Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common infectious diseases of humans, with Escherichia coli responsible for >80% of all cases. One extreme of UTI is asymptomatic bacteriuria (ABU), which occurs as an asymptomatic carrier state that resembles commensalism. To understand the evolution and molecular mechanisms that underpin ABU, the genome of the ABU E.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInfective endocarditis (IE) is a life-threatening infection of the heart endothelium and valves. Staphylococcus aureus is a predominant cause of severe IE and is frequently associated with infections in health care settings and device-related infections. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST), spa typing, and virulence gene microarrays are frequently used to classify S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe differences between Escherichia coli strains associated with symptomatic and asymptomatic urinary tract infections (UTIs) remain to be properly determined. Here we examined the prevalence of plasmid types and bacteriocins, as well as genetic relatedness, in a defined collection of E. coli strains that cause UTIs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe molecular mechanisms that define asymptomatic bacteriuria (ABU) Escherichia coli colonization of the human urinary tract remain to be properly elucidated. Here, we utilize ABU E. coli strain 83972 as a model to dissect the contribution of siderophores to iron acquisition, growth, fitness, and colonization of the urinary tract.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUrinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common infectious diseases of humans, with Escherichia coli being responsible for >80% of all cases. Asymptomatic bacteriuria (ABU) occurs when bacteria colonize the urinary tract without causing clinical symptoms and can affect both catheterized patients (catheter-associated ABU [CA-ABU]) and noncatheterized patients. Here, we compared the virulence properties of a collection of ABU and CA-ABU nosocomial E.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEscherichia coli is the primary cause of urinary tract infection (UTI) in the developed world. The major factors associated with virulence of uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) are fimbrial adhesins, which mediate specific attachment to host receptors and trigger innate host responses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA glycogen nonpolyphosphate-accumulating organism (GAO) enrichment culture dominated by the Alphaproteobacteria cluster 1 Defluviicoccus was investigated to determine the metabolic pathways involved in the anaerobic formation of polyhydroxyalkanoates, carbon storage polymers important for the proliferation of microorganisms in enhanced biological phosphorus removal processes. FISH-microautoradiography and post-FISH fluorescent chemical staining confirmed acetate assimilation as polyhydroxyalkanoates in cluster 1 Defluviicoccus under anaerobic conditions. Chemical inhibition of glycolysis using iodoacetate, and of isocitrate lyase by 3-nitropropionate and itaconate, indicated that carbon is likely to be channelled through both glycolysis and the glyoxylate cycle in cluster 1 Defluviicoccus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA glycogen nonpolyphosphate-accumulating organism (GAO) enrichment culture dominated by the Alphaproteobacteria cluster 1 Defluviicoccus was investigated to determine the metabolic pathways involved in the anaerobic formation of polyhydroxyalkanoates, carbon storage polymers important for the proliferation of microorganisms in enhanced biological phosphorus removal processes. FISH-microautoradiography and post-FISH fluorescent chemical staining confirmed acetate assimilation as polyhydroxyalkanoates in cluster 1 Defluviicoccus under anaerobic conditions. Chemical inhibition of glycolysis using iodoacetate, and of isocitrate lyase by 3-nitropropionate and itaconate, indicated that carbon is likely to be channelled through both glycolysis and the glyoxylate cycle in cluster 1 Defluviicoccus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) communities protect waterways from nutrient pollution and enrich microorganisms capable of assimilating acetate as polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) under anaerobic conditions. Accumulibacter, an important uncultured polyphosphate-accumulating organism (PAO) enriched in EBPR, was investigated to determine the central metabolic pathways responsible for producing PHA. Acetate uptake and assimilation to PHA in Accumulibacter was confirmed using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH)-microautoradiography and post-FISH chemical staining.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn asymptomatic bacteriuria (ABU), bacteria colonize the urinary tract without provoking symptoms. Here, we compared the virulence properties of a collection of ABU Escherichia coli strains to cystitis and pyelonephritis strains. Specific urinary tract infection (UTI)-associated virulence genes, hemagglutination characteristics, siderophore production, hemolysis, biofilm formation, and the ability of strains to adhere to and induce cytokine responses in epithelial cells were analyzed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe ability of Escherichia coli to colonize both intestinal and extraintestinal sites is driven by the presence of specific virulence factors, among which are the autotransporter (AT) proteins. Members of the trimeric AT adhesin family are important virulence factors for several gram-negative pathogens and mediate adherence to eukaryotic cells and extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. In this study, we characterized a new trimeric AT adhesin (UpaG) from uropathogenic E.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMost of our understanding of the physiology of microorganisms is the result of investigations in pure culture. However, in order to understand complex environmental processes, there is a need to investigate mixed microbial communities. This is true for enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR), an environmental process that results in the enrichment of the polyphosphate-accumulating organism Accumulibacter spp.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCatheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) is the most common nosocomial infection in the United States. Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC), the most common cause of CAUTI, can form biofilms on indwelling catheters. Here, we identify and characterize novel factors that affect biofilm formation by UPEC strains that cause CAUTI.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe bacteria facilitating enhanced biological phosphorus removal gain a selective advantage from intracellularly stored polymer-driven substrate uptake under anaerobic conditions during sequential anaerobic : aerobic cycling. Mechanisms for these unusual membrane transport processes were proposed and experimentally validated using selective inhibitors and highly-enriched cultures of a polyphosphate-accumulating organism, Accumulibacter, and a glycogen-accumulating organism, Competibacter. Acetate uptake by both Accumulibacter and Competibacter was driven by a proton motive force (PMF).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrobiology (Reading)
July 2007
Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is the primary cause of urinary tract infection (UTI) in the developed world. The major factors associated with virulence of UPEC are fimbrial adhesins, which mediate attachment to specific receptors, enhance persistence and trigger innate host responses. UPEC produce a range of fimbrial adhesins, with type 1 and P fimbriae of the chaperone-usher subclass being the best characterized.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe complete and continuous reduction of 1 mM Cr(VI) to Cr(III) was achieved in a flow-through reactor using a novel bioinorganic catalyst ("MM-bio-Pd(0)"), which was produced by single-step reduction of platinum group metals (PGM) from industrial waste solution onto biomass of Desulfovibrio desulfuricans ATCC 29577. Two flow-through reactor systems were compared using both "MM-bioPd(0)" and chemically reduced Pd(0). Reactors containing the latter removed Cr(VI) for 1 week only at the expense of formate as the electron donor, whereas the former gave complete Cr(VI) removal for 3 months of continuous operation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFive candidate promoters were examined to determine their utility in directing immunogenic levels of expression of the C fragment from tetanus toxin in attenuated S. enterica used as an oral vaccine in mice. Promoters derived from the genes encoding the stringent starvation protein (sspA) from E.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA novel catalytic activity of palladium [Pd(0)]-coated cells of Desulfovibrio desulfuricans ATCC 29577 ["bio-Pd(0)"] is demonstrated. Reduction of 700 microM Cr(VI) occurred within 24 h using formate (25 mM) or hydrogen (1 atm) as the electron donor, under conditions whereby cells lacking bound Pd(0), or palladium metal manufactured via chemical reduction of soluble Pd(II), did not reduce Cr(VI). The biomass-bound Pd(0) also functioned in the continuous removal of 400 microM Cr(VI) from a 1 mM solution under H(2) (flow residence time approximately 5 h), where chemically prepared Pd(0) was ineffective.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe reduction of Cr(VI) at the expense of molecular hydrogen was studied using resting cells of Desulfovibrio vulgaris ATCC 29579 in anaerobic resting cell suspensions in MOPS buffer. Bioreduction occurred only in the presence of ligands or chelating agents (CO32-, citrate, NTA, EDTA, DTPA). The stimulatory effect of these ligands on the rate of Cr(VI) reduction was correlated (r = 0.
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