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Lin H, Ning X, Wang D, Wang Q, Bai Y, Qu J. Quorum-sensing gene regulates hormetic effects induced by sulfonamides in Comamonadaceae. Appl Environ Microbiol 2023; 89:e0166223. [PMID: 38047646 PMCID: PMC10734536 DOI: 10.1128/aem.01662-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2023] [Accepted: 10/17/2023] [Indexed: 12/05/2023] Open
Abstract
IMPORTANCE Antibiotics can induce dose-dependent hormetic effects on bacterial cell proliferation, i.e., low-dose stimulation and high-dose inhibition. However, the underlying molecular basis has yet to be clarified. Here, we showed that sulfonamides play dual roles as a weapon and signal against Comamonas testosteroni that can modulate cell physiology and phenotype. Subsequently, through investigating the hormesis mechanism, we proposed a comprehensive regulatory pathway for the hormetic effects of Comamonas testosteroni low-level sulfonamides and determined the generality of the observed regulatory model in the Comamonadaceae family. Considering the prevalence of Comamonadaceae in human guts and environmental ecosystems, we provide critical insights into the health and ecological effects of antibiotics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hui Lin
- Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China
| | - Xue Ning
- MaREI Centre, Environmental Research Institute, School of Engineering, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - Donglin Wang
- Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Qiaojuan Wang
- Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China
| | - Yaohui Bai
- Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Jiuhui Qu
- Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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Iavicoli I, Fontana L, Agathokleous E, Santocono C, Russo F, Vetrani I, Fedele M, Calabrese EJ. Hormetic dose responses induced by antibiotics in bacteria: A phantom menace to be thoroughly evaluated to address the environmental risk and tackle the antibiotic resistance phenomenon. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2021; 798:149255. [PMID: 34340082 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149255] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2021] [Revised: 06/30/2021] [Accepted: 07/21/2021] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
The environmental contamination of antibiotics caused by their over or inappropriate use is a major issue for environmental and human health since it can adversely impact the ecosystems and promote the antimicrobial resistance. Indeed, considering that in the environmental matrices these drugs are present at low levels, the possibility that bacteria exhibit a hormetic response to increase their resilience when exposed to antibiotic subinhibitory concentrations might represent a serious threat. Information reported in this review showed that exposure to different types of antibiotics, either administered individually or in mixtures, is capable of exerting hormetic effects on bacteria at environmentally relevant concentrations. These responses have been reported regardless of the type of bacterium or antibiotic, thus suggesting that hormesis would be a generalized adaptive mechanism implemented by bacteria to strengthen their resistance to antibiotics. Hormetic effects included growth, bioluminescence and motility of bacteria, their ability to produce biofilm, but also the frequency of mutation and plasmid conjugative transfer. The evaluation of quantitative features of antibiotic-induced hormesis showed that these responses have both maximum stimulation and dose width characteristics similar to those already reported in the literature for other stressors. Notably, mixtures comprising individual antibiotic inducing stimulatory responses might have distinct combined effects based on antagonistic, synergistic or additive interactions between components. Regarding the molecular mechanisms of action underlying the aforementioned effects, we put forward the hypothesis that the adoption of adaptive/defensive responses would be driven by the ability of antibiotic low doses to modulate the transcriptional activity of bacteria. Overall, our findings suggest that hormesis plays a pivotal role in affecting the bacterial behavior in order to acquire a survival advantage. Therefore, a proactive and effective risk assessment should necessarily take due account of the hormesis concept to adequately evaluate the risks to ecosystems and human health posed by antibiotic environmental contamination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivo Iavicoli
- Department of Public Health, Section of Occupational Medicine, University of Naples Federico II, Naples 80131, Italy.
| | - Luca Fontana
- Department of Public Health, Section of Occupational Medicine, University of Naples Federico II, Naples 80131, Italy
| | - Evgenios Agathokleous
- Key Laboratory of Agrometeorology of Jiangsu Province, Department of Ecology, School of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology (NUIST), Nanjing 210044, China
| | - Carolina Santocono
- Department of Public Health, Section of Occupational Medicine, University of Naples Federico II, Naples 80131, Italy
| | - Francesco Russo
- Department of Public Health, Section of Occupational Medicine, University of Naples Federico II, Naples 80131, Italy
| | - Ilaria Vetrani
- Department of Public Health, Section of Occupational Medicine, University of Naples Federico II, Naples 80131, Italy
| | - Mauro Fedele
- Department of Public Health, Section of Occupational Medicine, University of Naples Federico II, Naples 80131, Italy
| | - Edward J Calabrese
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Morrill I, N344, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
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Chen Z, Wang H. Antibiotic Toxicity Profiles of Escherichia coli Strains Lacking DNA Methyltransferases. ACS OMEGA 2021; 6:7834-7840. [PMID: 33778295 PMCID: PMC7992158 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.1c00378] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2021] [Accepted: 03/04/2021] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are causing more antibiotic treatment failures. Developing new antibiotics and identifying bacterial targets will help to mitigate the emergence and reduce the spread of antibiotic resistance in the environment. We investigated whether DNA methyltransferase (MTase) can be an adjunct target for improving antibiotic toxicity. We used Escherichia coli as an example. The genes encoding DNA adenine MTase and cytosine MTase, dam and dcm, respectively, were separately knocked out using the λRed system in E. coli MG1655. MG1655 and the two knockout strains were separately exposed in 96-well plates to 20 antibiotics from five classes. The EC50 values of almost all of the tested antibiotics were lower in the dam and dcm knockout lines than that of the control. Our statistical analysis showed that the variations observed in EC50 values were independent of the mechanism underlying each antibiotic's mechanistic action.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zheng Chen
- State
Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese
Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
- University
of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Hailin Wang
- State
Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese
Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
- University
of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
- Institute
of Environment and Health, Jianghan University, Wuhan 430056, China
- . Phone/Fax: +86-10-62849600
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Zhang B, Yuan Q, Wang MM, Sun R, Liu H, Wang P. Insights into the effects of Zn exposure on the fate of tylosin resistance genes and dynamics of microbial community during co-composting with tylosin fermentation dregs and swine manure. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2021; 28:14423-14433. [PMID: 33210251 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-020-11471-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2020] [Accepted: 10/28/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Though heavy metals are widely reported to induce antibiotic resistance propagation, how antibiotic resistance changes in response to heavy metal abundances remains unclearly. In this study, the tylosin fermentation dregs (TFDs) and swine manure co-composting process amended with two exposure levels of heavy metal Zn were performed. Results showed that the bioavailable Zn contents decreased 2.6-fold averagely, and the removal percentage of total tylosin resistance genes was around 23.5% after the co-composting completed. Furthermore, the tylosin resistance genes and some generic bacteria may exhibited a hormetic-like dose-response with the high-dosage inhibition and low dosage stimulation induced by bioavailable Zn contents during the co-composting process, which represented a beneficial aspect of adaptive responses to harmful environmental stimuli. This study provided a comprehensive understanding and predicted risk assessment for the Zn-contaminate solid wastes deposal and suggested that low levels of Zn or other heavy metals should receive more attention for their potential to the induction of resistance bacteria and propagation of antibiotic resistance genes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bo Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resources and Environment, Harbin, 150090, China
- School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090, China
| | - Qingbin Yuan
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 211816, Jiangsu, China
| | - Meng Meng Wang
- College of Environment and Safety Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266042, China
| | - Ruonan Sun
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, 77005, USA
| | - Huiling Liu
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China
| | - Peng Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resources and Environment, Harbin, 150090, China.
- School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090, China.
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5
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Li X, Liu Y, Wang Y, Lin Z, Wang D, Sun H. Resistance risk induced by quorum sensing inhibitors and their combined use with antibiotics: Mechanism and its relationship with toxicity. CHEMOSPHERE 2021; 265:129153. [PMID: 33302207 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.129153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2020] [Revised: 11/22/2020] [Accepted: 11/27/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The abuse of antibiotics has brought out serious bacterial resistance, which threatens the ecological environment and human health. Quorum sensing inhibitors (QSIs), as a new kind of potential antibiotic substitutes that are theoretically difficult to trigger bacterial resistance, are recommended to individually use or jointly use with traditional antibiotics. However, there are few studies on the resistance risk in the use of QSIs. In this study, the influence of QSIs alone or in combination with sulfonamides (SAs) on conjugative transfer and mutation of Escherichia coli (E. coli) was investigated to explore whether QSIs have the potential to induce bacterial resistance. The results show that QSIs may facilitate plasmid RP4 conjugative transfer by binding with SdiA protein to regulate pilus expression, and interact with LsrR protein to increase SOS gene expression, inducing gene mutation. The QSIs-SAs mixtures could promote plasmid RP4 conjugative transfer and mutation in E. coli, and the main joint effects are synergism and antagonism. Furthermore, there is a good correlation among conjugative transfer, mutation, and growth inhibition of QSIs-SAs to E. coli. It could be speculated that bacteria may delay cell division to provide sufficient energy and time for regulating conjugative transfer and mutation under the stress of QSIs and their combined exposure with antibiotics, which is essentially a balance between bacterial resistance and toxicity. This study provides a reference for the resistance risk assessment of QSIs and benefits the clinical application of QSIs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xufei Li
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China
| | - Yingying Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
| | - Yajuan Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China
| | - Zhifen Lin
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China; Shanghai Key Lab of Chemical Assessment and Sustainability, Shanghai, China
| | - Dali Wang
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution and Health, School of Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 511443, China
| | - Haoyu Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China; Shanghai Key Lab of Chemical Assessment and Sustainability, Shanghai, China; Post-doctoral Research Station, College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China.
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6
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Li Z, Yi X, Zhou H, Chi T, Li W, Yang K. Combined effect of polystyrene microplastics and dibutyl phthalate on the microalgae Chlorella pyrenoidosa. ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION (BARKING, ESSEX : 1987) 2020; 257:113604. [PMID: 31761578 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2019.113604] [Citation(s) in RCA: 102] [Impact Index Per Article: 25.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2019] [Revised: 11/08/2019] [Accepted: 11/08/2019] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
The combined effect of polystyrene microplastics (mPS) and dibutyl phthalate (DBP), a common plastic additive, on the microalgae Chlorella pyrenoidosa was investigated in the present study. The 96 h-IC50 value of DBP was 2.41 mg L-1. Polystyrene microplastics exhibited size-dependent inhibitory effect to C. pyrenoidosa, with the 96 h-IC50 at 6.90 and 7.19 mg L-1 for 0.1 and 0.55 μm mPS respectively, but little toxicity was observed for 5 μm mPS. The interaction parameter ρ based on the response additive response surface (RARS) model varied from -0.309 to 5.845, indicating the interaction pattern varying with exposure concentrations of chemical mixtures. A modified RARS model (taking ρ as a function of exposure concentration) was constructed and could well predict the combined toxicity of mPS and DBP. More than 20% reduction of DBP was observed at 20 mg L-1 mPS, while 1 mg L-1 mPS had no significant effect on the bioavailability of DBP at different sampling time points. Volume, morphological complexity and chlorophyll fluorescence intensity of microalgal cells were disturbed by both DBP and mPS. The antagonistic effect of high concentrations of mPS might be partially attributed to the combination of hetero- and homo-aggregation and the reduced bioavailability of DBP. The overall findings of the present study profiled the combined toxic effects of mPS and DBP on marine phytoplankton species which will be helpful for further evaluation of ecological risks of mPS and DBP in marine environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhaochuan Li
- School of Ocean Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Panjin 124221, China
| | - Xianliang Yi
- School of Ocean Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Panjin 124221, China.
| | - Hao Zhou
- School of Ocean Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Panjin 124221, China
| | - Tongtong Chi
- School of Ocean Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Panjin 124221, China
| | - Wentao Li
- School of Ocean Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Panjin 124221, China
| | - Kaiming Yang
- School of Ocean Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Panjin 124221, China
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Sun H, Pan Y, Chen X, Jiang W, Lin Z, Yin C. Regular time-dependent cross-phenomena induced by hormesis: A case study of binary antibacterial mixtures to Aliivibrio fischeri. ECOTOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY 2020; 187:109823. [PMID: 31639641 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2019.109823] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2019] [Revised: 09/29/2019] [Accepted: 10/14/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Time-dependent cross-phenomenon in which the cross between the actual concentration-response curve (CRC) for mixture crosses the CRCs for reference model varies with time has been frequently reported in previous studies, expressed as a heterogeneous pattern of joint toxic action. However, the variation tendency of time-dependent cross-phenomenon is rarely addressed. In this study, the joint toxic actions of binary antibacterial mixtures (i.e., two quorum sensing inhibitors, tetracycline hydrochloride, erythromycin, and chloramphenicol with sulfonamides) were judged using independent action (IA) model to find the variation tendency of time-dependent cross-phenomenon. The results show that the time-dependent cross-phenomena of the test binary antibacterial mixtures follow a unified variation tendency and the corresponding joint toxic actions change regularly with an increase of both concentration and time. Through investigating the relationship between the stimulatory and inhibitory modes of action for the single agents and the time-dependent cross-phenomena of binary mixtures, the regular time-dependent cross-phenomena is speculated to be derived from the hormetic effects of the components in the mixtures. This study offers an advance for the variation tendency and mechanistic explanation of time-dependent cross-phenomenon, which will provide a support for the future development in the exploration of time-dependent cross-phenomenon and environmental risk assessment of pollutant mixtures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haoyu Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai, 200092, China; Post-doctoral Research Station, College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China; Shanghai Key Lab of Chemical Assessment and Sustainability, Shanghai, China
| | - Yongzheng Pan
- College of Marine Ecology and Environment, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China
| | - Xiang Chen
- Shanghai Customs Inspection Center of Industrial Products & Raw Material, Shanghai, 200135, China
| | - Wei Jiang
- Shanghai Customs Inspection Center of Industrial Products & Raw Material, Shanghai, 200135, China
| | - Zhifen Lin
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai, 200092, China; Shanghai Key Lab of Chemical Assessment and Sustainability, Shanghai, China; State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.
| | - Chunsheng Yin
- College of Marine Ecology and Environment, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, 201306, China.
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Sun H, Chen R, Jiang W, Chen X, Lin Z. QSAR-based investigation on antibiotics facilitating emergence and dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes: A case study of sulfonamides against mutation and conjugative transfer in Escherichia coli. ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH 2019; 173:87-96. [PMID: 30903818 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2019.03.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2018] [Revised: 03/06/2019] [Accepted: 03/07/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), which are emerging environmental contaminants, have posed great threats to global public health. Although extensive efforts have been undertaken to investigate ARG pollution, little attention has been paid to the structural information of antibiotics when exploring their impact on the emergence and dissemination of ARGs. In this study, setting Escherichia coli (E. coli) as the test organism, the effects of sulfonamides (SAs) on growth, mutation frequency and conjugative transfer frequency were tested, and quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) was used to quantitatively analyze the promotion of SAs on these biological effects and explore their possible mechanism. The constructed QSAR models reveal that SAs may increase expression of the FtsZ protein and pili in E. coli via binding to the SdiA protein, ultimately leading to SAs facilitation of growth, mutation frequency and conjugative transfer frequency. The results indicate that SAs can produce selective pressure on E. coli to promote the emergence and dissemination of ARGs. This study provides reference data for further investigation of the emergence and dissemination of ARGs under antibiotic exposure and a new perspective for the mechanistic exploration of ARG pollution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haoyu Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai 200092, China; Post-doctoral Research Station, College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China; Shanghai Key Lab of Chemical Assessment and Sustainability, Shanghai, China
| | - Renhui Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China
| | - Wei Jiang
- Shanghai Customs Inspection Center of Industrial Products & Raw Material, Shanghai 200135, China
| | - Xiang Chen
- Shanghai Customs Inspection Center of Industrial Products & Raw Material, Shanghai 200135, China
| | - Zhifen Lin
- State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai 200092, China; Shanghai Key Lab of Chemical Assessment and Sustainability, Shanghai, China; State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.
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