Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 67 in total

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  1. Faris Fakhira Tauran, Zaitul Azma Zainon Hamzah
    MyJurnal
    Kemenangan parti pembangkang dalam pilihan raya umum (PRU) kali ke-14 telah memecahkan tampuk pimpinan kerajaan lama yang telah memerintah selama 60 tahun. Pelbagai isu mengenai pilihan raya umum disiarkan menerusi media massa terutamanya media cetak. Media cetak seperti surat khabar juga tidak terlepas daripada menyiarkan pelbagai judul berita yang menarik. Walau bagaimanapun, terdapat beberapa judul berita yang ditulis menggunakan perkataan yang mempunyai makna implisit. Penggunaan perkataan yang mempunyai makna implisit ini akan menyukarkan pembaca untuk memahami judul yang dipaparkan. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti dan membincangkan perkataan implisit yang terdapat dalam judul berita PRU ke-14. Kaedah yang dipilih bagi melaksanakan kajian ini ialah kaedah kualitatif. Selain itu, bahan kajian yang digunakan ialah surat khabar Berita Harian keluaran bulan April dan Mei bagi tahun 2018. Namun, berita yang dipilih hanya berfokus kepada berita PRU ke-14 yang mempunyai perkataan implisit sahaja. Setiap data yang dikumpul akan dikateorikan mengikut bentuk kata iaitu kata tunggal, kata terbitan dan kata majmuk. Data yang telah dikategorikan akan dianalisis dengan menggunakan teori semiotik. Hasil dapatan menunjukkan bahawa terdapat 28 judul berita PRU ke-14 yang menggunakan perkataan implisit. Kebanyakan perkataan implisit ini terdiri daripada kata majmuk iaitu sebanyak 18 judul, diikuti kata tunggal sebanyak 8 judul dan kata terbitan sebanyak 2 judul. Penggunaan perkataan implisit ini adalah bertujuan untuk menarik perhatian pembaca supaya membaca berita yang disiarkan. Justeru, kajian ini secara tidak langsung dapat menunjukkan bahawa berita bergenre politik juga turut menggunakan perkataan implisit dalam penulisan judul berita.
    Matched MeSH terms: Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial
  2. Liu X, Yu X, Yang Y, Heeb S, Gao S, Chan KG, et al.
    Appl Microbiol Biotechnol, 2018 Apr;102(8):3711-3721.
    PMID: 29511844 DOI: 10.1007/s00253-018-8857-0
    The antibiotic pyrrolnitrin (PRN) is a tryptophan-derived secondary metabolite that plays an important role in the biocontrol of plant diseases due to its broad-spectrum of antimicrobial activities. The PRN biosynthetic gene cluster remains to be characterised in Serratia plymuthica, though it is highly conserved in PRN-producing bacteria. To better understand PRN biosynthesis and its regulation in Serratia, the prnABCD operon from S. plymuthica G3 was cloned, sequenced and expressed in Escherichia coli DH5α. Furthermore, an engineered strain prnind which is a conditional mutant of G3 prnABCD under the control of the Ptac promoter was constructed. This mutant was able to overproduce PRN with isopropylthiogalactoside (IPTG) induction by overexpressing prnABCD, whilst behaving as a conditional mutant of G3 prnABCD in the absence of IPTG. These results confirmed that prnABCD is responsible for PRN biosynthesis in strain G3. Further experiments involving lux-/dsRed-based promoter fusions, combined with site-directed mutagenesis of the putative σS extended -10 region in the prnA promoter, and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis extended our previous knowledge about G3, revealing that quorum sensing (QS) regulates PRN biosynthesis through cross talk with RpoS, which may directly activated prnABCD transcription. These findings suggest that PRN in S. plymuthica G3 is produced in a tightly controlled manner, and has diverse functions, such as modulation of cell motility, in addition to antimicrobial activities. Meanwhile, the construction of inducible mutants could be a powerful tool to improve PRN production, beyond its potential use for the investigation of the biological function of PRN.
    Matched MeSH terms: Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial*
  3. Chan WT, Nieto C, Harikrishna JA, Khoo SK, Othman RY, Espinosa M, et al.
    J Bacteriol, 2011 Sep;193(18):4612-25.
    PMID: 21764929 DOI: 10.1128/JB.05187-11
    Type II (proteic) toxin-antitoxin systems (TAS) are ubiquitous among bacteria. In the chromosome of the pathogenic bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae, there are at least eight putative TAS, one of them being the yefM-yoeB(Spn) operon studied here. Through footprinting analyses, we showed that purified YefM(Spn) antitoxin and the YefM-YoeB(Spn) TA protein complex bind to a palindrome sequence encompassing the -35 region of the main promoter (P(yefM2)) of the operon. Thus, the locus appeared to be negatively autoregulated with respect to P(yefM2), since YefM(Spn) behaved as a weak repressor with YoeB(Spn) as a corepressor. Interestingly, a BOX element, composed of a single copy (each) of the boxA and boxC subelements, was found upstream of promoter P(yefM2). BOX sequences are pneumococcal, perhaps mobile, genetic elements that have been associated with bacterial processes such as phase variation, virulence regulation, and genetic competence. In the yefM-yoeB(Spn) locus, the boxAC element provided an additional weak promoter, P(yefM1), upstream of P(yefM2) which was not regulated by the TA proteins. In addition, transcriptional fusions with a lacZ reporter gene showed that P(yefM1) was constitutive albeit weaker than P(yefM2). Intriguingly, the coupling of the boxAC element to P(yefM1) and yefM(Spn) in cis (but not in trans) led to transcriptional activation, indicating that the regulation of the yefM-yoeB(Spn) locus differs somewhat from that of other TA loci and may involve as yet unidentified elements. Conservation of the boxAC sequences in all available sequenced genomes of S. pneumoniae which contained the yefM-yoeB(Spn) locus suggested that its presence may provide a selective advantage to the bacterium.
    Matched MeSH terms: Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial*
  4. Chin KCJ, Taylor TD, Hebrard M, Anbalagan K, Dashti MG, Phua KK
    BMC Genomics, 2017 Oct 31;18(1):836.
    PMID: 29089020 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-017-4212-6
    BACKGROUND: Typhoid fever is an acute systemic infection of humans caused by Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Typhi (S. Typhi). In chronic carriers, the bacteria survive the harsh environment of the gallbladder by producing biofilm. The phenotype of S. Typhi biofilm cells is significantly different from the free-swimming planktonic cells, and studies have shown that they are associated with antibiotic resistance, immune system evasion, and bacterial persistence. However, the mechanism of this transition and the events leading to biofilm formation are unknown. High throughput sequencing was performed to identify the genes involved in biofilm formation and to postulate the mechanism of action.

    RESULTS: Planktonic S. Typhi cells were cultured using standard nutrient broth whereas biofilm cells were cultured in a stressful environment using high shearing-force and bile to mimic the gallbladder. Sequencing libraries were prepared from S. Typhi planktonic cells and mature biofilm cells using the Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform, and the transcriptome data obtained were processed using Cufflinks bioinformatics suite of programs to investigate differential gene expression between the two phenotypes. A total of 35 up-regulated and 29 down-regulated genes were identified. The identities of the differentially expressed genes were confirmed using NCBI BLAST and their functions were analyzed. The results showed that the genes associated with metabolic processes and biofilm regulations were down-regulated while those associated with the membrane matrix and antibiotic resistance were highly up-regulated.

    CONCLUSIONS: It is proposed that the biofilm phenotype of S. Typhi allows the bacteria to increase production of the membrane matrix in order to serve as a physical shield and to adhere to surfaces, and enter an energy conservation state in response to the stressful environment. Conversely, the planktonic phenotype allows the bacteria to produce flagella and increase metabolic activity to enable the bacteria to migrate and form new colonies of infection. This data provide a basis for further studies to uncover the mechanism of biofilm formation in S. Typhi and to discover novel genes or pathways associated with the development of the typhoid carrier state.

    Matched MeSH terms: Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial*
  5. Tahir Ul Qamar M, Ahmad S, Khan A, Mirza MU, Ahmad S, Abro A, et al.
    Comput Biol Med, 2021 11;138:104929.
    PMID: 34655900 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2021.104929
    Cholera is a severe small intestine bacterial disease caused by consumption of water and food contaminated with Vibrio cholera. The disease causes watery diarrhea leading to severe dehydration and even death if left untreated. In the past few decades, V. cholerae has emerged as multidrug-resistant enteric pathogen due to its rapid ability to adapt in detrimental environmental conditions. This research study aimed to design inhibitors of a master virulence gene expression regulator, HapR. HapR is critical in regulating the expression of several set of V. cholera virulence genes, quorum-sensing circuits and biofilm formation. A blind docking strategy was employed to infer the natural binding tendency of diverse phytochemicals extracted from medicinal plants by exposing the whole HapR structure to the screening library. Scoring function criteria was applied to prioritize molecules with strong binding affinity (binding energy 
    Matched MeSH terms: Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial
  6. Hoe CH, Raabe CA, Rozhdestvensky TS, Tang TH
    Int J Med Microbiol, 2013 Jul;303(5):217-29.
    PMID: 23660175 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijmm.2013.04.002
    Bacteria are often exposed to a hostile environment and have developed a plethora of cellular processes in order to survive. A burgeoning list of small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) has been identified and reported to orchestrate crucial stress responses in bacteria. Among them, cis-encoded sRNA, trans-encoded sRNA, and 5'-untranslated regions (UTRs) of the protein coding sequence are influential in the bacterial response to environmental cues, such as fluctuation of temperature and pH as well as other stress conditions. This review summarizes the role of bacterial sRNAs in modulating selected stress conditions and highlights the alliance between stress response and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) in bacterial defense.
    Matched MeSH terms: Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial*
  7. Teh CS, Chua KH, Thong KL
    Infect Genet Evol, 2011 Jul;11(5):1121-8.
    PMID: 21511055 DOI: 10.1016/j.meegid.2011.04.005
    This paper describes the development and application of multilocus sequencing typing (MLST) and multi-virulence locus sequencing typing (MVLST) methods in determining the genetic variation and relatedness of 43 Vibrio cholerae strains of different serogroups isolated from various sources in Malaysia. The MLST assay used six housekeeping genes (dnaE, lap, recA, gyrB, cat and gmd), while the MVLST assay incorporated three virulence genes (ctxAB, tcpA and tcpI) and three virulence-associated genes (hlyA, toxR and rtxA). Our data showed that the dnaE and rtxA genes were the most conserved genes in V. cholerae O1 strains. Among the 12 studied genes, transitional substitutions that led to silent mutations were observed in all, except for gmd and hlyA, while non-synonymous substitutions occurred more frequently in virulence and virulence-associated genes. Five V. cholerae O1 strains were found to be the El Tor variant O1 strains because they harboured the classical ctxB gene. In addition, the classical ctxB gene was also observed in O139 V. cholerae. A total of 29 MLST types were observed, and this assay could differentiate V. cholerae within the non-O1/non-O139 serogroups. A total of 27 MVLST types were obtained. MVLST appeared to be more discriminatory than MLST because it could differentiate V. cholerae strains from two different outbreaks and could separate the toxigenic from the non-toxigenic subtypes. Although the O1 V. cholerae strains were closely related, the combined MLST and MVLST analyses differentiated the strains isolated from different localities. In conclusion, sequence-based analysis in this study provided a better understanding of mutation points and the type of mutations in V. cholerae. The MVLST assay is useful to characterise O1 V. cholerae strains, while combined analysis may improve the discriminatory power and is suitable for the local epidemiological study of V. cholerae.
    Matched MeSH terms: Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial/physiology
  8. Chee JY, Lau NS, Samian MR, Tsuge T, Sudesh K
    J Appl Microbiol, 2012 Jan;112(1):45-54.
    PMID: 22054430 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2672.2011.05189.x
    Burkholderia sp. USM (JCM15050) isolated from oil-polluted wastewater is capable of utilizing palm oil products and glycerol to synthesize poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) [P(3HB)]. To confer the ability to produce polymer containing 3-hydroxyhexanoate (3HHx), plasmid (pBBREE32d13) harbouring the polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) synthase gene of Aeromonas caviae (phaC(Ac)) was transformed into this strain.
    Matched MeSH terms: Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial*
  9. Gan HM, Ibrahim Z, Shahir S, Yahya A
    FEMS Microbiol Lett, 2011 May;318(2):108-14.
    PMID: 21323982 DOI: 10.1111/j.1574-6968.2011.02245.x
    Genes involved in the 4-aminobenzenesulfonate (4-ABS) degradation pathway of Hydrogenophaga sp. PBC were identified using transposon mutagenesis. The screening of 10,000 mutants for incomplete 4-ABS biotransformation identified four mutants with single transposon insertion. Genes with insertions that impaired the ability to utilize 4-ABS for growth included (1) 4-sulfocatechol 1,2-dioxygenase β-subunit (pcaH2) and 3-sulfomuconate cycloisomerase involved in the modified β-ketoadipate pathway; (2) 4-aminobenzenesulfonate 3,4-dioxygenase component (sadA) involved in aromatic ring hydroxylation; and (3) transposase gene homolog with a putative cis-diol dehydrogenase gene located downstream. The pcaH2 mutant strain accumulated brown metabolite during growth on 4-ABS which was identified as 4-sulfocatechol through thin layer chromatography and HPLC analyses. Supplementation of wild-type sadA gene in trans restored the 4-ABS degradation ability of the sadA mutant, thus supporting the annotation of its disrupted gene.
    Matched MeSH terms: Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial*
  10. Thevarajoo S, Selvaratnam C, Chan KG, Goh KM, Chong CS
    Mar Genomics, 2015 Oct;23:49-50.
    PMID: 25957696 DOI: 10.1016/j.margen.2015.04.009
    Type strain Vitellibacter vladivostokensis KMM 3516(T) (=NBRC 16718(T)) belongs to the phylum Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides. To date, no genomes of the Vitellibacter spp. have been reported, and their metabolic pathways are unknown. This study reports the draft genome sequence of V. vladivostokensis. Moreover, mining of genes associated with proteolytic enzymes was performed to provide insights for further enzyme characterization.
    Matched MeSH terms: Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial/physiology
  11. Tay ST, Kho KL, Lye SF, Ngeow YF
    J Vet Med Sci, 2018 Apr 18;80(4):653-661.
    PMID: 29311425 DOI: 10.1292/jvms.17-0448
    Bartonella bovis is a small Gram-negative bacterium recognized as an etiological agent for bacteremia and endocarditis in cattle. As few reports are available on the taxonomic position of B. bovis and its mechanism of virulence, this study aims to resolve the phylogeny of B. bovis and investigate putative virulence genes based on whole genome sequence analysis. Genome-wide comparisons based on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) and orthologous genes were performed in this study for phylogenetic inference of 27 Bartonella species. Rapid Annotation using Subsystem Technology (RAST) analysis was used for annotation of putative virulence genes. The phylogenetic tree generated from the genome-wide comparison of orthologous genes exhibited a topology almost similar to that of the tree generated from SNP-based comparison, indicating a high concordance in the nucleotide and amino acid sequences of Bartonella spp. The analyses show consistent grouping of B. bovis in a cluster related to ruminant-associated species, including Bartonella australis, Bartonella melophagi and Bartonella schoenbuchensis. RAST analysis revealed genes encoding flagellar components, in corroboration with the observation of flagella-like structure of BbUM strain under negative straining. Genes associated with virulence, disease and defence, prophages, membrane transport, iron acquisition, motility and chemotaxis are annotated in B. bovis genome. The flagellin (flaA) gene of B. bovis is closely related to Bartonella bacilliformis and Bartonella clarridgeiae but distinct from other Gram-negative bacteria. The absence of type IV secretion systems, the bona fide pathogenicity factors of bartonellae, in B. bovis suggests that it may have a different mechanism of pathogenicity.
    Matched MeSH terms: Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial/physiology
  12. Maidin MS, Song AA, Jalilsood T, Sieo CC, Yusoff K, Rahim RA
    Plasmid, 2014 Jul;74:32-8.
    PMID: 24879963 DOI: 10.1016/j.plasmid.2014.05.003
    A vector that drives the expression of the reporter gusA gene in both Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactococcus lactis was constructed in this study. This vector contained a newly characterized heat shock promoter (Phsp), amplified from an Enterococcus faecium plasmid, pAR6. Functionality and characterization of this promoter was initially performed by cloning Phsp into pNZ8008, a commercial lactococcal plasmid used for screening of putative promoters which utilizes gusA as a reporter. It was observed that Phsp was induced under heat, salinity and alkaline stresses or a combination of all three stresses. The newly characterized Phsp promoter was then used to construct a novel Lactobacillus vector, pAR1801 and its ability to express the gusA under stress-induced conditions was reproducible in both Lb. plantarum Pa21 and L. lactis M4 hosts.
    Matched MeSH terms: Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial*
  13. Raftari M, Ghafourian S, Bakar FA
    J Dairy Res, 2013 Nov;80(4):490-5.
    PMID: 24063299 DOI: 10.1017/S0022029913000435
    The dairy industry uses lipase extensively for hydrolysis of milk fat. Lipase is used in the modification of the fatty acid chain length, to enhance the flavours of various chesses. Therefore finding the unlimited source of lipase is a concern of dairy industry. Due to the importance of lipase, this study was an attempt to express the lipase from Burkholderia cepacia in Lactococcus lactis. To achieve this, a gene associated with lipase transport was amplified and subcloned in inducible pNZ8148 vector, and subsequently transformed into Lc. lactis NZ9000. The enzyme assay as well as SDS-PAGE and western blotting were carried out to analysis the recombinant lipase expression. Nucleotide sequencing of the DNA insert from the clone revealed that the lipase activity corresponded to an open reading frame consisting of 1092 bp coding for a 37·5-kDa size protein. Blue colour colonies on nile blue sulphate agar and sharp band on 37·5-kD size on SDS-PAGE and western blotting results confirm the successful expression of lipase by Lc. lactis. The protein assay also showed high expression, approximately 152·2 μg/ml.h, of lipase by recombinant Lc. lactis. The results indicate that Lc. lactis has high potential to overproduce the recombinant lipase which can be used commercially for industrially purposes.
    Matched MeSH terms: Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial/physiology*
  14. Lau NS, Foong CP, Kurihara Y, Sudesh K, Matsui M
    PLoS One, 2014;9(1):e86368.
    PMID: 24466058 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0086368
    The photosynthetic cyanobacterium, Synechocystis sp. strain 6803, is a potential platform for the production of various chemicals and biofuels. In this study, direct photosynthetic production of a biopolymer, polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), in genetically engineered Synechocystis sp. achieved as high as 14 wt%. This is the highest production reported in Synechocystis sp. under photoautotrophic cultivation conditions without the addition of a carbon source. The addition of acetate increased PHA accumulation to 41 wt%, and this value is comparable to the highest production obtained with cyanobacteria. Transcriptome analysis by RNA-seq coupled with real-time PCR was performed to understand the global changes in transcript levels of cells subjected to conditions suitable for photoautotrophic PHA biosynthesis. There was lower expression of most PHA synthesis-related genes in recombinant Synechocystis sp. with higher PHA accumulation suggesting that the concentration of these enzymes is not the limiting factor to achieving high PHA accumulation. In order to cope with the higher PHA production, cells may utilize enhanced photosynthesis to drive the product formation. Results from this study suggest that the total flux of carbon is the possible driving force for the biosynthesis of PHA and the polymerizing enzyme, PHA synthase, is not the only critical factor affecting PHA-synthesis. Knowledge of the regulation or control points of the biopolymer production pathways will facilitate the further use of cyanobacteria for biotechnological applications.
    Matched MeSH terms: Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial
  15. Ong SY, Pratap CB, Wan X, Hou S, Abdul Rahman AY, Saito JA, et al.
    J Bacteriol, 2012 Apr;194(8):2115-6.
    PMID: 22461552 DOI: 10.1128/JB.00121-12
    We report here the complete genome sequence of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhi P-stx-12, a clinical isolate obtained from a typhoid carrier in India.
    Matched MeSH terms: Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial
  16. Al-Maleki AR, Mariappan V, Vellasamy KM, Shankar EM, Tay ST, Vadivelu J
    J Proteomics, 2014 Jun 25;106:205-20.
    PMID: 24742602 DOI: 10.1016/j.jprot.2014.04.005
    Colony morphology variation is a characteristic of Burkholderia pseudomallei primary clinical isolates, associated with variations in expression of virulence factors. Here, we performed comparative investigations on adhesion, invasion, plaque-forming abilities and protein profiles of B. pseudomallei wild-type (WT) and a small colony variant (SCV). The percentage of SCV adherence to A549 cells was significantly higher (2.73%) than WT (1.91%). In contrast, WT was significantly more efficient (0.63%) than SCV (0.31%) in invasiveness and in inducing cellular damage. Using 2-DE and MALDI TOF/TOF, 263 and 258 protein spots were detected in WT and SCV, respectively. Comparatively, 49 proteins were differentially expressed in SCV when compared with WT. Of these, 31 proteins were up-regulated, namely, nucleoside diphosphate kinase (Ndk), phosphoglycerate kinase (Pgk), thioredoxin (TrxA), putative ferritin DPS-family DNA-binding protein (DPS) and oxidoreductase (AhpC) that are known to be involved in adhesion, intracellular survival and persistence. However, among the 18 down-regulated proteins, enolase (Eno), elongation factor (EF-Tu) and universal stress-related proteins were associated with invasion and virulence. Differences observed in these protein profiles provide ample clues to their association with the morphotypic and phenotypic characteristics of colony variants, providing additional insights into the potential association of B. pseudomallei colony morphotypes with disease pathogenesis.
    Matched MeSH terms: Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial*
  17. Wong MY, Govender NT, Ong CS
    BMC Res Notes, 2019 Sep 24;12(1):631.
    PMID: 31551084 DOI: 10.1186/s13104-019-4652-y
    OBJECTIVE: Basal stem rot disease causes severe economic losses to oil palm production in South-east Asia and little is known on the pathogenicity of the pathogen, the basidiomyceteous Ganoderma boninense. Our data presented here aims to identify both the house-keeping and pathogenicity genes of G. boninense using Illumina sequencing reads.

    DESCRIPTION: The hemibiotroph G. boninense establishes via root contact during early stage of colonization and subsequently kills the host tissue as the disease progresses. Information on the pathogenicity factors/genes that causes BSR remain poorly understood. In addition, the molecular expressions corresponding to G. boninense growth and pathogenicity are not reported. Here, six transcriptome datasets of G. boninense from two contrasting conditions (three biological replicates per condition) are presented. The first datasets, collected from a 7-day-old axenic condition provide an insight onto genes responsible for sustenance, growth and development of G. boninense while datasets of the infecting G. boninense collected from oil palm-G. boninense pathosystem (in planta condition) at 1 month post-inoculation offer a comprehensive avenue to understand G. boninense pathogenesis and infection especially in regard to molecular mechanisms and pathways. Raw sequences deposited in Sequence Read Archive (SRA) are available at NCBI SRA portal with PRJNA514399, bioproject ID.

    Matched MeSH terms: Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial*
  18. Underwood AP, Kaakoush NO, Sodhi N, Merif J, Seah Lee W, Riordan SM, et al.
    J Med Microbiol, 2016 Mar;65(3):219-226.
    PMID: 26698172 DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.000216
    Given that Campylobacter jejuni is recognized as the most common cause of bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide, recent findings showing comparable levels of Campylobacter concisus in patients with gastroenteritis would suggest that this bacterium is clinically important. The prevalence and abundance of Campylobacter concisus in stool samples collected from patients with acute gastroenteritis was examined using quantitative real-time PCR. The associated virulence determinants exotoxin 9 and zonula occludens toxin DNA were detected for Campylobacter concisus-infected samples using real-time PCR. Campylobacter concisus was detected at high prevalence in patients with gastroenteritis (49.7 %), higher than that observed for Campylobacter jejuni (∼5 %). The levels of Campylobacter concisus were putatively classified into clinically relevant and potentially transient subgroups based on a threshold developed using Campylobacter jejuni levels, as the highly sensitive real-time PCR probably detected transient passage of the bacterium from the oral cavity. A total of 18 % of patients were found to have clinically relevant levels of Campylobacter concisus, a significant number of which also had high levels of one of the virulence determinants. Of these patients, 78 % were found to have no other gastrointestinal pathogen identified in the stool, which strongly suggests a role for Campylobacter concisus in the aetiology of gastroenteritis in these patients. These results emphasize the need for diagnostic laboratories to employ identification protocols for emerging Campylobacter species. Clinical follow-up in patients presenting with high levels of Campylobacter concisus in the intestinal tract is needed, given that it has been associated with more chronic sequelae.
    Matched MeSH terms: Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial/physiology
  19. Gan IN, Tan HS
    BMC Res Notes, 2019 Feb 21;12(1):97.
    PMID: 30791948 DOI: 10.1186/s13104-019-4124-4
    OBJECTIVES: Shigella is a human pathogen that causes shigellosis, an acute invasive intestinal infection. Recent studies in the model bacterium Escherichia coli (E. coli) provided evidence that small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) can contribute to antimicrobial resistance or susceptibility. One of the sRNAs is SdsR, which increases sensitivity of E. coli against fluoroquinolone by repressing the drug efflux pump, TolC. However, no reports exist about the effect of SdsR on fluoroquinolone resistance in Shigella sonnei (S. sonnei). In this study, we established the effect of SdsR on the sensitivity of S. sonnei to norfloxacin.

    DATA DESCRIPTION: We tested the effects of SdsR and SdsRv2 on fluoroquinolone resistance in S. sonnei in vivo. SdsRv2 is a synthetic version which promotes higher binding stability to tolC mRNA. Overexpression of either SdsR or SdsRv2 lowers the expression of tolC mRNA. Interestingly, SdsR and SdsRv2 promote the growth of S. sonnei in the presence of a sub-inhibitory concentration of norfloxacin. Mutant carrying SdsRv2 showed the highest growth advantage. This phenotype is opposite to the effect of SdsR reported in E. coli. This study is an example that demonstrates the difference in the phenotypic effect of a highly conserved sRNA in two closely related bacteria.

    Matched MeSH terms: Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial/drug effects*
  20. Lim SY, Teh CSJ, Thong KL
    OMICS, 2017 10;21(10):592-602.
    PMID: 29049010 DOI: 10.1089/omi.2017.0119
    Enterococcus faecium is an opportunistic pathogen with a remarkable ability to acquire resistance toward multiple antibiotics, including those of last-resort drugs such as vancomycin and daptomycin. The occurrence of vancomycin-resistant E. faecium is on the rise and there is a need to understand the virulence of this organism. One of the factors that contributes to the virulence is the ability to form biofilms. Since bacteria in biofilm state are more resistant to antibiotics and host immune response, understanding the molecular mechanism of biofilm development is important to control biofilm-related diseases. The aim of this study was to determine the global gene expression profiles of an E. faecium strain, VREr5, during the early event of sessile growth compared with its planktonic phase through RNA-sequencing approach. The results clearly illustrated distinct expression profiles of the planktonic and biofilm cells. A total of 177 genes were overexpressed in the biofilm cells. Most of them encode for proteins involved in adherence, such as the ebpABCfm locus. Genes associated with plasmid replication, gene exchange, and protein synthesis were also upregulated during the early event of biofilm development. Furthermore, the transcriptome analysis also identified genes such as fsrB, luxS, and spx that might suppress biofilm formation in VREr5. The putative biofilm-related bee locus was found to be downregulated. These new findings could provide caveats for future studies on the regulation and maintenance of biofilm and development of biomarkers for biofilm-related diseases.
    Matched MeSH terms: Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial/genetics*
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