No abstract

Despite the use of several Weissella (W.) strains for biotechnological and probiotic purposes, certain species of this genus were found to act as opportunistic pathogens, while strains of W. ceti were recognized to be pathogenic for farmed rainbow trout. Herein, we investigated the pathogenic potential of weissellas based on in silico analyses of the 13 whole genome sequences available to date in the NCBI database. Our screening allowed us to find several virulence determinants such as collagen adhesins, aggregation substances, mucus-binding proteins, and hemolysins in some species. Moreover, we detected several antibiotic resistance-encoding genes, whose presence could increase the potential pathogenicity of some strains, but should not be regarded as an excluding trait for beneficial weissellas, as long as these genes are not present on mobile genetic elements. Thus, selection of weissellas intended to be used as starters or for biotechnological or probiotic purposes should be investigated regarding their safety aspects on a strain to strain basis, preferably also by genome sequencing, since nucleotide sequence heterogeneity in virulence and antibiotic resistance genes makes PCR-based screening unreliable for safety assessments. In this sense, the application of W. confusa and W. cibaria strains as starter cultures or as probiotics should be approached with caution, by carefully selecting strains that lack pathogenic potential.

We compared 61 Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli (STEC) serogroups from 448 food isolates with 71 STEC serogroups from 1,447 isolates from patients in Germany. Two thirds (41/61), representing 72% of food isolates, were also found in patients. Serogroups typically isolated from patients with hemolytic uremic syndrome were rarely found in food.

-A food-borne origin of the transmission of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) to cattle is commonly assumed. However, the fate of infectious prion protein during polygastric digestion remains unclear. It is unknown at present, whether infectious prion proteins, considered to be very stable, are degraded or inactivated by microbial processes in the gastrointestinal tract of cattle. In this study, rumen and colon contents from healthy cattle, taken immediately after slaughter, were used to assess the ability of these microbial consortia to degrade PrP Sc . Therefore, the consortia were incubated with brain homogenates of scrapie (strain 263K) infected hamsters under physiological anaerobic conditions at 37• C. Within 20 h, PrP Sc was digested both with ruminal and colonic microbiota up to immunochemically undetectable levels. Especially polymyxin resistant (mainly gram-positive) bacteria expressed PrP Sc degrading activity. These data demonstrate the ability of bovine gastrointestinal microbiota to degrade PrP Sc during digestion.transmissible spongiform encephalopathy / prion / degradation / microbiota / gastrointestinal tract

The influence of a complex microflora residing in the gastrointestinal tract of cattle on the prion protein plays a crucial role with respect to early pathogenesis and the potential infectivity of faeces resulting in contamination of the environment. It is unknown whether infectious prion proteins, considered to be very stable, are inactivated by microbial processes in the gastrointestinal tract of animals during digestion. In our previous study it was shown that the scrapie-associated prion protein was degraded by ruminal and colonic microbiota of cattle, as indicated by a loss of anti-prion antibody 3F4 immunoreactivity in Western blot. Subsequently, in this study hamster bioassays with the pre-treated samples were performed. Although the PrP(Sc) signal was reduced up to immunochemically undetectable levels within 40 h of pre-treatment, significant residual prion infectivity was retained after degradation of infected hamster brain through the gastrointestinal microflora of cattle. The data presented here show that the loss of anti-prion antibody 3F4 immunoreactivity is obviously not correlated with a biological inactivation of PrP(Sc). These results highlight the deficiency of using Western blot in transmissible spongiform encephalopathies inactivation assessment studies and, additionally, point to the possibility of environmental contamination with faeces containing PrP(Sc) following an oral ingestion of prions.