A bacteriophage-like particle from Bartonella bacilliformis

Barbian, Kent D.; Minnick, Michael F.

doi:10.1099/00221287-146-3-599

Cited by 37 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Phage particles with multiple head sizes were detected, although it was not clear if the variation in particle size was an artifact of the isolation protocol, as ultracentrifugation can alter the appearance of phage particles. Consistent with the observations of Anderson and Barbian (1,3), no phage tails were evident in the phage preparations.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 79%

Growth Characteristics ofBartonella henselaein a Novel Liquid Medium: Primary Isolation, Growth-Phase-Dependent Phage Induction, and Metabolic Studies

Chenoweth

Somerville

Krause

et al. 2004

Appl Environ Microbiol

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Bartonella henselae is a zoonotic pathogen that usually causes a self-limiting infection in immunocompetent individuals but often causes potentially life-threatening infections, such as bacillary angiomatosis, in immunocompromised patients. Both diagnosis of infection and research into the molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis have been hindered by the absence of a suitable liquid growth medium. It has been difficult to isolate B. henselae directly from the blood of infected humans or animals or to grow the bacteria in liquid culture media under laboratory conditions. Therefore, we have developed a liquid growth medium that supports reproducible in vitro growth (3-h doubling time and a growth yield of approximately 5 ؋ 10 8 CFU/ml) and permits the isolation of B. henselae from the blood of infected cats. During the development of this medium, we observed that B. henselae did not derive carbon and energy from the catabolism of glucose, which is consistent with genome nucleotide sequence data suggesting an incomplete glycolytic pathway. Of interest, B. henselae depleted amino acids from the culture medium and accumulated ammonia in the medium, an indicator of amino acid catabolism. Analysis of the culture medium throughout the growth cycle revealed that oxygen was consumed and carbon dioxide was generated, suggesting that amino acids were catabolized in a tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle-dependent mechanism. Additionally, phage particles were detected in the culture supernatants of stationary-phase B. henselae, but not in mid-logarithmic-phase culture supernatants. Enzymatic assays of whole-cell lysates revealed that B. henselae has a complete TCA cycle. Taken together, these data suggest B. henselae may catabolize amino acids but not glucose to derive carbon and energy from its host. Furthermore, the newly developed culture medium should improve isolation of B. henselae and basic research into the pathogenesis of the bacterium.Bartonella henselae is a medically important gram-negative, zoonotic pathogen. Cats are the reservoir, and infections are generally asymptomatic. B. henselae causes a diverse and emerging disease spectrum in humans, from self-limiting lymphadenopathy to life-threatening conditions such as bacillary angiomatosis. Cat scratch disease (CSD), a generally benign infection characterized by regional lymphadenopathy and persistent fever, is the most-common manifestation of B. henselae infection in humans. CSD occurs in healthy individuals and affects an estimated 24,000 persons a year in the United States (11). In immunocompromised patients, B. henselae causes more-serious infections, including bacillary angiomatosis and bacillary peliosis, which can be fatal when misdiagnosed and improperly treated. A major contributing factor to misdiagnosis is the inherent difficulty in culturing the bacterium. B. henselae takes an average of 21 days to form colonies during primary isolation on blood agar plates, and no reliable liquid growth medium exists (8). In clinical settings, the protracted growth phase ofte...

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 79%

Growth Characteristics ofBartonella henselaein a Novel Liquid Medium: Primary Isolation, Growth-Phase-Dependent Phage Induction, and Metabolic Studies

Chenoweth

Somerville

Krause

et al. 2004

Appl Environ Microbiol

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“…In order to estimate the molecular weights of the proteins in the samples, the migration of each band was compared to the migration of the protein standards of known molecular weights in the molecular ladder. SDS PAGE analysis of purified bacteriophages showed three major bands, with molecular masses of 47, 34 and 16 kDa Figure (4), this range nearly agreed (Barbian and Minnick, 2000) who found that SDS-PAGE analysis of purified bacteriophage-like particle from Bartonella Bacilliformis showed three major proteins with apparent molecular masses of 32, 34 and 36 kDa; values that closely correspond to proteins found in B. henselae BLPs. The results also agreed (Zimmer, et al, 2002) who found the major capsid component results in size from 47.7 to 34.3 KDa resembles 43.3% of total phage protein and the tail protein corresponds to 12.7% with an apparent size of 27 kDa.…”

Section: Fig 3: Ratio Of Dry Weight Samplessupporting

confidence: 66%

Identification of protein profiles of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and their corresponding phages

Elshayeb¹,

Yagoub²

2011

AJBMS

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The present study was carried out for the assessment and detecting of the Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus bacteriophages and their bacterial host's proteins includes visual inspection and comparison of their molecular weight mass. Systematic methods that use microorganisms (viruses and bacteria) to test samples from the local sewage water have been developed but require some change in the classical culturing of the organism to detect it easily by naked eye through the changes in selective media. We have developed a Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate Ploy Acrylamide Gel Electrophoresis (SDS PAGE) assay for bacteriophage samples preparation that allows the rapid detection of proteins bands of these viruses by using freeze drying technique. We found that the protein profiles of E. coli bacteriophage showed three major bands with molecular weight mass of 47, 35 and 16 kilo Dalton and 34 and 20 kDa for S. aureus phage, the band of 35 kDa was the common shared peak between the phage and the bacterial host due to the bacteriophage lytic cycle. The method is suitable for use with both the bacteriophages and their bacterial hosts. The assay is rapid, sensitive, and inexpensive; requires only small sample volumes; and can be automated.

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“…The B. henselae particles contain seemingly random 14 kb pieces of the host genome, on the basis of the gel banding pattern after restriction endonuclease digestion, sequence analysis of cloned DNA from the particles and Southern blot hybridization 117 . Analysis of the DNA from the B. bacilliformis BLPs indicated that the genomic origin of the packaged DNA is biased to certain regions 118 . A more recent study used whole-genome microarrays to characterize DNA packaging by BLPs produced by Bartonella grahamii 115 .…”

Section: Boxmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gene transfer agents: phage-like elements of genetic exchange

2012

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Horizontal gene transfer is important in the evolution of bacterial and archaeal genomes. An interesting genetic exchange process is carried out by diverse phage-like gene transfer agents (GTAs) that are found in a wide range of prokaryotes. Although GTAs resemble phages, they lack the hallmark capabilities that define typical phages, and they package random pieces of the producing cell's genome. In this Review, we discuss the defining characteristics of the GTAs that have been identified to date, along with potential functions for these agents and the possible evolutionary forces that act on the genes involved in their production.The prevalence of horizontal gene transfer (HGT), in which DNA is exchanged between closely or distantly related lineages, has altered the way we think about evolution 1,2 , having profound effects on our views of the evolutionary relationships among living organisms. It has caused a shift from a bifurcating 'tree of life' view to a 'net of life' or 'web of life' view [3][4][5] , in which "highways of gene sharing" (REF. 6) represent major connections, with genes (or DNA segments) viewed as "public goods, available for all organisms to integrate into their genomes" (REF. 7). HGT occurs within and between all three domains of life, and it has been estimated that 0.05-80% of genes in bacterial and archaeal genomes have been affected by HGT, depending on the analytical method used and the genome analysed [8][9][10] . Although HGT is widespread, it is not random: patterns of preferential gene exchange among specific groups of organisms that share ancestry or habitat have been * Present address. aslang@mun.ca; olgazh@dartmouth.edu; j.beatty@mail.ubc.ca Competing interests statementThe authors declare no competing financial interests. 6,9,11,12 . Such patterns are probably a consequence of existing barriers to HGT, which have been reviewed in detail elsewhere 13,14 . FURTHER INFORMATIONAlthough we have known about some HGT mechanisms for decades, novel processes that expand the existing repertoire of gene exchange methods are continually being identified. Transformation was the first mechanism of gene exchange to be discovered 15 , wherein DNA is taken up directly from the environment (reviewed elsewhere 16,17 ). In transduction, DNA transfer is mediated by viral particles (BOX 1). In conjugation, which was discovered in the 1940s 18 , DNA is transferred from a donor to a recipient cell during cell-to-cell contact; conjugation is used in the transfer of plasmids, transposons, integrons, and integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs) [19][20][21] . There are other modes of gene exchange that do not fit well into any of these three canonical mechanisms, including temporary cell fusion followed by chromosomal recombination and plasmid exchange 22 , intercellular connection through nanotubes 23 , and the release of membrane vesicles containing chromosomal, plasmid and phage DNA that can then merge with nearby cells 24 . In addition, a novel mechanism of gene transfer that has feature...

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A bacteriophage-like particle from Bartonella bacilliformis

Cited by 37 publications

References 33 publications

Growth Characteristics ofBartonella henselaein a Novel Liquid Medium: Primary Isolation, Growth-Phase-Dependent Phage Induction, and Metabolic Studies

Growth Characteristics ofBartonella henselaein a Novel Liquid Medium: Primary Isolation, Growth-Phase-Dependent Phage Induction, and Metabolic Studies

Identification of protein profiles of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and their corresponding phages

Gene transfer agents: phage-like elements of genetic exchange

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