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The Human Microbiome as a Focus of Antibiotic Discovery: Neisseria mucosa Displays Activity Against Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Neisseria gonorrhoeae infections are a serious global health problem. This organism has developed disturbing levels of antibiotic resistance, resulting in the need for new approaches to prevent and treat gonorrhea. The genus Neisseria also includes several members of the human microbiome that live i...

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Autores principales: Aho, Ellen L., Ogle, Jenie M., Finck, Anna M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7744932/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33343520
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.577762
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author Aho, Ellen L.
Ogle, Jenie M.
Finck, Anna M.
author_facet Aho, Ellen L.
Ogle, Jenie M.
Finck, Anna M.
author_sort Aho, Ellen L.
collection PubMed
description Neisseria gonorrhoeae infections are a serious global health problem. This organism has developed disturbing levels of antibiotic resistance, resulting in the need for new approaches to prevent and treat gonorrhea. The genus Neisseria also includes several members of the human microbiome that live in close association with an array of microbial partners in a variety of niches. We designed an undergraduate antibiotic discovery project to examine a panel of nonpathogenic Neisseria species for their ability to produce antimicrobial secondary metabolites. Five strains belonging to the N. mucosa species group displayed activity against other Neisseria in delayed antagonism assays; three of these were active against N. gonorrhoeae. The antimicrobial compound secreted by N. mucosa NRL 9300 remained active in the presence of catalase, trypsin, and HEPES buffer, and effectively inhibited a DNA uptake mutant of N. gonorrhoeae. Antimicrobial activity was also retained in an ethyl acetate extract of plate grown N. mucosa NRL 9300. These data suggest N. mucosa produces an antimicrobial secondary metabolite that is distinct from previously described antigonococcal agents. This work also serves as a demonstration project that could easily be adapted to studying other members of the human microbiome in undergraduate settings. We offer the perspective that both introductory and more advanced course-based and apprentice-style antibiotic discovery projects focused on the microbiome have the potential to enrich undergraduate curricula and we describe transferrable techniques and strategies to facilitate project design.
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spelling pubmed-77449322020-12-18 The Human Microbiome as a Focus of Antibiotic Discovery: Neisseria mucosa Displays Activity Against Neisseria gonorrhoeae Aho, Ellen L. Ogle, Jenie M. Finck, Anna M. Front Microbiol Microbiology Neisseria gonorrhoeae infections are a serious global health problem. This organism has developed disturbing levels of antibiotic resistance, resulting in the need for new approaches to prevent and treat gonorrhea. The genus Neisseria also includes several members of the human microbiome that live in close association with an array of microbial partners in a variety of niches. We designed an undergraduate antibiotic discovery project to examine a panel of nonpathogenic Neisseria species for their ability to produce antimicrobial secondary metabolites. Five strains belonging to the N. mucosa species group displayed activity against other Neisseria in delayed antagonism assays; three of these were active against N. gonorrhoeae. The antimicrobial compound secreted by N. mucosa NRL 9300 remained active in the presence of catalase, trypsin, and HEPES buffer, and effectively inhibited a DNA uptake mutant of N. gonorrhoeae. Antimicrobial activity was also retained in an ethyl acetate extract of plate grown N. mucosa NRL 9300. These data suggest N. mucosa produces an antimicrobial secondary metabolite that is distinct from previously described antigonococcal agents. This work also serves as a demonstration project that could easily be adapted to studying other members of the human microbiome in undergraduate settings. We offer the perspective that both introductory and more advanced course-based and apprentice-style antibiotic discovery projects focused on the microbiome have the potential to enrich undergraduate curricula and we describe transferrable techniques and strategies to facilitate project design. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-12-03 /pmc/articles/PMC7744932/ /pubmed/33343520 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.577762 Text en Copyright © 2020 Aho, Ogle and Finck. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Microbiology
Aho, Ellen L.
Ogle, Jenie M.
Finck, Anna M.
The Human Microbiome as a Focus of Antibiotic Discovery: Neisseria mucosa Displays Activity Against Neisseria gonorrhoeae
title The Human Microbiome as a Focus of Antibiotic Discovery: Neisseria mucosa Displays Activity Against Neisseria gonorrhoeae
title_full The Human Microbiome as a Focus of Antibiotic Discovery: Neisseria mucosa Displays Activity Against Neisseria gonorrhoeae
title_fullStr The Human Microbiome as a Focus of Antibiotic Discovery: Neisseria mucosa Displays Activity Against Neisseria gonorrhoeae
title_full_unstemmed The Human Microbiome as a Focus of Antibiotic Discovery: Neisseria mucosa Displays Activity Against Neisseria gonorrhoeae
title_short The Human Microbiome as a Focus of Antibiotic Discovery: Neisseria mucosa Displays Activity Against Neisseria gonorrhoeae
title_sort human microbiome as a focus of antibiotic discovery: neisseria mucosa displays activity against neisseria gonorrhoeae
topic Microbiology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7744932/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33343520
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.577762
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