Detection of plasmid-mediated IMP-1 metallo-β-lactamase and quinolone resistance determinants in an ertapenem-resistant Enterobacter cloacae isolate

Objective: To investigate the mechanism of carbapenem resistance and the occurrence of plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance determinants qnr and aac(6′)-Ib-cr in a clinical isolate of Enterobacter cloacae. Methods: An ertapenem-resistant E. cloacae ZY106, which was isolated from liquor puris of a female gastric cancer patient in a Chinese hospital, was investigated. Antibiotic susceptibilities were determined by agar dilution method. Conjugation experiments, isoelectric focusing, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and DNA sequence analyses of plasmid-mediated carbapenemases and quinolone resistance determinants were preformed to confirm the genotype. Outer membrane proteins (OMPs) were examined by urea-sodium dodecyl sulfatepolyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (Urea-SDS-PAGE). Results: Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of imipenem, meropenem, and ertapenem for ZY106 were 2, 4, and 16 μg/ml, respectively. Conjugation studies with Escherichia coli resulted in the transfer of significantly reduced carbapenem susceptibility. ZY106 produced IMP-1 metallo-β-lactamase and CTX-M-3 extended-spectrum β-lactamase, and E. coli transconjugant produced IMP-1. Plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance determinant qnrS1 was detected in ZY106. Transfer of the qnrS1-encoding-plasmid into E. coli by conjugation resulted in intermediate resistance to ciprofloxacin in E. coli transconjugant. Urea-SDS-PAGE analysis of OMPs showed that ZY106 lacked an OMP of approximately 38 kDa. Conclusion: It is the first IMP-1-producing Enterobacteriaceae in China and the first report of a clinical isolate that harbors both blaIMP and qnrS genes as well. The blaIMP-1, blaCTX-M-3, and qnrS1 are encoded at three different plasmids. IMP-1 combined with the loss of an OMP possibly resulted in ertapenem resistance and reduced imipenem and meropenem susceptibility in E. cloacae.     

一株尿路致病性大肠杆菌噬菌体的分离鉴定及生物学特性分析

本研究从尿路感染患者尿液样本中分离、鉴定大肠杆菌裂解性噬菌体,对其裂菌活性等生物学特性进行分析,为探索应用噬菌体治疗耐药性尿路致病性大肠杆菌导致的尿路感染奠定基础.利用双层琼脂平板法,从尿液样品中分离、纯化,得到一株能裂解大肠杆菌的噬菌体.通过电镜观察噬菌体形态,测定其裂菌谱、最佳感染复数、一步生长曲线、以及热稳定性、...     

产丁醇大肠杆菌工程菌的构建

【目的】为了在大肠杆菌(Escherichia coli)中导入改良的丁醇合成途径,使非生产菌株大肠杆菌具备产丁醇的能力。【方法】克隆大肠杆菌乙酰转移酶基因atoB和丙酮丁醇梭菌(Clostridium acetobutylicum)丁醇合成途径关键酶基因(crt、hbd、adhE),构建多顺反子表达质粒pSE380-atoB-adhE-crt-hbd;克隆齿垢密螺旋体(Treponema denticola)反式烯酰辅酶A还原酶基因ter,构建表达质粒pSTV29-ter,并将双质粒导入到大肠杆菌。【结果】构建的工程菌能半厌氧发酵产微量丁醇,产量为0.08g/L。【结论】大肠杆菌中的丁醇合成途径导入成功,构建了产丁醇的大肠杆菌工程菌。     

Expression of human β-subunit nerve growth factor (hNGFB) in yeast Pichia pastoris and E. coli

The gene hNGFB encoding the β subunit of human nerve growth factor (hNGF) was cloned intoP. pastoris secretive expression vector pHIL-S1 andE. coli expression vector pET-15b. The recombinant hNGFB vectors pSNGF and pET15b-NGF were transformed intoP. pastoris host cell GS115 (Mut⁺, His⁻) andE. coli strain BL21 (DE3) respectively. Expression and secretion of hNGFB inP. pastoris was attempted under the direction of the AOX1 promoter and PHO1 signal sequence. The positive colonies growing on medium without histidine were further selected by PCR. The yield of rehNGFB in GS115 was about 14.4% of total cellular secretive protein. The secreted protein was immunological active on Western blotting with rabbit anti-mNGFB antibodies. The fusion protein yield of rehNGFB inE. coli BL21 (DE3) was about 10.3% of total cellular protein after IPTG induction. Western blot detection showed its immunological activity.     

Expression and purification of bioactive high-purity human midkine in Escherichia coli

Midkine is a heparin-binding growth factor, which plays important roles in the regulation of cell growth and differentiation. The non-tagged recombinant human midkine (rhMK) is therefore required to facilitate its functional studies of this important growth factor. In the present work, rhMK was expressed in Escherichia coli (E. coli) BL21 (DE3). The expression of midkine was efficiently induced by isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG). After sonication, midkine was recovered in an insoluble form, and was dissolved in guanidine hydrochloride buffer. Renaturation of the denatured protein was carried out in the defined protein refolding buffer, and the refolded protein was purified using S-Sepharose ion-exchange chromatography. The final preparation of the rhMK was greater than 98% pure as measured by sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamid gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). The purified rhMK enhanced the proliferation of NIH3T3 cells.     

Ⅰ型单纯疱疹病毒包膜糖蛋白L基因片段的克隆及高效表达

 采用PCR方法扩增HSV-1病毒型特异性包膜糖蛋白L(gL)基因片段并克隆至原核表达载体pGEX-5X-1获得重组质粒pGEX-5X-1-gL,将重组质粒转化E.coli BL21表达菌后经IPTG诱导表达目的蛋白.SDS-PAGE蛋白检测表明,在分子质量56 ku处有HSV-1 GST-gL融合蛋白的高效表达,通过IPTG浓度筛选和诱导前表达菌扩增培养时间的比较分析对诱导条件进行了优化,GST-gL融合蛋白表达量可达到菌体蛋白总量的48.65%.Western blot中利用HSV-1灭活病毒获得的多克隆抗体确证所表达蛋白为HSV-1病毒组分.这一表达系统的建立和优化对进一步探讨HSV-1 gL蛋白功能及其免疫原性提供了有利条件.     

Expression ofChlamydomonas actin-gfp fusion gene in tobacco suspension cell and polymerization of the actin-gfp proteinin vitro

The fusion gene of actin (cDNA ofChlamydomonas reinhardtii) and green fluorescence protein (gfp) had been constructed into two expression vectors which could be expressed inE. coli and tobacco suspension cells BY2. The correct expression was observed inE. coli and BY2 with a fluorescence microscopy. The fusion protein, which took part in the membrane skeleton, was mainly located peripherally along the membrane, specially the fusion protein was distributed around nucleus and cell plate, while the fusion protein also forms F-actin in the cell. The fusion protein was purified from Bl21plus by ammonium sulfate fractionation, ion exchange chromatography and hydrophobic interaction chromatography. The purified production could polymerize into F-actin when the actin polymerizing buffer was added. It was demonstrated that the characteristics and function of actin inChlamydomonas was similar with those of animals and higher plants.     

Expression, purification of a synthetic fuse-protein-TSF from PF4 and TSP1 fragments and its effect on angiogenesis and tumor growth

Sequences encoding PF4 (58–70) and TSP1 (429–459) were linked to yield a single gene TSF which encodes the fuse-protein of TSF. The gene was cloned into a pGEX-2T expression vector to generate a protein GST-TSF, which was strongly expressed inE. coli. The purified GST-TSF was degraded with thrombin to generate the protein TSF. With the methods of MTT and wound repair assay, the effects of TSF on the proliferation and migration of EC were detected, respectively. The results showed that TSF significantly suppressed BAEC proliferation and migration in a dose-dependent manner. The fuse protein GST-TSF, and the peptides PF4 (58–70) and TSP1 (429–459) also inhibited BAEC proliferation and migration, respectively, but their inhibition rates were not as high as TSF. Using the CAM assay, it was shown that TSF, GST-TSF, PF4 (58–70) and TSP1 (429–459) inhibited angiogenesis in chick CAM potentially, the effect of TSF was the highest.In vivo, the growth of Lewis lung carcinoma was potently inhibited by TSF treatment, and the inhibition rate was 68.75% at a dose of 1.00 μmol/kg · d. These findings suggest that the design on TSF gene was successful, and TSF with its anti-angiogenic and anti-tumor activity, should be a useful source of the inhibitor.     

Construction of transposon-mediated baculovirus vector and expression of green fluorescent protein in insect cells and larvae

A transposon-shuttle vector Hanpvid was constructed by using wild-type genomic DNA fromHeliothis armigera nuclear polyhedrosis virus (HaNPV). It could replicate inE. coli cells as a large plasmid and remain infectious when being induced into insect cells. Hanpvid comprises HaNPV DNA and a transposon cassette which includes a miniF replicon, a kanamycin resistance gene (kan), lacZa and an attachment site for Tn7 (attTn7). Recombinant virus rHa-FaGP was obtained after transposition of a donor plasmid carrying green fluorescent protein gene (gfp) and polyhedrin gene (ocu) into attTn7. SDS-PAGE analysis shows that both gfp and ocu genes were highly expressed inHeliothis armigera cells. Green Hemolymphocytes can be seen under a fluorescent microscope 4 d after recombinant virus rHa-FaGP infected the third-instar larvae. The infected larvae show strong green fluorescence 6 d post infection.     

A tumor suppressor genefhit prokaryotic expression and identification

The recombinant expression vector pGEMD-fhit which contains full encoding region offhit gene was constructed. The recombinant was introduced into the BL21 (DE3) strain ofE. coli and induced by 1 mmol/L IPTG to express a 29×10³ polypeptide offhit fusion protein. And the 29×10³ protein was sensitive and specific in reaction with anti-fhit antibody in Western blot. Foundation item: Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (39770373) Biography: SUN Yan (1975−), female, Master of science, Research direction: gene engineering     

The Escherichia coli O157:H7 DNA detection on a gold nanoparticle-enhanced piezoelectric biosensor

This paper presents development of a quartz crystal microbalance （QCM） biosensor for real-time detection of E. coil O157：H7 DNA based on nanogold particles amplification. Many inner Au nanoparticles were immobilized onto the thioled surface of the Au electrode, then more specific thiolated sin- gle-stranded DNA （ssDNA） probes could be fixed through Au-SH bonding. The hybridization was induced by exposing the ssDNA probe to the complementary target DNA of E. coli O157：H7 gene eaeA, then resulted in a mass change and corresponding frequency shifts （ △f ） of the QCM. The outer avidin-coated Au nanoparticles could combine with the target DNA to increase the mass. The electrochemical techniques, cyclic voltammetry （CV） and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy （EIS） were adopted to manifest and character each step. The target DNA corresponding to 2.0×10^3 colony forming unit （CFU）/mL E. coil O157：H7 cells can be detected by this biosensor, so it is practical to develop a sensitive and effective QCM biosensor for pathogenic bacteria detection based on specific DNA analysis. The piezoelectric biosensing system has potential for further applications, such as food safety and environment monitoring, and this approach lays the groundwork for incorporating the method into an integrated system for in-field bacteria detection.     

Expression of E1 gene of a hepatitis C virus inE. coli and protein purification

The cDNA containing full encoding region of E1 antigen of HCV was cloned into an expression plasmid pRSETHisB. The recombinant plasmid pRSETE1 was introduced into the BL21 (DE3) strain ofE. coli. The engineering bacteria harbouring the pRSETE1 was cultivated in 2YT medium at 37°C. When the Expression of E1 protein was induced by 1 mmol IPTG, the bacteria was killed and the number of living cell was droped down from 10⁷ to 10³ cell/mL one hour post induction. Suggest that E1 protein is poisoned toE. coli. However, the 26kD polypeptide of E1 fussion protein still synthesized in appropriate condition. The expression level was about 10% of total protein 4 h after inducing. The E1 protin was purified by Ni²⁺-NTA-Agarose column chromatography to homogeneous. The purified E1 protein was sensitive and specific in reaction with anti-HCV antibody in sera. Supported by the Science Committec of Hubei Province Ye Linbai: born in Feb. 1948. Professor     

A novel gene <Emphasis Type="Italic">R049</Emphasis> identified in uropathogenic <Emphasis Type="Italic">Escherichia coli</Emphasis> provides partial protection in mice from colonization

Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is the most common causative organism of human urinary tract infection (UTI). Several UPEC virulence factors have been identified, but more are yet to be found. We previously identified a novel 789-bp-long DNA fragment (named R049) in UPEC strain 132 using a suppressive subtractive hybridization technique. In the present study, we used genome walking to elongate the sequence of this fragment to obtain the whole gene sequence and examined the role of this gene product in generating protective immunity. Through bioinformatic analysis, we predicted that this gene is a 1311-bp open reading frame (ORF), which we designated ORF_R049 (GenBank accession No.: EF488001). We further constructed a prokaryotic expression system to express full recombinant R049 protein and isolated and purified the protein through IPTG induction and nickel affinity chromatography. Using mouse immunosera generated by the purified protein, we confirmed the natural expression and outer membrane localization of the protein in wild-type strain UPEC132 by Western blotting. To test the potential of this protein as a vaccine candidate, we immunized mice with the recombinant protein before challenging them with UPEC132 through the urinary tract. The results showed significantly reduced bacterial colonization in the urine and kidneys of the immunization group compared with the control group. However, the degree of renal pathological damage was not significantly improved in the immunized mice. Our study has identified a novel gene of UPEC which can generate protective immunity against UTI. This novel gene provides a promising new vaccine candidate.     

The in vitro interaction of CmeA with CmeC

The membrane fusion protein CmeA and the outer membrane channel CmeC,two important components of CmeABC system in Campylobacter jejuni,were expressed in Escherichia coli.After Ni-NTA and ion exchange columns purification,size exclusion chromatography showed that CmeA primarily existed as trimer and CmeC existed as monomer.Then the interaction between CmeA and CmeC was analyzed by dithiobis(succinimidyl propionate)(DSP)chemical crosslinking,pull-down assay on a Ni-NTA column,and isothermal titration calorimetry(ITC)measurement.The results clearly showed the CmeA–CmeC complex band,which confirmed the interaction in vitro and this interaction is independent of substrate and CmeB.It suggests that the mechanism underlying CmeABC function in C.jejuni is similar to that of AcrABTolC in E.coli.     

Effective antibacterial and phase change PEG/Cu2O@A-HNTs composites for melt-spun difunctional PA6 fiber

Serving as the only defensive line between pathogens and human body, personal protective equipment (PPE) is increasingly attractive among researchers because of their strong antibacterial and temperature control abilities. However, efficient antibacterial properties and regenerative thermal control simultaneously remain unexplored in PPE. Here, one-dimensional halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) modified by acid etch method, are used to synthesis a multifunctional material of PEG/Cu₂O@A-HNTs via in-situ reduction and physical adsorption which serves the above two purposes. PEG/Cu₂O@A-HNTs showed rapid bacterial inactivation and achieved 96.3% bacteriostatic rate against E. coli in only 20 ?min. Meanwhile a broad and complete inactivation spectrum included both E. coli and S. aureus following a series of antibacterial mechanisms. Moreover, adsorption of 70 ?wt% PEG by acid etch HNTs is attributed to the nearly 3 times increased specific surface area compared with native HNTs. This enabled PEG/Cu₂O@A-HNTs to attain a phase change enthalpy of 108.4 ?J/g. In addition, using PEG/Cu₂O@A-HNTs as additives, antibacterial and phase change fiber (APCF) were melt-spun. Their efficiency factor against E. coli and S. aureus was above 99.99%, and retained a temperature control ability for 180s and 272s compared with PA6 fiber in hot and frigid environments respectively.     

Development of a novel conductance-based technology for environmental bacterial sensing

In this study, a simple impedance based technology for measuring bacterial concentrations was developed. The measurement system includes the signal amplification, copper probes and a sample loader. During the experiments, the conductance of Bacillus subtilis var niger, Pseudomonas fluorescens, and Escherichia coli were measured using the combination of a pre-amplifier and a lock-in amplifier. The conductance data were modeled verses the bacterial concentrations. Results indicated that the relationship between the conductance of bacterial suspensions and their concentrations follows a generic model: $Y = C_1 + C_2 \times e^{\left( { - X/C_3 } \right)}$ , where Y is the conductance (S), X is the bacterial concentration (Number/mL: abbreviated to N/mL) for all species tested, and C _1–3 are constants. Gram negative P. fluorescens and E. coli assumed similar conductance curves, which were flatter than that of gram positive B. subtilis var niger. For P. fluorescens and E. coli the culturing technique resulted in higher concentration levels (statistically significant) from 2 to 4 times that measured by the impedance based technology. For B. subtilis var niger, both methods resulted in similar concentration levels. These differences might be due to membrane types, initial culturability and the obtained conductance curves. The impedance based technology here was shown to obtain the bacterial concentration instantly, holding broad promise in realtime monitoring biological agents.