| 1. |
- Jernberg, Cecilia, et al.
(författare)
-
Long-term ecological impacts of antibiotic administration on the human intestinal microbiota
- 2007
-
Ingår i: The ISME Journal. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1751-7362 .- 1751-7370. ; 1:1, s. 56-66
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Antibiotic administration is known to cause short-term disturbances in the microbiota of the human gastrointestinal tract, but the potential long-term consequences have not been well studied. The aims of this study were to analyse the long-term impact of a 7-day clindamycin treatment on the faecal microbiota and to simultaneously monitor the ecological stability of the microbiota in a control group as a baseline for reference. Faecal samples from four clindamycin-exposed and four control subjects were collected at nine different time points over 2 years. Using a polyphasic approach, we observed highly significant disturbances in the bacterial community that persisted throughout the sampling period. In particular, a sharp decline in the clonal diversity of Bacteroides isolates, as assessed by repetitive sequence-based PCR (rep-PCR) and long-term persistence of highly resistant clones were found as a direct response to the antibiotic exposure. The Bacteroides community never returned to its original composition during the study period as assessed using the molecular fingerprinting technique, terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP). Furthermore, using real-time PCR we found a dramatic and persistent increase in levels of specific resistance genes in DNA extracted from the faeces after clindamycin administration. The temporal variations in the microbiota of the control group were minor compared to the large and persistent shift seen in the exposed group. These results demonstrate that long after the selection pressure from a short antibiotic exposure has been removed, there are still persistent long term impacts on the human intestinal microbiota that remain for up to 2 years post-treatment.
|
|
| 2. |
- Jernberg, Cecilia, et al.
(författare)
-
Monitoring of antibiotic-induced alterations in the human intestinal microflora and detection of probiotic strains by use of terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism
- 2005
-
Ingår i: Applied and Environmental Microbiology. - 0099-2240 .- 1098-5336. ; 71:1, s. 501-506
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) was investigated as a tool for monitoring the human intestinal microflora during antibiotic treatment and during ingestion of a probiotic product. Fecal samples from eight healthy volunteers were taken before, during, and after administration of clindamycin. During treatment, four subjects were given a probiotic, and four subjects were given a placebo. Changes in the microbial intestinal community composition and relative abundance of specific microbial populations in each subject were monitored by using viable counts and T-RFLP fingerprints. T-RFLP was also used to monitor specific bacterial populations that were either positively or negatively affected by clindamycin. Some dominant bacterial groups, such as Eubacterium spp., were easily monitored by T-RFLP, while they were hard to recover by cultivation. Furthermore, the two probiotic Lactobacillus strains were easily tracked by T-RFLP and were shown to be the dominant Lactobacillus community members in the intestinal microflora of subjects who received the probiotic.
|
|
| 3. |
- Jernberg, Cecilia
(författare)
-
Use of microbiomics to study human impacts on complex microbial communities
- 2006
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The study of bacterial communities in nature is currently a challenge. The majority of bacteria in clinical and environmental samples have not yet been cultured and therefore we cannot fully understand their roles in nature and how the ecological balance in a specific microbial ecosystem can be disrupted. For example, exposure to pollutants in soil and antibiotics in the human gut can have large consequences on microbial populations but the magnitude of these impacts is difficult to assess. In this thesis, a combination of molecular techniques, microbiomics, were used to assess complex microbial communities in soil and the human gut. One goal of this thesis was to study the impact of the toxic compound, 4-chlorophenol, on the soil microbiota. In addition, a specific 4-chlorophenol degrading bacterium, Arthrobacter chlorophenolicus, was monitored in soil. In order to monitor the cells they were chromosomally tagged with marker genes encoding either the green fluorescent protein (the gfp gene) or firefly luciferase (the luc gene). During degradation of high levels of 4-chlorophenol in soil, total cells counts of A. chlorophenolicus cells could be measured by flow cytometry (GFP protein) and the metabolic activity could be measured by lurninometry (luciferase activity). In addition, the relative abundance of A. chlorophenolicus in soil could be measured by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) and a higher relative abundance was detected in soil contaminated with 4chlorophenol compared with non-treated soil. The impacts of 4-chlorophenol and A. chlorophenolicus on the dominant members of the soil microbiota were also assessed by T-RFLP. Another goal of this thesis was to study the impact of a short term antibiotic administration in a long term perspective, using either clindamycin, in a two year study or a triple therapy for eradication of Helicobacter pylori containing clarithromycin and metronidazole, in a four year study, on the human fecal microbiota. Both the total bacterial community and specific populations, i.e. Bacteroides spp. and Enterococcus spp., were monitored by T-RFLP. The Bacteroides populations never returned to their pre-treatment composition after clindamycin exposure during the two year study period. Selection and persistence of resistant Bacteroides clones up to two years after treatment was furthermore detected. In the four year study, Enterococcus populations increased as a response to the clarithromycin and metronidazole treatment. An increase in the levels of antibiotic resistance genes, specific erm genes, conferring resistance to macrolides and lincosamides were detected for up to 2 and 4 years after both types of antibiotic treatments in the respective studies. It was also possible to specifically monitor two probiotic Lactobacillus strains and their transient colonization by T-RFLP. In conclusion, the use of a polyphasic approach with complementary analytical tools made it possible to obtain a comprehensive picture of complex microbial communities. In addition, specific bacteria of interest in complex soil and fecal samples could be monitored using microbiomics approaches.
|
|
| 4. |
- Löfmark, Sonja, et al.
(författare)
-
Clindamycin-induced enrichment and long-term persistence of resistant Bacteroides spp. and resistance genes
- 2006
-
Ingår i: Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0305-7453 .- 1460-2091. ; 58:6, s. 1160-1167
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objectives: The aim was to study the long-term consequences of 1 week clindamycin administration regarding selection and persistence of resistance, resistance determinants and diversity of the Bacteroides spp. in the intestinal microflora. Methods: A total of 1306 Bacteroides isolates were collected from constitutively cultured faecal samples during a 2 year period from eight healthy volunteers. The strains were identified by biochemical and genotyping methods. MIC values were determined by the agar dilution method and presence of resistance genes was screened by real-time PCR. Results: Ecological changes in the intestinal microflora persisting up to 24 months were recorded after a 7 day clindamycin administration to four healthy volunteers. Compared to a control group, not exposed to clindamycin, an enrichment and stabilization of resistant Bacteroides strains and resistance determinants were discovered up to 2 years after clindamycin exposure. Conclusions: The results indicate that even a short-term antibiotic administration can cause long-term alterations in the commensal microbiota of individual subjects, detectable 2 years after dosing. The recorded selection and persistence of resistant strains and resistance genes, illustrates the importance of increasing our knowledge of the role of the abundant intestinal microbial community as a reservoir for spread of resistance.
|
|
| 5. |
- Löfmark, Sonja, et al.
(författare)
-
Restored fitness leads to long-term persistence of resistant Bacteroides strains in the human intestine
- 2008
-
Ingår i: Anaerobe. - : Elsevier BV. - 1075-9964 .- 1095-8274. ; 14:3, s. 157-160
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Acquired antibiotic resistance typically confers a cost to the bacteria, but these costs can be reduced by genetic compensation over time. The fitness of two Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron clones consecutively isolated in vivo was studied using an in vitro pair-wise competition method. The isolates derived from faecal samples of two clindamycin-exposed healthy volunteers and the two B. thetaiotaomicron clone types could be followed up to 18 months in these two subjects. The two clones were originally susceptible to clindamycin and lacked erm genes; however, after 7 days of clindamycin administration they carried the erm (erythromycin methylase)(G) or (F) gene, respectively, and expressed phenotypic clindamycin resistance. The initial cost of acquired resistance was high as seen in the in vitro pair-wise competition experiments. At 2 weeks post-administration, no growth disadvantage was detected for isolates of either of the two clones in the in vitro experiments and this regained fitness remained for isolates collected up to 18 months. Competition analysis of an in vitro isolated erm(G) positive transconjugant also demonstrated an initial reduction of fitness that was restored over time. The results indicate that the biological cost associated with a resistance gene can rapidly be compensated during in vivo growth. Thus, once the resistant clone has gained its resistance determinant it will be difficult to eliminate.
|
|
| 6. |
- Unell, Maria, et al.
(författare)
-
Degradation of mixtures of phenolic compounds by Arthrobacter chlorophenolicus A6
- 2008
-
Ingår i: Biodegradation. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0923-9820 .- 1572-9729. ; 19:4, s. 495-505
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this study the chlorophenol-degrading actinobacterium, Arthrobacter chlorophenolicus A6, was tested for its ability to grow on mixtures of phenolic compounds. During the experiments depletion of the compounds was monitored, as were cell growth and activity. Activity assays were based on bioluminescence output from a luciferase-tagged strain. When the cells were grown on a mixture of 4-chlorophenol, 4-nitrophenol and phenol, 4-chlorophenol degradation apparently was delayed until 4-nitrophenol was almost completely depleted. Phenol was degraded more slowly than the other compounds and not until 4-nitrophenol and 4-chlorophenol were depleted, despite this being the least toxic compound of the three. A similar order of degradation was observed in non-sterile soil slurries inoculated with A. chlorophenolicus. The kinetics of degradation of the substituted phenols suggest that the preferential order of their depletion could be due to their respective pKa values and that the dissociated phenolate ions are the substrates. A mutant strain (T99), with a disrupted hydroxyquinol dioxygenase gene in the previously described 4-chlorophenol degradation gene cluster, was also studied for its ability to grow on the different phenols. The mutant strain was able to grow on phenol, but not on either of the substituted phenols, suggesting a different catabolic pathway for the degradation of phenol by this microorganism.
|
|
