Antimicrobial Activity of Simulated Solar Disinfection against Bacterial,Fungal, and Protozoan Pathogens and Its Enhancement by Riboflavin

Riboflavin significantly enhanced the efficacy of simulated solar disinfection (SODIS) at 150 watts per square meter (W m⁻²) against a variety of microorganisms, including Escherichia coli, Fusarium solani, Candida albicans, and Acanthamoeba polyphaga trophozoites (>3 to 4 log₁₀ after 2 to 6 h; P < 0.001). With A. polyphaga cysts, the kill (3.5 log₁₀ after 6 h) was obtained only in the presence of riboflavin and 250 W m⁻² irradiance.Solar disinfection (SODIS) is an established and proven technique for the generation of safer drinking water (11). Water is collected into transparent plastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and placed in direct sunlight for 6 to 8 h prior to consumption (14). The application of SODIS has been shown to be a simple and cost-effective method for reducing the incidence of gastrointestinal infection in communities where potable water is not available (2-4). Under laboratory conditions using simulated sunlight, SODIS has been shown to inactivate pathogenic bacteria, fungi, viruses, and protozoa (6, 12, 15). Although SODIS is not fully understood, it is believed to achieve microbial killing through a combination of DNA-damaging effects of ultraviolet (UV) radiation and thermal inactivation from solar heating (21).The combination of UVA radiation and riboflavin (vitamin B₂) has recently been reported to have therapeutic application in the treatment of bacterial and fungal ocular pathogens (13, 17) and has also been proposed as a method for decontaminating donor blood products prior to transfusion (1). In the present study, we report that the addition of riboflavin significantly enhances the disinfectant efficacy of simulated SODIS against bacterial, fungal, and protozoan pathogens.Chemicals and media were obtained from Sigma (Dorset, United Kingdom), Oxoid (Basingstoke, United Kingdom), and BD (Oxford, United Kingdom). Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 9027), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 6538), Bacillus subtilis (ATCC 6633), Candida albicans (ATCC 10231), and Fusarium solani (ATCC 36031) were obtained from ATCC (through LGC Standards, United Kingdom). Escherichia coli (JM101) was obtained in house, and the Legionella pneumophila strain used was a recent environmental isolate.B. subtilis spores were produced from culture on a previously published defined sporulation medium (19). L. pneumophila was grown on buffered charcoal-yeast extract agar (5). All other bacteria were cultured on tryptone soy agar, and C. albicans was cultured on Sabouraud dextrose agar as described previously (9). Fusarium solani was cultured on potato dextrose agar, and conidia were prepared as reported previously (7). Acanthamoeba polyphaga (Ros) was isolated from an unpublished keratitis case at Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, United Kingdom, in 1991. Trophozoites were maintained and cysts prepared as described previously (8, 18).Assays were conducted in transparent 12-well tissue culture microtiter plates with UV-transparent lids (Helena Biosciences, United Kingdom). Test organisms (1 × 10⁶/ml) were suspended in 3 ml of one-quarter-strength Ringer''s solution or natural freshwater (as pretreated water from a reservoir in United Kingdom) with or without riboflavin (250 μM). The plates were exposed to simulated sunlight at an optical output irradiance of 150 watts per square meter (W m⁻²) delivered from an HPR125 W quartz mercury arc lamp (Philips, Guildford, United Kingdom). Optical irradiances were measured using a calibrated broadband optical power meter (Melles Griot, Netherlands). Test plates were maintained at 30°C by partial submersion in a water bath.At timed intervals for bacteria and fungi, the aliquots were plated out by using a WASP spiral plater and colonies subsequently counted by using a ProtoCOL automated colony counter (Don Whitley, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom). Acanthamoeba trophozoite and cyst viabilities were determined as described previously (6). Statistical analysis was performed using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) of data from triplicate experiments via the InStat statistical software package (GraphPad, La Jolla, CA).The efficacies of simulated sunlight at an optical output irradiance of 150 W m⁻² alone (SODIS) and in the presence of 250 μM riboflavin (SODIS-R) against the test organisms are shown in Table ​Table1.1. With the exception of B. subtilis spores and A. polyphaga cysts, SODIS-R resulted in a significant increase in microbial killing compared to SODIS alone (P < 0.001). In most instances, SODIS-R achieved total inactivation by 2 h, compared to 6 h for SODIS alone (Table ​(Table1).1). For F. solani, C. albicans, ands A. polyphaga trophozoites, only SODIS-R achieved a complete organism kill after 4 to 6 h (P < 0.001). All control experiments in which the experiments were protected from the light source showed no reduction in organism viability over the time course (results not shown).

TABLE 1.

Efficacies of simulated SODIS for 6 h alone and with 250 μM riboflavin (SODIS-R)

Hydroxylation and Further Oxidation of Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol by Alkane-Degrading Bacteria

The microbial biotransformation of Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol was investigated using a collection of 206 alkane-degrading strains. Fifteen percent of these strains, mainly gram-positive strains from the genera Rhodococcus, Mycobacterium, Gordonia, and Dietzia, yielded more-polar derivatives. Eight derivatives were produced on a mg scale, isolated, and purified, and their chemical structures were elucidated with the use of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, ¹H-nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H-NMR), and two-dimensional NMR (¹H-¹H correlation spectroscopy and heteronuclear multiple bond coherence). All eight biotransformation products possessed modified alkyl chains, with hydroxy, carboxy, and ester functionalities. In a number of strains, β-oxidation of the initially formed C₅ carboxylic acid led to the formation of a carboxylic acid lacking two methylene groups.Δ⁹-Tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ⁹-THC) is the decarboxylated product of the corresponding Δ⁹-THC acid, the major cannabinoid present in the cannabis plant (Cannabis sativa L., Cannabaceae). This compound is officially registered as a drug for the stimulation of appetite and antiemesis in patients under chemotherapy and human immunodeficiency virus therapy regimens. Other biological activities ascribed to this compound include lowering intraocular pressure in glaucoma, acting as an analgesic for muscle relaxation, immunosuppression, sedation, bronchodilation, and neuroprotection (11).Δ⁹-THC and many of its derivatives are highly lipophilic and poorly water soluble. Calculations of the n-octanol/water partition coefficient (K_o/w) of Δ⁹-THC at neutral pH vary between 6,000, using the shake flask method (15), and 9.44 × 10⁶, by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography estimation (19). The poor water solubility and high lipophilicity of cannabinoids cause their absorption across the lipid bilayer membranes and fast elimination from blood circulation. In terms of the “Lipinsky rule of 5” (14), the high lipophilicity of cannabinoids hinders the further development of these compounds into large-scale pharmaceutical products.To generate more water-soluble analogues, one can either apply de novo chemical synthesis (as, e.g., in reference 16) or modify naturally occurring cannabinoids, e.g., by introducing hydroxy, carbonyl, or carboxy groups. Chemical hydroxylation of compounds such as cannabinoids is difficult (Δ⁹-THC is easily converted into Δ⁸-THC under mild conditions), and therefore microbial biotransformation of cannabinoids is potentially a more fruitful option to achieve this goal.So far, studies on biotransformation of Δ⁹-THC were mainly focused on fungi, which led to the formation of a number of mono- and dihydroxylated derivatives. Previous reports on the biotransformation of cannabinoids by various microorganisms are summarized in Table ​Table1.1. The aim of the present study was to test whether bacterial strains are capable of transforming Δ⁹-THC into new products (with potentially better pharmaceutical characteristics) at a higher yield and specificity than previously found for fungal strains. For this purpose, we have chosen to use a collection of alkane-degrading strains, since it was shown in previous studies (8, 18, 20) that alkane oxygenases often display a broad substrate range. Production of novel cannabinoid derivatives that might have interesting pharmacological activities was another objective of this project.

TABLE 1.

Previous biotransformation experiments conducted using various microorganisms to transform cannabinoids

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

Structural Characterization of the Dual Glycan Binding Adeno-Associated Virus Serotype 6

The three-dimensional structure of adeno-associated virus (AAV) serotype 6 (AAV6) was determined using cryo-electron microscopy and image reconstruction and using X-ray crystallography to 9.7- and 3.0-Å resolution, respectively. The AAV6 capsid contains a highly conserved, eight-stranded (βB to βI) β-barrel core and large loop regions between the strands which form the capsid surface, as observed in other AAV structures. The loops show conformational variation compared to other AAVs, consistent with previous reports that amino acids in these loop regions are involved in differentiating AAV receptor binding, transduction efficiency, and antigenicity properties. Toward structure-function annotation of AAV6 with respect to its unique dual glycan receptor (heparan sulfate and sialic acid) utilization for cellular recognition, and its enhanced lung epithelial transduction compared to other AAVs, the capsid structure was compared to that of AAV1, which binds sialic acid and differs from AAV6 in only 6 out of 736 amino acids. Five of these residues are located at or close to the icosahedral 3-fold axis of the capsid, thereby identifying this region as imparting important functions, such as receptor attachment and transduction phenotype. Two of the five observed amino acids are located in the capsid interior, suggesting that differential AAV infection properties are also controlled by postentry intracellular events. Density ordered inside the capsid, under the 3-fold axis in a previously reported, conserved AAV DNA binding pocket, was modeled as a nucleotide and a base, further implicating this capsid region in AAV genome recognition and/or stabilization.Adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) are nonpathogenic single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) parvoviruses that belong to the Dependovirus genus and require helper viruses, such as Adenovirus or Herpesvirus, for lytic infection (4, 8, 22, 67). These viruses package a genome of ∼4.7 kb inside an icosahedral capsid (∼260 Å in diameter) with a triangulation number equal to 1 assembled from a total of 60 copies of their overlapping capsid viral protein (VP) 1 (VP1), VP2, and VP3 in a predicted ratio of 1:1:8/10 (10). The VPs are encoded from a cap open reading frame (ORF). VP3 is 61 kDa and constitutes 90% of the capsid''s protein composition. The less abundant VPs, VP1 (87 kDa) and VP2 (73 kDa), share the same C-terminal amino acid sequence with VP3 but have additional N-terminal sequences. A rep ORF codes for four overlapping proteins required for replication and DNA packaging.To date, more than 100 AAV isolates have been identified (21). Among the human and nonhuman primate AAVs isolated, 12 serotypes (AAV serotype 1 [AAV1] to AAV12) have been described and are classified into six phylogenetic clades on the basis of their VP sequences and antigenic reactivities, with AAV4 and AAV5 considered to be clonal isolates (21). AAV1 and AAV6, which represent clade A, differ by only 6 out of 736 VP1 amino acids (5 amino acids within VP3) and are antigenically cross-reactive. Other clade representatives include AAV2 (clade B), AAV2-AAV3 hybrid (clade C), AAV7 (clade D), AAV8 (clade E), and AAV9 (clade F) (21).The AAVs are under development as clinical gene delivery vectors (e.g., see references 5, 9, 12, 13, 24, 25, 53, and 61), with AAV2, the prototype member of the genus, being the most extensively studied serotype for this application. AAV2 has been successfully used to treat several disorders, but its broad tissue tropism makes it less effective for tissue-specific applications and the prevalence of preexisting neutralizing antibodies in the human population (11, 43) limits its utilization, especially when readministration is required to achieve a therapeutic outcome. Efforts have thus focused on characterizing the capsid-associated tissue tropism and transduction properties conferred by the capsid of representative serotypes of other clades (21). Outcomes of these studies include the observation that AAV1 and AAV6, for example, transduce liver, muscle, and airway epithelial cells more efficiently (e.g., up to 200-fold) than AAV2 (27, 28, 30). In addition, the six residues (Table ​(Table1)1) that differ between the VPs of AAV1 and AAV6 (a natural recombinant of AAV1 and AAV2 [56]) confer functional disparity between these two viruses. For example, AAV6 shows ∼3-fold higher lung cell epithelium transduction than AAV1 (27), and AAV1 and AAV6 bind terminally sialylated proteoglycans as their primary receptor, whereas AAV6 additionally binds to heparan sulfate (HS) proteoglycans with moderate affinity (70, 71). Therefore, a comparison of the AAV1 and AAV6 serotypes and, in particular, their capsid structures can help pinpoint the capsid regions that confer differences in cellular recognition and tissue transduction.

TABLE 1.

Amino acid differences between AAV1 and AAV6 and their reported mutants

Wide Variation in the Multiplicity of HIV-1 Infection among Injection Drug Users

Recent studies indicate that sexual transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) generally results from productive infection by only one virus, a finding attributable to the mucosal barrier. Surprisingly, a recent study of injection drug users (IDUs) from St. Petersburg, Russia, also found most subjects to be acutely infected by a single virus. Here, we show by single-genome amplification and sequencing in a different IDU cohort that 60% of IDU subjects were infected by more than one virus, including one subject who was acutely infected by at least 16 viruses. Multivariant transmission was more common in IDUs than in heterosexuals (60% versus 19%; odds ratio, 6.14; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.37 to 31.27; P = 0.008). These findings highlight the diversity in HIV-1 infection risks among different IDU cohorts and the challenges faced by vaccines in protecting against this mode of infection.Elucidation of virus-host interactions during and immediately following the transmission event is one of the great challenges and opportunities in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS prevention research (14-16, 31, 34, 45). Recent innovations involving single-genome amplification (SGA), direct amplicon sequencing, and phylogenetic inference based on a model of random virus evolution (18-20, 43) have allowed for the identification of transmitted/founder viruses that actually cross from donor to recipient, leading to productive HIV type 1 (HIV-1) infection. Our laboratory and others have made the surprising finding that HIV-1 transmission results from productive infection by a single transmitted/founder virus (or virally infected cell) in ∼80% of HIV-infected heterosexuals and in ∼60% of HIV-infected men who have sex with men (MSM) (1, 13, 18, 24). These studies thus provided a precise quantitative estimate for the long-recognized genetic bottleneck in HIV-1 transmission (6, 11-13, 17, 25, 28, 30, 35, 38, 42, 47-49) and a plausible explanation for the low acquisition rate per coital act and for graded infection risks associated with different exposure routes and behaviors (15, 36).In contrast to sexual transmission of HIV-1, virus transmission resulting from injection drug use has received relatively little attention (2, 3, 29, 42) despite the fact that injection drug use-associated transmission accounts for as many as 10% of new infections globally (26, 46). We hypothesized that SGA strategies developed for identifying transmitted/founder viruses following mucosal acquisition are applicable to deciphering transmission events following intravenous inoculation and that, due to the absence of a mucosal barrier, injection drug users (IDUs) exhibit a higher frequency of multiple-variant transmission and a wider range in numbers of transmitted viruses than do acutely infected heterosexual subjects. We obtained evidence in support of these hypotheses from the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)-Indian rhesus macaque infection model, where we showed that discrete low-diversity viral lineages emanating from single or multiple transmitted/founder viruses could be identified following intravenous inoculation and that the rectal mucosal barrier to infection was 2,000- to 20,000-fold greater than with intravenous inoculation (19). However, we also recognized potentially important differences between virus transmission in Indian rhesus macaques and virus transmission in humans that could complicate an IDU acquisition study. For example, in the SIV macaque model, the virus inocula can be well characterized genetically and the route and timing of virus exposure in relation to plasma sampling precisely defined, whereas in IDUs, the virus inoculum is generally undefined and the timing of virus infection only approximated based on clinical history and seroconversion testing (8). In addition, IDUs may have additional routes of potential virus acquisition due to concomitant sexual activity. Finally, there is a paucity of IDU cohorts for whom incident infection is monitored sufficiently frequently and clinical samples are collected often enough to allow for the identification and enumeration of transmitted/founder viruses. To address these special challenges, we proposed a pilot study of 10 IDU subjects designed to determine with 95% confidence if the proportion of multivariant transmissions in IDUs was more than 2-fold greater than the 20% frequency established for heterosexual transmission (1, 13, 18, 24). A secondary objective of the study was to determine whether the range in numbers of transmitted/founder viruses in IDUs exceeded the 1-to-6 range observed in heterosexuals (1, 13, 18, 24). To ensure comparability among the studies, we employed SGA-direct amplicon sequencing approaches, statistical methods, and power calculations identical to those that we had used previously to enumerate transmitted/founder viruses in heterosexual and MSM cohorts (1, 13, 18, 20, 24).We first surveyed investigators representing acute-infection cohorts in the United States, Canada, Russia, and China; only one cohort—the Montreal Primary HIV Infection Cohort (41)—had IDU clinical samples and clinical data available for study. The Montreal cohort of subjects with acute and early-stage HIV-1 infection was established in 1996 and recruits subjects from both academic and private medical centers throughout the city. Injection drug use is an important contributing factor to Montreal''s HIV burden, with IDUs comprising approximately 20% of the city''s AIDS cases and 35% of the cohort (21, 40, 41). A large proportion of Montreal''s IDUs use injection cocaine, with 50 to 69% of subjects reporting cocaine as their injection drug of choice (4, 5, 9, 22, 23).Subjects with documented serological evidence of recent HIV-1 infection and a concurrent history of injection drug use were selected for study. These individuals had few or no reported risk factors for sexual HIV-1 acquisition. Clinical history and laboratory tests of HIV-1 viremia and antibody seroconversion were used to determine the Fiebig clinical stage (8) and to estimate the date of infection (Table ​(Table1).1). One subject was determined to be in Fiebig stage III, one subject was in Fiebig stage IV, five subjects were in Fiebig stage V, and three subjects were in Fiebig stage VI. We performed SGA-direct amplicon sequencing on stored plasma samples and obtained a total of 391 3′ half-genomes (median, 25 per subject; range, 19 to 167). Nine of these sequences contained large deletions or were G-to-A hypermutated and were excluded from subsequent analysis. Sequences were aligned, visually inspected using the Highlighter tool (www.hiv.lanl.gov/content/sequence/HIGHLIGHT/highlighter.html), and analyzed by neighbor-joining (NJ) phylogenetic-tree construction. A composite NJ tree of full-length gp160 env sequences from all 10 subjects (Fig. ​(Fig.1A)1A) revealed distinct patient-specific monophyletic lineages, each with high bootstrap support and separated from the others by a mean genetic distance of 10.79% (median, 11.29%; range, 3.00 to 13.42%). Maximum within-patient env gene diversity ranged from 0.23% to 3.34% (Table ​(Table1).1). Four subjects displayed distinctly lower within-patient maximum env diversities (0.23 to 0.49%) than the other six subjects (1.48% to 3.34%). The lower maximum env diversities in the former group are consistent with infection either by a single virus or by multiple closely related viruses, while the higher diversities can be explained only by transmission of more than one virus based on empirical observations (1, 13, 18, 24) and mathematical modeling (18, 20).Open in a separate windowFIG. 1.NJ trees and Highlighter plots of HIV-1 gp160 env sequences. (A) Composite tree of 382 gp160 env sequences from all study subjects. The numerals at the nodes indicate bootstrap values for which statistical support exceeded 70%. (B) Subject ACT54869022 sequences suggest productive infection by a single virus (V1). (C) Subject HDNDRPI032 sequences suggest productive infection by as many as three viruses. (D) Subject HDNDRPI001 sequences suggest productive infection by at least five viruses with extensive interlineage recombination. Sequences are color coded to indicate viral progeny from distinct transmitted/founder viruses. Recombinant virus sequences are depicted in black. Methods for SGA, sequencing, model analysis, Highlighter plotting, and identification of transmitted/founder virus lineages are described elsewhere (18, 20, 24, 44). The horizontal scale bars represent genetic distance. nt, nucleotide.

TABLE 1.

Subject demographics and HIV-1 envelope analysis results

Detection and Identification of tdh- and trh-Positive Vibrio parahaemolyticus Strains from Four Species of Cultured Bivalve Molluscs on the Spanish Mediterranean Coast

Presented here is the first report describing the detection of potentially diarrheal Vibrio parahaemolyticus strains isolated from cultured bivalves on the Mediterranean coast, providing data on the presence of both tdh- and trh-positive isolates. Potentially diarrheal V. parahaemolyticus strains were isolated from four species of bivalves collected from both bays of the Ebro delta, Spain.Gastroenteritis caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus has been reported worldwide, though only sporadic cases have been reported in Europe (7, 14). The bacterium can be naturally present in seafood, but pathogenic isolates capable of inducing gastroenteritis in humans are rare in environmental samples (2 to 3%) (15) and are often not detected (10, 19, 20).The virulence of V. parahaemolyticus is based on the presence of a thermostable direct hemolysin (tdh) and/or the thermostable direct hemolysin-related gene (trh) (1, 5). Both are associated with gastrointestinal illnesses (2, 9).Spain is not only the second-largest producer in the world of live bivalve molluscs but also one of the largest consumers of bivalve molluscs, and Catalonia is the second-most important bivalve producer of the Spanish Autonomous Regions. Currently, the cultivation of bivalves in this area is concentrated in the delta region of the Ebro River. The risk of potentially pathogenic Vibrio spp. in products placed on the market is not assessed by existing legislative indices of food safety in the European Union, which emphasizes the need for a better knowledge of the prevalence of diarrheal vibrios in seafood products. The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution and pathogenic potential of V. parahaemolyticus in bivalve species exploited in the bays of the Ebro delta.Thirty animals of each species of Mytilus galloprovincialis, Crassostrea gigas, Ruditapes decussatus, and Ruditapes philippinarum were collected. They were sampled from six sites of the culture area, three in each bay of the Ebro River delta, at the beginning (40°37′112"N, 0°37′092"E [Alfacs]; 40°46′723"N, 0°43′943"E [Fangar]), middle (40°37′125"N, 0°38′570"E [Alfacs]; 40°46′666"N, 0°45′855"E [Fangar]), and end (40°37′309"N, 0°39′934"E [Alfacs]; 40°46′338"N, 0°44′941"E [Fangar]) of the culture polygon. Clams were sampled from only one site per bay as follows: in the Alfacs Bay from a natural bed of R. decussatus (40°37′44"N, 0°38′0"E) and in the Fangar Bay from an aquaculture bed of R. philippinarum (40°47′3"N, 0°43′8"E). In total, 367 samples were analyzed in 2006 (180 oysters, 127 mussels, 30 carpet shell clams, and 30 Manila clams) and 417 samples were analyzed in 2008 (178 oysters, 179 mussels, 30 carpet shell clams, and 30 Manila clams).All animals were individually processed and homogenized, and 1 ml of the homogenate was inoculated into 9 ml of alkaline peptone water (Scharlau, Spain). Following a 6-h incubation at 37°C, one loopful of the contents of each tube of alkaline peptone water was streaked onto CHROMagar vibrio plates (CHROMagar, France) and incubated for 18 h at 37°C. Mauve-purple colonies were purified, and each purified isolate was cryopreserved at −80°C (135 isolates in 2006 and 96 in 2008). From the initial homogenate portion, 100 μl was inoculated onto marine agar (Scharlau, Spain) and onto thiosulfate citrate-bile salts-sucrose agar (Scharlau, Spain) for total heterotrophic marine bacteria counts and total vibrio counts, respectively (Table ​(Table11).

TABLE 1.

Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolates, serotypes, and origins and total number of vibrios/heterotrophic bacteria contained in the bivalve^a

Zinc-Independent Folate Biosynthesis: Genetic,Biochemical, and Structural Investigations Reveal New Metal Dependence for GTP Cyclohydrolase IB

GTP cyclohydrolase I (GCYH-I) is an essential Zn²⁺-dependent enzyme that catalyzes the first step of the de novo folate biosynthetic pathway in bacteria and plants, the 7-deazapurine biosynthetic pathway in Bacteria and Archaea, and the biopterin pathway in mammals. We recently reported the discovery of a new prokaryotic-specific GCYH-I (GCYH-IB) that displays no sequence identity to the canonical enzyme and is present in ∼25% of bacteria, the majority of which lack the canonical GCYH-I (renamed GCYH-IA). Genomic and genetic analyses indicate that in those organisms possessing both enzymes, e.g., Bacillus subtilis, GCYH-IA and -IB are functionally redundant, but differentially expressed. Whereas GCYH-IA is constitutively expressed, GCYH-IB is expressed only under Zn²⁺-limiting conditions. These observations are consistent with the hypothesis that GCYH-IB functions to allow folate biosynthesis during Zn²⁺ starvation. Here, we present biochemical and structural data showing that bacterial GCYH-IB, like GCYH-IA, belongs to the tunneling-fold (T-fold) superfamily. However, the GCYH-IA and -IB enzymes exhibit significant differences in global structure and active-site architecture. While GCYH-IA is a unimodular, homodecameric, Zn²⁺-dependent enzyme, GCYH-IB is a bimodular, homotetrameric enzyme activated by a variety of divalent cations. The structure of GCYH-IB and the broad metal dependence exhibited by this enzyme further underscore the mechanistic plasticity that is emerging for the T-fold superfamily. Notably, while humans possess the canonical GCYH-IA enzyme, many clinically important human pathogens possess only the GCYH-IB enzyme, suggesting that this enzyme is a potential new molecular target for antibacterial development.The Zn²⁺-dependent enzyme GTP cyclohydrolase I (GCYH-I; EC 3.5.4.16) is the first enzyme of the de novo tetrahydrofolate (THF) biosynthesis pathway (Fig. ​(Fig.1)1) (38). THF is an essential cofactor in one-carbon transfer reactions in the synthesis of purines, thymidylate, pantothenate, glycine, serine, and methionine in all kingdoms of life (38), and formylmethionyl-tRNA in bacteria (7). Recently, it has also been shown that GCYH-I is required for the biosynthesis of the 7-deazaguanosine-modified tRNA nucleosides queuosine and archaeosine produced in Bacteria and Archaea (44), respectively, as well as the 7-deazaadenosine metabolites produced in some Streptomyces species (33). GCYH-I is encoded in Escherichia coli by the folE gene (28) and catalyzes the conversion of GTP to 7,8-dihydroneopterin triphosphate (55), a complex reaction that begins with hydrolytic opening of the purine ring at C-8 of GTP to generate an N-formyl intermediate, followed by deformylation and subsequent rearrangement and cyclization of the ribosyl moiety to generate the pterin ring in THF (Fig. ​(Fig.1).1). Notably, the enzyme is dependent on an essential active-site Zn²⁺ that serves to activate a water molecule for nucleophilic attack at C-8 in the first step of the reaction (2).Open in a separate windowFIG. 1.Reaction catalyzed by GCYH-I, and metabolic fate of 7,8-dihydroneopterin triphosphate.A homologous GCYH-I is found in mammals and other higher eukaryotes, where it catalyzes the first step of the biopterin (BH₄) pathway (Fig. ​(Fig.1),1), an essential cofactor in the biosynthesis of tyrosine and neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and l-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (3, 52). Recently, a distinct class of GCYH-I enzymes, GCYH-IB (encoded by the folE2 gene), was discovered in microbes (26% of sequenced Bacteria and most Archaea) (12), including several clinically important human pathogens, e.g., Neisseria and Staphylococcus species. Notably, GCYH-IB is absent in eukaryotes.The distribution of folE (gene product renamed GCYH-IA) and folE2 (GCYH-IB) in bacteria is diverse (12). The majority of organisms possess either a folE (65%; e.g., Escherichia coli) or a folE2 (14%; e.g., Neisseria gonorrhoeae) gene. A significant number (12%; e.g., B. subtilis) possess both genes (a subset of 50 bacterial species is shown in Table ​Table1),1), and 9% lack both genes, although members of the latter group are mainly intracellular or symbiotic bacteria that rely on external sources of folate. The majority of Archaea possess only a folE2 gene, and the encoded GCYH-IB appears to be necessary only for the biosynthesis of the modified tRNA nucleoside archaeosine (44) except in the few halophilic Archaea that are known to synthesize folates, such as Haloferax volcanii, where GCYH-IB is involved in both archaeosine and folate formation (13, 44).

TABLE 1.

Distribution and candidate Zur-dependent regulation of alternative GCYH-I genes in bacteria^a

Bar-Coded Pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA Gene Amplicons Reveals Changes in Ileal Porcine Bacterial Communities Due to High Dietary Zinc Intake

Feeding high levels of zinc oxide to piglets significantly increased the relative abundance of ileal Weissella spp., Leuconostoc spp., and Streptococcus spp., reduced the occurrence of Sarcina spp. and Neisseria spp., and led to numerical increases of all Gram-negative facultative anaerobic genera. High dietary zinc oxide intake has a major impact on the porcine ileal bacterial composition.Zinc oxide (ZnO) is used as a feed additive for diarrhea prophylaxis in piglets (23). However, the mode of action of ZnO is not fully understood. Besides its effects on the host (10, 30, 31), high dietary zinc levels may affect the diversity of intestinal microbial communities (2, 11, 20). The prevention of postweaning diarrhea in piglets due to high dietary ZnO intake may not be directly related to a reduction of pathogenic E. coli (8) but, rather, to the diversity of the coliform community (15). Studies on the impact of high ZnO levels on the porcine ileal bacterial community are scarce but nevertheless important, as bacterial diarrhea is initiated in the small intestine (9, 17). The small intestine is a very complex habitat with many different factors shaping the bacterial community. Studies on the ecophysiology (22) and maturation of the porcine ileal microbiota (13, 27) indicate a drastic impact directly after weaning and a gradual decline of modifications during the following 2 weeks. Thus, the time point for analysis chosen in this study (14 days postweaning) does reflect a more stable period of the ileal porcine microbiota. In this study, we used bar-coded pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA genes to gain further insight into the mode of action of pharmacological levels of ZnO in the gastrointestinal tract of young pigs.Total DNA was extracted from the ileal digesta of 40- to 42-day-old piglets using a commercial kit (Qiagen stool kit; Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) and PCR amplified with unique bar-coded primer sets targeting the V1-to-V3 and the V6-to-V8 hypervariable regions (see the supplemental material for detailed methods). The rationale behind this approach was derived from the fact that no single “universal” primer pair can completely cover a complex bacterial habitat (4, 24, 32, 33). Furthermore, these studies also show that in silico information on the coverage of selected primer sets diverges from empirical results, and hence, two hypervariable regions were chosen in this study to maximize the detection of phylogenetically diverse bacterial groups.Equimolar dilutions of all samples were combined into one master sample. Pyrosequencing was performed by Agowa (Berlin, Germany) on a Roche genome sequencer FLX system using a Titanium series PicoTiterPlate. The resulting data files were uploaded to the MG-RAST server (http://metagenomics.nmpdr.org/) (19) and processed with its SEED software tool using the RDP database (5) as the reference database. After automated sequence analysis, all sequences with less than five identical reads per sample were deleted in order to increase the confidence of sequence reads and reduce bias from possible sequencing errors (12, 16). Thus, 0.43% of all sequences were not considered (1,882 of 433,302 sequences). These sequences were assigned to a total of 238 genera, of which most only occurred in a few samples (see the supplemental material). Furthermore, all unclassified sequences were removed (8.7%; 41,467 of 474,769 sequences). Due to the use of the RDP reference database, the SEED software incorrectly assigned the majority of unclassified sequences as unclassified Deferribacterales (83%; 34,393 sequences), which were actually identified as 16S soybean or wheat chloroplasts by BLAST or as cyanobacterial chloroplasts by the RDP II seqmatch tool.The pyrosequencing results for the two primer combinations were merged by taking only sequences from the primer combination that yielded the higher number of reads for a specific sequence assignment in a sample. The remaining reads were used to calculate the relative contribution of assigned sequences to total sequence reads in a sample.The Firmicutes phylum dominated the small intestinal bacterial communities in both the control group and the group with high dietary ZnO intake, with 98.3% and 97.0% of total sequence reads, respectively. No significant influence of high dietary ZnO intake was found for the main phyla Proteobacteria (0.92% versus 1.84%), Actinobacteria (0.61% versus 0.75%), Bacteroidetes (0.15% versus 0.17%), and Fusobacteria (0.09% versus 0.12%).On the order level, a total of 20 bacterial orders were detected (data not shown). Lactobacillales dominated bacterial communities in the control and high-dietary-ZnO-intake groups, with 83.37% and 93.24% of total reads. Lactic acid bacteria are well known to dominate the bacterial community in the ileum of piglets (11, 22). No significant difference between the control group and the group with high dietary ZnO intake was observed on the order level, although high dietary ZnO intake led to a strong numerical decrease for Clostridiales (14.4 ± 24.0% [mean ± standard deviation] versus 2.8 ± 1.7%), as well as to numerical increases for Pseudomonadales (0.3 ± 0.3% versus 0.6 ± 0.6%) and Enterobacteriales (0.2 ± 0.2% versus 0.5 ± 0.6%).On the genus level, a total of 103 genera were detected. Table ​Table11 summarizes the main 31 genera which exceeded 0.05% of total reads (see the supplemental material for a complete list). Lactobacilli clearly dominated the bacterial communities in both trial groups, but they also were numerically lower due to high dietary ZnO intake.

TABLE 1.

Bacterial genera in the ileum of piglets fed diets supplemented with 200 or 3,000 ppm ZnO

Dehalogenation Activities and Distribution of Reductive Dehalogenase Homologous Genes in Marine Subsurface Sediments

Halogenated organic compounds serve as terminal electron acceptors for anaerobic respiration in a diverse range of microorganisms. Here, we report on the widespread distribution and diversity of reductive dehalogenase homologous (rdhA) genes in marine subsurface sediments. A total of 32 putative rdhA phylotypes were detected in sediments from the southeast Pacific off Peru, the eastern equatorial Pacific, the Juan de Fuca Ridge flank off Oregon, and the northwest Pacific off Japan, collected at a maximum depth of 358 m below the seafloor. In addition, significant dehalogenation activity involving 2,4,6-tribromophenol and trichloroethene was observed in sediment slurry from the Nankai Trough Forearc Basin. These results suggest that dehalorespiration is an important energy-yielding pathway in the subseafloor microbial ecosystem.Scientific ocean drilling explorations have revealed that marine subsurface sediments harbor remarkable numbers of microbial cells that account for approximately 1/10 to 1/3 of all living biota on Earth (20, 25, 33). Thermodynamic calculations of pore-water chemistry suggest that subseafloor microbial activities are generally supported by nutrient and energy supplies from the seawater and/or underlying basaltic aquifers (6, 7). Although sulfate, nitrate, Fe(III), Mn(IV), and bicarbonate are known to be potential electron acceptors for anaerobic microbial respiration in marine subsurface sediments (5), the incidence of both the dissimilatory dehalorespiration pathway and microbial activity in halogenated organic substrates remains largely unknown.Previous molecular ecological studies using 16S rRNA gene sequences demonstrated that Chloroflexi is one of the most frequently detected phyla in subseafloor sediments of the Pacific Ocean margins (12-14). Some of the sequences within the Chloroflexi are closely related to sequences in the genus Dehalococcoides, which contains obligatory dehalorespiring bacteria that employ halogenated organic compounds as terminal electron acceptors (21, 29). The frequent detection of Dehalococcoides-related 16S rRNA genes from these environments implies the occurrence of dissimilatory dehalorespiration in marine subsurface sediments.In this study, we detected and phylogenetically analyzed the reductive dehalogenase homologous (rdhA) genes, key functional genes for dehalorespiration pathways, from frozen sediment core samples obtained by Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 201 (Peru margin and eastern equatorial Pacific) (7, 14); Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 301 (Juan de Fuca Ridge flank) (8, 24); Chikyu Shakedown Expedition CK06-06 (Northwest Pacific off Japan) (20, 23); and IODP Expedition 315 (Nankai Trough Forearc Basin off Japan) (Table ​(Table1).1). DNA was extracted using an ISOIL bead-beating kit (Nippon Gene, Japan) and purified using a MagExtractor DNA fragment purification kit (Toyobo, Japan) according to the manufacturer''s instructions. To increase concentration, DNA was amplified by multiple displacement amplification using the phi29 polymerase supplied with a GenomiPhi kit (GE Healthcare, United Kingdom) (20). Putative rdhA genes were amplified by PCR using Ex Taq polymerase (TaKaRa, Japan) with degenerate primers RRF2 and B1R (17), dehaloF3, dehaloF4, dehaloF5, dehaloR2, dehaloR3, and dehaloR4 (32), and ceRD2S, ceRD2L, and RD7 (26) and the PCR conditions described in those studies. Amplicons of the approximate target size were gel purified and cloned into the pCR2.1 vector (Invitrogen, Japan). Sequence similarity was analyzed using FastGroupII web-based software (34), and sequences with a 95% identity were tentatively assigned to the same phylotype. Amino acid sequences were aligned by ClustalW (31), including known and putative reductive dehalogenase sequences in the genome of Dehalococcoides ethenogenes strain 195 (28), as well as several functionally characterized reductive dehalogenases from other species.

TABLE 1.

Sample locations and results of PCR amplification of rdhA

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

Impact of Viral Dose and Major Histocompatibility Complex Class IB Haplotype on Viral Outcome in Mauritian Cynomolgus Monkeys Vaccinated with Tat upon Challenge with Simian/Human Immunodeficiency Virus SHIV89.6P

The effects of the challenge dose and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class IB alleles were analyzed in 112 Mauritian cynomolgus monkeys vaccinated (n = 67) or not vaccinated (n = 45) with Tat and challenged with simian/human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV) 89.6P_cy243. In the controls, the challenge dose (10 to 20 50% monkey infectious doses [MID₅₀]) or MHC did not affect susceptibility to infection, peak viral load, or acute CD4 T-cell loss, whereas in the chronic phase of infection, the H1 haplotype correlated with a high viral load (P = 0.0280) and CD4 loss (P = 0.0343). Vaccination reduced the rate of infection acquisition at 10 MID₅₀ (P < 0.0001), and contained acute CD4 loss at 15 MID₅₀ (P = 0.0099). Haplotypes H2 and H6 were correlated with increased susceptibility (P = 0.0199) and resistance (P = 0.0087) to infection, respectively. Vaccination also contained CD4 depletion (P = 0.0391) during chronic infection, independently of the challenge dose or haplotype.Advances in typing of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) of Mauritian cynomolgus macaques (14, 20, 26) have provided the opportunity to address the influence of host factors on vaccine studies (13). Retrospective analysis of 22 macaques vaccinated with Tat or a Tat-expressing adenoviral vector revealed that monkeys with the H6 or H3 MHC class IB haplotype were overrepresented among aviremic or controller animals, whereas macaques with the H2 or H5 haplotype clustered in the noncontrollers (12). More recently, the H6 haplotype was reported to correlate with control of chronic infection with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) mac251, regardless of vaccination (18).Here, we performed a retrospective analysis of 112 Mauritian cynomolgus macaques, which included the 22 animals studied previously (12), to evaluate the impact of the challenge dose and class IB haplotype on the acquisition and severity of simian/human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV) 89.6P_cy243 infection in 45 control monkeys and 67 monkeys vaccinated with Tat from different protocols (Table ​(Table11).

TABLE 1.

Summary of treatment, challenge dose, and outcome of infection in cynomolgus monkeys