Search results for "Bacterial cell structure"
showing 10 items of 10 documents
Commensal Bacterium Rothia aeria Degrades and Detoxifies Gluten via a Highly Effective Subtilisin Enzyme
2020
Celiac disease is characterized by a chronic immune-mediated inflammation of the small intestine, triggered by gluten contained in wheat, barley, and rye. Rothia aeria, a gram-positive natural colonizer of the oral cavity and the upper digestive tract is able to degrade and detoxify gluten in vitro. The objective of this study was to assess gluten-degrading activity of live and dead R. aeria bacteria in vitro, and to isolate the R. aeria gluten-degrading enzyme. Methods: After an overnight fast, Balb/c mouse were fed a 1 g pellet of standard chow containing 50% wheat (and 4% gliadin) with or without 1.6 ×
Vehicles, replicators, and intercellular movement of genetic information: evolutionary dissection of a bacterial cell.
2012
Prokaryotic biosphere is vastly diverse in many respects. Any given bacterial cell may harbor in different combinations viruses, plasmids, transposons, and other genetic elements along with their chromosome(s). These agents interact in complex environments in various ways causing multitude of phenotypic effects on their hosting cells. In this discussion I perform a dissection for a bacterial cell in order to simplify the diversity into components that may help approach the ocean of details in evolving microbial worlds. The cell itself is separated from all the genetic replicators that use the cell vehicle for preservation and propagation. I introduce a classification that groups different r…
Bacterial sensors based on biosilica immobilization for label-free OWLS detection
2013
In the last years, a new group of enzymes, the so-called silicateins, have been identified and characterized, which form the axial filaments of the spicules of the siliceous sponges, consisting of not only amorphous silica among others. These enzymes are able to catalyze the polycondensation and deposition of silica at mild conditions. Silicateins can be expressed in Escherichia coli. The recombinant proteins are expressed on the surface of the cell wall and are able to catalyze the formation of a polysilicate net around the bacterial cells providing the possibility for further attachment to the surface of SiO2 containing sensor chips. With this mild immobilization process it is now possibl…
Subcellular localization of bacteriophage PRD1 proteins in Escherichia coli
2014
Bacteria possess an intricate internal organization resembling that of the eukaryotes. The complexity is especially prominent at the bacterial cell poles, which are also known to be the preferable sites for some bacteriophages to infect. Bacteriophage PRD1 is a well-known model serving as an ideal system to study structures and functions of icosahedral internal membrane-containing viruses. Our aim was to analyze the localization and interactions of individual PRD1 proteins in its native host Escherichia coli. This was accomplished by constructing a vector library for production of fluorescent fusion proteins. Analysis of solubility and multimericity of the fusion proteins, as well as their …
Discovery and structure-activity relationship studies of irreversible benzisothiazolinone-based inhibitors against Staphylococcus aureus sortase A tr…
2014
Gram-positive bacteria, in general, and staphylococci, in particular, are the widespread cause of nosocomial and community-acquired infections. The rapid evolvement of strains resistant to antibiotics currently in use is a serious challenge. Novel antimicrobial compounds have to be developed to fight these resistant bacteria, and sortase A, a bacterial cell wall enzyme, is a promising target for novel therapies. As a transpeptidase that covalently attaches various virulence factors to the cell surface, this enzyme plays a crucial role in the ability of bacteria to invade the host's tissues and to escape the immune response. In this study we have screened a small molecule library against rec…
Contribution of exofacial thiol groups in the reducing activity of Lactococcus lactis
2010
Lactococcus lactis can decrease the redox potential at pH 7 (E(h7)) from 200 to -200 mV in oxygen free Man-Rogosa-Sharpe media. Neither the consumption of oxidizing compounds or the release of reducing compounds during lactic acid fermentation were involved in the decrease in E(h7) by the bacteria. Thiol groups located on the bacterial cell surface appear to be the main components that are able to establish a greater exchange current between the Pt electrode and the bacteria. After the final E(h7) (-200 mV) was reached, only thiol-reactive reagents could restore the initial E(h7) value. Inhibition of the proton motive force showed no effect on maintaining the final E(h7) value. These result…
Transcriptome analysis of Pseudomonas mediterranea and P. corrugata plant pathogens during accumulation of medium-chain-length PHAs by glycerol bioco…
2017
Pseudomonas corrugata and P. mediterranea are soil inhabitant bacteria, generally living as endophytes on symptomless plants and bare soil, but also capable of causing plant diseases. They share a similar genome size and a high proteome similarity. P. corrugata produces many biomolecules which play an important role in bacterial cell survival and fitness. Both species produce different medium-chain-length PHAs (mcl-PHAs) from the bioconversion of glycerol to a transparent film in P. mediterranea and a sticky elastomer in P. corrugata. In this work, using RNA-seq we investigated the transcriptional profiles of both bacteria at the early stationary growth phase with glycerol as the carbon sou…
Molecular characterisation, evolution and expression analysis of g-type lysozymes in Ciona intestinalis
2017
Lysozyme is an important defense molecule of the innate immune system. Known for its bactericidal properties, lysozyme catalyzes the hydrolysis of b-(1,4)-glycosidic bonds between the N-acetyl glucosamine and N-acetyl muramic acid in the peptidoglycan layer of bacterial cell walls. In this study, the complete coding sequence of four g-type lysozymes were identified in Ciona intestinalis. Phylogenetic analysis and modelling supported the hypothesis of a close relationship with the vertebrate g-type lysozymes suggesting that the C. intestinalis g-type lysozyme genes (CiLys-g1, Cilys-g2, CiLys-g3, CiLys-g4) share a common ancestor in the chordate lineage. Protein motif searches indicated that …
A giant type I polyketide synthase participates in zygospore maturation in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
2017
Polyketide synthases (PKSs) occur in many bacteria, fungi and plants. They are highly versatile enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of a large variety of compounds including antimicrobial agents, polymers associated with bacterial cell walls and plant pigments. While harmful algae are known to produce polyketide toxins, sequences of the genomes of non-toxic algae, including those of many green algal species, have surprisingly revealed the presence of genes encoding type I PKSs. The genome of the model alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Chlorophyta) contains a single type I PKS gene, designated PKS1 (Cre10.g449750), which encodes a giant PKS with a predicted mass of 2.3 MDa. Here, we show that…
SERS detection of cell surface and intracellular components of microorganisms using nano-aggregated Ag substrate
2016
Abstract The intracellular and cell surface composition and structural features of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria were identified using near-infrared surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The structural differences of components that reside in the cell envelope are manifested by their SERS spectra, e.g. gram-negative vs. gram-positive. Silver particles were used as a SERS substrate by exploiting the existence of strong local electromagnetic fields (hot spots) within nanoscale aggregates of the particles. The aggregation of silver nanoparticles was induced by magnesium ions. These hot spots reduce the screening length of the double layer. The obtained SERS spectra showed excell…