Effects of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) under Neisseria meningitidis transformation process

Influence of environmental dust in transformation capacity of Streptococcus pneumoniae

S. pneumoniae, commonly known as pneumococcus, is a naturally competent Gram-positive bacterium and is the major cause of pneumonia in elderly and children in developing countries. This pathogen is associated with respiratory diseases affected by pollution. The objective of this work was determining the effect of ash and environmental dust from the burning of sugarcane on pneumococci bacterial transformation. The transformation capacity of the Pn360 pneumococci strain was performed using the assays of DNA donor of mutant for luxS gene. Thus, the transformation tests were performed in contact with dust collected in the southwestern region of Brazil (important region where burning of sugar cane is present in the agriculture). The use of degradative practices in the sugar cane agriculture in Brazil was involved in the transformation capacity of the S. pneumoniae. This phenomenon includes important consequences for public health concerning to resistance acquisition and new virulence factors of this important infection. In conclusion, we obtained important results concerning the action of environmental pollution in Streptococcus pneumoniae transformation, increasing the DNA acquisition for this pathogen.

Sub lethal levels of platinum nanoparticle cures plasmid and in combination with carbapenem, curtails carbapenem resistant Escherichia coli

Drug resistance traits are rapidly disseminated across bacteria by horizontal gene transfer, especially through plasmids. Plasmid curing agents that are active both in vitro and in vivo will resensitize Multi Drug Resistant (MDR) bacteria to antimicrobial agents. Pectin capped platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) at sub MIC (20 µM) concentration was effective, in causing loss of Extended Spectrum Beta Lactamase (ESBL) harboring plasmid as evidenced by, absence of plasmid in agarose gel and by a concomitant (16-64 fold) drop in MIC for cell wall inhibitors ceftriaxone and meropenem, in carbapenem resistant Escherichia coli (CREC). Interestingly, the plasmid cured strain exhibited small colony morphology and displayed slower growth both in vitro and in vivo. Complementation of cured strain with plasmid from the wild type strain restored resistance towards meropenem and ceftriaxone. Relative to wild type, plasmid cured strain displayed 50% reduction in biofilm formation. Plasmid curing also occurred in vivo in infected zebrafish with curing efficiency of 17% for nanoparticle + meropenem treatment. PtNPs + meropenem reduced bioburden of CREC in infected zebrafish by 2.4 log CFU. Mechanistic studies revealed that nanoparticle interacted with cell surface and perturbed inner membrane integrity. PtNPs did not induce ROS, yet it caused plasmid DNA cleavage, as evidenced by gyrase inhibition assay. Our study for the first time reveals that PtNPs as plasmid curing agent can resensitize MDR bacteria to selective antimicrobial agents in vivo.

Analysis of the effects of mesoporous silica particles SBA-15 and SBA-16 in Streptococcus pneumoniae transformation process

Streptococcus pneumoniae are natural competent bacteria which requires the presence of a pheromone-like molecule to do the transformation process. This study verified the influence of mesoporous silica (SBA-15 and SBA-16) on the transformation process in S. pneumoniae using a donor DNA obtained from a mutant strain of this microorganism (Sp360∆luxS). The results showed that mesoporous silica SBA-15 and SBA-16 particles doubled the transformation ratio frequency compared with negative control (without nanoparticles) in using SBA-15 (ratio 1.81 ± 0.04) and SBA-16 (ratio 2.18 ± 0.22). We demonstrated the how mesoporous silica nanoparticles were able to increase the pneumococcus transformations, which could possibly lead to the acquisition of virulence factor genes and resistance of antibiotics.

Impact of nanoparticles on the Bacillus subtilis (3610) competence

Due to the physicochemical properties of nanoparticles, the use of nanomaterials increases every year in industrial and medical processes. At the same time, the increasing number of bacteria becoming resistant to many antibiotics, mostly by a horizontal gene transfer process, is a major public health concern. We herein report, for the first time, the role of nanoparticles in the physiological induction of horizontal gene transfer in bacteria. Besides the most well-known impacts of nanoparticles on bacteria, i.e. death or oxidative stress, two nanoparticles, n-ZnO and n-TiO₂, significantly and oppositely impact the transformation efficiency of Bacillus subtilis in biofilm growth conditions, by modification of the physiological processes involved in the induction of competence, the first step of transformation. This effect is the consequence of a physiological adaptation rather than a physical cell injury: two oligopeptide ABC transporters, OppABCDF and AppDFABC, are differentially expressed in response to nanoparticles. Interestingly, a third tested nanoparticle, n-Ag, has no significant effect on competence in our experimental conditions. Overall, these results show that nanoparticles, by altering bacterial physiology and especially competence, may have profound influences in unsuspected areas, such as the dissemination of antibiotic resistance in bacteria.

Impeded repair of abasic site damaged lesions in DNA adsorbed over functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotube and graphene oxide

The processing of abasic site DNA damage lesions in extracellular DNA in the presence of engineered carbon nanomaterials (CNMs) is demonstrated. The efficacy of the apurinic-apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 (APE1) in the cleavage of abasic site lesions in the presence of carboxylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT-COOH) and graphene oxide (GO) are compared. The CNMs were found to perturb the incision activity of APE1. The reason for such perturbation process was anticipated to take place either by the non-specific adsorption of APE1 over the free surface of the CNMs or steric hindrance offered by the CNM-DNA complex. Accordingly, bovine serum albumin (BSA) was selectively utilized to block the free surface of the CNM-DNA hybrid material. Further treatment of the CNM-DNA-BSA complex with APE1 resulted in a marginal increase in APE1 efficiency. This indicates that APE1 in solution is unable to process the abasic sites on DNA adsorbed over the CNMs. However, the cleavage activity of APE1 was restored in the presence of non-ionic surfactant (Tween 20) that inhibits adsorption of the DNA on the surface of the CNMs. The conformational deformation of the DNA, along with steric hindrance induced by the CNMs resulted in the inhibition of abasic site DNA repair by APE1. Moreover, appreciable changes in the secondary structure of APE1 adsorbed over the CNMs were observed that contribute further to the repair refractivity of the abasic sites. From a toxicological viewpoint, these findings can be extended to the study of the effect of engineered nanoparticles in the intracellular DNA repair process.

How the Knowledge of Interactions between Meningococcus and the Human Immune System Has Been Used to Prepare Effective Neisseria meningitidis Vaccines

In the last decades, tremendous advancement in dissecting the mechanisms of pathogenicity of Neisseria meningitidis at a molecular level has been achieved, exploiting converging approaches of different disciplines, ranging from pathology to microbiology, immunology, and omics sciences (such as genomics and proteomics). Here, we review the molecular biology of the infectious agent and, in particular, its interactions with the immune system, focusing on both the innate and the adaptive responses. Meningococci exploit different mechanisms and complex machineries in order to subvert the immune system and to avoid being killed. Capsular polysaccharide and lipooligosaccharide glycan composition, in particular, play a major role in circumventing immune response. The understanding of these mechanisms has opened new horizons in the field of vaccinology. Nowadays different licensed meningococcal vaccines are available and used: conjugate meningococcal C vaccines, tetravalent conjugate vaccines, an affordable conjugate vaccine against the N. menigitidis serogroup A, and universal vaccines based on multiple antigens each one with a different and peculiar function against meningococcal group B strains.

Haemophilus influenzae porine ompP2 gene transfer mediated by graphene oxide nanoparticles with effects on transformation process and virulence bacterial capacity

Background

H. influenzae is a natural competent bacterium that can uptake DNA from the environment and recombine into bacterial genome. The outbreaks of Brazilian purpuric fever, heavily polluted areas of a different H. influenzae biogroup - aegyptius - as well as gene transference between Neisseria meningitis make the transformation process an important evolutionary factor. This work studied the horizontal transference of the ompP2 gene from a multiresistant strain of H. influenzae 07 (NTHi), under the influence of graphene oxide nanoparticles in order to mimic an atmosphere rich in suspended particles and this way verify if the CFU transformants number was increased.

Material and methods

In this article the gene ompP2 was transformed into different strains of H. influenzae mediated or not by graphene oxide nanoparticles in suspension, followed by the adhesion tests in Hec-1B (human endometrium adenocarcinoma) and A549 (pulmonary epithelial carcinoma) cells lines. The transformation frequency and the adhesion capacity were determined in all the mutants to which the ompP2 gene was transferred and compared to their wild type strains.

Results

The nanoparticles increased the transformation ratio of one particular strain isolated from a pneumonia case. The adhesion patterns to A549 and Hec1b cell lines of these mutated bacteria has their capacity increased when compared to the wild type.

Conclusions

Graphene oxide nanoparticles aid the transformation process, helping to increase the number of CFUs, and the mutants generated with the ompP2 gene from a H. influenzae resistant strain not only present a chloramphenicol resistance but also have an increased adherence patterns in A549 and Hec1B cell lines.

Inflammatory response of Haemophilus influenzae biotype aegyptius causing Brazilian Purpuric Fever

The Brazilian Purpuric Fever (BPF) is a systemic disease with many clinical features of meningococcal sepsis and is usually preceded by purulent conjunctivitis. The illness is caused by Haemophilus influenza biogroup aegyptius, which was associated exclusively with conjunctivitis. In this work construction of the las gene, hypothetically responsible for this virulence, were fusioned with ermAM cassette in Neisseria meningitidis virulent strains and had its DNA transfer to non BPF H. influenzae strains. The effect of the las transfer was capable to increase the cytokines TNFα and IL10 expression in Hec-1B cells line infected with these transformed mutants (in eight log scale of folding change RNA expression). This is the first molecular study involving the las transfer to search an elucidation of the pathogenic factors by horizontal intergeneric transfer from meningococci to H. influenzae.