| 1. |
- Adler, Marlen, 1984-, et al.
(författare)
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Combinations of mutations in envZ, ftsI, mrdA, acrB and acrR can cause high-level carbapenem resistance in Escherichia coli
- 2016
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Ingår i: Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0305-7453 .- 1460-2091. ; 71:5, s. 1188-1198
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The worldwide spread of ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae has led to an increased use of carbapenems, the group of beta-lactams with the broadest spectrum of activity. Bacterial resistance to carbapenems is mainly due to acquired carbapenemases or a combination of ESBL production and reduced drug influx via loss of outer-membrane porins. Here, we have studied the development of carbapenem resistance in Escherichia coli in the absence of beta-lactamases. We selected mutants with high-level carbapenem resistance through repeated serial passage in the presence of increasing concentrations of meropenem or ertapenem for similar to 60 generations. Isolated clones were whole-genome sequenced, and the order in which the identified mutations arose was determined in the passaged populations. Key mutations were reconstructed, and bacterial growth rates of populations and isolated clones and resistance levels to 23 antibiotics were measured. High-level resistance to carbapenems resulted from a combination of downstream effects of envZ mutation and target mutations in AcrAB-TolC-mediated drug export, together with PBP genes [mrdA (PBP2) after meropenem exposure or ftsI (PBP3) after ertapenem exposure]. Our results show that antibiotic resistance evolution can occur via several parallel pathways and that new mechanisms may appear after the most common pathways (i.e. beta-lactamases and loss of porins) have been eliminated. These findings suggest that strategies to target the most commonly observed resistance mechanisms might be hampered by the appearance of previously unknown parallel pathways to resistance.
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| 2. |
- Adler, Marlen, 1984-, et al.
(författare)
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High Fitness Costs and Instability of Gene Duplications Reduce Rates of Evolution of New Genes by Duplication-Divergence Mechanisms
- 2014
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Ingår i: Molecular biology and evolution. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0737-4038 .- 1537-1719. ; 31:6, s. 1526-1535
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- An important mechanism for generation of new genes is by duplication-divergence of existing genes. Duplication-divergence includes several different sub-models, such as subfunctionalization where after accumulation of neutral mutations the original function is distributed between two partially functional and complementary genes, and neofunctionalization where a new function evolves in one of the duplicated copies while the old function is maintained in another copy. The likelihood of these mechanisms depends on the longevity of the duplicated state, which in turn depends on the fitness cost and genetic stability of the duplications. Here, we determined the fitness cost and stability of defined gene duplications/amplifications on a low copy number plasmid. Our experimental results show that the costs of carrying extra gene copies are substantial and that each additional kbp of DNA reduces fitness by approximately 0.15%. Furthermore, gene amplifications are highly unstable and rapidly segregate to lower copy numbers in absence of selection. Mathematical modelling shows that the fitness costs and instability strongly reduces the likelihood of both sub- and neofunctionalization, but that these effects can be off-set by positive selection for novel beneficial functions.
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| 3. |
- Adler, Marlen, et al.
(författare)
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Influence of acquired β-lactamases on the evolution of spontaneous carbapenem resistance in Escherichia coli
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0305-7453 .- 1460-2091. ; 68:1, s. 51-59
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objectives: To investigate the influence of plasmid-borne β-lactamases on the evolution of spontaneous carbapenem resistance in Escherichia coli and the fitness costs associated with resistance. Methods: Stepwise selection of carbapenem-resistant mutants with or without the extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-encoding plasmid pUUH239.2 was performed. Mutation rates and mutational pathways to resistance were determined. In vitro-selected and constructed mutants were characterized regarding the MICs of the carbapenems, porin expression profiles, growth rates and the presence of mutations in the porins ompC/ompF and their regulatory genes. The influence of the plasmid-encoded β-lactamases TEM-1, OXA-1 and CTX-M-15 on resistance development was determined. Results: Results show that E. coli readily developed reduced carbapenem susceptibility and clinical resistance levels by a combination of porin loss and increased β-lactamase expression, especially towards ertapenem. All tested β-lactamases (CTX-M-15, TEM-1 and OXA-1) contributed to reduced carbapenem susceptibility in the absence of porin expression. However, complete loss of porin expression conferred a 20% fitness cost on the bacterial growth rate. Increased β-lactamase expression through spontaneous gene amplification on the plasmid was a major resistance factor. Conclusions: Plasmid-encoded β-lactamases, including non-ESBL enzymes, have a strong influence on the frequency and resistance level of spontaneous carbapenem-resistant mutants. The fitness cost associated with the loss of OmpC/OmpF in E. coli most likely reduces the survivability of porin mutants and could explain why they have not emerged as a clinical problem in this species.
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| 4. |
- Adler, Marlen, 1984-
(författare)
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Mechanisms and Dynamics of Carbapenem Resistance in Escherichia coli
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The emergence of extended spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) producing Enterobacteriaceae worldwide has led to an increased use of carbapenems and may drive the development of carbapenem resistance. Existing mechanisms are mainly due to acquired carbapenemases or the combination of ESBL-production and reduced outer membrane permeability. The focus of this thesis was to study the development of carbapenem resistance in Escherichia coli in the presence and absence of acquired β-lactamases. To this end we used the resistance plasmid pUUH239.2 that caused the first major outbreak of ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae in Scandinavia.Spontaneous carbapenem resistance was strongly favoured by the presence of the ESBL-encoding plasmid and different mutational spectra and resistance levels arose for different carbapenems. Mainly, loss of function mutations in the regulators of porin expression caused reduced influx of antibiotic into the cell and in combination with amplification of β-lactamase genes on the plasmid this led to high resistance levels. We further used a pharmacokinetic model, mimicking antibiotic concentrations found in patients during treatment, to test whether ertapenem resistant populations could be selected even at these concentrations. We found that resistant mutants only arose for the ESBL-producing strain and that an increased dosage of ertapenem could not prevent selection of these resistant subpopulations. In another study we saw that carbapenem resistance can even develop in the absence of ESBL-production. We found mutants in export pumps and the antibiotic targets to give high level resistance albeit with high fitness costs in the absence of antibiotics. In the last study, we used selective amplification of β-lactamases on the pUUH239.2 plasmid by carbapenems to determine the cost and stability of gene amplifications. Using mathematical modelling we determined the likelihood of evolution of new gene functions in this region. The high cost and instability of the amplified state makes de novo evolution very improbable, but constant selection of the amplified state may balance these factors until rare mutations can establish a new function.In my studies I observed the influence of β-lactamases on carbapenem resistance and saw that amplification of these genes would further contribute to resistance. The rapid disappearance of amplified arrays of resistance genes in the absence of antibiotic selection may lead to the underestimation of gene amplification as clinical resistance mechanism. Amplification of β-lactamase genes is an important stepping-stone and might lead to the evolution of new resistance genes.
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| 5. |
- Ahlstrom, Christina A. A., et al.
(författare)
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Exchange of Carbapenem-Resistant Escherichia coli Sequence Type 38 Intercontinentally and among Wild Bird, Human, and Environmental Niches
- 2023
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Ingår i: Applied and Environmental Microbiology. - : American Society for Microbiology. - 0099-2240 .- 1098-5336. ; 89:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Carbapenem-resistant bacteria are a threat to public health globally and have been found in the environment as well as the clinic. Some bacterial clones are associated with carbapenem resistance genes, such as Escherichia coli sequence type 38 (ST38) and the carbapenemase gene bla(OXA-48). Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) are a global threat to human health and are increasingly being isolated from nonclinical settings. OXA-48-producing Escherichia coli sequence type 38 (ST38) is the most frequently reported CRE type in wild birds and has been detected in gulls or storks in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. The epidemiology and evolution of CRE in wildlife and human niches, however, remains unclear. We compared wild bird origin E. coli ST38 genome sequences generated by our research group and publicly available genomic data derived from other hosts and environments to (i) understand the frequency of intercontinental dispersal of E. coli ST38 clones isolated from wild birds, (ii) more thoroughly measure the genomic relatedness of carbapenem-resistant isolates from gulls sampled in Turkey and Alaska, USA, using long-read whole-genome sequencing and assess the spatial dissemination of this clone among different hosts, and (iii) determine whether ST38 isolates from humans, environmental water, and wild birds have different core or accessory genomes (e.g., antimicrobial resistance genes, virulence genes, plasmids) which might elucidate bacterial or gene exchange among niches. Our results suggest that E. coli ST38 strains, including those resistant to carbapenems, are exchanged between humans and wild birds, rather than separately maintained populations within each niche. Furthermore, despite close genetic similarity among OXA-48-producing E. coli ST38 clones from gulls in Alaska and Turkey, intercontinental dispersal of ST38 clones among wild birds is uncommon. Interventions to mitigate the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance throughout the environment (e.g., as exemplified by the acquisition of carbapenem resistance by birds) may be warranted.IMPORTANCE Carbapenem-resistant bacteria are a threat to public health globally and have been found in the environment as well as the clinic. Some bacterial clones are associated with carbapenem resistance genes, such as Escherichia coli sequence type 38 (ST38) and the carbapenemase gene bla(OXA-48). This is the most frequently reported carbapenem-resistant clone in wild birds, though it was unclear if it circulated within wild bird populations or was exchanged among other niches. The results from this study suggest that E. coli ST38 strains, including those resistant to carbapenems, are frequently exchanged among wild birds, humans, and the environment. Carbapenem-resistant E. coli ST38 clones in wild birds are likely acquired from the local environment and do not constitute an independent dissemination pathway within wild bird populations. Management actions aimed at preventing the environmental dissemination and acquisition of antimicrobial resistance by wild birds may be warranted.
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| 6. |
- Ahlstrom, Christina A., et al.
(författare)
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Genomically diverse carbapenem resistant Enterobacteriaceae from wild birds provide insight into global patterns of spatiotemporal dissemination
- 2022
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Ingår i: Science of the Total Environment. - : Elsevier. - 0048-9697 .- 1879-1026. ; 824
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Carbapenem resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) are a threat to public health globally, yet the role of the environment in the epidemiology of CRE remains elusive. Given that wild birds can acquire CRE, likely from foraging in anthropogenically impacted areas, and may aid in the maintenance and dissemination of CRE in the environment, a spatiotemporal comparison of isolates from different regions and timepoints may be useful for elucidating epidemiological information. Thus, we characterized the genomic diversity of CRE from fecal samples opportunistically collected from gulls (Larus spp.) inhabiting Alaska (USA), Chile, Spain, Turkey, and Ukraine and from black kites (Milvus migrans) sampled in Pakistan and assessed evidence for spatiotemporal patterns of dissemination. Within and among sampling locations, a high diversity of carbapenemases was found, including Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC), New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase (NDM), oxacillinase (OXA), and Verona integron Metallo beta-lactamase (VIM). Although the majority of genomic comparisons among samples did not provide evidence for spatial dissemination, we did find strong evidence for dissemination among Alaska, Spain, and Turkey. We also found strong evidence for temporal dissemination among samples collected in Alaska and Pakistan, though the majority of CRE clones were transitory and were not repeatedly detected among locations where samples were collected longitudinally. Carbapenemase-producing hypervirulent K. pneumoniae was isolated from gulls in Spain and Ukraine and some isolates harbored antimicrobial resistance genes conferring resistance to up to 10 different antibiotic classes, including colistin. Our results are consistent with local acquisition of CRE by wild birds with spatial dissemination influenced by intermediary transmission routes, likely involving humans. Furthermore, our results support the premise that anthropogenicallyassociated wild birds may be good sentinels for understanding the burden of clinically-relevant antimicrobial resistance in the local human population.
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| 7. |
- Albrecht, Lisa M, et al.
(författare)
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Mutation in the Copper-Induced sil Operon Enables High-Level Silver Resistance and Silver Facilitated Co-Selection of Multidrug Resistance Plasmid
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Human activities are responsible for an accumulation of metals in health care and agricultural environments, and plasmid-encoded metal tolerance operons enable bacteria to rapidly adapt to metal exposure under such conditions. While the mechanisms of action of many metal resistance systems have been described, there is still limited understanding of their role in co-selection of antibiotic resistance in metal-containing environments. Whether plasmid-encoded metal resistance genes confer significant selective advantages is of interest as it has implications for plasmid enrichment and the spread of plasmid-borne antibiotic resistance genes. To increase our understanding of plasmid-mediated metal resistance, we studied the sil operon and its phenotypes in E. coli during growth in the absence and presence of silver and copper. We found that the sil operon provides resistance to both silver and copper. However, it is induced by copper only, and constitutive expression due to point mutations in the two-component silS gene provides high-level silver resistance. Furthermore, we showed that a high-level silver resistant mutant could be enriched in the presence of silver. This enrichment entailed co-selection of the multidrug resistance plasmid pUUH239.2. Our results show that a copper resistance operon can provide high-level silver resistance following a single point mutation, and that the silver resistance phenotype subsequently can co-select for antibiotic resistance in the presence of silver.
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| 8. |
- Allander, Lisa, et al.
(författare)
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Evaluation of In Vitro Activity of Double-Carbapenem Combinations against KPC-2-, OXA-48-and NDM-Producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae
- 2022
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Ingår i: Antibiotics. - : MDPI. - 2079-6382. ; 11:11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Double-carbapenem combinations have shown synergistic potential against carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales, but data remain inconclusive. This study evaluated the activity of double-carbapenem combinations against 51 clinical KPC-2-, OXA-48-, NDM-1, and NDM-5-producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae and against constructed E. coli strains harboring genes encoding KPC-2, OXA-48, or NDM-1 in an otherwise isogenic background. Two-drug combinations of ertapenem, meropenem, and doripenem were evaluated in 24 h time-lapse microscopy experiments with a subsequent spot assay and in static time-kill experiments. An enhanced effect in time-lapse microscopy experiments at 24 h and synergy in the spot assay was detected with one or more combinations against 4/14 KPC-2-, 17/17 OXA-48-, 2/17 NDM-, and 1/3 NDM-1+OXA-48-producing clinical isolates. Synergy rates were higher against meropenem- and doripenem-susceptible isolates and against OXA-48 producers. NDM production was associated with significantly lower synergy rates in E. coli. In time-kill experiments with constructed KPC-2-, OXA-48- and NDM-1-producing E. coli, 24 h synergy was not observed; however, synergy at earlier time points was found against the KPC-2- and OXA-48-producing constructs. Our findings indicate that the benefit of double-carbapenem combinations against carbapenemase-producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae is limited, especially against isolates that are resistant to the constituent antibiotics and produce NDM.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Allander, Lisa
(författare)
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β-lactam combinations against multidrug-resistant Enterobacterales : Exploring combination effects and resistance development
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The β-lactam antibiotics are a cornerstone in treating bacterial infections, but the increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistance worldwide threatens their effectiveness. The main driver of β-lactam resistance is the production of β-lactamases, which are bacterial enzymes that inactivate the antibiotic. Moreover, resistance to multiple antibiotic classes is common in β-lactamase producing bacteria, further limiting treatment options. At the same time, few novel antibacterial agents are reaching the market. To address this challenge, antibiotic combination therapy is employed to enhance the effects of existing drugs against multidrug-resistant bacteria. Yet, there is a lack of knowledge regarding which antibiotics to combine to achieve the best effect. The investigations in this thesis evaluate the potential and limitations of combinations involving β-lactams, β-lactamase inhibitors and colistin against multidrug-resistant Enterobacterales in vitro. In the first paper, we investigated resistance mechanisms to three commonly used β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor combinations (BLBLIs) in an Escherichia coli strain encoding multiple β-lactamases. We found that β-lactamase gene amplifications were a key driver of resistance, with variations in the amplification pattern depending on the BLBLI combination. Clinical resistance could be reached by gene amplifications for ampicillin-sulbactam and piperacillin-tazobactam, whereas ceftazidime-avibactam resistance required multiple genetic changes. In the second paper, we evaluated the efficacy of double-carbapenem combinations against E. coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae producing carbapenemases (KPC-2, OXA-48, NDM-1, and NDM-5). Synergistic effects were most commonly observed against OXA-48-producing strains, whereas the efficacy was low against KPC-2 and negligible against NDM producers. In the third and fourth papers, we evaluated the antibacterial activity of colistin in combination with BLBLIs. Considering that reduced membrane permeability is associated with decreased susceptibility towards BLBLIs, adding colistin may be beneficial since its membrane-disrupting effect may increase the entry of other drugs. In paper three, we showed synergistic effects with colistin and ceftazidime-avibactam against a KPC-2-producing K. pneumoniae strain with porin deficiencies. However, when systematically assessing the impact of porin loss on the synergistic potential of colistin in combination with BLBLIs in paper four, we did not find any clear association between porin loss and synergy. These studies provide insight into the therapeutic potential and limitations of combinations, including β-lactam antibiotics against strains with different setups of resistance genes. More research is required to understand how to best use the newly introduced BLBLI combinations to preserve their activity and enhance the value of the available antibiotics for future generations.
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| 11. |
- Atterby, Clara, et al.
(författare)
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Selection of Resistant Bacteria in Mallards Exposed to Subinhibitory Concentrations of Ciprofloxacin in Their Water Environment
- 2021
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Ingår i: Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. - : American Society for Microbiology. - 0066-4804 .- 1098-6596. ; 65:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Emergence and selection of antibiotic resistance following exposure to high antibiotic concentrations have been repeatedly shown in clinical and agricultural settings, whereas the role of the weak selective pressures exerted by antibiotic levels below the MIC (sub-MIC) in aquatic environments due to anthropogenic contamination remains unclear. Here, we studied how exposure to sub-MIC levels of ciprofloxacin enriches for Escherichia coli with reduced susceptibility to ciprofloxacin using a mallard colonization model. Mallards were inoculated with two isogenic extended-spectrum-beta-lactamase (ESBL)-encoding E. coli strains, differing only by a gyrA mutation that results in increased MICs of ciprofloxacin, and exposed to different levels of ciprofloxacin in their swimming water. Changes in the ratios of mutant to parental strains excreted in feces over time and ESBL plasmid spread within the gut microbiota from individual birds were investigated. Results show that in vivo selection of gyrA mutants occurred in mallards during exposure to ciprofloxacin at concentrations previously found in aquatic environments. During colonization, resistance plasmids were readily transferred between strains in the intestines of the mallards, but conjugation frequencies were not affected by ciprofloxacin exposure. Our results highlight the potential for enrichment of resistant bacteria in wildlife and underline the importance of reducing antibiotic pollution in the environment.
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| 12. |
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| 13. |
- Brolund, Alma, et al.
(författare)
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Characterization of ESBL disseminating plasmids
- 2016
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Ingår i: INFECTIOUS DISEASES. - : Informa UK Limited. - 2374-4235 .- 2374-4243. ; 48:1, s. 18-25
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Bacteria producing extended-spectrum -lactamases (ESBLs) constitute a globally increasing problem that contributes to treatment complications and elevated death rates. The extremely successful dissemination by ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae during the latest decades is a result of the combination of mobilization, evolution and horizontal spread of -lactamase genes on plasmids. In parallel, spread of these plasmids to particularly well-adapted bacterial clones (outbreak clones) has expanded. In this review we describe ESBL-producing bacteria and the genetic mechanisms for dissemination of ESBL resistance. We describe available methodology for studying plasmids and the importance of including plasmids in epidemiological typing as natural parts of the organisms. Plasmids play a fundamental role in how resistance arises and disseminates.
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| 14. |
- Brolund, Alma, et al.
(författare)
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Dynamics of Resistance Plasmids in Extended-Spectrum-beta-Lactamase-Producing Enterobacteriaceae during Postinfection Colonization
- 2019
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Ingår i: Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. - : AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY. - 0066-4804 .- 1098-6596. ; 63:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (EPE) are a major cause of bloodstream infections, and the colonization rate of EPE in the gut microbiota of individuals lacking prior hospitalization or comorbidities is increasing. In this study, we performed an in-depth investigation of the temporal dynamics of EPE and their plasmids during one year by collecting fecal samples from three patients initially seeking medical care for urinary tract infections. In two of the patients, the same strain that caused the urinary tract infection ( UTI) was found at all consecutive samplings from the gut microbiota, and no other EPEs were detected, while in the third patient the UTI strain was only found in the initial UTI sample. Instead, this patient presented a complex situation where a mixed microbiota of different EPE strain types, including three different E. coli ST131 variants, as well as different bacterial species, was identified over the course of the study. Different plasmid dynamics were displayed in each of the patients, including the spread of plasmids between different strain types over time and the transposition of bla(CTX-M-15) from the chromosome to a plasmid, followed by subsequent loss through homologous recombination. Small cryptic plasmids were found in all isolates from all patients, and they appear to move frequently between different strains in the microbiota. In conclusion, we could demonstrate an extensive variation of EPE strain types, plasmid composition, rearrangements, and horizontal gene transfer of genetic material illustrating the high dynamics nature and interactive environment of the gut microbiota during post-UTI carriage.
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| 15. |
- Brolund, Alma, et al.
(författare)
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Plasmidome-Analysis of ESBL-Producing Escherichia coli Using Conventional Typing and High-Throughput Sequencing
- 2013
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 8:6, s. e65793-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Infections caused by Extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing E. coli are an emerging global problem, threatening the effectiveness of the extensively used beta-lactam antibiotics. ESBL dissemination is facilitated by plasmids, transposons, and other mobile elements. We have characterized the plasmid content of ESBL-producing E. coli from human urinary tract infections. Ten diverse isolates were selected; they had unrelated pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) types (<90% similarity), were from geographically dispersed locations and had diverging antibiotic resistance profiles. Three isolates belonged to the globally disseminated sequence type ST131. ESBL-genes of the CTX-M-1 and CTX-M-9 phylogroups were identified in all ten isolates. The plasmid content (plasmidome) of each strain was analyzed using a combination of molecular methods and high-throughput sequencing. Hidden Markov Model-based analysis of unassembled sequencing reads was used to analyze the genetic diversity of the plasmid samples and to detect resistance genes. Each isolate contained between two and eight distinct plasmids, and at least 22 large plasmids were identified overall. The plasmids were variants of pUTI89, pKF3-70, pEK499, pKF3-140, pKF3-70, p1ESCUM, pEK204, pHK17a, p083CORR, R64, pLF82, pSFO157, and R721. In addition, small cryptic high copy-number plasmids were frequent, containing one to seven open reading frames per plasmid. Three clustered groups of such small cryptic plasmids could be distinguished based on sequence similarity. Extrachromosomal prophages were found in three isolates. Two of them resembled the E. coli P1 phage and one was previously unknown. The present study confirms plasmid multiplicity in multi-resistant E. coli. We conclude that high-throughput sequencing successfully provides information on the extrachromosomal gene content and can be used to generate a genetic fingerprint of possible use in epidemiology. This could be a valuable tool for tracing plasmids in outbreaks.
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| 16. |
- Dvirnas, Albertas, et al.
(författare)
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Detection of structural variations in densely-labelled optical DNA barcodes: A hidden Markov model approach
- 2021
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Ingår i: PLoS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 16:11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Large-scale genomic alterations play an important role in disease, gene expression, and chromosome evolution. Optical DNA mapping (ODM), commonly categorized into sparsely-labelled ODM and densely-labelled ODM, provides sequence-specific continuous intensity profiles (DNA barcodes) along single DNA molecules and is a technique well-suited for detecting such alterations. For sparsely-labelled barcodes, the possibility to detect large genomic alterations has been investigated extensively, while densely-labelled barcodes have not received as much attention. In this work, we introduce HMMSV, a hidden Markov model (HMM) based algorithm for detecting structural variations (SVs) directly in densely-labelled barcodes without access to sequence information. We evaluate our approach using simulated data-sets with 5 different types of SVs, and combinations thereof, and demonstrate that the method reaches a true positive rate greater than 80% for randomly generated barcodes with single variations of size 25 kilobases (kb). Increasing the length of the SV further leads to larger true positive rates. For a real data-set with experimental barcodes on bacterial plasmids, we successfully detect matching barcode pairs and SVs without any particular assumption of the types of SVs present. Instead, our method effectively goes through all possible combinations of SVs. Since ODM works on length scales typically not reachable with other techniques, our methodology is a promising tool for identifying arbitrary combinations of genomic alterations.
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| 17. |
- Dvirnas, Albertas, et al.
(författare)
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Facilitated sequence assembly using densely labeled optical DNA barcodes: A combinatorial auction approach
- 2018
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Ingår i: Plos One. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 13:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The output from whole genome sequencing is a set of contigs, i.e. short non-overlapping DNA sequences (sizes 1-100 kilobasepairs). Piecing the contigs together is an especially difficult task for previously unsequenced DNA, and may not be feasible due to factors such as the lack of sufficient coverage or larger repetitive regions which generate gaps in the final sequence. Here we propose a new method for scaffolding such contigs. The proposed method uses densely labeled optical DNA barcodes from competitive binding experiments as scaffolds. On these scaffolds we position theoretical barcodes which are calculated from the contig sequences. This allows us to construct longer DNA sequences from the contig sequences. This proof-of-principle study extends previous studies which use sparsely labeled DNA barcodes for scaffolding purposes. Our method applies a probabilistic approach that allows us to discard "foreign" contigs from mixed samples with contigs from different types of DNA. We satisfy the contig non-overlap constraint by formulating the contig placement challenge as a combinatorial auction problem. Our exact algorithm for solving this problem reduces computational costs compared to previous methods in the combinatorial auction field. We demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed scaffolding method both for synthetic contigs and for contigs obtained using Illumina sequencing for a mixed sample with plasmid and chromosomal DNA.
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| 18. |
- Fagerström, Anna, 1980-
(författare)
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Long-term molecular epidemiology of extended-spectrum β-lactamase producing Escherichia coli in a low-endemic setting
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Escherichia coli is a commensal inhabitant in the gastro-intestinal tract of humans and animals but it is also the most common bacterial species causing urinary tract infection, which ranges in severity from distal cystitis to urosepsis and septic shock. During the past decades, the prevalence of antibiotic resistant E. coli has increased worldwide. Extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL) causes resistance to β-lactam antibiotics, the most widely used class of antibiotics. The genes encoding ESBL, bla, are usually carried on conjugative plasmids, which can be transferred between different bacterial lineages and different species. These plasmids frequently also carry resistance genes to additional antibiotic classes, and ESBL-producing E. coli are therefore often multidrug-resistant. The aim of this thesis was to describe the long-term molecular epidemiology of ESBL-producing E. coli in Örebro County during the time when they first started to emerge. In addition, potential transmission to the environment was investigated by performing a comparative analysis on ESBL-producing E. coli isolated from patients and from the aquatic environment in Örebro city. In general, the E. coli population was genetically diverse, but the pandemic lineage ST131, first identified in 2004, appears to have been responsible for the dramatic increase of CTX-M-15-producing E.coli observed during the late 2000s. CTX-M-15 was the most prevalent ESBL-type followed by CTX-M-14 and these genes were mainly found on plasmids belonging to the IncF or IncI1 families. Continuous horizontal transmission of IncI1 ST31 and ST37 plasmids between diverse E. coli lineages have also contributed to the dissemination of blaCTX-M-15 in Örebro County. Extended spectrum β-lactamase-producing E. coli were found to be common in the aquatic environment in Örebro city and E. coli lineages genetically similar to those causing infections in humans were present in environmental waters indicating that transmission of ESBL-producing E. colifrom humans to the aquatic environment likely has occurred.
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| 19. |
- Frykholm, Karolin, 1977, et al.
(författare)
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Fast size-determination of intact bacterial plasmids using nanofluidic channels
- 2015
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Ingår i: Lab on a Chip. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 1473-0189 .- 1473-0197. ; 15:13, s. 2739-2743
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We demonstrate how nanofluidic channels can be used as a tool to rapidly determine the number and sizes of plasmids in bacterial isolates. Each step can be automated at low cost, opening up opportunities for general use in microbiology labs.
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| 20. |
- Garmendia, Eva, 1989-
(författare)
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A Unified Multitude : Experimental Studies of Bacterial Chromosome Organization
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Bacteria are many, old and varied; different bacterial species have been evolving for millions of years and show many disparate life-styles and types of metabolism. Nevertheless, some of the characteristics regarding how bacteria organize their chromosomes are relatively conserved, suggesting that they might be both ancient and important, and that selective pressures inhibit their modification. This thesis aims to study some of these characteristics experimentally, assessing how changes affect bacterial growth, and how, after changing conserved features, bacteria might evolve.First, we experimentally tested what are the constraints on the horizontal transfer of a gene highly important for bacterial growth. Second, we investigated the significance of the location and orientation of a highly expressed and essential operon; and we experimentally evolved strains with suboptimal locations and orientations to assess how bacteria could adapt to these changes. Thirdly, we sought to understand the accessibility of different regions of the bacterial chromosome to engage in homologous recombination. And lastly, we constructed bacterial strains with chromosomal inversions to assess what effect the inversions had on growth rate, and how bacteria carrying costly inversions could evolve to reduce these costs.The results provide evidence for different selective forces acting to conserve these chromosome organizational traits. Accordingly, we found that evolutionary distance, functional conservation, suboptimal expression and impaired network connectivity of a gene can affect the successful transfer of genes between bacterial species. We determined that relative location of an essential and highly expressed operon is critical for supporting fast growth rate, and that its location seems to be more important than its orientation. We also found that both the location, and relative orientation of separated duplicate sequences can affect recombination rates between these sequences in different regions of the chromosome. Finally, the data suggest that the importance of having the two arms of a circular bacterial chromosome approximately equal in size is a strong selective force acting against certain type of chromosomal inversions.
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| 21. |
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| 22. |
- Goyal, Gaurav, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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A simple cut and stretch assay to detect antimicrobial resistance genes on bacterial plasmids by single-molecule fluorescence microscopy
- 2022
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322 .- 2045-2322. ; 12:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a fast-growing threat to global health. The genes conferring AMR to bacteria are often located on plasmids, circular extrachromosomal DNA molecules that can be transferred between bacterial strains and species. Therefore, effective methods to characterize bacterial plasmids and detect the presence of resistance genes can assist in managing AMR, for example, during outbreaks in hospitals. However, existing methods for plasmid analysis either provide limited information or are expensive and challenging to implement in low-resource settings. Herein, we present a simple assay based on CRISPR/Cas9 excision and DNA combing to detect antimicrobial resistance genes on bacterial plasmids. Cas9 recognizes the gene of interest and makes a double-stranded DNA cut, causing the circular plasmid to linearize. The change in plasmid configuration from circular to linear, and hence the presence of the AMR gene, is detected by stretching the plasmids on a glass surface and visualizing by fluorescence microscopy. This single-molecule imaging based assay is inexpensive, fast, and in addition to detecting the presence of AMR genes, it provides detailed information on the number and size of plasmids in the sample. We demonstrate the detection of several beta-lactamase-encoding genes on plasmids isolated from clinical samples. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the assay can be performed using standard microbiology and clinical laboratory equipment, making it suitable for low-resource settings.
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| 23. |
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| 24. |
- Gullberg, Erik, et al.
(författare)
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Selection of a multidrug resistance plasmid by sublethal levels of antibiotics and heavy metals
- 2014
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Ingår i: mBio. - 2161-2129 .- 2150-7511. ; 5:5, s. e01918-14-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- How sublethal levels of antibiotics and heavy metals select for clinically important multidrug resistance plasmids is largely unknown. Carriage of plasmids generally confers substantial fitness costs, implying that for the plasmid-carrying bacteria to be maintained in the population, the plasmid cost needs to be balanced by a selective pressure conferred by, for example, antibiotics or heavy metals. We studied the effects of low levels of antibiotics and heavy metals on the selective maintenance of a 220-kbp extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) plasmid identified in a hospital outbreak of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli. The concentrations of antibiotics and heavy metals required to maintain plasmid-carrying bacteria, the minimal selective concentrations (MSCs), were in all cases below (almost up to 140-fold) the MIC of the plasmid-free susceptible bacteria. This finding indicates that the very low antibiotic and heavy metal levels found in polluted environments and in treated humans and animals might be sufficiently high to maintain multiresistance plasmids. When resistance genes were moved from the plasmid to the chromosome, the MSC decreased, showing that MSC for a specific resistance conditionally depends on genetic context. This finding suggests that a cost-free resistance could be maintained in a population by an infinitesimally low concentration of antibiotic. By studying the effect of combinations of several compounds, it was observed that for certain combinations of drugs each new compound added lowered the minimal selective concentration of the others. This combination effect could be a significant factor in the selection of multidrug resistance plasmids/bacterial clones in complex multidrug environments.IMPORTANCE: Antibiotic resistance is in many pathogenic bacteria caused by genes that are carried on large conjugative plasmids. These plasmids typically contain multiple antibiotic resistance genes as well as genes that confer resistance to biocides and heavy metals. In this report, we show that very low concentrations of single antibiotics and heavy metals or combinations of compounds can select for a large plasmid that carries resistance to aminoglycosides, β-lactams, tetracycline, macrolides, trimethoprim, sulfonamide, silver, copper, and arsenic. Our findings suggest that the low levels of antibiotics and heavy metals present in polluted external environments and in treated animals and humans could allow for selection and enrichment of bacteria with multiresistance plasmids and thereby contribute to the emergence, maintenance, and transmission of antibiotic-resistant disease-causing bacteria.
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| 25. |
- Gullberg, Erik, 1980-
(författare)
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Selection of Resistance at very low Antibiotic Concentrations
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The extensive medical and agricultural use and misuse of antibiotics during the last 70 years has caused an enrichment of resistant pathogenic bacteria that now severely threatens our capacity to efficiently treat bacterial infections. While is has been known for a long time that high concentrations of antibiotics can select for resistant mutants, less is known about the lower limit at which antibiotics can be selective and enrich for resistant bacteria.In this thesis we investigated the role of low concentrations of antibiotics and heavy metals in the enrichment and evolution of antibiotic resistance. Selection was studied using Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium LT2 with different resistance mutations, different chromosomal resistance genes as well as large conjugative multidrug resistance plasmids. Using very sensitive competition experiments, we showed that antibiotic and heavy metal levels more than several hundred-fold below the minimal inhibitory concentration of susceptible bacteria can enrich for resistant bacteria. Additionally, we demonstrated that subinhibitory levels of antibiotics can select for de novo resistant mutants, and that these conditions can select for a new spectrum of low-cost resistance mutations. The combinatorial effects of antibiotics and heavy metals can cause an enrichment of a multidrug resistance plasmid, even if the concentration of each compound individually is not high enough to cause selection.These results indicate that environments contaminated with low levels of antibiotics and heavy metals such as, for example, sewage water or soil fertilized with sludge or manure, could provide a setting for selection, enrichment and transfer of antibiotic resistance genes. This selection could be a critical step in the transfer of resistance genes from environmental bacteria to human pathogens.
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