker with no A1/A2 divergence, A2-397, was also completely linked to the loci with significant A1/A2 divergence. This locus either may be very tightly linked to the nonrecombining mating-type-specific region or may have been added to that region more recently than the loci that had already accumulated some divergence between the alleles in the two mating types. The mating-type-specific pheromone receptor locus (Devier et al. 2009) and 11 mating-type-specific loci are also located in this nonrecombining region (Figure 2). Interestingly, the cluster of nonrecombining markers is flanked on both sides with markers that recombine in meiosis, demonstrating that there are pseudoautosomal regions on both ends of the mating-type-specific chromosomes.Open in a separate windowFigure 2.—Genetic map of the mating-type-determining chromosome in M. violaceum. Genetic distance (in centimorgans) and the relative positions of the markers are shown to the left and the right of the chromosome, respectively. The position of the nonrecombining region corresponds to the cluster of linked markers shown on the right of the figure. Total A1/A2 divergence is shown in parentheses. Eleven mating-type-specific markers (for which sequences are available from only one mating type), located in the nonrecombining mating-type-specific region, are not shown.Our results demonstrate that although the loci reported by Hood et al. (2004) were isolated from the A1 and A2 chromosomes, most of these loci are not located in the nonrecombining mating-type-specific regions. In fact, the nonrecombining region might be relatively small: of 86 tested fragments, only 21 appeared to be either mating type specific or linked to the mating-type locus. Assuming that these loci represent a random set of DNA fragments isolated from the A1 and A2 chromosomes, it is possible to estimate the size of the nonrecombining region using the binomial distribution: the nonrecombining region is expected to be 24.4% (95% CI: 16.7–33.6%) of the chromosome length. As the sizes of the A1 and A2 chromosomes are ∼3.4 and 4.2 Mb long (Hood 2002; Hood et al. 2004), the nonrecombining region might be ∼1 Mb long.Interestingly, total A1/A2 divergence for the 11 loci with A1- and A2-linked copies mapped to the nonrecombining region varied from 0% to 8.6% (Figure 2). In addition, 11 loci amplified from only one mating type. These genes could represent degenerated genes, some of which degenerated in A1 strains, and some in A2 strains. Alternatively, they might be highly diverged genes, such that the PCR primers amplify only one allele, and not the other. Variation in divergence may be the result of the stepwise cessation of recombination between the A1 and A2 chromosomes in M. violaceum, resembling the evolutionary strata reported for human, chicken, and white campion sex chromosomes (Lahn and Page 1999; Handley et al. 2004; Bergero et al. 2007). However, only the differences between the most and the least diverged loci are statistically significant (Devier et al. 2009), the M. violaceum mating-type region has at least three strata: one oldest stratum, including the pheromone receptor locus; a younger stratum with ∼5–9% A1/A2 divergence; and the youngest stratum with 1–4% divergence between the two mating types. There may also be an additional very recently evolved stratum containing the locus named A2-397, which is also present in all A1 strains tested, with no fixed differences between the A1 and A2 strains (

Novel GH10 Xylanase,with a Fibronectin Type 3 Domain,from Cellulosimicrobium sp. Strain HY-13, a Bacterium in the Gut of Eisenia fetida

The gene encoding a novel modular xylanase from Cellulosimicrobium sp. strain HY-13 was identified and expressed in Escherichia coli, and its truncated gene product was characterized. The enzyme consisted of three distinct functional domains, an N-terminal catalytic GH10 domain, a fibronectin type 3 domain, and C-terminal carbohydrate-binding module 2.Most known microbial xylanases, which decompose primarily β-1,4-xylosic polysaccharides in an endo fashion, are currently affiliated with the two glycoside hydrolase (GH) families 10 and 11. Compared to GH11 xylanases, GH10 xylanases generally have a molecular mass of >30 kDa and an acidic pI. In addition, GH10 xylanases are frequently found in nature as modular enzymes that consist of a catalytic GH10 domain with one or more substrate-binding domains, such as a cellulose-binding domain, carbohydrate-binding module (CBM), or xylan-binding domain (1, 5, 12). However, no modular xylanase with a fibronectin type 3 (Fn3) domain has been characterized to date, even though Fn3 modules are often found in bacterial carbohydrolases such as cellulases, amylases, pullulanases, polygalacturonidases, and chitinases. It is now believed that the Fn3 domains in bacterial carbohydrolases participate in promotion of the hydrolysis of carbohydrate substrates by modifying their surfaces (10, 17).Gut microorganisms from invertebrates have recently attracted a great deal of attention as sources of novel fibrolytic enzymes with unique molecular structures and distinct substrate specificities (2-4, 7, 15). However, no study has been conducted to evaluate xylanolytic enzymes from the gut microorganisms of earthworms that may participate in the digestion of cellulosic or hemicellulosic foods taken up by the hosts. Here, we report a novel GH10 xylanase (XylK1) with an Fn3 domain from Cellulosimicrobium sp. strain HY-13 KCTC 11302BP (11), which was isolated from the digestive tract of the earthworm Eisenia fetida.Amplification of a partial sequence of the Cellulosimicrobium sp. strain HY-13 xylanase gene from the genomic DNA was conducted using the degenerate primers designed on the basis of conserved regions (WDVVNE and ITELDI) in the GH10 xylanases. The upstream primer (KF) was 5′-TGGGACGTCSTCAACGAG-3′, and the downstream primer (KR) was 5′-GATGTCGAGCTCSGTGAT-3′, which produced a 342-bp DNA fragment. Cloning of the full xylK1 gene was performed by repeated genomic walking and nested-PCR methods using a DNA Walking SpeedUp premix kit (Seegene). To overproduce mature XylK1, its encoding gene was cloned into the NdeI/HindIII sites of a pET-28a(+) vector (Novagen). Likewise, a partial sequence containing the GH10 domain (Ala34 to Leu345) of XylK1 was amplified using the primers tKF (5′-CATATGGCCACCGAGCCGCTCG-3′) and tKR (5′-AAGCTTTCAGGACCTCGGCGATCGC-3′) and subsequently also cloned into the same expression vector. When overexpressed in recombinant Escherichia coli BL21 cells harboring pET-28a(+)/xylK1, most recombinant proteins (rXylK1) were produced as inactive inclusion bodies. Therefore, after solubilization of the isolated inclusion bodies, on-column refolding and purification of rXylK1 was conducted using a HisTrap HP (GE Healthcare, Sweden) (5-ml) column attached to a fast-performance liquid chromatography (LC) system (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Sweden) according to the manufacturer''s instructions. The active rXylK1 proteins were then purified to electrophoretic homogeneity by gel permeation chromatography using a HiLoad 26/60 Superdex 200 prep-grade (Amersham Biosciences, Sweden) column, as previously described (11). Like rXylK1, the recombinant proteins (rXylK1ΔFn3) without both an Fn3 domain and CBM 2 were also purified by the method described above because they were produced as insoluble inclusion bodies. The relative molecular mass of the denatured rXylK1 was evaluated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis on a 12% gel, and the protein concentrations were assayed by using the Bradford reagent (Bio-Rad). Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) analysis was conducted using an Ultraflex III MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer (Bruker Daltonics, Germany) at the Korea Basic Science Institute (Daejeon, South Korea). The binding capacity of recombinant enzymes with/without the Fn3 domain to carbohydrate polymers was determined as described elsewhere (4). Xylanase activity was routinely assayed by measuring the amount of reducing sugars released from birch wood xylan by using the 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid reagent. The standard assay mixture (0.5 ml) consisted of birch wood xylan (1.0%) or p-nitrophenyl (PNP)-sugar derivatives (5 mM) with suitably diluted enzyme solution (0.05 ml) in 50 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 6.0), and the catalytic reaction was performed at 55°C for 10 min. One international unit of xylanase activity for xylans or PNP-sugar derivatives was defined as the amount of enzyme required to produce 1 μmol of reducing sugar or PNP, respectively, per min under standard assay conditions. Enzymatic hydrolysis of birch wood xylan (10 mg) (Sigma Co.), xylooligosaccharides (1 mg each) (Megazyme International Ireland, Ireland), and cellooligosaccharides (1 mg each) (Seikagaku Biobusiness Co., Japan) was conducted using purified rXylK1 (2 μg) in 0.1 ml of 50 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 6.0) for 3 or 6 h at 37°C, during which time the enzyme remained fairly stable. The reaction mixture was then heated to 100°C for 5 min to stop the enzyme reaction. The hydrolysis products were identified by LC-MS, as previously described (11).The isolated XylK1 gene (GenBank accession no. {"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"FJ859907","term_id":"265509370","term_text":"FJ859907"}}FJ859907) contained a 1,671-bp open reading frame that encodes a protein of 556 amino acids with a deduced molecular mass of 58,296 Da and a calculated pI of 4.59. It was predicted that the signal sequence cleavage site of premature XylK1 was between Ala33 and Ala34, which may generate a mature XylK1 of 523 amino acids with a deduced molecular mass of 54,843 Da and a calculated pI of 4.49 (Fig. ​(Fig.1).1). The results of a protein BLAST survey revealed that XylK1 was a unique modular xylanase composed of an N-terminal catalytic GH10 (Leu38-to-Asp330) domain, an Fn3 (Pro359-to-Gly430) domain, and a C-terminal CBM 2 (Cys454 to Cys553), which was very comparable to the domain architectures of other related GH10 enzymes (Fig. ​(Fig.2).2). To the best of our knowledge, no xylanase with domain architecture identical to that of XylK1 with an Fn3 domain has been reported to date, although an uncharacterized modular xylanase (GenBank accession no. {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"ABQ06877","term_id":"146156023","term_text":"ABQ06877"}}ABQ06877) consisting of an N-terminal Fn3 domain and a C-terminal GH10 domain from Flavobacterium johnsoniae UW101 was previously identified through a genome survey. As shown in Fig. ​Fig.1,1, the catalytic GH10 domain of XylK1 showed the highest sequence identity (67%) with that of the Cellulomonas fimi xylanase ({"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"AAA56792","term_id":"144429","term_text":"AAA56792"}}AAA56792) among other GH10 enzymes available in the NCBI database. However, its CBM 2 was 64% identical to that of Cellulomonas fimi GH6 cellulase ({"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"AAC36898","term_id":"456029","term_text":"AAC36898"}}AAC36898). The highest sequence identity (70%) of the Fn3 domain in XylK1 was obtained when it was compared to that of the Acidothermus cellulolyticus 11B GH48 enzyme ({"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"ABK52390","term_id":"117648288","term_text":"ABK52390"}}ABK52390), which degrades cellulose. The two conserved residues of Glu161 (acid/base catalyst) and Glu266 (catalytic nucleophile) were predicted in the active site of premature XylK1.Open in a separate windowFIG. 1.Alignment of the deduced amino acid sequence of GH10 xylanase from Cellulosimicrobium sp. strain HY-13 with those of other GH10 xylanases. Shown are sequences (GenBank accession numbers) of Cellulosimicrobium sp. strain HY-13 (Csp) xylanase ({"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"FJ859907","term_id":"265509370","term_text":"FJ859907"}}FJ859907), Cellulomonas fimi (Cfi) xylanase ({"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"AAA56792","term_id":"144429","term_text":"AAA56792"}}AAA56792), Streptomyces coelicolor (Sco) A3 xylanase ({"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"CAB61191","term_id":"6434744","term_text":"CAB61191"}}CAB61191), Streptomyces ambofaciens (Sam) xylanase ({"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"CAJ88420","term_id":"117164871","term_text":"CAJ88420"}}CAJ88420), Acidothermus cellulolyticus 11B (Ace) xylanase ({"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"ABK51955","term_id":"117647853","term_text":"ABK51955"}}ABK51955), and Thermobifida alba (Tal) xylanase ({"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"CAB02654","term_id":"1621277","term_text":"CAB02654"}}CAB02654). The identical and similar amino acids are shown by black and gray boxes, respectively. The predicted signal peptide is indicated by a black bar. The internal peptide sequences used in the design of degenerate oligonucleotides for PCR are marked by arrows. Highly conserved amino acid residues that play an essential role in the catalytic reaction are indicated by asterisks. GH10, Fn3, and CBM 2 domains are outlined by solid, dashed, and dotted lines, respectively.Open in a separate windowFIG. 2.Domain architectures of Cellulosimicrobium sp. strain HY-13 xylanase and the following related bacterial GH10 xylanases (GenBank accession numbers): Cellulosimicrobium sp. strain HY-13 xylanase ({"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"FJ859907","term_id":"265509370","term_text":"FJ859907"}}FJ859907) (A), Streptomyces thermocarboxydus HY-15 xylanase ({"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"EU880430","term_id":"215261531","term_text":"EU880430"}}EU880430) (B), Cellulomonas fimi xylanase ({"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"AAZ76373","term_id":"73427793","term_text":"AAZ76373"}}AAZ76373) (C), Streptomyces thermoviolaceus xylanase ({"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"BAD02382","term_id":"38524461","term_text":"BAD02382"}}BAD02382) (D), Pseudomonas fluorescens xylanase ({"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"P23030","term_id":"294862476","term_text":"P23030"}}P23030) (E), and Cellvibrio japonicus xylanase (YP 001982932) (F).The molecular mass of the purified enzyme was estimated to be approximately 42.0 kDa, which was smaller than the deduced molecular mass (57,138 Da) of intact His-tagged rXylK1, as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (data not shown). In addition, MALDI-TOF MS analysis revealed that the purified His-tagged rXylK1 with a calculated molecular mass of 45,169 Da was a smaller protein than the intact rXylK1. These results indicate that rXylK1 was formed by proteolytic cleavage at the C terminus region because the enzyme was able to tightly bind to a His tag column. Based on the calculated molecular mass (45,169 Da) of the truncated rXylK1, it is assumed that the intact rXylK1 was processed at the Val439-Thr440 site in a hinge region between the Fn3 domain and the C-terminal CBM 2 of the premature XylK1. The deduced molecular mass (45,179 Da) of rXylK1 with the Val439 residue at the C-terminal extremity was very close to the molecular mass (45,169 Da) of the enzyme calculated by MALDI-TOF MS analysis. A similar C-terminal processing of some modular xylanases with a cellulose-binding domain by proteases has also been observed when they are expressed in E. coli (8, 14). It is likely that the C-terminal truncation does not induce a significant alteration of the binding affinity of rXylK1 with an Fn3 domain to carbohydrate polymers since the truncated enzyme could still bind to both Avicel and insoluble oat spelt xylan (Table ​(Table1).1). In this case, only weak catalytic activity of the rXylK1 (<3% of its original activity [0.5 IU]) was recovered from an enzyme solution after binding. It was of great interest that no rXylK1ΔFn3 was bound to Avicel, although the enzyme could still not only bind to insoluble oat spelt xylan but also catalyze the hydrolysis of xylosic polymers. The specific activity (27 IU/mg) of rXylK1ΔFn3 for birch wood xylan was evaluated to be approximately 19% of that (143 IU/mg) of rXylK1 with the Fn3 domain for the same substrate. Taken together, the binding ability of the C-terminal CBM 2-lacking rXylK1 to Avicel and insoluble oat spelt xylan clearly suggests that the Fn3 domain plays an important role in enzyme-substrate binding because rXylK1ΔFn3 was not bound to Avicel. A significant decrease in the catalytic activity of rXylK1ΔFn3 induced by deletion of the Fn3 domain also suggests that the Fn3 domain may take part in the promotion of the catalytic hydrolysis of xylosic substrates by modifying their surfaces, as shown in other GHs (10, 17). The maximum catalytic activity of rXylK1 toward birch wood xylan was observed at pH 6.0 and 55°C, and it maintained over 80% of its highest activity at a relatively broad pH range of 5.0 to 9.0 during the reaction period of 15 min. These high activities of rXylK1 in alkaline pH ranges suggest that it is a peculiar enzyme that can be distinguished from xylanases of other invertebrate-symbiotic microorganisms, which showed weak hydrolytic activities toward xylan at the same alkaline pHs (4, 11, 15). At 55°C, the half-life of rXylK1 was approximately 10 min, which indicates that it is a typical mesophilic enzyme. Compared to many other xylanases that were completely inhibited by Hg²⁺ (11, 13), rXylK1 was partially inhibited (by 40% relative to its original activity) by 1 mM Hg²⁺. In addition, the enzyme was relatively suppressed by <25%, relative to its original activity, in the presence of some divalent cations at a concentration of 1 mM, in the order of Ca²⁺ > Cu²⁺ > Ba²⁺. No significant alterations of rXylK1 activity by Mn²⁺ and Co²⁺ were interesting to note because the xylanases from Streptomyces sp. strain S9 [12] and Aeromonas caviae ME-1 [14] have been negatively affected by the compound. In this study, the catalytic activity of rXylK1 increased by approximately 1.4-fold when the reaction was conducted in the presence of 1 mM Fe²⁺. The promotion of rXylK1 activity by Fe²⁺ was comparable to previous observations of xylanase inhibition by the metal ion (6, 15). The rXylK1 was relatively unaffected by sulfhydryl reagents (5 mM) such as sodium azide, iodoacetamide, and N-ethylmaleimide, while the enzyme lost 68% of its original activity when preincubated with 5 mM EDTA for 10 min. The complete inhibition of rXylK1 by 5 mM N-bromosuccinimide was in good agreement with the fact that three Trp residues in the highly conserved region of the GH10 enzymes are critically involved in enzyme-substrate interaction, as shown for Streptomyces lividans (16) and Geobacillus stearothermophilus T-6 (18) GH10 xylanases. It was predicted that the three residues Trp118, Trp306, and Trp314 in premature XylK1 might be responsible for catalysis and substrate binding of the enzyme. It is also noteworthy that the catalytic activity of His-tagged rXylK1 increased significantly, by approximately 1.8-fold, when the reaction was conducted in the presence of Tween 80 or Triton X-100 at a concentration of 0.5%. It is assumed that the nonionic-detergent-induced activation of His-tagged rXylK1 might be due to the direct interaction of the recombinant enzyme with the Tween 80 or Triton X-100 molecule, which may lead to an alteration of the enzyme-substrate interaction. Indeed, the stimulation of His-tagged rXylK1 activity was insignificant when the enzyme reaction was conducted in the presence of the detergents without preincubation with the same compounds for 10 min. As with rXylK1, it has been reported that the catalytic activity of a His-tagged esterase from Bacillus megaterium 20-1 expressed in E. coli is greatly stimulated by various nonionic detergents (9).

TABLE 1.

Binding of rXylK1 and rXylK1ΔFn3 to hydrophobic polysaccharides

Spontaneous Quinolone Resistance in the Zoonotic Serovar of Vibrio vulnificus

This work demonstrates that Vibrio vulnificus biotype 2, serovar E, an eel pathogen able to infect humans, can become resistant to quinolone by specific mutations in gyrA (substitution of isoleucine for serine at position 83) and to some fluoroquinolones by additional mutations in parC (substitution of lysine for serine at position 85). Thus, to avoid the selection of resistant strains that are potentially pathogenic for humans, antibiotics other than quinolones must be used to treat vibriosis on farms.Vibrio vulnificus is an aquatic bacterium from warm and tropical ecosystems that causes vibriosis in humans and fish (http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/dfbmd/disease_listing/vibriov_gi.html) (33). The species is heterogeneous and has been subdivided into three biotypes and more than eight serovars (6, 15, 33; our unpublished results). While biotypes 1 and 3 are innocuous for fish, biotype 2 can infect nonimmune fish, mainly eels, by colonizing the gills, invading the bloodstream, and causing death by septicemia (23). The disease is rapidly transmitted through water and can result in significant economic losses to fish farmers. Surviving eels are immune to the disease and can act as carriers, transmitting vibriosis between farms. Interestingly, biotype 2 isolates belonging to serovar E have been isolated from human infections, suggesting that serovar E is zoonotic (2). This serovar is also the most virulent for fish and has been responsible for the closure of several farms due to massive losses of fish. A vaccine, named Vulnivaccine, has been developed from serovar E isolates and has been successfully tested in the field (14). Although the vaccine provides fish with long-term protection from vibriosis, at present its use is restricted to Spain. For this reason, in many fish farms around the world, vibriosis is treated with antibiotics, which are usually added to the food or water.Quinolones are considered the most effective antibiotics against human and fish vibriosis (19, 21, 31). These antibiotics can persist for a long time in the environment (20), which could favor the emergence of resistant strains under selective pressure. In fact, spontaneous resistances to quinolones by chromosomal mutations have been described for some gram-negative bacteria (10, 11, 17, 24, 25, 26). Therefore, improper antibiotic treatment of eel vibriosis or inadequate residue elimination at farms could favor the emergence of human-pathogenic serovar E strains resistant to quinolones by spontaneous mutations. Thus, the main objective of the present work was to find out if the zoonotic serovar of biotype 2 can become quinolone resistant under selective pressure and determine the molecular basis of this resistance.Very few reports on resistance to antibiotics in V. vulnificus have been published; most of them have been performed with biotype 1 isolates. For this reason, the first task of this study was to determine the antibiotic resistance patterns in a wide collection of V. vulnificus strains belonging to the three biotypes that had been isolated worldwide from different sources (see Table S1 in the supplemental material). Isolates were screened for antimicrobial susceptibility to the antibiotics listed in Table S1 in the supplemental material by the agar diffusion disk procedure of Bauer et al. (5), according to the standard guideline (9). The resistance pattern found for each isolate is shown in Table S1 in the supplemental material. Less than 14% of isolates were sensitive to all the antibiotics tested, and more than 65% were resistant to more than one antibiotic, irrespective of their biotypes or serovars. The most frequent resistances were to ampicillin-sulbactam (SAM; 65.6% of the strains) and nitrofurantoin (F; 60.8% of the strains), and the least frequent were to tetracycline (12%) and oxytetracycline (8%). In addition, 15% of the strains were resistant to nalidixic acid (NAL) and oxolinic acid (OA), and 75% of these strains came from fish farms (see Table S1 in the supplemental material). Thus, high percentages of strains of the three biotypes were shown to be resistant to one or more antibiotics, with percentages similar to those found in nonbiotyped environmental V. vulnificus isolates from Asia and North America (4, 27, 34). In those studies, resistance to antibiotics could not be related to human contamination. However, the percentage of quinolone-resistant strains found in our study is higher than that reported in other ones, probably due to the inclusion of fish farm isolates, where the majority of quinolone-resistant strains were concentrated. This fact suggests that quinolone resistance could be related to human contamination due to the improper use of these drugs in therapy against fish diseases, as has been previously suggested (18, 20). Although no specific resistance pattern was associated with particular biotypes or serovars, we found certain differences in resistance distribution, as shown in Table ​Table1.1. In this respect, biotype 3 displayed the narrowest spectrum of resistances and biotype 1 the widest. The latter biotype encompassed the highest number of strains with multiresistance (see Table S1 in the supplemental material). Within biotype 2, there were differences among serovars, with quinolone resistance being restricted to the zoonotic serovar (Table ​(Table11).

TABLE 1.

Percentage of resistant strains distributed by biotypes and serovars