Browsing by Subject "Gram-Negative Bacteria"

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Open Access
Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group 2.0: Back to Business.
(Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 2021-08) Chambers, Henry F; Evans, Scott R; Patel, Robin; Cross, Heather R; Harris, Anthony D; Doi, Yohei; Boucher, Helen W; van Duin, David; Tsalik, Ephraim L; Holland, Thomas L; Pettigrew, Melinda M; Tamma, Pranita D; Hodges, Kathryn R; Souli, Maria; Fowler, Vance G
In December 2019, the Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group (ARLG) was awarded funding for another 7-year cycle to support a clinical research network on antibacterial resistance. ARLG 2.0 has 3 overarching research priorities: infections caused by antibiotic-resistant (AR) gram-negative bacteria, infections caused by AR gram-positive bacteria, and diagnostic tests to optimize use of antibiotics. To support the next generation of AR researchers, the ARLG offers 3 mentoring opportunities: the ARLG Fellowship, Early Stage Investigator seed grants, and the Trialists in Training Program. The purpose of this article is to update the scientific community on the progress made in the original funding period and to encourage submission of clinical research that addresses 1 or more of the research priority areas of ARLG 2.0.
Open Access
C. elegans germline-deficient mutants respond to pathogen infection using shared and distinct mechanisms.
(PLoS One, 2010-07-26) TeKippe, Michael; Aballay, Alejandro
Reproduction extracts a cost in resources that organisms are then unable to utilize to deal with a multitude of environmental stressors. In the nematode C. elegans, development of the germline shortens the lifespan of the animal and increases its susceptibility to microbial pathogens. Prior studies have demonstrated germline-deficient nematodes to have increased resistance to gram negative bacteria. We show that germline-deficient strains display increased resistance across a broad range of pathogens including gram positive and gram negative bacteria, and the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans. Furthermore, we show that the FOXO transcription factor DAF-16, which regulates longevity and immunity in C. elegans, appears to be crucial for maintaining longevity in both wild-type and germline-deficient backgrounds. Our studies indicate that germline-deficient mutants glp-1 and glp-4 respond to pathogen infection using common and different mechanisms that involve the activation of DAF-16.
Open Access
Drug design from the cryptic inhibitor envelope.
(Nat Commun, 2016-02-25) Lee, Chul-Jin; Liang, Xiaofei; Wu, Qinglin; Najeeb, Javaria; Zhao, Jinshi; Gopalaswamy, Ramesh; Titecat, Marie; Sebbane, Florent; Lemaitre, Nadine; Toone, Eric J; Zhou, Pei
Conformational dynamics plays an important role in enzyme catalysis, allosteric regulation of protein functions and assembly of macromolecular complexes. Despite these well-established roles, such information has yet to be exploited for drug design. Here we show by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy that inhibitors of LpxC--an essential enzyme of the lipid A biosynthetic pathway in Gram-negative bacteria and a validated novel antibiotic target--access alternative, minor population states in solution in addition to the ligand conformation observed in crystal structures. These conformations collectively delineate an inhibitor envelope that is invisible to crystallography, but is dynamically accessible by small molecules in solution. Drug design exploiting such a hidden inhibitor envelope has led to the development of potent antibiotics with inhibition constants in the single-digit picomolar range. The principle of the cryptic inhibitor envelope approach may be broadly applicable to other lead optimization campaigns to yield improved therapeutics.
Open Access
Release of outer membrane vesicles by Gram-negative bacteria is a novel envelope stress response.
(Mol Microbiol, 2007-01) McBroom, Amanda J; Kuehn, Meta J
Conditions that impair protein folding in the Gram-negative bacterial envelope cause stress. The destabilizing effects of stress in this compartment are recognized and countered by a number of signal transduction mechanisms. Data presented here reveal another facet of the complex bacterial stress response, release of outer membrane vesicles. Native vesicles are composed of outer membrane and periplasmic material, and they are released from the bacterial surface without loss of membrane integrity. Here we demonstrate that the quantity of vesicle release correlates directly with the level of protein accumulation in the cell envelope. Accumulation of material occurs under stress, and is exacerbated upon impairment of the normal housekeeping and stress-responsive mechanisms of the cell. Mutations that cause increased vesiculation enhance bacterial survival upon challenge with stressing agents or accumulation of toxic misfolded proteins. Preferential packaging of a misfolded protein mimic into vesicles for removal indicates that the vesiculation process can act to selectively eliminate unwanted material. Our results demonstrate that production of bacterial outer membrane vesicles is a fully independent, general envelope stress response. In addition to identifying a novel mechanism for alleviating stress, this work provides physiological relevance for vesicle production as a protective mechanism.