Motivation: In 2001 and 2002, we published two papers (Bioinformatics, 17, 282--283, Bioinformatics, 18, 77--82) describing an ultrafast protein sequence clustering program called cd-hit. This program can efficiently cluster a huge protein database with millions of sequences. However, the applications of the underlying algorithm are not limited to only protein sequences clustering, here we present several new programs using the same algorithm including cd-hit-2d, cd-hit-est and cd-hit-est-2d. Cd-hit-2d compares two protein datasets and reports similar matches between them; cd-hit-est clusters a DNA/RNA sequence database and cd-hit-est-2d compares two nucleotide datasets. All these programs can handle huge datasets with millions of sequences and can be hundreds of times faster than methods based on the popular sequence comparison and database search tools, such as BLAST.

Availability: http://cd-hit.org

Contact: [email protected]

Cd-hit: a fast program for clustering and comparing large sets of protein or nucleotide sequences

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) are a distinctive feature of the genomes of most Bacteria and Archaea and are thought to be involved in resistance to bacteriophages. We found that, after viral challenge, bacteria integrated new spacers derived from phage genomic sequences. Removal or addition of particular spacers modified the phage-resistance phenotype of the cell. Thus, CRISPR, together with associated cas genes, provided resistance against phages, and resistance specificity is determined by spacer-phage sequence similarity.

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CRISPR provides acquired resistance against viruses in prokaryotes

Evolution of Protein Molecules

Tetracyclines were discovered in the 1940s and exhibited activity against a wide range of microorganisms including gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, chlamydiae, mycoplasmas, rickettsiae, and protozoan parasites. They are inexpensive antibiotics, which have been used extensively in the prophlylaxis and therapy of human and animal infections and also at subtherapeutic levels in animal feed as growth promoters. The first tetracycline-resistant bacterium, Shigella dysenteriae, was isolated in 1953. Tetracycline resistance now occurs in an increasing number of pathogenic, opportunistic, and commensal bacteria. The presence of tetracycline-resistant pathogens limits the use of these agents in treatment of disease. Tetracycline resistance is often due to the acquisition of new genes, which code for energy-dependent efflux of tetracyclines or for a protein that protects bacterial ribosomes from the action of tetracyclines. Many of these genes are associated with mobile plasmids or transposons and can be distinguished from each other using molecular methods including DNA-DNA hybridization with oligonucleotide probes and DNA sequencing. A limited number of bacteria acquire resistance by mutations, which alter the permeability of the outer membrane porins and/or lipopolysaccharides in the outer membrane, change the regulation of innate efflux systems, or alter the 16S rRNA. New tetracycline derivatives are being examined, although their role in treatment is not clear. Changing the use of tetracyclines in human and animal health as well as in food production is needed if we are to continue to use this class of broad-spectrum antimicrobials through the present century.

Tetracycline Antibiotics: Mode of Action, Applications, Molecular Biology, and Epidemiology of Bacterial Resistance

Obesity and type 2 diabetes are characterized by altered gut microbiota, inflammation, and gut barrier disruption. Microbial composition and the mechanisms of interaction with the host that affect gut barrier function during obesity and type 2 diabetes have not been elucidated. We recently isolated Akkermansia muciniphila, which is a mucin-degrading bacterium that resides in the mucus layer. The presence of this bacterium inversely correlates with body weight in rodents and humans. However, the precise physiological roles played by this bacterium during obesity and metabolic disorders are unknown. This study demonstrated that the abundance of A. muciniphila decreased in obese and type 2 diabetic mice. We also observed that prebiotic feeding normalized A. muciniphila abundance, which correlated with an improved metabolic profile. In addition, we demonstrated that A. muciniphila treatment reversed high-fat diet-induced metabolic disorders, including fat-mass gain, metabolic endotoxemia, adipose tissue inflammation, and insulin resistance. A. muciniphila administration increased the intestinal levels of endocannabinoids that control inflammation, the gut barrier, and gut peptide secretion. Finally, we demonstrated that all these effects required viable A. muciniphila because treatment with heat-killed cells did not improve the metabolic profile or the mucus layer thickness. In summary, this study provides substantial insight into the intricate mechanisms of bacterial (i.e., A. muciniphila) regulation of the cross-talk between the host and gut microbiota. These results also provide a rationale for the development of a treatment that uses this human mucus colonizer for the prevention or treatment of obesity and its associated metabolic disorders.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/110/22/9066.full.pdf

Cross-talk between Akkermansia muciniphila and intestinal epithelium controls diet-induced obesity

Vaginal mucosal microfloras are typically dominated by Gram-positive Lactobacillus species, and colonization of vaginal mucosa by exogenous microbicide-secreting Lactobacillus strains has been proposed as a means of enhancing this natural mucosal barrier against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. We asked whether an alternative strategy could be utilized whereby anti-HIV molecules are expressed within the cervicovaginal milieu by endogenous vaginal Lactobacillus populations which have been engineered in situ via transduction. In this study, we therefore investigated the feasibility of utilizing transduction for the expression of two HIV coreceptor antagonists, the CC chemokines CCL5 and CCL3, in a predominant vaginal Lactobacillus species, Lactobacillus gasseri. Modifying a previously established transduction model, which utilizes L. gasseri ADH and its prophage Φadh, we show that mitomycin C induction of L. gasseri ADH transformants containing pGK12-based plasmids with CCL5 and CCL3 expression and secretion cassettes (under the control of promoters P6 and P59, respectively) and a 232-bp Φadh cos site fragment results in the production of transducing particles which contain 8 to 9 copies of concatemeric plasmid DNA. High-frequency transduction for these particles (almost 6 orders of magnitude greater than that for pGK12 alone) was observed, and transductants were found to contain recircularized expression plasmids upon subsequent culture. Importantly, transductants produced CC chemokines at levels comparable to those produced by electroporation-derived transformants. Our findings therefore lend support to the potential use of transduction in vaginal Lactobacillus species as a novel strategy for the prevention of HIV infection across mucosal membranes.

Plasmid Transduction Using Bacteriophage Φadh for Expression of CC Chemokines by Lactobacillus gasseri ADH

The Bacillus thuringiensis crystal (Cry) protein Cry5B (140 kDa) and a truncated version of the protein, tCry5B (79 kDa), are lethal to nematodes. Genes encoding the two proteins were separately cloned into a high-copy-number vector with a strong constitutive promoter (pTRK593) in Lactococcus lactis for potential oral delivery against parasitic nematode infections. Western blots using a Cry5B-specific antibody revealed that constitutively expressed Cry5B and tCry5B were present in both cells and supernatants. To increase production, cry5B was cloned into the high-copy-number plasmid pMSP3535H3, carrying a nisin-inducible promoter. Immunoblotting revealed that 3 h after nisin induction, intracellular Cry5B was strongly induced at 200 ng/ml nisin, without adversely affecting cell viability or cell membrane integrity. Both Cry5B genes were also cloned into plasmid pTRK1061, carrying a promoter and encoding a transcriptional activator that invoke low-level expression of prophage holin and lysin genes in Lactococcus lysogens, resulting in a leaky phenotype. Cry5B and tCry5B were actively expressed in the lysogenic strain L. lactis KP1 and released into cell supernatants without affecting culture growth. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assays indicated that Cry5B, but not LDH, leaked from the bacteria. Lastly, using intracellular lysates from L. lactis cultures expressing both Cry5B and tCry5B, in vivo challenges of Caenorhabditis elegans worms demonstrated that the Cry proteins were biologically active. Taken together, these results indicate that active Cry5B proteins can be expressed intracellularly in and released extracellularly from L. lactis, showing potential for future use as an anthelminthic that could be delivered orally in a food-grade microbe.

https://aem.asm.org/content/aem/82/4/1286.full.pdf

Intracellular and Extracellular Expression of Bacillus thuringiensis Crystal Protein Cry5B in Lactococcus lactis for Use as an Anthelminthic

Calcium alginate - immobilized cultures of lactic streptococci are protected from attack by lytic bacteriophage

A first aspect of the present invention is an isolated nucleic acid encoding a phage abortive defense protein, the isolated nucleic acid selected from the group consisting of: (a) isolated nucleic acid having the sequence or coding sequence given in SEQ ID NO: 1 (by "coding sequence" is meant nucleotides 373 to 1668 therein); (b) isolated nucleic acid encoding a phage abortive defense protein and which hybridizes to an nucleic acid having the sequence or coding sequence given in SEQ ID NO: 1, and/or having a sequence at least 60, 70, 80, 90, 92 or 95 percent identical to the sequence or coding sequence given in SEQ ID NO: 1; and (c) isolated nucleic acid encoding a phage abortive defense protein encoded by an isolated nucleic acid of (a) or (b) above, but differing in sequence therefrom due to the degeneracy of the genetic code (e.g., a nucleic acid encoding the protein given in SEQ ID NO: 2).

AbiZ phage resistance gene

Safe and efficacious orally-delivered mucosal vaccine platforms are desperately needed to combat the plethora of mucosally transmitted pathogens. Lactobacillus spp. have emerged as attractive candidates to meet this need and are known to activate the host innate immune response in a species- and strain-specific manner. For selected bacterial isolates and mutants, we investigated the role of key innate immune pathways required for induction of innate and subsequent adaptive immune responses. Co-culture of murine macrophages with L. gasseri (strain NCK1785), L. acidophilus (strain NCFM), or NCFM-derived mutants-NCK2025 and NCK2031-elicited an M2b-like phenotype associated with TH2 skewing and immune regulatory function. For NCFM, this M2b phenotype was dependent on expression of lipoteichoic acid and S layer proteins. Through the use of macrophage genetic knockouts, we identified Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2), the cytosolic nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain containing 2 (NOD2) receptor, and the inflammasome-associated caspase-1 as contributors to macrophage activation, with NOD2 cooperating with caspase-1 to induce inflammasome derived interleukin (IL)-1β in a pyroptosis-independent fashion. Finally, utilizing an NCFM-based mucosal vaccine platform with surface expression of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Gag or membrane proximal external region (MPER), we demonstrated that NOD2 signaling is required for antigen-specific mucosal and systemic humoral responses. We show that lactobacilli differentially utilize innate immune pathways and highlight NOD2 as a key mediator of macrophage function and antigen-specific humoral responses to a Lactobacillus acidophilus mucosal vaccine platform.

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Todd R. Klaenhammer

Papers

Plasmid Transduction Using Bacteriophage Φadh for Expression of CC Chemokines by Lactobacillus gasseri ADH

Intracellular and Extracellular Expression of Bacillus thuringiensis Crystal Protein Cry5B in Lactococcus lactis for Use as an Anthelminthic

Calcium alginate - immobilized cultures of lactic streptococci are protected from attack by lytic bacteriophage

AbiZ phage resistance gene

Nod2 is required for antigen-specific humoral responses against antigens orally delivered using a recombinant Lactobacillus vaccine platform.