May 2020 Pod: Discovering novel resistance genes and how bacteria become virulent

In the second episode of Microbiology Lab Pod, a crew consisting of Johan Bengtsson-Palme, Emil Burman, Haveela Kunche and Anna Abramova discusses how to identify novel resistance genes with our special guest Marlies Böhm. We also talk about bacterial virulence: how do bacteria become virulent, how do virulence relate to competition, how do bacteria evade the immune system and can we attenuate virulence using fatty acids?

The specific papers discussed in the pod (with approximate timings) are as follows:

• 7:15 – Böhm, M.-E., Razavi, M., Flach, C.-F., Larsson, D.G.J., 2020a. A Novel, Integron-Regulated, Class C β-Lactamase. Antibiotics 9, 123. https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics9030123
• 7:15 – Böhm, M.-E., Razavi, M., Marathe, N.P., Flach, C.-F., Larsson, D.G.J., 2020b. Discovery of a novel integron-borne aminoglycoside resistance gene present in clinical pathogens by screening environmental bacterial communities. Microbiome 8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-020-00814-z
• 9:15 – Makowska, N., et al., 2020. Occurrence of integrons and antibiotic resistance genes in cryoconite and ice of Svalbard, Greenland, and the Caucasus glaciers. Science of The Total Environment 716, 137022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137022
• 20:45 – Marathe, N.P., et al., 2019. Scandinavium goeteborgense gen. nov., sp. nov., a New Member of the Family Enterobacteriaceae Isolated From a Wound Infection, Carries a Novel Quinolone Resistance Gene Variant. Frontiers in Microbiology 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2019.02511
• 33:45 – Kaito, C., Yoshikai, H., Wakamatsu, A., Miyashita, A., Matsumoto, Y., Fujiyuki, T., Kato, M., Ogura, Y., Hayashi, T., Isogai, T., Sekimizu, K., 2020. Non-pathogenic Escherichia coli acquires virulence by mutating a growth-essential LPS transporter. PLOS Pathogens 16, e1008469. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1008469
• 43:45 – Lories, B., Roberfroid, S., Dieltjens, L., De Coster, D., Foster, K.R., Steenackers, H.P., 2020. Biofilm Bacteria Use Stress Responses to Detect and Respond to Competitors. Current Biology 30, 1231-1244.e4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.01.065
• 45:45 – Lozano, G.L., Bravo, J.I., Garavito Diago, M.F., Park, H.B., Hurley, A., Peterson, S.B., Stabb, E.V., Crawford, J.M., Broderick, N.A., Handelsman, J., 2019. Introducing THOR, a Model Microbiome for Genetic Dissection of Community Behavior. mBio 10. https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.02846-18
• 55:45 – Kumar, P., Lee, J.-H., Beyenal, H., Lee, J., 2020. Fatty Acids as Antibiofilm and Antivirulence Agents. Trends in Microbiology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2020.03.014
• 60:15 – Gullberg, E., Cao, S., Berg, O.G., Ilbäck, C., Sandegren, L., Hughes, D., Andersson, D.I., 2011. Selection of resistant bacteria at very low antibiotic concentrations. PLoS Pathogens 7, e1002158. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1002158
• 61:15 – Larsson, D.G.J., 2018. Risks of using the natural defence of commensal bacteria as antibiotics call for research and regulation. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents 51, 277–278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2017.12.018
• 65:15 – Lone, A.G., Bankhead, T., 2020. The Borrelia burgdorferi VlsE Lipoprotein Prevents Antibody Binding to an Arthritis-Related Surface Antigen. Cell Reports 30, 3663-3670.e5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2020.02.081

The podcast was recorded on May 7, 2020. If you want to reach out to us with comments, suggestions or other feedback, please send an e-mail to podcast at microbiology dot se or contact @bengtssonpalme via Twitter. The music that can be heard on the pod is composed by Johan Bengtsson-Palme and is taken from the album Cafe Phonocratique.