TY - JOUR A1 - Sieksmeyer, T. A1 - He, S. A1 - Esparza-Mora, M. A. A1 - Jiang, S. A1 - Petrasiunaite, V. A1 - Kuropka, B. A1 - Banasiak, Robert A1 - Julseth, M. J. A1 - Weise, C. A1 - Johnston, P. R. A1 - Rodriguez-Rojas, A. A1 - McMahon, Dino Peter T1 - Eating in a losing cause: Limited benefit of modifed macronutrient consumption following infection in the oriental cockroach Blatta orientalis JF - BMC ecology and evolution N2 - Background: Host–pathogen interactions can lead to dramatic changes in host feeding behaviour. One aspect of this includes self-medication, where infected individuals consume substances such as toxins or alter their macronutrient consumption to enhance immune competence. Another widely adopted animal response to infection is illness-induced anorexia, which is thought to assist host immunity directly or by limiting the nutritional resources available to pathogens. Here, we recorded macronutrient preferences of the global pest cockroach, Blatta orientalis to investigate how shifts in host macronutrient dietary preference and quantity of carbohydrate (C) and protein (P) interact with immunity following bacterial infection. Results: We fnd that B. orientalis avoids diets enriched for P under normal conditions, and that high P diets reduce cockroach survival in the long term. However, following bacterial challenge, cockroaches signifcantly reduced their overall nutrient intake, particularly of carbohydrates, and increased the relative ratio of protein (P:C) consumed. Surprisingly, these behavioural shifts had a limited efect on cockroach immunity and survival, with minor changes to immune protein abundance and antimicrobial activity between individuals placed on diferent diets, regardless of infection status. Conclusions: We show that cockroach feeding behaviour can be modulated by a pathogen, resulting in an illness-induced anorexia-like feeding response and a shift from a C-enriched to a more P:C equal diet. However, our results also indicate that such responses do not provide signifcant immune protection in B. orientalis, suggesting that the host’s dietary shift might also result from random rather than directed behaviour. The lack of an apparent beneft of the shift in feeding behaviour highlights a possible reduced importance of diet in immune regulation in these invasive animals, although further investigations employing pathogens with alternative infection strategies are warranted. KW - Animal immune system KW - A key interface KW - Host and symbiont ecology KW - Behavioural mechanisms KW - Biotic environment PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-550022 DO - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-022-02007-8 SN - 2730-7182 VL - 22 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Springer Nature CY - London, UK AN - OPUS4-55002 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schmidt, Selina A1 - Rodríguez-Rojas, A. A1 - Rolff, J. A1 - Schreiber, Frank T1 - Biocides used as material preservatives modify rates of de novo mutation and horizontal gene transfer in bacteria JF - Journal of hazardous materials N2 - Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health problem with the environment being an important compartment for the evolution and transmission of AMR. Previous studies showed that de-novo mutagenesis and horizontal gene transfer (HGT) by conjugation or transformation – important processes underlying resistance evolution and spread - are affected by antibiotics, metals and pesticides. However, natural microbial communities are also frequently exposed to biocides used as material preservatives, but it is unknown if these substances induce mutagenesis and HGT. Here, we show that active substances used in material preservatives can increase rates of mutation and conjugation in a species- and substance-dependent manner, while rates of transformation are not increased. The bisbiguanide chlorhexidine digluconate, the quaternary ammonium compound didecyldimethylammonium chloride, the metal copper, the pyrethroid-insecticide permethrin, and the azole-fungicide propiconazole increase mutation rates in Escherichia coli, whereas no increases were identified for Bacillus subtilis and Acinetobacter baylyi. Benzalkonium chloride, chlorhexidine and permethrin increased conjugation in E. coli. Moreover, our results show a connection between the RpoS-mediated general stress and the RecA-linked SOS response with increased rates of mutation and conjugation, but not for all biocides. Taken together, our data show the importance of assessing the contribution of material preservatives on AMR evolution and spread. KW - Mutation rate KW - Horizontal gene transfer KW - Biocides PY - 2022 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.129280 SN - 0304-3894 VL - 437 SP - 1 EP - 13 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-55261 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chacón, Luz A1 - Kuropka, B. A1 - González-Tortuero, E. A1 - Schreiber, Frank A1 - Rojas-Jiménez, K. A1 - Rodríguez-Rojas, A. T1 - Mechanisms of low susceptibility to the disinfectant benzalkonium chloride in a multidrug-resistant environmental isolate of Aeromonas hydrophila JF - Frontiers in Microbiology N2 - Excessive discharge of quaternary ammoniumdisinfectants such as benzalkonium chloride (BAC) into aquatic systems can trigger several physiological responses in environmental microorganisms. In this study, we isolated a less-susceptible strain of Aeromonas hydrophila to BAC, designated as INISA09, froma wastewater treatment plant in Costa Rica. We characterized its phenotypic response upon exposure to three di􀀀erent concentrations of BAC and characterizedmechanisms related to its resistance using genomic and proteomic approaches. The genome of the strain, mapped against 52 di􀀀erent sequenced A. hydrophila strains, consists of approximately 4.6Mb with 4,273 genes. We found a massive genome rearrangement and thousands of missense mutations compared to the reference strain A. hydrophila ATCC 7966. We identified 15,762 missense mutations mainly associated with transport, antimicrobial resistance, and outer membrane proteins. In addition, a quantitative proteomic analysis revealed a significant upregulation of several efflux pumps and the downregulation of porins when the strain was exposed to three BAC concentrations.Other genes related tomembrane fatty acid metabolism and redox metabolic reactions also showed an altered expression. Our findings indicate that the response of A. hydrophila INISA09 to BAC primarily occurs at the envelop level, which is the primary target of BAC. Our study elucidates the mechanisms of antimicrobial susceptibility in aquatic environments against a widely used disinfectant and will help better understand howbacteria can adapt to biocide pollution. To our knowledge, this is the first study addressing the resistance to BAC in an environmental A. hydrophila isolate. We propose that this bacterial species could also serve as a new model to study antimicrobial pollution in aquatic environments. KW - Antimicrobial resistance KW - Bacteria KW - Disinfection KW - Biocides PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-578555 DO - https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1180128 SN - 1664-302X VL - 14 SP - 1 EP - 18 PB - Frontiers SA CY - Lausanne AN - OPUS4-57855 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -