Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

PLoS One 2022 19;17(5):e0266443. Epub 2022 May 19.

Laboratory of Bacterial Disease, Experimental Center, Guizhou Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guiyang, People's Republic of China.

Salmonella enterica serovar 4,[5],12:i:-, a monophasic variant of Salmonella Typhimurium lacking the phase 2 flagellin, is one of the common serotypes causing Salmonellosis worldwide. However, information on Salmonella serovar 4,[5],12:i:- from Guizhou Province has lacked so far. This study aimed to investigate the antimicrobial resistance, the presence of antimicrobial resistance genes and virulence genes, and characterize the MLST genotypes of Salmonella serovar 4,[5],12:i:- isolates from Guizhou province, China. Read More

J Appl Microbiol 2022 May 3;132(5):3891-3906. Epub 2022 Mar 3.

International Foundation Against Infectious Disease in Nigeria (IFAIN), Abuja, Nigeria.

Aim: This study aimed to investigate the isolation rate, antibiotic resistance and virulence genes of Salmonella enterica serovar from two commercial farms in Nigeria.

Methods And Results: Salmonella isolation was performed according to the United States Food and Drug Agency (USFDA) method. Serotyping, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, detection of resistance and virulence genes were done using the Kauffman-White Scheme, disc diffusion, minimum inhibitory concentration and real-time polymerase chain reaction techniques. Read More

Food Sci Nutr 2021 Sep 16;9(9):4701-4710. Epub 2021 Jul 16.

Engineering Research Center of Bio-process Ministry of Education Hefei University of Technology Hefei China.

is considered one of the major foodborne pathogens associated with severe infections. Little attempt has been focused on the distribution of in retail meats and the analysis of its phenotypic characteristics in Anhui Province. The aim of this study was to characterize the prevalence of serovars, antimicrobial susceptibility, antimicrobial resistance genes, and virulence genes in recovered from retail meats in Anhui, China. Read More

Sci Rep 2021 06 21;11(1):13011. Epub 2021 Jun 21.

Unit of Typing & Genetics of Mycobacteria, Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology, Vaccinology, and Biotechnology Development, Institut Pasteur de Tunis, Université de Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.

Previously, we have identified a putative novel rapidly growing Mycobacterium species, referred to as TNTM28, recovered from the sputum of an apparently immunocompetent young man with an underlying pulmonary disease. Here we provide a thorough characterization of TNTM28 genome sequence, which consists of one chromosome of 5,526,191 bp with a 67.3% G + C content, and a total of 5193 predicted coding sequences. Read More

mBio 2021 04 13;12(2). Epub 2021 Apr 13.

Department of Life Sciences, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea

Bacterial mRNAs often harbor upstream open reading frames (uORFs) in the 5' untranslated regions (UTRs). Translation of the uORF usually affects downstream gene expression at the levels of transcription and/or translation initiation. Unlike other uORFs mostly located in the 5' UTR, we discovered an 8-amino-acid ORF, designated , in the intergenic region between the virulence gene and the Mg transporter gene in the operon. Read More

Gene 2021 Jun 20;787:145646. Epub 2021 Apr 20.

Molecular & Analytical Laboratory Center, Faculty of Veterinary, Department of Food Technology, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niterói, Brazil; Chemistry Institute, Food Science Program, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Center for Food Analysis (NAL-LADETEC), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; National Institute of Health Quality Control, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Salmonella spp. is one of the major agents of foodborne disease worldwide, and its virulence genes are responsible for the main pathogenic mechanisms of this micro-organism. The whole-genome sequencing (WGS) of pathogens has become a lower-cost and more accessible genotyping tool providing many gene analysis possibilities. Read More

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021 03;118(11)

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Pennsylvania State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033;

Phosphorus (P) is an essential component of core biological molecules. In bacteria, P is acquired mainly as inorganic orthophosphate (Pi) and assimilated into adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in the cytoplasm. Although P is essential, excess cytosolic Pi hinders growth. Read More

Rev Argent Microbiol 2021 Jul-Sep;53(3):233-239. Epub 2021 Jan 9.

Instituto de Patobiología-UEDD IPVET INTA CONICET, Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas, Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria, Argentina.

Salmonella is a worldwide-distributed pathogen that affects both humans and animals and is usually associated with intensive animal production such as poultry and swine. This bacterium carries different virulence genes, whose expression favors its interaction with the host and may influence the course of the infection. Extended usage of antibiotics for metaphylaxis or prophylaxis and as growth promoters favors the emergence of multiresistant Salmonella strains. Read More

Animals (Basel) 2020 Dec 17;10(12). Epub 2020 Dec 17.

Department of Veterinary Science, University of Pisa, Viale delle Piagge 2, 56124 Pisa, Italy.

is one of the most important zoonotic pathogens worldwide. Swine represent typical reservoirs of this bacterium and a frequent source of human infection. Some intrinsic traits make some serovars or strains more virulent than others. Read More

Front Microbiol 2020 16;11:553670. Epub 2020 Sep 16.

Department of Animal Science, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, United States.

Enteritidis (SE) is a facultative intracellular pathogen that colonizes the chicken gut leading to contamination of carcasses during processing. A reduction in intestinal colonization by SE could result in reduced carcass contamination thereby reducing the risk of illnesses in humans. Short chain fatty acids such as butyrate are microbial metabolites produced in the gut that exert various beneficial effects. Read More

J Clin Lab Anal 2020 Dec 14;34(12):e23525. Epub 2020 Aug 14.

Hangzhou Children's Hospital, Hangzhou, China.

Background: Salmonella is an important foodborne pathogen that causes acute diarrhea in humans worldwide. This study analyzed the relationships of serotypes and antibiotic resistance with virulence genes of Salmonella isolated from children with salmonellosis.

Methods: Serological typing was performed using the slide-agglutination method. Read More

Front Microbiol 2019 6;10:2831. Epub 2019 Dec 6.

Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Suwon, South Korea.

Upon intracellular cues, bacterial mRNA leaders often form secondary structures that determine expression of a downstream protein-coding region(s), thereby providing bacteria with a mechanism to control the amounts of necessary proteins in the right locales. Here we describe a polycistronic mRNA leader that secures bacterial growth by preventing dysregulated expression of the protein-coding regions. In , the mRNA encodes the virulence protein MgtC and the Mg transporter MgtB. Read More

Braz J Microbiol 2020 Jun 8;51(2):497-509. Epub 2019 Nov 8.

Departamento de Análises Clínicas, Toxicológicas e Bromatológicas, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto - USP, Av. do Café, s/n, Ribeirão Preto, SP, 14040-903, Brazil.

Salmonella Dublin is a strongly adapted serovar that causes enteritis and/or systemic disease with high rates of mortality in cattle and occasionally infects humans. Despite the importance of this serovar, there is a lack of studies in Brazil. The aim of this study was to characterize the genetic diversity of 112 S. Read More

Sci Rep 2019 10 24;9(1):15253. Epub 2019 Oct 24.

Laboratoire de Dynamique des Interactions Membranaires Normales et Pathologiques, Université Montpellier, case 107, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095, Montpellier cedex 5, France.

Due to the antibiotic resistance crisis, novel therapeutic strategies need to be developed against bacterial pathogens. Hydrophobic bacterial peptides (small proteins under 50 amino acids) have emerged as regulatory molecules that can interact with bacterial membrane proteins to modulate their activity and/or stability. Among them, the Salmonella MgtR peptide promotes the degradation of MgtC, a virulence factor involved in Salmonella intramacrophage replication, thus providing the basis for an antivirulence strategy. Read More

J Adv Vet Anim Res 2019 Sep 8;6(3):384-393. Epub 2019 Aug 8.

National Veterinary Drug Assay Laboratory NVDAL, Bogor, Indonesia.

Objective: The incidence of salmonellosis in humans and animals is still high due to the occurrence of virulence factors in which play a role in the process of infection in the host and the spread of disease and most of the can infect humans and animals. The present study was aimed to identify and detect virulence genes related to pathogenicity islands (SPIs) and plasmid virulence (Spv).

Materials And Methods: A total of 27 . Read More

Nat Commun 2019 07 25;10(1):3326. Epub 2019 Jul 25.

Department of Life Sciences, College of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, South Korea.

The MgtC virulence protein from the intracellular pathogen Salmonella enterica is required for its intramacrophage survival and virulence in mice and this requirement of MgtC is conserved in several intracellular pathogens including Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Despite its critical role in survival within macrophages, only a few molecular targets of the MgtC protein have been identified. Here, we report that MgtC targets PhoR histidine kinase and activates phosphate transport independently of the available phosphate concentration. Read More

PLoS Pathog 2019 06 20;15(6):e1007812. Epub 2019 Jun 20.

Laboratoire de Dynamique des Interactions Membranaires Normales et Pathologiques, Université de Montpellier, CNRS-UMR5235, Montpellier, France.

While considered solely an extracellular pathogen, increasing evidence indicates that Pseudomonas aeruginosa encounters intracellular environment in diverse mammalian cell types, including macrophages. In the present study, we have deciphered the intramacrophage fate of wild-type P. aeruginosa PAO1 strain by live and electron microscopy. Read More

BMC Vet Res 2019 Apr 27;15(1):124. Epub 2019 Apr 27.

Department of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, 35516, Egypt.

Background: This study aimed to survey the prevalence, antimicrobial resistance, and virulence-associated genes of Salmonella enterica recovered from broiler chickens and retail shops at El-Sharkia Province in Egypt. Salmonella virulence factors were determined using the polymerase chain reaction assays targeting the invA, csgD, hilC, bcfC, stn, avrA, mgtC, ompF, sopE1 and pefA genes.

Results: One hundred tweenty out of 420- samples from broiler chickens' cloacal swabs, farm environmental samples, and freshly dressed whole chicken carcasses were positive Salmonella species. Read More

Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2019 2;9:84. Epub 2019 Apr 2.

Laboratoire de Dynamique des Interactions Membranaires Normales et Pathologiques, Université Montpellier, Montpellier, France.

Antivirulence strategies aim to target pathogenicity factors while bypassing the pressure on the bacterium to develop resistance. The MgtC membrane protein has been proposed as an attractive target that is involved in the ability of several major bacterial pathogens, including , to survive inside macrophages. In liquid culture, MgtC acts negatively on biofilm formation. Read More

PLoS One 2019 4;14(3):e0209395. Epub 2019 Mar 4.

Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana.

Background: Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) caused by Mycobacterium bovis is a re-emerging problem in both livestock and humans. The association of some M. bovis strains with hyper-virulence, MDR-TB and disseminated disease makes it imperative to understand the biology of the pathogen. Read More

Int J Food Microbiol 2019 Apr 7;294:50-54. Epub 2019 Feb 7.

Faculty of Food Engineering, University of Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil. Electronic address:

Thirty-Eight Salmonella isolates recovered from different stages of the peanut supply chain in three Brazilian States (São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Bahia) were subtyped by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and characterized by phenotypic and genotypic tests for antimicrobial resistance and virulence genes. The isolates were distributed into seven PFGE pulsotypes. All the isolates were resistant to sulfonamide. Read More

PLoS One 2018 30;13(8):e0203204. Epub 2018 Aug 30.

CINDEFI (UNLP CONICET La Plata), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina.

Bordetella pertussis, the causative agent of whooping cough, has the capability to survive inside the host cells. This process requires efficient adaptation of the pathogen to the intracellular environment and the associated stress. Among the proteins produced by the intracellular B. Read More

Mol Microbiol 2018 10 5;110(2):283-295. Epub 2018 Oct 5.

Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.

RpoS is one of several alternative sigma factors known to alter gene expression profiles by RpoS-associated RNA polymerase in response to a variety of stresses. The enteric bacteria Salmonella enterica and Escherichia coli accumulate RpoS under low Mg concentrations via a common mechanism in which the PhoP regulator activates expression of antiadaptor proteins that, by sequestering the adaptor RssB, prevent RpoS degradation by the protease ClpXP. Here, we demonstrate that this genetic program alone does not fully support RpoS accumulation when cytoplasmic Mg concentration drops to levels that impair protein synthesis. Read More

Cell Mol Biol (Noisy-le-grand) 2018 Jul 30;64(10):79-86. Epub 2018 Jul 30.

animal health research institute.

The incrementing scope of pathogenic resistance to antibiotics has encouraged the search for antivirulence natural extracts. Therefore, our study designed to demonstrate the antimicrobial activity of an aqueous-garlic and thyme oil extracts against Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative (Salmonella spp.) bacteria by evaluating the influence of sub-inhibitory concentrations on the expression of the most critical virulence genes of the tested isolates. Read More

J Microbiol 2018 Aug 25;56(8):565-570. Epub 2018 Jul 25.

Department of Genetic Engineering and Graduate School of Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Kyung Hee University, Yongin, 17104, Republic of Korea.

A tightly controlled turnover of membrane proteins is required for lipid bilayer stability, cell metabolism, and cell viability. Among the energy-dependent AAA proteases in Salmonella, FtsH is the only membrane-bound protease that contributes to the quality control of membrane proteins. FtsH preferentially degrades the C-terminus or N-terminus of misfolded, misassembled, or damaged proteins to maintain physiological functions. Read More

EMBO J 2018 07 1;37(14). Epub 2018 Jun 1.

Department of Microbial Pathogenesis, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

The mechanism of action and contribution to pathogenesis of many virulence genes are understood. By contrast, little is known about anti-virulence genes, which contribute to the start, progression, and outcome of an infection. We now report how an anti-virulence factor in serovar Typhimurium dictates the onset of a genetic program that governs metabolic adaptations and pathogen survival in host tissues. Read More

Foodborne Pathog Dis 2018 06 30;15(6):346-352. Epub 2018 May 30.

1 MOST-USDA Joint Research Center for Food Safety, School of Agriculture & Biology, State Key Lab of Microbial Metabolism, Shanghai Jiao Tong University , Shanghai, China .

Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis is the leading global cause of salmonellosis. A total of 146 Salmonella Enteritidis isolates obtained from retail chicken products in Shanghai, China were characterized for their antimicrobial susceptibilities, virulence and antibiotic resistance gene profiles, and molecular subtypes using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Approximately 42% (61/146) of the isolates were susceptible to all 13 antimicrobials tested. Read More

Mol Microbiol 2018 08 31;109(3):327-344. Epub 2018 Jul 31.

Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University.

We found that mutations that increased the transcription of the mgtCBR (Mg transport-related) operon conferred increased thermotolerance on this organism. The 5' leader of the mgtCBR mRNA contains two short open reading frames (ORFs), mgtM and mgtP, whose translation regulates the expression of the mgtCBR operon by a mechanism that is similar to attenuation in amino acid biosynthetic operons. We obtained two types of mutations that resulted in elevated transcription of the operon: defects in the mgtM ribosome-binding site, impairing the translation of this ORF and deletions encompassing the stop codon of mgtM that extend the translation of this ORF across a downstream Rho termination site. Read More

Genes Dev 2018 01 1;32(1):79-92. Epub 2018 Feb 1.

Department of Microbial Pathogenesis, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06536, USA.

Phosphorus is an essential element assimilated largely as orthophosphate (Pi). Cells respond to Pi starvation by importing Pi from their surroundings. We now report that impaired protein synthesis alone triggers a Pi starvation response even when Pi is plentiful in the extracellular milieu. Read More

J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 2018 Apr 5;45(4):253-269. Epub 2018 Feb 5.

Key Lahoratory of Catalysis and Functional Organic Molecule of Chongqing, College of Environment and Resource, Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing, 400067, People's Republic of China.

In this paper, a novel riboregulator Switch System of Gene Expression including an OFF-TO-ON switch and an ON-TO-OFF switch was designed to regulate the expression state of target genes between "ON" and "OFF" by switching the identifiability of ribosome recognition site (RBS) based on the thermodynamic stability of different RNA-RNA hybridizations between RBS and small noncoding RNAs. The proposed riboregulator switch system was employed for the fermentative production of succinic acid using an engineered strain of E. coli JW1021, during which the expression of mgtC gene was controlled at "ON" state and that of pepc and ecaA genes were controlled at the "OFF" state in the lag phase and switched to the "OFF" and "ON" state once the strain enters the logarithmic phase. Read More