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Advances in Clinical and Experimental... 2013Proteus sp. strains isolated from patients with urinary tract infection (UTI) are often insensitive to the bactericidal action of normal human serum (NHS) which poses a...
BACKGROUND
Proteus sp. strains isolated from patients with urinary tract infection (UTI) are often insensitive to the bactericidal action of normal human serum (NHS) which poses a clinical problem. The swarming phenomenon is an especially important factor in cases of UTIs gained through the ascending route. Both these virulence factors are connected with the cell surface components of bacteria, including lipopolysaccharide (LPS).
OBJECTIVES
The resistance of Proteus bacilli to the bactericidal activity of NHS and the swarming phenomenon were investigated as well as the possible relationships between these virulence factors and the chemical structure of LPS.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The research was carried out on P. penneri and P. vulgaris species. Two preparations of sera were tested with respect to the bactericidal action of NHS. The ability of bacteria to swarm was checked on broth agar plates. The length of the O-specific part of LPS was estimated after poliacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and staining with silver nitrate.
RESULTS
Among the 62 tested Proteus strains, over 62% of Proteus vulgaris and 50% of Proteus penneri strains were sensitive to the bactericidal action of NHS. However, the number of resistant strains grew dramatically when serum with blocked complement activation via the alternative pathway was used. From 102 of the Proteus sp. Strains, only few were unable to swarm over the solid surface of the media. The remaining showed diverse ability to translocate.
CONCLUSIONS
There was no definite correlation between the chemical structure of the O-specific chains of lipopolysaccharides and sensitivity or resistance of the Proteus sp. strains to NHS. Also, no significant relationships were found between the length or the chemical structure of the O-specific chains of the bacterial LPSs and the swarming phenomenon.
Topics: Blood Bactericidal Activity; Humans; Lipopolysaccharides; Locomotion; Proteus Infections; Proteus penneri; Proteus vulgaris; Serum Bactericidal Test; Urinary Tract Infections; Virulence Factors
PubMed: 23709372
DOI: No ID Found -
Microbial Ecology Nov 2016Proteus spp. bacteria were first described in 1885 by Gustav Hauser, who had revealed their feature of intensive swarming growth. Currently, the genus is divided into... (Review)
Review
Proteus spp. bacteria were first described in 1885 by Gustav Hauser, who had revealed their feature of intensive swarming growth. Currently, the genus is divided into Proteus mirabilis, Proteus vulgaris, Proteus penneri, Proteus hauseri, and three unnamed genomospecies 4, 5, and 6 and consists of 80 O-antigenic serogroups. The bacteria are known to be human opportunistic pathogens, isolated from urine, wounds, and other clinical sources. It is postulated that intestines are a reservoir of these proteolytic organisms. Many wild and domestic animals may be hosts of Proteus spp. bacteria, which are commonly known to play a role of parasites or commensals. However, interesting examples of their symbiotic relationships with higher organisms have also been described. Proteus spp. bacteria present in soil or water habitats are often regarded as indicators of fecal pollution, posing a threat of poisoning when the contaminated water or seafood is consumed. The health risk may also be connected with drug-resistant strains sourcing from intestines. Positive aspects of the bacteria presence in water and soil are connected with exceptional features displayed by autochthonic Proteus spp. strains detected in these environments. These rods acquire various metabolic abilities allowing their adaptation to different environmental conditions, such as high concentrations of heavy metals or toxic substances, which may be exploited as sources of energy and nutrition by the bacteria. The Proteus spp. abilities to tolerate or utilize polluting compounds as well as promote plant growth provide a possibility of employing these microorganisms in bioremediation and environmental protection.
Topics: Animals; Environment; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Houseflies; Humans; Insect Vectors; Proteus; Proteus Infections; Soil Microbiology; Virulence Factors; Water Microbiology; Water Pollution
PubMed: 26748500
DOI: 10.1007/s00248-015-0720-6 -
Medical Microbiology and Immunology Dec 2016The frequency of P. penneri isolation from hospital patients, mostly from urine and wounds, keeps on growing, and numerous isolates are multi-drug resistant. P. penneri...
The frequency of P. penneri isolation from hospital patients, mostly from urine and wounds, keeps on growing, and numerous isolates are multi-drug resistant. P. penneri rods produce lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which may lead to the septic shock. Until now, O-specific polysaccharide has been the best structurally and serologically characterized region of P. penneri LPS. It is worth having an insight into the serological specificity of both poly- and oligosaccharide parts of P. penneri LPS. The P. penneri core region is less structurally diverse than OPS, but still, among other enterobacterial LPS core regions, it is characterized by structural variability. In the present study, the serological reactivity of 25 P. penneri LPS core regions was analyzed by ELISA, passive immunohemolysis and Western blot technique using five polyclonal P. penneri antisera after or without their adsorption with the respective LPSs. The results allowed the assignment of the tested strains to five new core serotypes, which together with published serological studies led to the creation of the first serotyping scheme based on LPS core reactivities of 35 P. penneri and three P. mirabilis strains. Together with the O types scheme, it will facilitate assigning Proteus LPSs of clinical isolates into appropriate O and R serotypes.
Topics: Animals; Epitopes; Immune Sera; Lipopolysaccharides; Proteus penneri; Rabbits; Serogroup; Serotyping; Virulence Factors
PubMed: 27469376
DOI: 10.1007/s00430-016-0468-8 -
Microbiology and Molecular Biology... Mar 1997The object of this review is the genus Proteus, which contains bacteria considered now to belong to the opportunistic pathogens. Widely distributed in nature (in soil,... (Review)
Review
The object of this review is the genus Proteus, which contains bacteria considered now to belong to the opportunistic pathogens. Widely distributed in nature (in soil, water, and sewage), Proteus species play a significant ecological role. When present in the niches of higher macroorganisms, these species are able to evoke pathological events in different regions of the human body. The invaders (Proteus mirabilis, P. vulgaris, and P. penneri) have numerous factors including fimbriae, flagella, outer membrane proteins, lipopolysaccharide, capsule antigen, urease, immunoglobulin A proteases, hemolysins, amino acid deaminases, and, finally, the most characteristic attribute of Proteus, swarming growth, enabling them to colonize and survive in higher organisms. All these features and factors are described and commented on in detail. The questions important for future investigation of these facultatively pathogenic microorganisms are also discussed.
Topics: Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; Bacterial Proteins; Carbohydrate Sequence; Disease Susceptibility; Drug Resistance, Microbial; Fimbriae, Bacterial; Flagella; Hemolysin Proteins; Humans; Hydro-Lyases; Lipid A; Lipopolysaccharides; Metalloendopeptidases; Molecular Sequence Data; Polymyxins; Proteus; Proteus Infections; Proteus mirabilis; Proteus vulgaris; Serine Endopeptidases; Urease
PubMed: 9106365
DOI: 10.1128/mmbr.61.1.65-89.1997 -
FEMS Immunology and Medical Microbiology Oct 2003The lipopolysaccharides (LPS) of Proteus penneri 28 and Proteus vulgaris O31 (PrK 55/57) were degraded with dilute acetic acid and structurally identical...
The lipopolysaccharides (LPS) of Proteus penneri 28 and Proteus vulgaris O31 (PrK 55/57) were degraded with dilute acetic acid and structurally identical high-molecular-mass O-polysaccharides were isolated by gel-permeation chromatography. Sugar analysis and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic studies showed that both polysaccharides contain D-GlcNAc, 2-acetamido-2,6-dideoxy-L-glucose (L-2-acetamido-2,6-dideoxyglucose (N-acetylquinovosamine)) and 2-acetamido-3-O-[(S)-1-carboxyethyl]-2-deoxy-D-glucose (N-acetylisomuramic acid) and have the following structure: [carbohydrate structure: see text] where (S)-1-carboxyethyl [a residue of (S)-lactic acid] (S-Lac) is an ether-linked residue of (S)-lactic acid. The O-polysaccharide studied is structurally similar to that of P. penneri 26, which differs only in the absence of S-Lac from the GlcNAc residue. Based on the O-polysaccharide structures and serological data of the LPS, it was suggested classifying these strains in one Proteus serogroup, O31, as two subgroups: O(31a), 31b for P. penneri 28 and P. vulgaris PrK 55/57 and O31a for P. penneri 26. A serological relatedness of the LPS of Proteus O(31a), 31b and P. penneri 62 was revealed and substantiated by sharing epitope O31b, which is associated with N-acetylisomuramic acid. It was suggested that a cross-reactivity of P. penneri 28 O-antiserum with the LPS of several other P. penneri strains is due to a common epitope(s) on the LPS core.
Topics: Bacterial Typing Techniques; Carbohydrate Sequence; Humans; Lipopolysaccharides; Molecular Sequence Data; Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular; O Antigens; Proteus; Proteus penneri; Serotyping
PubMed: 14557001
DOI: 10.1016/S0928-8244(03)00208-6 -
The Indian Journal of Medical Research Mar 2012Indole negative Proteus species are invariably incorrectly identified as P. mirabilis, missing isolates of Proteus penneri. P. penneri is an invasive pathogen capable of...
BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES
Indole negative Proteus species are invariably incorrectly identified as P. mirabilis, missing isolates of Proteus penneri. P. penneri is an invasive pathogen capable of causing major infectious diseases still seldom reported in individual cases. We report here the isolation, differentiation, characterization and typing of P. penneri from patients with different clinical infections.
METHODS
Urine, pus and body fluids collected from patients in intensive care units, wards and out patients departments of a tertiary health care institute from north India were cultured. A total of 61 indole negative Proteus isolates were subjected to extended biochemical tests to differentiate and identify P. penneri from P. mirabilis including failure to produce ornithine decarboxylase (by 0% strains of P. penneri and 100% strains of P. mirabilis) besides P. penneri being uniformly salicin negative, non-utilizer of citrate but ferments sucrose and maltose. Antibiograms and Dienes phenomenon were performed to characterize and type P. penneri isolates besides screening for β-lactamase production.
RESULTS
Eight isolates of P. penneri were identified; four from urine, three from abdominal drain-fluid and one from diabetic foot ulcer. P. penneri was isolated as the sole pathogen in all patients having underlying disease; post-operatively. Swarming was not seen in the first strain on primary isolation and was poor in strain-4. All eight isolates were biochemically homologous but multi-drug resistant (MDR) with resistance to 6-8 drugs (up to 12). β-lactamase production was seen in three of five isolates while Dienes phenomenon found four distinct types and discriminated strains differing in resistance even with a single drug.
INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSIONS
A few additional biochemical tests identified P. penneri isolates; it infected patients with underlying disease and strains were MDR and heterogenous.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Child, Preschool; Drug Resistance, Multiple; Female; Humans; Male; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Middle Aged; Proteus Infections; Proteus penneri; beta-Lactamases
PubMed: 22561620
DOI: No ID Found -
International Journal of Molecular... Feb 2018The new type of core oligosaccharide in 40A and 41 lipopolysaccharides has been investigated by ¹H and C NMR spectroscopy, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry...
The new type of core oligosaccharide in 40A and 41 lipopolysaccharides has been investigated by ¹H and C NMR spectroscopy, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and chemical methods. Core oligosaccharides of both strains were chosen for structural analysis based on the reactivity of LPSs with serum against 40A core oligosaccharide-diphtheria toxoid conjugate. Structural analyses revealed that 40A and 41 LPSs possess an identical core oligosaccharide.
Topics: Antigens, Bacterial; Immune Sera; Lipopolysaccharides; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Molecular Structure; Oligosaccharides; Proteus penneri; Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; Structure-Activity Relationship
PubMed: 29495556
DOI: 10.3390/ijms19030676 -
Journal of Clinical Microbiology Jun 1987Twenty strains of Proteus penneri obtained from the Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, Ga., were tested for their ability to hemolyze sheep and human erythrocytes, a...
Twenty strains of Proteus penneri obtained from the Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, Ga., were tested for their ability to hemolyze sheep and human erythrocytes, a property that is thought to be connected with the invasiveness and virulence of Proteus species. In the logarithmic phase of growth, P. penneri cultures are hemolytic for such erythrocytes. This ability is comparable to the hemolysis exhibited by nearly 100% of P. vulgaris and P. mirabilis strains, which is due to the production of a cell-bound hemolytic factor; is demonstrated only in broth cultures; and seems to facilitate the penetration of P. penneri and other Proteus species into the cells without cytotoxic effects. In contrast, a filterable alpha-hemolysin, which is produced transiently by a very few strains of P. mirabilis, was present in 4 of 20 P. penneri strains. This property, which is expressed at a high level over a long period, suggests a chromosomal origin. The penetration of an alpha-hemolytic P. penneri strain into Vero cells was accompanied by a drastic cytotoxic effect.
Topics: Animals; Culture Media; Hemolysin Proteins; Hemolysis; Humans; Proteus; Sheep; Vero Cells; Virulence
PubMed: 3597752
DOI: 10.1128/jcm.25.6.1094-1096.1987 -
The Journal of Antibiotics Jul 1986A cephalosporin-hydrolyzing enzyme from strains of Proteus penneri resistant to beta-lactam antibiotics was purified and characterized. The enzyme gave a single protein...
A cephalosporin-hydrolyzing enzyme from strains of Proteus penneri resistant to beta-lactam antibiotics was purified and characterized. The enzyme gave a single protein band on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with a molecular weight of 30,000. This cephalosporinase has an isoelectric point of 6.8, a pH optimum of 6.5 and a temperature optimum of 45 degrees C. The enzyme hydrolyzed cephaloridine, cephalothin, cefuroxime, and cefotaxime more rapidly than penicillins. The relative rate, with cephaloridine as 100, were: cephalothin, 50; cefuroxime, 93; cefotaxime, 48; ceftriaxone, 23; cefoperazone, 11; benzylpenicillin, 3; ampicillin, 9; and carbenicillin, less than 1. Cephamycins had low affinities for the enzyme. However, clavulanic acid and sulbactam, with high affinities for the enzyme, were inhibitors of this enzyme.
Topics: Anti-Bacterial Agents; Molecular Weight; Proteus; beta-Lactamases; beta-Lactams
PubMed: 3489701
DOI: 10.7164/antibiotics.39.938 -
European Journal of Biochemistry Jan 2002O-specific polysaccharides (O-antigens) of the lipopolysaccharides (LPS) of Proteus penneri strains 1 and 4 were studied using sugar analysis, (1)H and (13)C NMR...
O-specific polysaccharides (O-antigens) of the lipopolysaccharides (LPS) of Proteus penneri strains 1 and 4 were studied using sugar analysis, (1)H and (13)C NMR spectroscopy, including 2D COSY, H-detected (1)H,(13)C HMQC, and rotating-frame NOE spectroscopy (ROESY). The following structures of the tetrasaccharide (strain 1) and pentasaccharide (strain 4) repeating units of the polysaccharides were established: [reaction: see text]. In the polysaccharide of P. penneri strain 4, glycosylation with the lateral Glc residue (75%) and O-acetylation of the lateral GalNAc residue (55%) are nonstoichiometric. This polysaccharide contains also other, minor O-acetyl groups, whose positions were not determined. The structural similarity of the O-specific polysaccharides was consistent with the close serological relatedness of the LPS, which was demonstrated by immunochemical studies with O-antisera against P. penneri 1 and 4. Based on these data, it was proposed to classify P. penneri strains 1 and 4 into a new Proteus serogroup, O72, as two subgroups, O72a and O72a,b, respectively. Serological cross-reactivity of P. penneri 1 O-antiserum with the LPS of P. penneri 40 and 41 was substantiated by the presence of an epitope(s) on the LPS core region shared by all P. penneri strains studied.
Topics: Animals; Immune Sera; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; O Antigens; Proteus; Rabbits; Serotyping
PubMed: 11784330
DOI: 10.1046/j.0014-2956.2001.02660.x