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Nguyen HN, Sharp GM, Stahl-Rommel S, Velez Justiniano YA, Castro CL, Nelman-Gonzalez M, O’Rourke A, Lee MD, Williamson J, McCool C, Crucian B, Clark KW, Jain M, Castro-Wallace SL. Microbial isolation and characterization from two flex lines from the urine processor assembly onboard the international space station. Biofilm 2023; 5:100108. [PMID: 36938359 PMCID: PMC10020673 DOI: 10.1016/j.bioflm.2023.100108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2022] [Revised: 01/13/2023] [Accepted: 02/16/2023] [Indexed: 03/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Urine, humidity condensate, and other sources of non-potable water are processed onboard the International Space Station (ISS) by the Water Recovery System (WRS) yielding potable water. While some means of microbial control are in place, including a phosphoric acid/hexavalent chromium urine pretreatment solution, many areas within the WRS are not available for routine microbial monitoring. Due to refurbishment needs, two flex lines from the Urine Processor Assembly (UPA) within the WRS were removed and returned to Earth. The water from within these lines, as well as flush water, was microbially evaluated. Culture and culture-independent analysis revealed the presence of Burkholderia, Paraburkholderia, and Leifsonia. Fungal culture also identified Fusarium and Lecythophora. Hybrid de novo genome analysis of the five distinct Burkholderia isolates identified them as B. contaminans, while the two Paraburkholderia isolates were identified as P. fungorum. Chromate-resistance gene clusters were identified through pangenomic analysis that differentiated these genomes from previously studied isolates recovered from the point-of-use potable water dispenser and/or current NCBI references, indicating that unique populations exist within distinct niches in the WRS. Beyond genomic analysis, fixed samples directly from the lines were imaged by environmental scanning electron microscopy, which detailed networks of fungal-bacterial biofilms. This is the first evidence of biofilm formation within flex lines from the UPA onboard the ISS. For all bacteria isolated, biofilm potential was further characterized, with the B. contaminans isolates demonstrating the most considerable biofilm formation. Moreover, the genomes of the B. contaminans revealed secondary metabolite gene clusters associated with quorum sensing, biofilm formation, antifungal compounds, and hemolysins. The potential production of these gene cluster metabolites was phenotypically evaluated through biofilm, bacterial-fungal interaction, and hemolytic assays. Collectively, these data identify the UPA flex lines as a unique ecological niche and novel area of biofilm growth within the WRS. Further investigation of these organisms and their resistance profiles will enable engineering controls directed toward biofilm prevention in future space station water systems.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Aubrie O’Rourke
- Exploration Research and Technology, NASA Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, FL, USA
| | | | - Jill Williamson
- Space Systems Department, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, USA
| | | | - Brian Crucian
- Biomedical Research and Environmental Sciences Division, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, USA
| | | | - Miten Jain
- Department of Bioengineering, Department of Physics, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Sarah L. Castro-Wallace
- Biomedical Research and Environmental Sciences Division, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, USA
- Corresponding author.
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Espinoza JL, Dupont CL, O’Rourke A, Beyhan S, Morales P, Spoering A, Meyer KJ, Chan AP, Choi Y, Nierman WC, Lewis K, Nelson KE. Predicting antimicrobial mechanism-of-action from transcriptomes: A generalizable explainable artificial intelligence approach. PLoS Comput Biol 2021; 17:e1008857. [PMID: 33780444 PMCID: PMC8031737 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2020] [Revised: 04/08/2021] [Accepted: 03/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
To better combat the expansion of antibiotic resistance in pathogens, new compounds, particularly those with novel mechanisms-of-action [MOA], represent a major research priority in biomedical science. However, rediscovery of known antibiotics demonstrates a need for approaches that accurately identify potential novelty with higher throughput and reduced labor. Here we describe an explainable artificial intelligence classification methodology that emphasizes prediction performance and human interpretability by using a Hierarchical Ensemble of Classifiers model optimized with a novel feature selection algorithm called Clairvoyance; collectively referred to as a CoHEC model. We evaluated our methods using whole transcriptome responses from Escherichia coli challenged with 41 known antibiotics and 9 crude extracts while depositing 122 transcriptomes unique to this study. Our CoHEC model can properly predict the primary MOA of previously unobserved compounds in both purified forms and crude extracts at an accuracy above 99%, while also correctly identifying darobactin, a newly discovered antibiotic, as having a novel MOA. In addition, we deploy our methods on a recent E. coli transcriptomics dataset from a different strain and a Mycobacterium smegmatis metabolomics timeseries dataset showcasing exceptionally high performance; improving upon the performance metrics of the original publications. We not only provide insight into the biological interpretation of our model but also that the concept of MOA is a non-discrete heuristic with diverse effects for different compounds within the same MOA, suggesting substantial antibiotic diversity awaiting discovery within existing MOA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Josh L. Espinoza
- J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, CA, United States of America
- Department of Applied Sciences, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa
| | - Chris L. Dupont
- J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, CA, United States of America
| | - Aubrie O’Rourke
- J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, CA, United States of America
| | - Sinem Beyhan
- J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, CA, United States of America
| | - Pavel Morales
- J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, CA, United States of America
| | - Amy Spoering
- NovoBiotic Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, MA, United States of America
| | - Kirsten J. Meyer
- Department of Biology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States of America
| | - Agnes P. Chan
- J. Craig Venter Institute, Rockville, MD, United States of America
| | - Yongwook Choi
- J. Craig Venter Institute, Rockville, MD, United States of America
| | | | - Kim Lewis
- Department of Biology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States of America
| | - Karen E. Nelson
- J. Craig Venter Institute, La Jolla, CA, United States of America
- Department of Applied Sciences, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa
- J. Craig Venter Institute, Rockville, MD, United States of America
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O’Rourke A, Lee MD, Nierman WC, Everroad RC, Dupont CL. Genomic and phenotypic characterization of Burkholderia isolates from the potable water system of the International Space Station. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0227152. [PMID: 32074104 PMCID: PMC7029842 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0227152] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2019] [Accepted: 12/11/2019] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
The opportunistic pathogens Burkholderia cepacia and Burkholderia contaminans, both genomovars of the Burkholderia cepacia complex (BCC), are frequently cultured from the potable water dispenser (PWD) of the International Space Station (ISS). Here, we sequenced the genomes and conducted phenotypic assays to characterize these Burkholderia isolates. All recovered isolates of the two species fall within monophyletic clades based on phylogenomic trees of conserved single-copy core genes. Within species, the ISS-derived isolates all demonstrate greater than 99% average nucleotide identity (with 95-99% of genomes aligning) and share around 90% of the identified gene clusters from a pangenomic analysis-suggesting that the two groups are each composed of highly similar genomic lineages and their members may have all stemmed from the same two founding populations. The differences that can be observed between the recovered isolates at the pangenomic level are primarily located within putative plasmids. Phenotypically, macrophage intracellularization and lysis occurred at generally similar rates between all ISS-derived isolates, as well as with their respective type-terrestrial strain references. All ISS-derived isolates exhibited antibiotic sensitivity similar to that of the terrestrial reference strains, and minimal differences between isolates were observed. With a few exceptions, biofilm formation rates were generally consistent across each species. And lastly, though isolation date does not necessarily provide any insight into how long a given isolate had been aboard the ISS, none of the assayed physiology correlated with either date of isolation or distances based on nucleotide variation. Overall, we find that while the populations of Burkholderia present in the ISS PWS each maintain virulence, they are likely are not more virulent than those that might be encountered on planet and remain susceptible to clinically used antibiotics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aubrie O’Rourke
- J. Craig Venter Institute, San Diego, CA, United States of America
| | - Michael D. Lee
- Exobiology Branch, NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA, United States of America
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, Seattle, WA, United States of America
| | | | - R. Craig Everroad
- Exobiology Branch, NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA, United States of America
| | - Chris L. Dupont
- J. Craig Venter Institute, San Diego, CA, United States of America
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Sadlier C, O’Rourke A, Carr A, Bergin C. An Integrated Vaccine Clinic; a Novel Model of Care to Improve Vaccine Uptake in At-Risk Patient Groups. Ir Med J 2019; 112:1010. [PMID: 31651915] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- C Sadlier
- Department of Acute Medicine/Infectious Diseases, Cork University Hospital, Cork
| | - A O’Rourke
- Department of GU Medicine and Infectious Diseases, St James’s Hospital, Dublin
| | - A Carr
- Department of GU Medicine and Infectious Diseases, St James’s Hospital, Dublin
| | - C Bergin
- Department of GU Medicine and Infectious Diseases, St James’s Hospital, Dublin
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O’Rourke A, Yee N, Nierman WC, Beyhan S. Environmental and Genetic Factors Controlling Burkholderia pseudomallei Persister Phenotypes. Curr Trop Med Rep 2017. [DOI: 10.1007/s40475-017-0116-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Barrett M, Cusack R, Tobin L, O’Rourke A, O’Brien A, Kiernan T. 19 Sleep-disordered breathing in heart failure patients requiring cardiac resynchronisation therapy: is there a link to poorer outcomes after device insertion. Heart 2015. [DOI: 10.1136/heartjnl-2015-308621.19] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
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Walls RJ, Roche SJ, O’Rourke A, McCabe JP. Surgical site infection with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus after primary total hip replacement. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2008; 90:292-8. [DOI: 10.1302/0301-620x.90b3.20155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
We have analysed the management and clinical outcome of a series of consecutive patients who had a total hip replacement and developed post-operative surgical site infection (SSI) with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The incidence of this infection was 1% over a period of five years. We studied SSI in 15 patients (16 infections) with a mean age of 72.7 years (53 to 81). In all, 12 of the infections occurred early and half of the infections involved the prosthesis, resulting in an increase of 11-fold in the cumulative hospital stay. Methicillin-resistant Staph. aureus was successfully eradicated in all the patients after a mean follow-up of 53.6 months (25 to 88). Superficial incisional infections resolved after antibiotic therapy alone while deep infections required multiple operative debridements. Attempted retention of the implant in early organ space infections was successful in only one of five patients. Only three patients with implant-level infections obtained a pain-free, functional prosthesis while a further three required excision arthroplasty. We have formulated a protocol of treatment which may serve as a guide in the management of these infections.
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Affiliation(s)
- R. J. Walls
- Department of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery, Merlin Park University Hospital, Dublin Road, Galway, Ireland
| | - S. J. Roche
- Department of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery, Merlin Park University Hospital, Dublin Road, Galway, Ireland
| | - A. O’Rourke
- Department of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery, Merlin Park University Hospital, Dublin Road, Galway, Ireland
| | - J. P. McCabe
- Department of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery, Merlin Park University Hospital, Dublin Road, Galway, Ireland
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