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López L, Calderón D, Salinas L, Graham JP, Blount ZD, Trueba G. A plasmid with the bla CTX-M gene enhances the fitness of Escherichia coli strains under laboratory conditions. MICROBIOLOGY (READING, ENGLAND) 2025; 171:001525. [PMID: 39883084 PMCID: PMC11781320 DOI: 10.1099/mic.0.001525] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2024] [Accepted: 01/16/2025] [Indexed: 01/31/2025]
Abstract
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major threat to global public health that continues to grow owing to selective pressure caused by the use and overuse of antimicrobial drugs. Resistance spread by plasmids is of special concern, as they can mediate a wide distribution of AMR genes, including those encoding extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs). The CTX-M family of ESBLs has rapidly spread worldwide, playing a large role in the declining effectiveness of third-generation cephalosporins. This rapid spread across the planet is puzzling given that plasmids carrying AMR genes have been hypothesized to incur a fitness cost to their hosts in the absence of antibiotics. Here, we focus on a WT plasmid that carries the bla CTX-M 55 ESBL gene. We examine its conjugation rates and use head-to-head competitions to assay its associated fitness costs in both laboratory and wild Escherichia coli strains. We found that the wild strains exhibit intermediate conjugation levels, falling between two high-conjugation and two low-conjugation laboratory strains, the latter being older and more ancestral. We also show that the plasmid increases the fitness of both WT and lab strains when grown in lysogeny broth and Davis-Mingioli media without antibiotics, which might stem from metabolic benefits conferred on the host, or from interactions between the host and the rifampicin-resistant mutation we used as a selective marker. Laboratory strains displayed higher conjugation frequencies compared to WT strains. The exception was a low-passage K-12 strain, suggesting that prolonged laboratory cultivation may have compromised bacterial defences against plasmids. Despite low transfer rates among WT E. coli, the plasmid carried low fitness cost in minimal medium but conferred improved fitness in enriched medium, indicating a complex interplay between plasmids, host genetics and environmental conditions. Our findings reveal an intricate relationship between plasmid carriage and bacterial fitness. Moreover, they show that resistance plasmids can confer adaptive advantages to their hosts beyond AMR. Altogether, these results highlight that a closer study of plasmid dynamics is critical for developing a secure understanding of how they evolve and affect bacterial adaptability that is necessary for combating resistance spread.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lázaro López
- Instituto de Microbiología, Colegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Diana Calderón
- Instituto de Microbiología, Colegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador
- Laboratorio de Biotecnología de Plantas, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Liseth Salinas
- Instituto de Microbiología, Colegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Jay P. Graham
- Environmental Health Sciences Division, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Zachary D. Blount
- Department of Microbiology, Genetics, and Immunology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
| | - Gabriel Trueba
- Instituto de Microbiología, Colegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador
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Kotimoole CN, Ramya VK, Kaur P, Reiling N, Shandil RK, Narayanan S, Flo TH, Prasad TSK. Discovery of Species-Specific Proteotypic Peptides To Establish a Spectral Library Platform for Identification of Nontuberculosis Mycobacteria from Mass Spectrometry-Based Proteomics. J Proteome Res 2024; 23:1102-1117. [PMID: 38358903 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jproteome.3c00850] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/17/2024]
Abstract
Nontuberculous mycobacteria are opportunistic bacteria pulmonary and extra-pulmonary infections in humans that closely resemble Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Although genome sequencing strategies helped determine NTMs, a common assay for the detection of coinfection by multiple NTMs with M. tuberculosis in the primary attempt of diagnosis is still elusive. Such a lack of efficiency leads to delayed therapy, an inappropriate choice of drugs, drug resistance, disease complications, morbidity, and mortality. Although a high-resolution LC-MS/MS-based multiprotein panel assay can be developed due to its specificity and sensitivity, it needs a library of species-specific peptides as a platform. Toward this, we performed an analysis of proteomes of 9 NTM species with more than 20 million peptide spectrum matches gathered from 26 proteome data sets. Our metaproteomic analyses determined 48,172 species-specific proteotypic peptides across 9 NTMs. Notably, M. smegmatis (26,008), M. abscessus (12,442), M. vaccae (6487), M. fortuitum (1623), M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis (844), M. avium subsp. hominissuis (580), and M. marinum (112) displayed >100 species-specific proteotypic peptides. Finally, these peptides and corresponding spectra have been compiled into a spectral library, FASTA, and JSON formats for future reference and validation in clinical cohorts by the biomedical community for further translation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chinmaya Narayana Kotimoole
- Center for Systems Biology and Molecular Medicine, Yenepoya Research Centre, Yenepoya (Deemed to be University), Mangalore 575018, India
| | - Vadageri Krishnamurthy Ramya
- Foundation for Neglected Disease Research, 20A, KIADB Industrial Area, Veerapura Village, Doddaballapur, Bengaluru 561203, India
| | - Parvinder Kaur
- Foundation for Neglected Disease Research, 20A, KIADB Industrial Area, Veerapura Village, Doddaballapur, Bengaluru 561203, India
| | - Norbert Reiling
- Microbial Interface Biology, Research Center Borstel, Leibniz Lung Center, Parkallee 22, D-23845 Borstel, Germany
- German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Site Hamburg-Lübeck-Borstel-Riems, 23845 Borstel, Germany
| | - Radha Krishan Shandil
- Foundation for Neglected Disease Research, 20A, KIADB Industrial Area, Veerapura Village, Doddaballapur, Bengaluru 561203, India
| | - Shridhar Narayanan
- Foundation for Neglected Disease Research, 20A, KIADB Industrial Area, Veerapura Village, Doddaballapur, Bengaluru 561203, India
| | - Trude Helen Flo
- Centre of Molecular Inflammation Research, Department of Clinical and Molecular Medicine Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Kunnskapssenteret, Øya 424.04.035, Norway
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Patel Y, Soni V, Rhee KY, Helmann JD. Mutations in rpoB That Confer Rifampicin Resistance Can Alter Levels of Peptidoglycan Precursors and Affect β-Lactam Susceptibility. mBio 2023; 14:e0316822. [PMID: 36779708 PMCID: PMC10128067 DOI: 10.1128/mbio.03168-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2022] [Accepted: 01/23/2023] [Indexed: 02/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Bacteria can adapt to stressful conditions through mutations affecting the RNA polymerase core subunits that lead to beneficial changes in transcription. In response to selection with rifampicin (RIF), mutations arise in the RIF resistance-determining region (RRDR) of rpoB that reduce antibiotic binding. These changes can also alter transcription and thereby have pleiotropic effects on bacterial fitness. Here, we studied the evolution of resistance in Bacillus subtilis to the synergistic combination of RIF and the β-lactam cefuroxime (CEF). Two independent evolution experiments led to the recovery of a single rpoB allele (S487L) that was able to confer resistance to RIF and CEF through a single mutation. Two other common RRDR mutations made the cells 32 times more sensitive to CEF (H482Y) or led to only modest CEF resistance (Q469R). The diverse effects of these three mutations on CEF resistance are correlated with differences in the expression of peptidoglycan (PG) synthesis genes and in the levels of two metabolites crucial in regulating PG synthesis, glucosamine-6-phosphate (GlcN-6-P) and UDP-N-acetylglucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc). We conclude that RRDR mutations can have widely varying effects on pathways important for cell wall biosynthesis, and this may restrict the spectrum of mutations that arise during combination therapy. IMPORTANCE Rifampicin (RIF) is one of the most valued drugs in the treatment of tuberculosis. TB treatment relies on a combination therapy and for multidrug-resistant strains may include β-lactams. Mutations in rpoB present a common route for emergence of resistance to RIF. In this study, using B. subtilis as a model, we evaluate the emergence of resistance for the synergistic combination of RIF and the β-lactam cefuroxime (CEF). One clinically relevant rpoB mutation conferred resistance to both RIF and CEF, whereas one other increased CEF sensitivity. We were able to link these CEF sensitivity phenotypes to accumulation of UDP-N-acetylglucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc), which feedback regulates GlmS activity and thereby peptidoglycan synthesis. Further, we found that higher CEF concentrations precluded the emergence of high RIF resistance. Collectively, these results suggest that multidrug treatment regimens may limit the available pathways for the evolution of antibiotic resistance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yesha Patel
- Department of Microbiology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
| | - Vijay Soni
- Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York, USA
| | - Kyu Y. Rhee
- Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York, USA
| | - John D. Helmann
- Department of Microbiology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
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Fortuin S, Soares NC. The Integration of Proteomics and Metabolomics Data Paving the Way for a Better Understanding of the Mechanisms Underlying Microbial Acquired Drug Resistance. Front Med (Lausanne) 2022; 9:849838. [PMID: 35602483 PMCID: PMC9120609 DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2022.849838] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2022] [Accepted: 04/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Due to an increase in the overuse of antimicrobials and accelerated incidence of drug resistant pathogens, antimicrobial resistance has become a global health threat. In particular, bacterial antimicrobial resistance, in both hospital and community acquired transmission, have been found to be the leading cause of death due to infectious diseases. Understanding the mechanisms of bacterial drug resistance is of clinical significance irrespective of hospital or community acquired since it plays an important role in the treatment strategy and controlling infectious diseases. Here we highlight the advances in mass spectrometry-based proteomics impact in bacterial proteomics and metabolomics analysis- focus on bacterial drug resistance. Advances in omics technologies over the last few decades now allows multi-omics studies in order to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the biochemical alterations of pathogenic bacteria in the context of antibiotic exposure, identify novel biomarkers to develop new drug targets, develop time-effectively screen for drug susceptibility or resistance using proteomics and metabolomics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suereta Fortuin
- African Microbiome Institute, General Internal Medicine, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa
- *Correspondence: Suereta Fortuin
| | - Nelson C. Soares
- College of Pharmacy, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
- Sharjah Institute for Medical Research, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
- Nelson C. Soares
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