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Abstract Staphylococcus aureus is a leading cause of nosocomial implant-associated infections, causing significant morbidity and mortality, underscoring the need for rapid, non-invasive, and cost-effective diagnostics. Here, we optimise the synthesis of renal-clearable gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) for enhanced catalytic activity with the aim of developing a sensitive colourimetric diagnostic for bacterial infection. All-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations confirm the stability of glutathione-coated AuNCs and surface access for peroxidase-like activity in complex physiological environments. We subsequently develop a biosensor by encapsulating these optimised AuNCs in bacterial toxin-responsive liposomes, which is extensively studied by various single-particle techniques. Upon exposure to S. aureus toxins, the liposomes rupture, releasing AuNCs that generate a colourimetric signal after kidney-mimetic filtration. The biosensor is further validated in vitro and in vivo using a hyaluronic acid (HA) hydrogel implant infection model. Urine samples collected from mice with bacteria-infected HA hydrogel implants turn blue upon substrate addition, confirming the suitability of the sensor for non-invasive detection of implant-associated infections. This platform has significant potential as a versatile, cost-effective diagnostic tool.

Abstract The intestine is the primary colonisation site for carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) and serves as a reservoir of CRE that cause invasive infections (e.g. bloodstream infections). Broad-spectrum antibiotics disrupt colonisation resistance mediated by the gut microbiota, promoting the expansion of CRE within the intestine. Here, we show that antibiotic-induced reduction of gut microbial populations leads to an enrichment of nutrients and depletion of inhibitory metabolites, which enhances CRE growth. Antibiotics decrease the abundance of gut commensals (including Bifidobacteriaceae and Bacteroidales) in ex vivo cultures of human faecal microbiota; this is accompanied by depletion of microbial metabolites and enrichment of nutrients. We measure the nutrient utilisation abilities, nutrient preferences, and metabolite inhibition susceptibilities of several CRE strains. We find that CRE can use the nutrients (enriched after antibiotic treatment) as carbon and nitrogen sources for growth. These nutrients also increase in faeces from antibiotic-treated mice and decrease following intestinal colonisation with carbapenem-resistant Escherichia coli. Furthermore, certain microbial metabolites (depleted upon antibiotic treatment) inhibit CRE growth. Our results show that killing gut commensals with antibiotics facilitates CRE colonisation by enriching nutrients and depleting inhibitory microbial metabolites.

Emulsions are critical across a broad spectrum of industries. Here authors demonstrate a mechanism of spontaneous droplet formation, where the interfacial solute flux promotes droplet formation at the liquid-liquid interface when a phase transfer agent is present.

The respiratory tract surface is protected from inhaled pathogens by a secreted layer of mucus rich in mucin glycoproteins. Abnormal mucus accumulation is a cardinal feature of chronic respiratory diseases, but the relationship between mucus and pathogens during exacerbations is poorly understood. We identified elevations in airway mucin 5AC (MUC5AC) and MUC5B concentrations during spontaneous and experimentally induced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations. MUC5AC was more sensitive to changes in expression during exacerbation and was therefore more predictably associated with viral load, inflammation, symptom severity, decrements in lung function, and secondary bacterial infections. MUC5AC was functionally related to inflammation, as Muc5ac-deficient (Muc5ac–/–) mice had attenuated RV-induced (RV-induced) airway inflammation, and exogenous MUC5AC glycoprotein administration augmented inflammatory responses and increased the release of extracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in mice and human airway epithelial cell cultures. Hydrolysis of ATP suppressed MUC5AC augmentation of RV-induced inflammation in mice. Therapeutic suppression of mucin production using an EGFR antagonist ameliorated immunopathology in a mouse COPD exacerbation model. The coordinated virus induction of MUC5AC and MUC5B expression suggests that non-Th2 mechanisms trigger mucin hypersecretion during exacerbations. Our data identified a proinflammatory role for MUC5AC during viral infection and suggest that MUC5AC inhibition may ameliorate COPD exacerbations.

ABSTRACT To cause infection, Staphylococcus aureus must withstand damage caused by host immune defenses. However, the mechanisms by which staphylococcal DNA is damaged and repaired during infection are poorly understood. Using a panel of transposon mutants, we identified the rexBA operon as being important for the survival of Staphylococcus aureus in whole human blood. Mutants lacking rexB were also attenuated for virulence in murine models of both systemic and skin infections. We then demonstrated that RexAB is a member of the AddAB family of helicase/nuclease complexes responsible for initiating the repair of DNA double-strand breaks. Using a fluorescent reporter system, we were able to show that neutrophils cause staphylococcal DNA double-strand breaks through reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by the respiratory burst, which are repaired by RexAB, leading to the induction of the mutagenic SOS response. We found that RexAB homologues in Enterococcus faecalis and Streptococcus gordonii also promoted the survival of these pathogens in human blood, suggesting that DNA double-strand break repair is required for Gram-positive bacteria to survive in host tissues. Together, these data demonstrate that DNA is a target of host immune cells, leading to double-strand breaks, and that the repair of this damage by an AddAB-family enzyme enables the survival of Gram-positive pathogens during infection. IMPORTANCE To cause infection, bacteria must survive attack by the host immune system. For many bacteria, including the major human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus, the greatest threat is posed by neutrophils. These immune cells ingest the invading organisms and try to kill them with a cocktail of chemicals that includes reactive oxygen species (ROS). The ability of S. aureus to survive this attack is crucial for the progression of infection. However, it was not clear how the ROS damaged S. aureus and how the bacterium repaired this damage. In this work, we show that ROS cause breaks in the staphylococcal DNA, which must be repaired by a two-protein complex known as RexAB; otherwise, the bacterium is killed, and it cannot sustain infection. This provides information on the type of damage that neutrophils cause S. aureus and the mechanism by which this damage is repaired, enabling infection.

The microbiota promotes resistance to respiratory infection through unclear mechanisms. Here, the authors identify members of the gut and upper airway microbiota that protect against respiratory infection by Streptococcus pneumoniae and Klebsiella pneumoniae by activating GM-CSF signaling.

Background Left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction often precedes heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, the dominant form of heart failure in postmenopausal women. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of oral estradiol treatment initiated early after ovariectomy on LV function and myocardial gene expression in female cynomolgus macaques. Methods and Results Monkeys were ovariectomized and randomized to receive placebo (control) or oral estradiol at a human‐equivalent dose of 1 mg/day for 8 months. Monkeys then underwent conventional and tissue Doppler imaging to assess cardiac function, followed by transcriptomic and histomorphometric analyses of LV myocardium. Age, body weight, blood pressure, and heart rate were similar between groups. Echocardiographic mitral early and late inflow velocities, mitral annular velocities, and mitral E deceleration slope were higher in estradiol monkeys (all P1.2‐fold change; false discovery rate, P

Summary: Recent identification of a mammary gland-specific microbiome led to studies investigating bacteria populations in breast cancer. Malignant breast tumors have lower Lactobacillus abundance compared with benign lesions, implicating Lactobacillus as a negative regulator of breast cancer. Diet is a main determinant of gut microbial diversity. Whether diet affects breast microbiome populations is unknown. In a non-human primate model, we found that consumption of a Western or Mediterranean diet modulated mammary gland microbiota and metabolite profiles. Mediterranean diet consumption led to increased mammary gland Lactobacillus abundance compared with Western diet-fed monkeys. Moreover, mammary glands from Mediterranean diet-fed monkeys had higher levels of bile acid metabolites and increased bacterial-processed bioactive compounds. These data suggest that diet directly influences microbiome populations outside the intestinal tract in distal sites such as the mammary gland. Our study demonstrates that diet affects the mammary gland microbiome, establishing an alternative mechanistic pathway for breast cancer prevention. : Using a non-human primate model of women’s health, Shively et al. demonstrate that diet plays a critical role in determining microbiota populations in tissues outside the gut, such as the mammary gland. These microbial populations modulate localized bile acid and bacterial-modified metabolites to potentially influence anticancer signaling pathways. Keywords: breast, mammary gland, diet, microbiome, bile acid, hippurate, oxidative stress

The development of atherosclerosis has been studied in White Carneau and Show Racer pigeons. The results of analytical studies indicate that the disease process is characterized by the accumulation of various lipids, and especially of sterol esters and free sterols. By perfusion of arteries with blood serum or with tissue culture medium containing (C14-labeled acetate, significant synthesis of labeled fatty acids has been shown to occur. As the aorta becomes relatively more diseased, the synthesis of fatty acids is enhanced, and the atherosclerotic plaque itself appears to be the site of most of the synthesis. Likewise, as the aorta becomes more diseased, relatively more of the newly synthesized fatty acid becomes esterified to cholesterol. The cholesterol to which the fatty acid is esterified appears to be that which is contained within the arterial wall, and the artery appears to have the necessary enzyme systems for carrying out the esterification.

Certain individual squirrel monkeys (“hyporesponders”) are able to remain normocholesterolemic when fed diets containing cholesterol (0.5 mg/kcal). Other squirrel monkeys (“hyperresponders”) when fed the same diet become hypercholesterolemic. The purpose of these studies was to identify the mechanisms which allow hyporesponders to compensate for dietary cholesterol.Using formula diets and sterol balance techniques, we have compared cholesterol absorption, synthesis, excretion, and turnover in hypo- and hyperresponding monkeys. Cholesterol absorption was essentially identical in the two groups (about 55 mg/day). Cholesterol synthesis was likewise similar in the two groups (about 35 mg/day) and there was no evidence of feedback inhibition at the level of cholesterol fed. Hyporesponders had faster turnover rates and smaller body cholesterol pools than did hyperresponders. Excretion of neutral steroids was similar for hypo- and hyperresponders and did not change with cholesterol feeding. In contrast, hyporesponders increased bile acid excretion shortly after cholesterol feeding was begun. Hyperresponders responded more slowly and to a lesser degree. It is concluded that, in this species, the mechanism of control of plasma cholesterol levels is related to the rate of conversion of cholesterol to bile acids.

The composition, synthesis, and esterification of fatty acids were studied in aortas of White Carneau and Show Racer pigeons after perfusion of the aortas with a medium containing acetate-1-14C.For both breeds of pigeons the principal change in aortic fatty acids, in response to an atherogenic diet, was a marked increase in the percentage of oleic acid in the cholesteryl ester fraction.In atherosclerotic aortas incorporation of acetate-1-14C into the phospholipid and glyceride fractions increased 2-fold, while a much greater increase (up to 10-fold) was seen in incorporation into cholesteryl esters. In those birds receiving the atherogenic diet, palmitic acid accounted for approximately 50% of the fatty acid radioactivity, compared with approximately 25% from control aortas. Calculation of fatty acid synthesis showed the major newly synthesized fatty acids to be stearic acid in the phospholipid fraction; stearic, palmitic, and oleic acids in the glycerides; and oleic acid in the cholesteryl esters. The pattern of fatty acid synthesis was closely similar to the actual fatty acid composition of the aorta.In atherosclerotic aortas an increased synthesis of all fatty acids was seen, but the greatest increase was seen in the synthesis of oleic acid and its esterification to cholesterol.