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The treatment of invasive Escherichia coli infections is a challenge because of the emergence and rapid spread of multidrug resistant strains. Particular problems are those strains that produce extended spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL's). Although the global characterization of these enzymes is advanced, knowledge of their molecular basis among clinical E. coli isolates in Ethiopia is extremely limited. This study intends to address this knowledge gap. The study combines antimicrobial resistance profiling and molecular epidemiology of ESBL genes among 204 E. coli clinical isolates collected from patient urine, blood, and pus at four geographically distinct health facilities in Ethiopia. All isolates exhibited multidrug resistance, with extensive resistance to ampicillin and first to fourth line generation cephalosporins and sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim and ciprofloxacin. Extended spectrum β-lactamase genes were detected in 189 strains, and all but one were positive for CTX-Ms β-lactamases. Genes encoding for the group-1 CTX-Ms enzymes were most prolific, and CTX-M-15 was the most common ESBL identified. Group-9 CTX-Ms including CTX-M-14 and CTX-27 were detected only in 12 isolates and SHV ESBL types were identified in just 8 isolates. Bacterial typing revealed a high amount of strains associated with the B2 phylogenetic group. Crucially, the international high risk clones ST131 and ST410 were among the sequence types identified. This first time study revealed a high prevalence of CTX-M type ESBL's circulating among E. coli clinical isolates in Ethiopia. Critically, they are associated with multidrug resistance phenotypes and high-risk clones first characterized in other parts of the world. 

Bacterial pathogens can evade the host’s immune defence to adapt and establish an infection within the host. Some even slip into a quiescent state to establish themselves without acutely harming the host. Phylogenetically unrelated bacteria can share similar strategies for the establishment of infection and for persistence. Our lab previously showed that Yersinia pseudotuberculosis underwent a dramatic reprogramming from a virulent phenotype expressing virulence genes, including T3SS and Yop effectors during early infection, to an adapted phenotype capable of persisting in tissue. The overall aim of my PhD study was to dissect the mechanisms behind bacterial adaptation and maintenance of infection within host tissue using Y. pseudotuberculosis as a model pathogen. The ultimate goal is to identify key players of critical importance for the ability of the bacterium to maintain and establish infection in host tissue. In my studies, I mainly focused on bacterial biofilm and the role of the alternative sigma factor RpoN. Much of my studies involve RNA-Seq analyses, encouraging me to develop a convenient, time-efficient, and all-purpose RNA-Seq data analysis package especially designed for prokaryotic organisms. The package is available online as a free tool and can be used by any biologist with minimal computational knowledge. We systematically examined biofilm formation of Y. pseudotuberculosis under different stress conditions and found that biofilm development involved a series of adaptive responses against various stressors, including bile, pH, amino acid deprivation, and temperature and oxygen-level changes. Analyses of transcription profiles of bacteria forming biofilm in different conditions revealed a set of core genes that were similarly regulated in biofilm bacteria independently of induced environment. The transcriptional regulator RpoN, commonly known as sigma 54, was found to be important for biofilm formation, and a ∆rpoN mutant strain was severely attenuated in virulence. To understand the regulatory mechanisms involved, we investigated gene expressions in wild-type (WT) and the isogenic ∆rpoN mutant strain and also chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing. We have identified RpoN binding sites in the Y. pseudotuberculosis genome and revealed a complex regulation by RpoN involving both activation and repression effects. We also investigated the role of RpoN in regulation of the Type III secretion system (T3SS) and found that RpoN was required for a functional T3SS, which is essential for bacterial virulence properties in host tissue. Our work indicates that Yersinia modulates itself in multiple ways to create niches favourable to growth and survival in the host environment. We have identified some key regulators and genes that will be explored further for their potential as novel targets for the development of new antibiotics.

Summary: Since its introduction, RNA-Seq technology has been used extensively in studies of pathogenic bacteria to identify and quantify differences in gene expression across multiple samples from bacteria exposed to different conditions. With some exceptions, tools for studying gene expression, determination of differential gene expression, downstream pathway analysis and normalization of data collected in extreme biological conditions is still lacking. Here, we describe ProkSeq, a user-friendly, fully automated RNA-Seq data analysis pipeline designed for prokaryotes. ProkSeq provides a wide variety of options for analysing differential expression, normalizing expression data and visualizing data and results.

Availability and implementation: ProkSeq is implemented in Python and is published under the MIT source license. The pipeline is available as a Docker container https://hub.docker.com/repository/docker/snandids/prokseq-v2.0, or can be used through Anaconda: https://anaconda.org/snandiDS/prokseq. The code is available on Github: https://github.com/snandiDS/prokseq and a detailed user documentation, including a manual and tutorial can be found at https://prokseqV20.readthedocs.io.

Bacterial processes necessary for adaption to stressful host environments are potential targets for new antimicrobials. Here, we report large-scale transcriptomic analyses of 32 human bacterial pathogens grown under 11 stress conditions mimicking human host environments. The potential relevance of the in vitro stress conditions and responses is supported by comparisons with available in vivo transcriptomes of clinically important pathogens. Calculation of a probability score enables comparative cross-microbial analyses of the stress responses, revealing common and unique regulatory responses to different stresses, as well as overlapping processes participating in different stress responses. We identify conserved and species-specific ‘universal stress responders’, that is, genes showing altered expression in multiple stress conditions. Non-coding RNAs are involved in a substantial proportion of the responses. The data are collected in a freely available, interactive online resource (PATHOgenex).

Selective ERα modulator, tamoxifen, is well tolerated in a heavily pretreated castration‐resistant prostate cancer (PCa) patient cohort. However, its targeted gene network and whether expression of intratumor ERα due to androgen‐deprivation therapy (ADT) may play a role in PCa progression is unknown. In this study, we examined the inhibitory effect of tamoxifen on castration‐resistant PCa in vitro and in vivo. We found that tamoxifen is a potent compound that induced a high degree of apoptosis and significantly suppressed growth of xenograft tumors in mice, at a degree comparable to ISA‐2011B, an inhibitor of PIP5K1α that acts upstream of PI3K/AKT survival signaling pathway. Moreover, depletion of tumor‐associated macrophages using clodronate in combination with tamoxifen increased inhibitory effect of tamoxifen on aggressive prostate tumors. We showed that both tamoxifen and ISA‐2011B exert their on‐target effects on prostate cancer cells by targeting cyclin D1 and PIP5K1α/AKT network and the interlinked estrogen signaling. Combination treatment using tamoxifen together with ISA‐2011B resulted in tumor regression and had superior inhibitory effect compared with that of tamoxifen or ISA‐2011B alone. We have identified sets of genes that are specifically targeted by tamoxifen, ISA‐2011B or combination of both agents by RNA‐seq. We discovered that alterations in unique gene signatures, in particular estrogen‐related marker genes are associated with poor patient disease‐free survival. We further showed that ERα interacted with PIP5K1α through formation of protein complexes in the nucleus, suggesting a functional link. Our finding is the first to suggest a new therapeutic potential to inhibit or utilize the mechanisms related to ERα, PIP5K1α/AKT network and MMP9/VEGF signaling axis, providing a strategy to treat castration‐resistant ER‐positive subtype of prostate cancer tumors with metastatic potential.

Multiple transcription factors (TFs) bind to specific sites in the genome and interact among themselves to form the cis-regulatory modules (CRMs). They are essential in modulating the expression of genes, and it is important to study this interplay to understand gene regulation. In the present study, we integrated experimentally identified TF binding sites collected from published studies with computationally predicted TF binding sites to identifyDrosophilaCRMs. Along with the detection of the previously known CRMs, this approach identified novel protein combinations. We determined high-occupancy target sites, where a large number of TFs bind. Investigating these sites revealed that Giant, Dichaete, and Knirp are highly enriched in these locations. A common TAG team motif was observed at these sites, which might play a role in recruiting other TFs. While comparing the binding sites at distal and proximal promoters, we found that certain regulatory TFs, such as Zelda, were highly enriched in enhancers. Our study has shown that, from the information available concerning the TF binding sites, the real CRMs could be predicted accurately and efficiently. Although we only may claim co-occurrence of these proteins in this study, it may actually point to their interaction (as known interaction proteins typically co-occur together). Such an integrative approach can, therefore, help us to provide a better understanding of the interplay among the factors, even though further experimental verification is required.

RpoN, an alternative sigma factor commonly known as σ⁵⁴, is implicated in persistent stages of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis infections in which genes associated with this regulator are upregulated. We here combined phenotypic and genomic assays to provide insight into its role and function in this pathogen. RpoN was found essential for Y. pseudotuberculosis virulence in mice, and in vitro functional assays showed that it controls biofilm formation and motility. Mapping genome-wide associations of Y. pseudotuberculosis RpoN using chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled with next-generation sequencing identified an RpoN binding motif located at 103 inter- and intragenic sites on both sense and antisense strands. Deletion of rpoN had a large impact on gene expression, including downregulation of genes encoding proteins involved in flagellar assembly, chemotaxis, and quorum sensing. There were also clear indications of cross talk with other sigma factors, together with indirect effects due to altered expression of other regulators. Matching differential gene expression with locations of the binding sites implicated around 130 genes or operons potentially activated or repressed by RpoN. Mutagenesis of selected intergenic binding sites confirmed both positive and negative regulatory effects of RpoN binding. Corresponding mutations of intragenic sense sites had less impact on associated gene expression. Surprisingly, mutating intragenic sites on the antisense strand commonly reduced expression of genes carried by the corresponding sense strand.

Campylobacter jejuni is a prevalent human pathogen and a major cause of bacterial gastroenteritis in the world. In humans, C. jejuni colonizes the intestinal tract and its tolerance to bile is crucial for bacteria to survive and establish infection. C. jejuni produces outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) which have been suggested to be involved in virulence. In this study, the proteome composition of C. jejuni OMVs in response to low concentration of bile was investigated. We showed that exposure of C. jejuni to low concentrations of bile, similar to the concentration in cecum, induced significant changes in the protein profile of OMVs released during growth without affecting the protein profile of the bacteria. This suggests that bile influences a selective packing of the OMVs after bacterial exposure to low bile. A low concentration of bile was found to increase bacterial adhesion to intestinal epithelial cells, likely by an enhanced hydrophobicity of the cell membrane following exposure to bile. The increased bacterial adhesiveness was not associated with increased invasion, instead bile exposure decreased C. jejuni invasion. OMVs released from bacteria upon exposure to low bile showed to increase both adhesion and invasion of non-bile-exposed bacteria into intestinal epithelial cells. These findings suggest that C. jejuni in environments with low concentrations of bile produce OMVs that facilitates colonization of the bacteria, and this could potentially contribute to virulence of C. jejuni in the gut.

Introduction: The Elongator complex, comprising six subunits (Elp1p-Elp6p), is required for formation of 5-carbamoylmethyl (ncm(5)) and 5-methoxycarbonylmethyl (mcm(5)) side chains on wobble uridines in 11 out of 42 tRNA species in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Loss of these side chains reduces the efficiency of tRNA decoding during translation, resulting in pleiotropic phenotypes. Overexpression of hypomodified tRNA(s2UUU)(Lys); tRNA(s2UUG)(Gln) and tRNA(s2UUC)(Glu), which in wild-type strains are modified with mcm(5)s(2)U, partially suppress phenotypes of an elp3 Delta strain. Objectives: To identify metabolic alterations in an elp3 Delta strain and elucidate whether these metabolic alterations are suppressed by overexpression of hypomodified tRNA(s2UUU)(Lys); tRNA(s2UUG)(Gln) and tRNA(s2UUC)(Glu). Method: Metabolic profiles were obtained using untargeted GC-TOF-MS of a temperature-sensitive elp3 Delta strain carrying either an empty low-copy vector, an empty high-copy vector, a low-copy vector harboring the wild-type ELP3 gene, or a high-copy vector overexpressing tRNA(s2UUU)(Lys); tRNA(s2UUG)(Gln) and tRNA(s2UUC)(Glu). The temperature sensitive elp3 Delta strain derivatives were cultivated at permissive (30 degrees C) or semi-permissive (34 degrees C) growth conditions. Results: Culturing an elp3 Delta strain at 30 or 34 degrees C resulted in altered metabolism of 36 and 46 %, respectively, of all metabolites detected when compared to an elp3D strain carrying the wild-type ELP3 gene. Overexpression of hypomodified tRNA(s2UUU)(Lys); tRNA(s2UUG)(Gln) and tRNA(s2UUC)(Glu) suppressed a subset of the metabolic alterations observed in the elp3 Delta strain. Conclusion: Our results suggest that the presence of ncm(5)- and mcm(5)-side chains on wobble uridines in tRNA are important for metabolic homeostasis.

Elongator is a 6 subunit protein complex highly conserved in eukaryotes. The role of this complex has been controversial as the pleiotropic phenotypes of Elongator mutants have implicated the complex in several cellular processes. However, in yeast there is convincing evidence that the primary and probably only role of this complex is in formation of the 5-methoxycarbonylmethyl (mcm(5)) and 5-carbamoylmethyl (ncm(5)) side chains on uridines at wobble position in tRNA. In this review we summarize the cellular processes that have been linked to the Elongator complex and discuss its role in tRNA modification and regulation of translation. We also describe additional gene products essential for formation of ncm(5) and mcm(5) side chains at U-34 and their influence on Elongator activity.