Pentadecanoic Acid-Releasing PDMS: Towards a New Material to Prevent Biofilm Formation.

Microbial biofilm formation on medical devices paves the way for device-associated infections. is one of the most common strains involved in such infections as it is able to colonize numerous devices, such as intravenous catheters, prosthetic joints, and heart valves. We previously reported the antibiofilm activity against of pentadecanoic acid (PDA) deposited by drop-casting on the silicon-based polymer poly(dimethyl)siloxane (PDMS).

Bacterial Production of CDKL5 Catalytic Domain: Insights in Aggregation, Internal Translation and Phosphorylation Patterns.

Cyclin-dependent kinase-like 5 (CDKL5) is a serine/threonine protein kinase involved in human brain development and functioning. Mutations in CDKL5, especially in its catalytic domain, cause a severe developmental condition named CDKL5 deficiency disorder. Nevertheless, molecular studies investigating the structural consequences of such mutations are still missing.

Whole-Cell Biosensor for Iron Monitoring as a Potential Tool for Safeguarding Biodiversity in Polar Marine Environments.

Iron is a key micronutrient essential for various essential biological processes. As a consequence, alteration in iron concentration in seawater can deeply influence marine biodiversity. In polar marine environments, where environmental conditions are characterized by low temperatures, the role of iron becomes particularly significant.

Cold-Azurin, a New Antibiofilm Protein Produced by the Antarctic Marine Bacterium sp. TAE6080.

Biofilm is accountable for nosocomial infections and chronic illness, making it a serious economic and public health problem. , thanks to its ability to form biofilm and colonize biomaterials, represents the most frequent causative agent involved in biofilm-associated infections of medical devices. Therefore, the research of new molecules able to interfere with biofilm formation has a remarkable interest.

Recombinant protein production in TAC125 biofilm.

Biofilms have great potential for producing valuable products, and recent research has been performed on biofilms for the production of compounds with biotechnological and industrial relevance. However, the production of recombinant proteins using this system is still limited. The recombinant protein production in microbial hosts is a well-established technology and a variety of expression systems are available.

Antarctic Marine Bacteria as a Source of Anti-Biofilm Molecules to Combat ESKAPE Pathogens.

The ESKAPE pathogens, including bacteria such as , , , , , and species, pose a global health threat due to their ability to resist antimicrobial drugs and evade the immune system. These pathogens are responsible for hospital-acquired infections, especially in intensive care units, and contribute to the growing problem of multi-drug resistance. In this study, researchers focused on exploring the potential of Antarctic marine bacteria as a source of anti-biofilm molecules to combat ESKAPE pathogens.

Development of high-copy number plasmids in Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAC125.

The Antarctic bacterium Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAC125 (PhTAC125) is considered an interesting alternative host for the recombinant protein production, that can be explored when the conventional bacterial expression systems fail. Indeed, the manufacture of all the difficult-to-express proteins produced so far in this bacterial platform gave back soluble and active products. Despite these promising results, the low yield of recombinant protein production achieved is hampering the wider and industrial exploitation of this psychrophilic cell factory.

Metabolic Robustness to Growth Temperature of a Cold- Adapted Marine Bacterium.

Microbial communities experience continuous environmental changes, with temperature fluctuations being the most impacting. This is particularly important considering the ongoing global warming but also in the "simpler" context of seasonal variability of sea-surface temperature. Understanding how microorganisms react at the cellular level can improve our understanding of their possible adaptations to a changing environment.

CATASAN Is a New Anti-Biofilm Agent Produced by the Marine Antarctic Bacterium sp. TAE2020.

The development of new approaches to prevent microbial surface adhesion and biofilm formation is an emerging need following the growing understanding of the impact of biofilm-related infections on human health. , with its ability to form biofilm and colonize biomaterials, represents the most frequent causative agent involved in infections of medical devices. In the research of new anti-biofilm agents against biofilm, Antarctic marine bacteria represent an untapped reservoir of biodiversity.

Active human full-length CDKL5 produced in the Antarctic bacterium Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAC125.

Background: A significant fraction of the human proteome is still inaccessible to in vitro studies since the recombinant production of several proteins failed in conventional cell factories. Eukaryotic protein kinases are difficult-to-express in heterologous hosts due to folding issues both related to their catalytic and regulatory domains. Human CDKL5 belongs to this category.

Conditional gene silencing in the Antarctic bacterium Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAC125.

Since the release in 2005 of the genome sequence and annotation of the first Antarctic marine bacterium, the number of genomes of psychrophilic microorganisms in public databases has steadily increased. Unfortunately, the lack of effective molecular tools for the manipulation of these environmental strains still hampers our understanding of their peculiar strategies to thrive in freezing conditions, limiting the functional genomics approaches to differential analyses only. Over the past two decades, our research group established the first effective gene cloning/expression technology in the Antarctic Gram-negative marine bacterium Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAC125.

Membrane and Extracellular Matrix Glycopolymers of 34H: Structural Changes at Different Growth Temperatures.

34H is a marine Gram-negative psychrophile; it was isolated from Arctic marine sediments, but it is considered cosmopolitan in cold environments. This microorganism is considered a model to study adaptive strategies to sub-zero temperatures, and its lifestyle has been the object of numerous studies. In the last few years, we focused our studies on the glycoconjugates produced by 34H at 4°C, resulting in the isolation and characterization of very interesting molecules.

Soluble Recombinant Protein Production in Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAC125: The Case Study of the Full-Length Human CDKL5 Protein.

The Antarctic bacterium Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAC125 is an unconventional protein production host displaying a notable proficiency in the soluble production of difficult proteins, especially of human origin. Furthermore, the accumulation of recombinant products in insoluble aggregates has never been observed in this bacterium, indicating that its cellular physicochemical conditions and/or folding processes are rather different from those observed in mesophilic bacteria. The ability of this cell factory was challenged by producing a human protein, the cyclin-dependent kinase-like 5 (hCDKL5) in the bacterium cytoplasm at 0 °C.

Genome analysis of a new biosurfactants source: The Antarctic bacterium Psychrobacter sp. TAE2020.

Biosurfactants are considered a possible green alternative to chemical surfactants for countless commercial products including detergents and cleaners, personal care products, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and therapeutics, food additives, emulsifiers, and dispersants for bioremediation. Organisms from extreme environments are well-adapted to the harsh conditions and represent an exciting avenue of discovery of naturally occurring biosurfactants. In this study, we report the genome analysis of Psychrobacter sp.

Whole-genome sequencing of Pseudomonas sp. TAE6080, a strain capable of inhibiting Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilm.

Antarctic bacteria are able to survive under extreme environmental conditions and have adapted to exploit some of the most ephemeral nutrient pockets. Importantly, such strains have been often shown to be capable of synthesizing compounds of valuable biotechnological importance. Here we show that Pseudomonas sp.

Anti-Virulence Activity of the Cell-Free Supernatant of the Antarctic Bacterium sp. TAE2020 against Clinical Isolates from Cystic Fibrosis Patients.

is an opportunistic pathogen often involved in airway infections of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. Its pathogenicity is related to several virulence factors, such as biofilm formation, motility and production of toxins and proteases. The expression of these virulence factors is controlled by quorum sensing (QS).

Modelling hCDKL5 Heterologous Expression in Bacteria.

hCDKL5 refers to the human cyclin-dependent kinase like 5 that is primarily expressed in the brain. Mutations in its coding sequence are often causative of hCDKL5 deficiency disorder, a devastating neurodevelopmental disorder currently lacking a cure. The large-scale recombinant production of hCDKL5 is desirable to boost the translation of preclinical therapeutic approaches into the clinic.

Physicochemical Approach to Understanding the Structure, Conformation, and Activity of Mannan Polysaccharides.

Extracellular polysaccharides are widely produced by bacteria, yeasts, and algae. These polymers are involved in several biological functions, such as bacteria adhesion to surface and biofilm formation, ion sequestering, protection from desiccation, and cryoprotection. The chemical characterization of these polymers is the starting point for obtaining relationships between their structures and their various functions.

The Union Is Strength: The Synergic Action of Long Fatty Acids and a Bacteriophage against Biofilm.

pv. is known as the causative agent of black rot disease, which attacks mainly crucifers, severely lowering their global productivity. One of the main virulence factors of this pathogen is its capability to penetrate and form biofilm structures in the xylem vessels.

Improvement of TAC125 as a Cell Factory: IPTG-Inducible Plasmid Construction and Strain Engineering.

Our group has used the marine bacterium TAC125 (TAC125) as a platform for the successful recombinant production of "difficult" proteins, including eukaryotic proteins, at low temperatures. However, there is still room for improvement both in the refinement of TAC125 expression plasmids and in the bacterium's intrinsic ability to accumulate and handle heterologous products. Here, we present an integrated approach of plasmid design and strain engineering finalized to increment the recombinant expression and optimize the inducer uptake in TAC125.

Plant Dynamic Metabolic Response to Bacteriophage Treatment After pv. Infection.

Periodic epidemics of black rot disease occur worldwide causing substantial yield losses. pv. () represents one of the most common bacteria able to cause the above disease in cruciferous plants such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and .

Cnf1 Variants Endowed with the Ability to Cross the Blood-Brain Barrier: A New Potential Therapeutic Strategy for Glioblastoma.

Among gliomas, primary tumors originating from glial cells, glioblastoma (GBM) identified as WHO grade IV glioma, is the most common and aggressive malignant brain tumor. We have previously shown that the protein toxin cytotoxic necrotizing factor 1 (CNF1) is remarkably effective as an anti-neoplastic agent in a mouse model of glioma, reducing the tumor volume, increasing survival, and maintaining the functional properties of peritumoral neurons. However, being unable to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB), CNF1 requires injection directly into the brain, which is a very invasive administration route.

Pentadecanal and pentadecanoic acid coatings reduce biofilm formation of Staphylococcus epidermidis on PDMS.

Staphylococcus epidermidis is well known to be one of the major causes of infections related to medical devices, mostly due to its strong capacity to form device-associated biofilms. Nowadays, these infections represent a severe burden to the public health system and the necessity of novel antibacterial strategies for the treatment of these difficult-to-eradicate infections is urgent. The Antarctic marine bacterium Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAC125 was found to be able to produce an anti-biofilm molecule, the pentadecanal, active against S.

New insights on Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAC125 genome organization and benchmarks of genome assembly applications using next and third generation sequencing technologies.

Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis TAC125 is among the most commonly studied bacteria adapted to cold environments. Aside from its ecological relevance, P. haloplanktis has a potential use for biotechnological applications.

Cold-adapted bacterial extracts as a source of anti-infective and antimicrobial compounds against .

The dramatic emergence of antibiotic resistance has directed the interest of research toward the discovery of novel antimicrobial molecules. In this context, cold-adapted marine bacteria living in polar regions represent an untapped reservoir of biodiversity endowed with an interesting chemical repertoire. The aim of this work was to identify new antimicrobials and/or antibiofilm molecules produced by cold-adapted bacteria.