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Protein-Based Bioscavengers of Organophosphorus Nerve Agents
Published in Brian J. Lukey, James A. Romano, Salem Harry, Chemical Warfare Agents, 2019
Moshe Goldsmith, Yacov Ashani, Tamara. C. Otto, C. Linn Cadieux, David. S. Riddle
A number of homologs of PTE, termed PTE-like lactonases (PLLs) (Afriat et al., 2006), have been isolated from extremophile bacteria such as Sulfolobus solfataricus (SsoPox) (Merone et al., 2005), S. acidocaldarius (SacPox) (Porzio et al., 2007), S. islandicus (SisLac) (Hiblot et al., 2012b), Vulcanisaeta moutnovskia (VmutPLL) (Hiblot et al., 2013), Deinococcus radiodurans (Dr0930) (Xiang et al., 2009), and Geobacillus stearothermophilus (GsP) (Hawwa et al., 2009). Since all of them exhibit different degrees of OP hydrolysis (e.g., Elias et al., 2008; Hiblot et al., 2012a,b; Kallnik et al., 2014), and since they all exhibit enhanced stabilities relative to proteins from mesophilic bacteria (e.g., PTE and PON1), they were proposed to serve as candidates for the development of catalytic scavengers for bioremediation and surface decontamination purposes (Jacquet et al., 2016). However, as with catalytic bioscavengers developed for medical countermeasures, the catalytic efficiency of these enzymes with OPNAs needs to be improved to make their use applicable and their production economically feasible. Using directed evolution and selection for paraoxon hydrolysis, the catalytic efficiencies of SsoPox were improved by 2210-, 163-, 58-, and 16- fold with methyl-parathion, malathion, ethyl-paraoxon, and methyl-paraoxon, respectively, in a single variant (Jacquet et al., 2017). The activity of this variant with OPNAs is expected to be improved, as previous work has shown that the turnover rate of SsoPox with the toxic isomer of cyclosarin was improved fourfold following selection for improved paraoxon hydrolysis(Merone et al., 2010). Thus, while the catalytic efficiency goal for effective surface decontamination and bioremediation using a catalytic bioscavenger has not yet been determined, it seems that there are a number of promising candidates for the development of such bioscavengers.
Blood cultures with one venipuncture instead of two: a prospective clinical comparative single-center study including patients in the ICU, haematology, and infectious diseases departments
Published in Infectious Diseases, 2023
Elina Andersson Norlén, Micael Widerström, Anna Lindam, Johanna Olsson, Ulf Ryding
The findings were defined as the growth of one or several microorganisms, regardless of the number of bottles with growth or the time for growth. Medical data were collected through a journal review to interpret the blood culture findings. Microorganisms considered as contaminants from the skin or the environment were Corynebacterium spp., C. acnes, Bacillus, Micrococcus and Deinococcus, regardless of the number of bottles with these findings. In the absence of central catheters, prosthetic heart valves, and grafts, CoNS were considered as contaminants, unless the attending physician decided to administer targeted antimicrobial therapy. If any intravascular graft or valvular prosthesis were present, CoNS were considered relevant. In the presence of a central catheter, CoNS were considered as contaminants if all the following criteria were fulfilled: differential time-to-positivity less than two hours, the central catheter was retained, antimicrobial lock therapy was not administered, antibiotics targeted against CoNS were not given, and local signs of infections around the catheter’s insertion point were absent. Each blood culture consisted of two bottles (aerobic and anaerobic), for which a blood volume of 8–10 ml per bottle was recommended.
Modeling spatial interaction networks of the gut microbiota
Published in Gut Microbes, 2022
Xiaocang Cao, Ang Dong, Guangbo Kang, Xiaoli Wang, Liyun Duan, Huixing Hou, Tianming Zhao, Shuang Wu, Xinjuan Liu, He Huang, Rongling Wu
Only three positions, transverse colon, ileum, and cecum, were sampled for the HC group, and these positions display distinct network topologies (Figure 4). Each of these three HC networks is tremendously different from the UC network at the same position. In general, the HC networks are well mixed by commensalism and amensalism, whereas the UC networks tend to be dominated by commensalism, suggesting that a healthy network can better balance different types of microbes than a diseased network. At the cecum and ileum positions, Firmicutes establishes a commensalistic relationship toward Proteobacteria in the UC networks, but an amensalistic relationship between these two phyla is detected in the HC networks. In the transverse colon network, although commensalism occurs from Firmicutes to Proteobacteria in both UC and HC groups, the strength of this interaction is larger in the former than in the latter. Also, Deinococcus-Thermus is commensalistic toward Fusobacteria in the UC networks, but this relationship is amensalistic in the HC networks. Taken together, the strength, pattern and architecture of microbial interactions vary spatially across the biogeographic positions of the gut, with the degree of variation depending on healthy state. Network analysis on the three commonly measured positions suggests that healthy networks display a greater position-dependent variability than diseased networks. A series of spatially reconstructed networks can more precisely characterize key microbial interactions that interrogate why and how a healthy state becomes unhealthy.
Effect of long term application of tetrakis(hydroxymethyl)phosphonium sulfate (THPS) in a light oil-producing oilfield
Published in Biofouling, 2018
Mohita Sharma, Priyesh Menon, Johanna Voordouw, Yin Shen, Gerrit Voordouw
An overview of predominant phyla and of classes within the Proteobacteria in the solids samples is given in Table S2 and Table S3, respectively. Proteobacteria was the most abundant phylum (avg. 54.3%) with the class Gammaproteobacteria accounting for 43.4% of these. Of the 23 taxa in Table 2, 12 were Proteobacteria. The phylum Firmicutes (avg. 32.2%) was also very well represented with 7 entries in Table 2. The phyla Bacteroidetes, Thermotogae, Spirochaetae and Deinococcus were all represented with one entry each. The most abundant taxa in the microbial community of the solids samples were (phylum or class/genus) Gammaproteobacteria/Pseudomonas (27.7%), Firmicutes/Acetobacterium (21.7%), Gammaproteobacteria/Shewanella (7.3%) and Bacteroidetes/Proteiniphilum (4.5%). Other Firmicutes included the genera Proteiniclasticum, Fusibacter, Sedimentibacter, Tissierella, Alkalibacter and Erysipelotrix (Table 2: entries 9, 10, 12, 17, 20 and 23). Together with Acetobacterium these and other anaerobic taxa listed in Table 2 may convert oil with water into acetic acid.