- Belgrade, Central Serbia, Serbia
Signal transduction systems are the key players of bacterial adaptation and survival. The orthodox two-component signal transduction systems perceive diverse environmental stimuli and their regulatory response leads to cellular changes.... more
Signal transduction systems are the key players of bacterial adaptation and survival. The orthodox two-component signal transduction systems perceive diverse environmental stimuli and their regulatory response leads to cellular changes. Although rarely described, the unorthodox three-component systems are also implemented in the regulation of major bacterial behavior such as the virulence of clinically relevant pathogen P. aeruginosa. Previously, we described a novel three-component system in P. capeferrum WCS358 (RclSAR) where the sensor kinase RclS stimulates the intI1 transcription in stationary growth phase. In this study, using rclS knock-out mutant, we identified RclSAR regulon in P. capeferrum WCS358. The RNA sequencing revealed that activity of RclSAR signal transduction system is growth phase dependent with more pronounced regulatory potential in early stages of growth. Transcriptional analysis emphasized the role of RclSAR in global regulation and indicated the involvement...
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The aim of this study was to investigate the composition of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in autochthonous young cheeses, sweet creams and sweet kajmaks produced in the Vlašić mountain region of central Bosnia and Herzegovina near the town... more
The aim of this study was to investigate the composition of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in autochthonous young cheeses, sweet creams and sweet kajmaks produced in the Vlašić mountain region of central Bosnia and Herzegovina near the town of Travnik over a four season period. These three products were made from cow's milk by a traditional method without the addition of a starter culture. Preliminary characterization with phenotype-based assays and identification using rep-PCR with a (GTG)5 primer and 16S rDNA sequence analysis were undertaken for 460 LAB isolates obtained from all the examined samples. Fifteen species were identified as follows: Lactococcus lactis, Lactococcus raffinolactis, Lactococcus garviae, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus helveticus, Enterococcus faecium, Enterococcus durans, Enterococcus faecalis, Enterococcus italicus, Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides, Leuconostoc lactis, Streptococcus thermophilus and Streptococcus mitis. A wide genotypic and phenotypic heterogeneity of the species was observed, particularly within the Lc. lactis strains. In all of the tested dairy products across four seasons, a significantly positive correlation (r = 0.690) between the presence of lactococci and enterococci and a negative correlation (r = 0.722) between the presence of lactococci and leuconostocs were recorded. Forty-five percent of the lactobacilli and 54.4% of the lactococci exhibited proteolytic activity, whereas 18.7% of the total LAB isolates exhibited antimicrobial activity.
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Summary The aim of this study is to gain insight into the probiotic potential of autochthonous lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from artisanal fresh soft and white pickled cheeses. Eleven out of 86 LAB isolates from traditionally... more
Summary The aim of this study is to gain insight into the probiotic potential of autochthonous lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from artisanal fresh soft and white pickled cheeses. Eleven out of 86 LAB isolates from traditionally produced artisanal fresh soft and white pickled cheeses which survived the most rigorous simulated gastrointestinal tract conditions and did not show resistance to antibiotics were subjected to further evaluation for functional probiotic properties. The ability of the examined strains to assimilate cholesterol in the presence of bile salts was strain dependent, with the highest percentage of cholesterol assimilated by strain Lactobacillus brevis BGGO7-28 possessing S-layer proteins on its cell surface. The growth of strains with mannitol or lactulose as the only carbon source was better than with fructooligosaccharides (FOS) and inulin as prebiotic substrates, which should be considered in the production of synbiotics. Moreover, the results demonstrated ...
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Summary. The rapid spread of antibiotic resistance has significantly limited treatment options, increased mortality rates of infections and has become a major clinical and public health problem. Integrons are genetic platforms carried by... more
Summary. The rapid spread of antibiotic resistance has significantly limited treatment options, increased mortality rates of infections and has become a major clinical and public health problem. Integrons are genetic platforms carried by plasmids or contained within a transposon, and their role in the dissemination of resistance genes among bacteria has been well established and documented. Mobile integrons of class 1 are the most ubiquitous and have been the most commonly reported among clinical bacteria and are predominantly associated with Gram-negative bacterial pathogens. Although there is a number of currently available studies of class 1 integrons, only a limited number of processes crucial to the understanding of integron biology have been elucidated. Among these processes are the molecular mechanism of integrase gene expression as well as gene cassette expression in different bacterial pathogens.
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Screening for producers of potent antimicrobial peptides, resulted in the isolation of Bacillus cereus BGNM1 with strong antimicrobial activity against Listeria monocytogenes. Genome sequence analysis revealed that BGNM1 contains the gene... more
Screening for producers of potent antimicrobial peptides, resulted in the isolation of Bacillus cereus BGNM1 with strong antimicrobial activity against Listeria monocytogenes. Genome sequence analysis revealed that BGNM1 contains the gene cluster associated with the production of the lantibiotic, thusin, previously identified in B. thuringiensis. Purification of the antimicrobial activity confirmed that strain BGMN1 produces thusin. Both thusin sensitive and resistant strains were detected among clinical isolates of Streptococcus agalactiae. Random mutagenesis of a thusin sensitive strain, S. agalactiae B782, was performed in an attempt to identify the receptor protein for thusin. Three independent thusin resistant mutants were selected and their complete genomes sequenced. Comparative sequence analysis of these mutants with the WT strain revealed that duplication of a region encoding a 79 amino acids repeat in a C-protein a-antigen was a common difference, suggesting it to be responsible for increased resistance to thusin. Since induced thusin resistant mutants showed higher level of resistance than the naturally resistant B761 strain, complete genome sequencing of strain B761 was performed to check the integrity of the C-protein a-antigen-encoding gene. This analysis revealed that this gene is deleted in B761, providing further evidence that this protein promotes interaction of the thusin with receptor.
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Although the molecular mechanisms of carbapenem resistance of environmental isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii are well described, data on the mechanisms of colistin resistance are scarce. In this study, we report the molecular... more
Although the molecular mechanisms of carbapenem resistance of environmental isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii are well described, data on the mechanisms of colistin resistance are scarce. In this study, we report the molecular mechanisms of colistin resistance in environmental isolates of A. baumannii. Seven clinically relevant isolates of A. baumannii belonging to ST-2Pasteur were recovered from hospital wastewater and wastewater treatment plant. The phenotypic resistance to colistin was confirmed by broth microdilution with minimum inhibitory concentration values ranging from 20 to 160 mg/L. Colistin sulfate and colistimethate sodium showed bactericidal activity against two colistin-heteroresistant isolates in vitro, but substantially recovery of population was observed after prolonged incubation. In silico genome analysis revealed nucleotide variations resulting in amino acid changes in LpxC (N286D), LpxD (E117K), PmrB (A138T, R263S, L267W, Q309P, and A444V), and EptA (F166L, I228V, R348K, A370S, and K531T). According to reverse transcription quantitative PCR, all isolates had increased levels of eptA mRNA and decreased levels of lpxA and lpxD mRNA. Isolates expressed low hydrophobicity, biofilm, and pellicle formation, but showed excellent survival in river water during 50 days of monitoring. Colistin- and pandrug-resistant A. baumannii disseminated in the environment could represent the source for the occurrence of serious community-acquired infections.
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In our previous study, we showed that PrtP is able to impair bacteriocin LcnB activity despite being produced by the same organism, and even if they were encoded by the same plasmid. However, exact cleavage site within LcnB bacteriocin,... more
In our previous study, we showed that PrtP is able to impair bacteriocin LcnB activity despite being produced by the same organism, and even if they were encoded by the same plasmid. However, exact cleavage site within LcnB bacteriocin, as well as the activity of the resulting peptides remained unknown. Here we further explored the interplay between these two proteins and defined, using mass spectrometry, that the hydrolysis occurs between the sixth and seventh amino acid on the N terminus of LcnB. Although it was suspected that the cleaved form of LcnB could retain some level of activity, both chemically synthesized and recombinant variant of truncated LcnB exhibited no antimicrobial activity. Wild type form of LcnB was recombinantly overexpressed using the same expression system, its antimicrobial activity was tested before and after the treatment with PrtP proteinase, and the degradation products were analyzed with reverse-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography. The results co...
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The ability of lactic acid bacteria to form multi-cellular aggregates via self-aggregation is regarded as an important mechanism for stress tolerance, adhesion, colonization and genetic material exchange. The novel aggLr gene encoding for... more
The ability of lactic acid bacteria to form multi-cellular aggregates via self-aggregation is regarded as an important mechanism for stress tolerance, adhesion, colonization and genetic material exchange. The novel aggLr gene encoding for the auto-aggregation promoting protein (AggLr) of Lactococcus raffinolactis BGTRK10-1 was cloned. Heterologous expression of AggLr enabled auto-aggregation, higher hydrophobicity and collagen and fibronectin binding of the carrier strains. Domain analysis and the type of aggregates formed by cells expressing AggLr confirmed that this aggregation factor belongs to the family of high molecular weight proteins that the authors propose to be called Snow-flake Forming Collagen Binding Aggregation Factors (SFCBAF). An additional feature of SFCBAF is that they are rich in threonine and lysine and are free of cysteine in all of the aggregation factors described so far. In contrast to previously discovered SFCBAF, the gene encoding for AggLr is located on t...
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Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is an environmental bacterium and an opportunistic pathogen usually associated with healthcare-associated infections, which has recently been recognized as a globally multi-drug resistant organism. The aim of... more
Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is an environmental bacterium and an opportunistic pathogen usually associated with healthcare-associated infections, which has recently been recognized as a globally multi-drug resistant organism. The aim of this study was genotyping and physiological characterization of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia isolated in a large, tertiary care pediatric hospital in Belgrade, Serbia, hosting the national reference cystic fibrosis (CF) center for pediatric and adult patients. We characterized 42 strains of cystic fibrosis (CF) and 46 strains of non-cystic fibrosis (non-CF) origin isolated from 2013 to 2015 in order to investigate their genetic relatedness and phenotypic traits. Genotyping was performed using sequencing of 16S rRNA gene, Pulse Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) and Multi locus sequencing typing (MLST) analysis. Sensitivity to five relevant antimicrobial agents was determined, namely trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (TMP/SMX), chloramphenicol, ciprofloxac...
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New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase (NDM) is a serious challenge to the treatment of infections and public health. Serbia has been designated as an endemic region for isolates carrying the blaNDM-1 gene, as well as one of several commonly... more
New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase (NDM) is a serious challenge to the treatment of infections and public health. Serbia has been designated as an endemic region for isolates carrying the blaNDM-1 gene, as well as one of several commonly proposed countries of origin. This is the first report of NDM-1-positive Escherichia coli from Serbia. A carbapenem-resistant clinical isolate of E. coli strain IMD989, isolated from the blood culture of a pediatric patient with leukemia, was subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility tests, molecular typing, and conjugation experiments. The strain exhibited resistance to meropenem and was classified as a novel sequence type, ST5123, belonging to E. coli phylogenetic group A. ST5123 showed similarity to veterinary isolates ST93 and ST3977. The blaNDM-1 gene was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing. Cloning and sequencing of genomic clones confirmed that strain IMD989 produces an NDM-1 variant. Conjugation experiments, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and Southern blot hybridization revealed that blaNDM-1 was located in IMD989 on a transmissible 80 kb plasmid, designated as pIMD989. PCR analysis confirmed that pIMD989 belongs to the IncF plasmid family. Propagation of IMD989 and selected transconjugants carrying pIMD989 over 14 days in solid media with and without antibiotic selection showed that pIMD989 is a stable plasmid.
Research Interests: Biology, Leukemia, Adolescent, Medicine, Gene expression, and 12 moreBiological Sciences, Humans, Escherichia coli, Male, Plasmids, Molecular cloning, Anti-Bacterial Agents, Escherichia Coli Infections, Beta Lactamases, microbial drug resistance, beta-Lactam Resistance, and Medical and Health Sciences
Bacteriocin producers normally possess dedicated immunity systems to protect themselves from their own bacteriocins.Lactococcus lactisstrains LMG2081 and BGBM50 are known as lactococcin G producers. However, BGBM50 was sensitive to... more
Bacteriocin producers normally possess dedicated immunity systems to protect themselves from their own bacteriocins.Lactococcus lactisstrains LMG2081 and BGBM50 are known as lactococcin G producers. However, BGBM50 was sensitive to LMG2081, which indicated that LMG2081 might produce additional bacteriocins that are not present in BGBM50. Therefore, whole-genome sequencing of the two strains was performed, and a lantibiotic operon (calledlctLMG) was identified in LMG2081 but not in BGBM50. ThelctLMGoperon contains six open reading frames; the first three genes,lmgA,lmgM, andlmgT, are involved in the biosynthesis and export of bacteriocin, while the other three genes,lmgF,lmgE, andlmgG, are involved in lantibiotic immunity. Mutational analysis confirmed that thelctLMGoperon is responsible for the additional antimicrobial activity. Specifically, site-directed mutation within this operon rendered LMG2081 inactive toward BGBM50. Subsequent purification and electrospray ionization–time of...
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Despite the number of studies on antibiotic-resistant enterococci from Serbian clinical settings, there are no data about environmental contamination with these bacteria. Thus, this study investigated the prevalence of... more
Despite the number of studies on antibiotic-resistant enterococci from Serbian clinical settings, there are no data about environmental contamination with these bacteria. Thus, this study investigated the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant enterococci in Belgrade, Serbia. Enterococcus species collected from ten surface water sites, including a lake, two major river systems, and springs, were tested. Among enterococci, we found single (21.7 %), double (17.4 %), and multiple antibiotic resistance patterns (56.3 %). Vancomycin-resistant strains were not found, indicating that their abundance in Belgrade is tightly linked to clinical settings. The multiple drug-resistant strains Enterococcus faecalis, Enterococcus faecium, and Enterococcus mundtii were frequently detected in the lake during the swimming season and in the rivers near industrial zones. We confirmed the presence of ermB, ermC, ant(6)-Ia, tetM, and tetL and mutations in gyrA genes. The phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene of E. faecium isolates that harbor esp gene classified them into two groups based on high-bootstraps scores in the tree analysis. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis of antibiotic-resistant enterococci revealed genomic similarity ranging from 75 to 100 %. This study indicates the importance of anthropogenic impact to the spread of antibiotic-resistant enterococci in environmental waters of Belgrade, Serbia.
Research Interests: Biology, Environmental Monitoring, Rivers, Medicine, Multidisciplinary, and 11 moreLakes, Cities, Phylogeny, Mutation, Serbia, Enterococcus, Pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), Microbial Sensitivity Tests, Base Sequence, Environmental Pollution Assessment and Monitoring, and Molecular Sequence Data
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The influence of the over-expression of CmbT multidrug resistance transporter on the growth rate of Lactococcus lactis NZ9000 was studied. L. lactis is a lactic acid bacteria (LAB) widely used as a starter culture in dairy industry.... more
The influence of the over-expression of CmbT multidrug resistance transporter on the growth rate of Lactococcus lactis NZ9000 was studied. L. lactis is a lactic acid bacteria (LAB) widely used as a starter culture in dairy industry. Recently characterized CmbT MDR transporter in L. lactis confers resistance to a wide variety of toxic compounds as well as to some clinically relevant antibiotics. In this study, the cmbT gene was over-expressed in the strain L. lactis NZ9000 in the presence of nisin inducer. Over-expression of the cmbT gene in L. lactis NZ9000 was followed by RT-PCR. The obtained results showed that the cmbT gene was successfully over-expressed by addition of sub-inhibitory amounts of nisin. Growth curves of L. lactis NZ9000/pCT50 over-expressing the cmbT gene and L. lactis NZ9000 control strain were followed in the rich medium as well as in the chemically defined medium in the presence solely of methionine (0.084 mM) or mix of methionine and cysteine (8.4 mM and 8.2 m...
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New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) will soon become the most commonly isolated and distributed metallo-beta-lactamase worldwide due to its rapid international dissemination and its ability to be expressed by numerous Gram-negative... more
New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) will soon become the most commonly isolated and distributed metallo-beta-lactamase worldwide due to its rapid international dissemination and its ability to be expressed by numerous Gram-negative pathogens. NDM-positive bacteria pose a significant public health threat in the Indian subcontinent and the Balkans, which have been designated as endemic regions. Our study was focused on urban rivers, a lake and springheads as a potential source of NDM-1-producing strains in Serbia, but also as a source of other metallo-beta-lactamases and extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing bacteria. A total of 69 beta-lactam resistant isolates, belonging to 12 bacterial genera, were collected from 8 out of 10 different locations in Belgrade, of which the most were from a popular recreational site, Ada Ciganlija Lake. Phenotypic tests revealed 7 (10.14%) ESBL-producing isolates and 39 (56.52%) isolates resistant to imipenem, of which 32 were positi...
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Functional characterization of the multidrug resistance CmbT transporter was performed in Lactococcus lactis. The cmbT gene is predicted to encode an efflux protein homologous to the multidrug resistance major facilitator superfamily. The... more
Functional characterization of the multidrug resistance CmbT transporter was performed in Lactococcus lactis. The cmbT gene is predicted to encode an efflux protein homologous to the multidrug resistance major facilitator superfamily. The cmbT gene (1377 bp) was cloned and overexpressed in L. lactis NZ9000. Results from cell growth studies revealed that the CmbT protein has an effect on host cell resistance to lincomycin, cholate, sulbactam, ethidium bromide, Hoechst 33342, sulfadiazine, streptomycin, rifampicin, puromycin and sulfametoxazole. Moreover, in vivo transport assays showed that overexpressed CmbT-mediated extrusion of ethidium bromide and Hoechst 33342 was higher than in the control L. lactis NZ9000 strain. CmbT-mediated extrusion of Hoechst 33342 was inhibited by the ionophores nigericin and valinomycin known to dissipate proton motive force. This indicates that CmbT-mediated extrusion is based on a drug-proton antiport mechanism. Taking together results obtained in thi...
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The sigmas subunit of RNA polymerase is a central regulator which governs the expression of a host of stationary phase-induced and osmotically regulated genes in Gram-negative bacteria. The Pseudomonas putida rpoS gene is transcribed as a... more
The sigmas subunit of RNA polymerase is a central regulator which governs the expression of a host of stationary phase-induced and osmotically regulated genes in Gram-negative bacteria. The Pseudomonas putida rpoS gene is transcribed as a monocistronic rpoS mRNA with a 368 nucleotide-long 5' untranslated region (5' UTR). In this study, we investigate the posttranscriptional control of RpoS synthesis using rpoS-lacZ transcriptional and translational fusions consisting of the native promoter and deletions of 5' UTR or insertion into UTR. The differing activity of constructed translational fusions strongly indicated that the 5' UTR is involved in the translational regulation of RpoS expression in the stationary phase. The results obtained herein demonstrated that the structure of UTR performs an important function in the translational regulation of the rpoS gene.
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Research Interests: Microbiology, Biofilms, Medical Microbiology, Biology, Medicine, and 15 moreVirulence, Humans, Female, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Anti-Bacterial Agents, Genotype, Pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), Human Milk, Microbial Sensitivity Tests, Genetic variation, Species Specificity, Microbiological, Virulence Factors, and Molecular Sequence Data
Research Interests: Medical Microbiology, Biology, Medicine, Hospitals, Biological Sciences, and 14 moreMolecular typing, Humans, Serbia, Bacteria, Cluster Analysis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Genotype, Pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Beta Lactamases, Nino, Molecular Sequence Data, Medical and Health Sciences, and Cross Infection
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Research Interests: Microbiology, Biology, Industrial Biotechnology, Biodiversity, Medicine, and 15 moreFood Microbiology, Phylogeny, Lactic Acid Bacteria, Gram Positive, Lactobacillus, Catalase, Milk Fat, Phenotype, Genotype, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Dairy Products, Food Sciences, Molecular Identification, Lactococcus lactis, and Leuconostoc
Research Interests: Genetics, Microbiology, Biology, Industrial Biotechnology, Medicine, and 15 moreGene expression, Food Microbiology, Bacteriocins, Escherichia coli, Lactobacillus, Bacteria, Bacteriocin, Molecular cloning, Food Sciences, Amino Acid Profile, Amino Acid Sequence, Base Sequence, In Silico, DNA sequence, and Molecular Sequence Data
Research Interests: Transcription Regulation, Transcription Factors, Biological Sciences, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, and 10 moreGenome sequence, Base Sequence, Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate, Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis, Knock out, DNA binding proteins, Molecular Sequence Data, Total protein, binding sites, and Medical and Health Sciences
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In this study, the plasmid content and bacteriocin production of natural isolates of lactococci were investigated. Five bacteriocin producing lactococcal strains (Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis BGMN1-2, BGMN1-3, BGMN1-5, BGMN1-6, and... more
In this study, the plasmid content and bacteriocin production of natural isolates of lactococci were investigated. Five bacteriocin producing lactococcal strains (Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis BGMN1-2, BGMN1-3, BGMN1-5, BGMN1-6, and BGMN2-7) were isolated as nonstarter microflora of semi-hard homemade cheese and characterized. All isolates contained a number of plasmids. It was shown that lcnB structural genes for bacteriocin lactococcin B were located on large plasmids in all isolates. In the strains BGMN1-3 and BGMN1-5 proteinase prtP genes collocated with lcnB. Furthermore, these strains produced two additional bacteriocins (LsbA and LsbB) with genes responsible for their production and immunity located on the small rolling circle-replicating plasmid pMN5. Using deletion experiments of pMN5, minimal replicon of the plasmid and involvement of a bacteriocin locus in plasmid maintenance were identified. In addition, plasmid curing experiments showed that genes for catabolism or t...
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A large chromosomal inversion that confers resistance to high concentrations of the antibiotic spectinomycin in Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis bv. diacetylactis S50 was identified by pulsed field gel electrophoresis. The same type of... more
A large chromosomal inversion that confers resistance to high concentrations of the antibiotic spectinomycin in Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis bv. diacetylactis S50 was identified by pulsed field gel electrophoresis. The same type of inversion was identified in 4 independent experiments and in 4 different derivatives of strain S50, indicating the same position and the same mechanism of recombination as a response to antibiotic selective pressure in all derivatives. An analysis of ribosomal operons in strain S50 and mutants revealed that ribosomal operons are not endpoints of the recombination. Spectinomycin-resistant mutants appeared in a population of S50 derivatives at a high frequency of 2 × 10−7. These spectinomycin-resistant mutants were not able to compete successfully with the wild-type strain during 25 generations (48 h) of co-culture in vitro, indicating that inversion had a significant fitness cost. Results demonstrate that as a mechanism of genome plasticity, inversion ...
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Pseudomonas sp. strain ATCC19151 is a natural isolate from sewage with the ability to degrade detergents. Genes encoding potential choline sulfatase (betC), substrate-binding ABC transporter protein (betD), sulfate transporter (betE), and... more
Pseudomonas sp. strain ATCC19151 is a natural isolate from sewage with the ability to degrade detergents. Genes encoding potential choline sulfatase (betC), substrate-binding ABC transporter protein (betD), sulfate transporter (betE), and divergent putative transcriptional regulator (betR) were cloned and characterized from strain ATCC19151. In silico analysis revealed that (1) the BetC protein belongs to alkPPc superfamily and shares CXPXR sequence with the cysteine sulfatases of group I, (2) BetR belongs to the LysR family of transcriptional regulators, (3) BetD is part of the PBPb superfamily of periplasmic and membrane-associated proteins, and (4) BetE is a permease and contains STAS domain. Insertional mutagenesis and genetic complementation show that betC gene encodes a functional choline sulfatase. Analysis of the betC (P(betC)) and betR (P(betR)) promoters revealed that they are inducible. BetR activates betC and betR transcription in the presence of choline sulfate, whilst in the absence of choline sulfate, BetR represses its own transcription. It was further established that BetR directly binds to betC-betR intergenic region in vitro, with higher affinity in the presence of choline sulfate as cofactor. Transcription of betC and betR was not induced in the presence of high concentration of NaCl.
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Five bacteriocin-producing lactococci isolates from traditionally prepared kefir were determined as Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis. The analyzed isolates showed different plasmid profiles and no cross inhibition between them was... more
Five bacteriocin-producing lactococci isolates from traditionally prepared kefir were determined as Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis. The analyzed isolates showed different plasmid profiles and no cross inhibition between them was detected. Moreover, natural isolate BGKF26 was resistant to the antimicrobial activity of nisin producing strain NP45. Plasmid curing experiments revealed that the genes encoding bacteriocin and proteinase production are located on separate genetic elements, except in BGKF26. Production of the tested bacteriocins depends on the concentration of casitone or triptone in the medium. Higher concentrations of casitone or triptone induce bacteriocin activity. Our DNA-DNA hybridization analyses suggest that the analyzed antimicrobial compounds probably are lactococcin-like bacteriocins.
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Traditional Serbian cheese production has a long history and generates products with rich flavor profiles. To enable the industrial manufacture of these home-made Serbian cheeses, the lactic acid bacteria present in them needs to be... more
Traditional Serbian cheese production has a long history and generates products with rich flavor profiles. To enable the industrial manufacture of these home-made Serbian cheeses, the lactic acid bacteria present in them needs to be characterized. Five fresh white cheeses made from raw cow?s milk without commercial starter cultures were collected from households on the mountain Stara Planina, Serbia. According to phenotypical and molecular analysis, 262 isolated Lwere found to belong to Lactococcus, Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, Leuconostoc or Enterococcus. The unique bacterial composition of each cheese indicates that the preservation of household industry is the way to maintain production of distinct cheeses.
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Pseudomonas sp. ATCC19151 harbors a gene encoding a putative alkylsulfatase (sdsA). Here we report a growth ability of this strain in minimal media containing 0.5, 0.75, and 1% sodium dodecyl sulfate as the sole carbon source. The most... more
Pseudomonas sp. ATCC19151 harbors a gene encoding a putative alkylsulfatase (sdsA). Here we report a growth ability of this strain in minimal media containing 0.5, 0.75, and 1% sodium dodecyl sulfate as the sole carbon source. The most prominent growth was detected for the minimal medium with 0.5% SDS, so this concentration of SDS was used to monitor Pseudomonas sp. ATCC19151 SDS biodegradation dynamics. Bacterial growth coincided with the disappearance of SDS. Antibiotic susceptibility was tested as well. Pseudomonas sp. ATCC19151 was resistant to six out of nine tested antibiotics, including ampicillin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, tobramycin, nalidixic acid, and gentamycin.
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The purpose of this study was to determine the ability of natural isolates of lactobacilli from different ecological niches to grow in a chemically defined medium in the presence or absence of sulphur-containing amino acids, methionine... more
The purpose of this study was to determine the ability of natural isolates of lactobacilli from different ecological niches to grow in a chemically defined medium in the presence or absence of sulphur-containing amino acids, methionine and/or cysteine. The obtained results indicate that cysteine is essential for growth of L. paracasei subsp. paracasei BGHN14 and BGSJ2-8, while methionine is essential for isolates BGHN40, BGCG31, and BGHV54T of the species L. plantarum. Methionine is also essential for growth of L. rhamnosus BGHV58T. Other analyzed strains, such as L. plantarum BGSJ3-18, BGZB19, BGHV52Ta, and BGHV43T, require the presence of both amino acids for their growth.
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The RpoS and PsrA proteins are key transcriptional regulators that are activated in response to the stationary phase of growth in pseudomonads. This study was designed to establish whether ClpXP (ATP-dependent serine protease) regulates... more
The RpoS and PsrA proteins are key transcriptional regulators that are activated in response to the stationary phase of growth in pseudomonads. This study was designed to establish whether ClpXP (ATP-dependent serine protease) regulates levels of RpoS and PsrA in Pseudomonas putida WCS358. Western blot analysis of P. putida WCS358 protein extracts from the early exponentianl, late exponential, and stationary phases of growth with antibodies against RpoS and PsrA revealed that these proteins are degraded by ClpXP in the early exponential phase of growth. The obtained results demonstrate a role for ClpXP protease in post-translational regulation of proteins encoded by the rpoS and psrA genes in Pseudomonas spp.
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ABSTRACTAdhesion of bacteria to mucosal surfaces and epithelial cells is one of the key features for the selection of probiotics. In this study, we assessed the adhesion property ofLactococcus lactissubsp.lactisBGKP1 based on its strong... more
ABSTRACTAdhesion of bacteria to mucosal surfaces and epithelial cells is one of the key features for the selection of probiotics. In this study, we assessed the adhesion property ofLactococcus lactissubsp.lactisBGKP1 based on its strong autoaggregation phenotype and the presence of the mucin binding protein (MbpL). Genes involved in aggregation (aggL) and possible interaction with mucin (mbpL), present on the same plasmid pKP1, were previously separately cloned in the plasmid pAZIL.In vivoandin vitroexperiments revealed potentially different physiological roles of these two proteins in the process of adherence to the intestine during the passage of the strain through the gastrointestinal tract. We correlated thein vitroandin vivoaggregation of the BGKP1-20 carrying plasmid withaggLto binding to the colonic mucus through nonspecific hydrophobic interactions. The expression of AggL on the bacterial cell surface significantly increased the hydrophobicity of the strain. On the other han...