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Biomedical subjects

C K Stover

Publications and source records attributed to C K Stover.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Complete genome sequence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1, an opportunistic pathogen.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a ubiquitous environmental bacterium that is one of the top three causes of opportunistic human infections. A major factor in its prominence as a pathogen is its intrinsic resistance to antibiotics and disinfectants. Here we report the complete sequence of P. aeruginosa strain PAO1. At 6.3 million base pairs, this is the largest bacterial genome sequenced, and the sequence provides insights into the basis of the versatility and intrinsic drug resistance of P. aeruginosa. Consistent with its larger genome size and environmental adaptability, P. aeruginosa contains the highest proportion of regulatory genes observed for a bacterial genome and a large number of genes involved in the catabolism, transport and efflux of organic compounds as well as four potential chemotaxis systems. We propose that the size and complexity of the P. aeruginosa genome reflect an evolutionary adaptation permitting it to thrive in diverse environments and resist the effects of a variety of antimicrobial substances.

Bacterial Proteins↗
PubMed2000

A small-molecule nitroimidazopyran drug candidate for the treatment of tuberculosis.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which causes tuberculosis, is the greatest single infectious cause of mortality worldwide, killing roughly two million people annually. Estimates indicate that one-third of the world population is infected with latent M. tuberculosis. The synergy between tuberculosis and the AIDS epidemic, and the surge of multidrug-resistant clinical isolates of M. tuberculosis have reaffirmed tuberculosis as a primary public health threat. However, new antitubercular drugs with new mechanisms of action have not been developed in over thirty years. Here we report a series of compounds containing a nitroimidazopyran nucleus that possess antitubercular activity. After activation by a mechanism dependent on M. tuberculosis F420 cofactor, nitroimidazopyrans inhibited the synthesis of protein and cell wall lipid. In contrast to current antitubercular drugs, nitroimidazopyrans exhibited bactericidal activity against both replicating and static M. tuberculosis. Lead compound PA-824 showed potent bactericidal activity against multidrugresistant M. tuberculosis and promising oral activity in animal infection models. We conclude that nitroimidazopyrans offer the practical qualities of a small molecule with the potential for the treatment of tuberculosis.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Safety and immunogenicity of recombinant Bacille Calmette-Guérin (rBCG) expressing Borrelia burgdorferi outer surface protein A (OspA) lipoprotein in adult volunteers: a candidate Lyme disease vaccine.

This phase I clinical trial was designed to determine the feasibility of using rBCG as a live bacterial vaccine vector for the outer surface protein A (OspA) of Borrelia burgdorferi and as model for other vaccines based on a rBCG vector. To construct the vaccine, a signal peptide derived from a mycobacterial lipoprotein was used to direct the export, and membrane-associated surface expression, of OspA in a standard strain of BCG (Connaught). The rBCG OspA vaccine was safe and immunogenic in several animal species, and protective in a mouse model of Lyme borreliosis. An intradermal injection (0.1 ml) of rBCG OspA was administered to 24 healthy adult volunteers sequentially at one of four dose levels, ranging from 2.0 x 10(4) CFU to 2 x 10(7) CFU, using a dose-escalation design. All volunteers were initially PPD-skin test and OspA antibody negative, and they were monitored for 2 years after immunization. Three volunteers had mild flu-like reactions 1-2 days after vaccination. Local ulceration and drainage at the site of injection, which occurred in 50% and 83% of volunteers in the two highest dose groups, persisted for 1-70 days before the ulcers healed. Most of the drainage samples yielded rBCG colonies that contained the OspA plasmid. Thirteen of 24 vaccinees, principally in the two highest dose groups, converted their PPD skin tests from negative to positive. None of the 24 volunteers developed OspA antibody. In conclusion, the current rBCG vaccine construct, the first such construct tested in humans, had a safety profile comparable to that of licensed BCG, but it did not elicit primary humoral responses to the vectored antigen.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

AhpC, oxidative stress and drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

The Mycobacterium tuberculosis AhpC is similar to a family of bacterial and eukaryotic antioxidant proteins with alkylhydroperoxidase (Ahp) and thioredoxin-dependent peroxidase (TPx) activities. AhpC expression is associated with resistance to the front-line antitubercular drug isoniazid in the naturally resistant organisms E. coli and M. smegmatis. We identified several isoniazid-resistant M. tuberculosis isolates with ahpC promoter mutations resulting in AhpC overexpression. These strains were more resistant to cumene hydroperoxide than were wild-type strains. However, these strains were unchanged in their sensitivity to isoniazid, refuting a role for AhpC in detoxification of this drug. All the isoniazid-resistant, AhpC-overexpressing strains were also deficient in activity of the mycobacterial catalase-peroxidase KatG. KatG, the only known catalase in M. tuberculosis, is required for activation of isoniazid. We propose that compensatory ahpC promoter mutations are selected from KatG-deficient, isoniazid-resistant M. tuberculosis during infections, to mitigate the added burden imposed by organic peroxides on these strains.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1999

Characterization of a Pseudomonas aeruginosa efflux pump contributing to aminoglycoside impermeability.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa can employ many distinct mechanisms of resistance to aminoglycoside antibiotics; however, in cystic fibrosis patients, more than 90% of aminoglycoside-resistant P. aeruginosa isolates are of the impermeability phenotype. The precise molecular mechanisms that produce aminoglycoside impermeability-type resistance are yet to be elucidated. A subtractive hybridization technique was used to reveal gene expression differences between PAO1 and isogenic, spontaneous aminoglycoside-resistant mutants of the impermeability phenotype. Among the many genes found to be up-regulated in these laboratory mutants were the amrAB genes encoding a recently discovered efflux system. The amrAB genes appear to be the same as the recently described mexXY genes; however, the resistance profile that we see in P. aeruginosa is very different from that described for Escherichia coli with mexXY. Direct evidence for AmrAB involvement in aminoglycoside resistance was provided by the deletion of amrB in the PAO1-derived laboratory mutant, which resulted in the restoration of aminoglycoside sensitivity to a level nearly identical to that of the parent strain. Furthermore, transcription of the amrAB genes was shown to be up-regulated in P. aeruginosa clinical isolates displaying the impermeability phenotype compared to a genotypically matched sensitive clinical isolate from the same patient. This suggests the possibility that AmrAB-mediated efflux is a clinically relevant mechanism of aminoglycoside resistance. Although it is unlikely that hyperexpression of AmrAB is the sole mechanism conferring the impermeability phenotype, we believe that the Amr efflux system can contribute to a complex interaction of molecular events resulting in the aminoglycoside impermeability-type resistance phenotype.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed1999

Impact of the high-affinity proline permease gene (putP) on the virulence of Staphylococcus aureus in experimental endocarditis.

Staphylococcus aureus causes a wide variety of invasive human infections. However, delineation of the genes which are essential for the in vivo survival of this pathogen has not been accomplished to date. Using signature tag mutagenesis techniques and large mutant pool screens, previous investigators identified several major gene classes as candidate essential gene loci for in vivo survival; these include genes for amino acid transporters, oligopeptide transporters, and lantibiotic synthesis (W. R. Schwan, S. N. Coulter, E. Y. W. Ng, M. H. Langhorne, H. D. Ritchie, L. L. Brody, S. Westbrock-Wadman, A. S. Bayer, K. R. Folger, and C. K. Stover, Infect. Immun. 66:567-572, 1998). In this study, we directly compared the virulence of four such isogenic signature tag mutants with that of the parental strain (RN6390) by using a prototypical model of invasive S. aureus infection, experimental endocarditis (IE). The oligonucleotide signature tag (OST) mutant with insertional inactivation of the gene (putP) which encodes the high-affinity transporter for proline uptake exhibited significantly reduced virulence in the IE model across three challenge inocula (10(4) to 10(6) CFU) in terms of achievable intravegetation densities (P, <0.05). The negative impact of putP inactivation on in vivo survival in the IE model was confirmed by simultaneous challenge with the original putP mutant and the parental strain as well as by challenge with a putP mutant in which this genetic inactivation was transduced into a distinct parental strain (S6C). In contrast, inactivation of loci encoding an oligopeptide transporter, a purine repressor, and lantibiotic biosynthesis had no substantial impact on the capacity of OST mutants to survive within IE vegetations. Thus, genes encoding the uptake of essential amino acids may well represent novel targets for new drug development. These data also confirm the utility of the OST technique as an important screening methodology for identifying candidate genes as requisite loci for the in vivo survival of S. aureus.

Amino Acid Transport Systems, Neutral↗
PubMed1999

Novel phosphotransferase systems revealed by bacterial genome analysis: the complete repertoire of pts genes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

We herein describe all genes encoding constituents of the phosphoenolpyruvate:sugar phosphotransferase system (PTS) in the 6Mbp genome of the opportunistic human pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Only four gene clusters were found to encode identifiable PTS homologues. These genes clusters encode novel multidomain proteins, two complete sugar-specific PTS phosphoryl transfer chains for the metabolism of fructose and N-acetylglucosamine, and a complex regulatory system that may function to coordinate carbon and nitrogen metabolism. No previously characterized organism has been shown to exhibit such a novel and restricted complement of PTS proteins.

Genome, Bacterial↗
PubMed1998

Staphylococcus aureus genetic loci impacting growth and survival in multiple infection environments.

The Gram-positive bacterium Staphylococcus aureus infects diverse tissues and causes a wide spectrum of diseases, suggesting that it possesses a repertoire of distinct molecular mechanisms promoting bacterial survival in disparate in vivo environments. Signature-tag transposon mutagenesis screening of a 1520-member library identified numerous S. aureus genetic loci affecting growth and survival in four complementary animal infection models including mouse abscess, bacteraemia and wound and rabbit endocarditis. Of a total of 237 in vivo attenuated mutants identified by the murine models, less than 10% showed attenuation in all three models, emphasizing the advantage of screening in diverse disease environments. The largest gene class identified by these analyses encoded peptide and amino acid transporters, some of which were important for S. aureus survival in all animal infection models tested. The identification of staphylococcal loci affecting growth, persistence and virulence in multiple tissue environments provides insight into the complexities of human infection and on the molecular mechanisms that could be targeted by new antibacterial therapies.

ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters↗
PubMed1998

Identification and characterization of the PutP proline permease that contributes to in vivo survival of Staphylococcus aureus in animal models.

Staphylococcus aureus is an important pathogen of humans and other animals, causing bacteremia, abscesses, endocarditis, and other infectious syndromes. A signature-tagged mutagenesis (STM) system was adapted for use in studying the genes required for in vivo survival of S. aureus. An STM library was ultimately created in S. aureus RN6390, with Tn917 being used to create the transposon mutations. Pools of S. aureus RN6390 mutants were screened in mouse abscess, bacteremia, and wound infection models for growth attenuation after in vivo passage. One of the mutants that was identified displayed marked attenuation following large-pool screening in all three animal models, which was confirmed in bacteremia and endocarditis models of infection with a smaller pool of mutants. Sequence analysis of the entire open reading frame showed a 99% identity to the high-affinity proline permease (putP) gene characterized in another strain of S. aureus. In wound and murine abscess infection models, the putP mutant was approximately 10-fold more attenuated than was wild-type strain RN6390. Another S. aureus strain transduced with the putP mutation also displayed an attenuated phenotype after passage in the wound model. A [3H]proline uptake assay showed that less proline was specifically transported into the putP mutant than into strain RN6390. The reduced viability of the bacteria possessing the mutation in the S. aureus high-affinity proline permease suggests that proline scavenging by the bacteria is important for in vivo growth and proliferation and that analogs of proline may serve as potential antistaphylococcal therapeutic agents.

Amino Acid Transport Systems, Neutral↗
PubMed1997

Rapid screening of natural products for antimycobacterial activity by using luciferase-expressing strains of Mycobacterium bovis BCG and Mycobacterium intracellulare.

The object of this study was to investigate the ability of a rapid luciferase assay to detect antimycobacterial activity in plant extracts. Recombinant strains of Mycobacterium bovis BCG (rBCG) and Mycobacterium intracellulare expressing firefly luciferase were used as the test organisms. Assays were conducted in a 96-well minitube format under biosafety level 2 conditions. Control and test wells were sampled immediately after inoculation and after 3 (recombinant M. intracellulare) and 5 (rBCG) days of incubation to measure luminescence with a microplate luminometer, and the relative change in luminescence was calculated as a percentage of control values. As an alternative test method, Alamar blue was added after 12 days of incubation, and changes in color were read visually. A total of 480 extracts were tested. Sixteen extracts were active against rBCG, and of those, seven were also active against recombinant M. intracellulare. With activity defined as a relative change in luminescence of < or = 1% (i.e., > or = 99% inhibition) and a persistence of blue color after addition of Alamar blue, there was 99.0% agreement between the two methods. Our results suggest that the luciferase assay is rapid and accurate and has the potential to greatly accelerate the evaluation of antimycobacterial activity in plant extracts in vitro. With this method, it is possible to screen a large number of samples in a short period of time.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed1996

Compensatory ahpC gene expression in isoniazid-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Mutations that eliminate KatG catalase-peroxidase activity prevent activation of isoniazid and are a major mechanism of resistance to this principal drug for the treatment of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections. However, the loss of KatG activity in clinical isolates seemed paradoxical because KatG is considered an important factor for the survival of the organism. Expression of either KatG or the recently identified alkyl hydroperoxidase AhpC was sufficient to protect bacilli against the toxic effects of organic peroxides. To survive during infection, isoniazid-resistant KatG mutants have apparently compensated for the loss of KatG catalase-peroxidase activity by a second mutation, resulting in hyperexpression of AhpC.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1996

Biochemical and genetic data suggest that InhA is not the primary target for activated isoniazid in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

An examination of the pattern of lipid biosynthetic responses to isoniazid (INH) treatment of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium smegmatis suggests that the mode of action of activated INH differs between these 2 organisms. Transformation of M. smegmatis with inhA on a plasmid construct conferred high-level resistance to INH, while the same construct failed to confer resistance upon M. tuberculosis. The inhA region from 2 clinical isolates whose resistance has been attributed to changes in the upstream promoter region has been cloned and was not sufficient to impart INH resistance to the level of the parent strain on sensitive M. tuberculosis. These putative mutant promoter elements appear to elevate expression levels of gene fusion reporter constructs, suggesting some noncausal connection between the observed mutations and the lipid metabolism of drug-resistant organisms. These results suggest that InhA is not the major target for activated INH in M. tuberculosis.

Antitubercular Agents↗
PubMed1996

Comparative antimycobacterial activities of rifampin, rifapentine, and KRM-1648 against a collection of rifampin-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates with known rpoB mutations.

A collection of 24 rifampin-resistant clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis with characterized RNA polymerase beta-subunit (rpoB) gene mutations was tested against the antimycobacterial agents rifampin, rifapentine, and KRM-1648 to correlate levels of resistance with specific rpoB genotypes. The results indicate that KRM-1648 is more active in vitro than rifampin and rifapentine, and its ability to overcome rifampin resistance in strains with four different genetic alterations may prove to be useful in understanding structure-function relationships.

Antibiotics, Antitubercular↗
PubMed1996

Luciferase in vivo expression technology: use of recombinant mycobacterial reporter strains to evaluate antimycobacterial activity in mice.

The development of new drugs and vaccines directed against Mycobacterium tuberculosis is severely impeded by the slow growth of this organism and the need to work under stringent biosafety conditions. These difficulties pose considerable obstacles when animal studies with M. tuberculosis are performed. We investigated whether a novel approach termed luciferase in vivo expression, using an enhanced luciferase-expressing mycobacterial strain, could be used to evaluate antimycobacterial activity in mice. Vectors that expressed firefly luciferase (lux gene) at high levels in the bacillus Calmette-Gu-erin (BCG) strain of Mycobacterium bovis were constructed for use in vivo. One recombinant BCG reporter strain (rBCG-lux) was selected for high-level expression of the lux gene product and for its ability to replicate in mice. Methodology to monitor in vivo growth of the rBCG-lux reporter strain in mice by direct assay of luciferase luminescence in organ homogenates was developed. The utility of this approach for assessing the in vivo efficacies of antimycobacterial compounds was evaluated. The activities of standard antimycobacterial drugs were directly apparent in mice infected with the rBCG-lux reporter strain by statistically significant reductions in spleen luminescence. In addition, antimycobacterial immunity was also evident in BCG-immunized mice, in which suppression of rBCG-lux growth in comparison with that in naive mice was clearly observed. The use of luciferase in vivo expression for the in vivo evaluation of antimycobacterial activity compared favorably with standard CFU determinations in terms of time, labor, expense, and statistical significance but permitted the evaluation of antimycobacterial drugs and immunity in mice in 7 days or less. Thus, the use of this technology can greatly accelerate the process of evaluation of antibiotics and immunogens in animal models for the slowly growing pathogenic mycobacteria.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Bioluminescence screening in vitro (Bio-Siv) assays for high-volume antimycobacterial drug discovery.

Bioluminescence-based assays to indicate antimicrobial susceptibility have been developed and validated for recombinant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium bovis BCG, Mycobacterium avium, and Mycobacterium intracellulare expressing an integrated eukaryotic luciferase gene. MICs determined with these bioluminescence assays for several antimycobacterial agents, including isoniazid, ethambutol, rifampin, amikacin, streptomycin, ciprofloxacin, and clarithromycin, compared favorably with traditional BACTEC methods and visual estimations of the inhibitory end point. Assay methodology has been optimized for the analysis of large numbers of novel compounds and is simple, inexpensive, and labor efficient. The availability of these four recombinant mycobacteria has permitted a strategy for drug discovery employing the nonpathogenic BCG strain for mass screening purposes with subsequent confirmation of activity against the pathogenic mycobacteria. Furthermore, evidence suggests that the BCG-based screen may allow the direct identification of bactericidal agents.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed1996

Reporter gene technology to assess activity of antimycobacterial agents in macrophages.

Reporter strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis BCG endogenously expressing firefly luciferase were used in bioluminescence assays to evaluate the activities of isoniazid and rifampin against mycobacteria sequestered in human macrophages. This methodology allowed the efficacy of antibiotics against intracellular mycobacteria to be assessed without the labor-intensive procedures and protracted incubation requirements associated with conventional CFU determinations.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed1996

Molecular analysis of genetic differences between Mycobacterium bovis BCG and virulent M. bovis.

The live attenuated bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine for the prevention of disease associated with Mycobacterium tuberculosis was derived from the closely related virulent tubercle bacillus, Mycobacterium bovis. Although the BCG vaccine has been one of the most widely used vaccines in the world for over 40 years, the genetic basis of BCG's attenuation has never been elucidated. We employed subtractive genomic hybridization to identify genetic differences between virulent M. bovis and M. tuberculosis and avirulent BCG. Three distinct genomic regions of difference (designated RD1 to RD3) were found to be deleted from BCG, and the precise junctions and DNA sequence of each deletion were determined. RD3, a 9.3-kb genomic segment present in virulent laboratory strains of M. bovis and M. tuberculosis, was absent from BCG and 84% of virulent clinical isolates. RD2, a 10.7-kb DNA segment containing a novel repetitive element and the previously identified mpt-64 gene, was conserved in all virulent laboratory and clinical tubercle bacilli tested and was deleted only from substrains derived from the original BCG Pasteur strain after 1925. Thus, the RD2 deletion occurred after the original derivation of BCG. RD1, a 9.5-kb DNA segment found to be deleted from all BCG substrains, was conserved in all virulent laboratory and clinical isolates of M. bovis and M. tuberculosis tested. The reintroduction of RD1 into BCG repressed the expression of at least 10 proteins and resulted in a protein expression profile almost identical to that of virulent M. bovis and M. tuberculosis, as determined by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. These data indicate a role for RD1 in the regulation of multiple genetic loci, suggesting that the loss of virulence by BCG is due to a regulatory mutation. These findings may be applicable to the rational design of a new attenuated tuberculosis vaccine and the development of new diagnostic tests to distinguish BCG vaccination from tuberculosis infection.

BCG Vaccine↗