ADP-ribosyltransferase (ADPRT) catalyzes the reaction in which the ADP-ribose moiety of beta-NAD+ is transferred to specific amino acid residues in target proteins. The ADPRT of Mycobacterium smegmatis has been known to inactivate rifampin through ADP-ribosylation. However, the enzymatic characteristics and functions of the enzyme have not been elucidated yet. In this study, the ADPRT-glutathione S-transferase (GST) fusion protein was expressed in Escherichia coli and enzymatic characteristics of the fusion protein were investigated. ADPRT-GST fusion protein was an ADPribosyltransferase that had no NAD glycohydrolase activity. ADPRT-GST fusion protein showed no self-inactivation phenomenon that is a universal nature for all NAD glycohydrolases and is important in regulating its activity. ADPRT activity of the enzyme was decreased by novobiocin and isonicotinic acid hydrazide. These results suggest that Mycobacterium smegmatis ADPRT could be regulated by a different way from other NADases and involved in bacterial physiological process through a post-translational modification of cytosolic proteins.
Adenosine Diphosphate Ribose ; ADP Ribose Transferases* ; Cytosol ; Escherichia coli ; Isoniazid ; Mycobacterium smegmatis* ; Mycobacterium* ; NAD+ Nucleosidase ; Novobiocin ; Physiological Processes ; Protein Processing, Post-Translational ; Rifampin

PURPOSE: We conducted the study to evaluate the immunogenicity and safety of three component DTaP vaccine (Infanrix(R)) in a group of Korean healthy infants on a three-dose primary vaccination. And we compared the immunogenicity of this DTaP vaccine with two component DTaP vaccine which has been widely used in Korea. METHODS: We enrolled one hundred fifty one healthy infants aged 8-9 weeks. These infants were vaccinated at age 2, 4 and 6 months of age with three component DTaP vaccine. Solicited adverse events were actively monitored for 72 hours following each vaccination, and all adverse events after each vaccination were observed for three weeks. Anti-diphtheria toxoid Ab., anti-tetanus toxoid Ab., anti-pertussis toxin Ab., anti-filamentous hemagglutinin Ab., and anti-pertactin Ab. were measured using ELISA for assessing immunogenicity of study vaccine in 60 infants. Immunogenicity analysis of two component DTaP vaccine was performed with same methods in 14 infants as control. RESULTS: The seroconversion rates of anti-diphtheria toxoid Ab, anti-tetanus toxoid Ab. anti- filamentous hemagglutinin Ab. were 100% in both group. Seroconversion rate of anti-pertactin Ab in study group was 100%, but the rate in control group was 50%. However, geometric mean concentration of anti-pertussis toxin Ab. was higher in control group. Mild local and systemic reactions were observed within three days after vaccination, and no serious adverse events related study vaccine were happened during study period. CONCLUSIONS: Our study results suggest that three component DTaP vaccine (Infanrix(R)) is a well- tolerable and high immunogenic vaccine, especially anti-Pertactin Ab. of the study vaccine is very immunogenic. It can be available as routine DTaP vaccination in our infants.
Diphtheria-Tetanus-acellular Pertussis Vaccines* ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Hemagglutinins ; Humans ; Infant* ; Korea ; Pertussis Toxin ; Vaccination

With the introduction of synthetic antibiotics, many lives including humans and animals have been saved against bacterial infection. An increasing level of antibiotics use, however, raises serious problems of multi-drug resistance and transferring of resistance genes across different environments and countries. Advances in high-throughput sequencing technology and efficient bioinformatics methods allow us to perform a large-scale screening and analysis of resistomes in the human and environmental microbiomes. Recent studies on human microbiomes have revealed a diverse distribution of resistance genes and their transferring activities in the communities. This review discusses recent progresses in metagenomic approaches to identify resistance genes in the human microbiome, including genomic sequence search and functional metagenomics methods. Using Rifampicin ADP-ribosyltransferase as an example, an integrative approach that analyzes the sequences and three-dimensional structures of the proteins derived from resistance genes is also introduced.
ADP Ribose Transferases ; Animals ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Bacterial Infections ; Computational Biology ; Drug Resistance, Multiple ; Humans* ; Mass Screening ; Metagenome ; Metagenomics* ; Microbiota ; Rifampin

BACKGROUND: Thyroid goiters are very common, however, the mechanism of development is not fully understood. A TSH receptor has been known to activate two different signaling pathways the cAMP/protein kinase A(PKA) and phospholipase C(PLC)/protein kinase C(PKC) systems. However, both systems are limited in the degree to which they explain the discrepancy between a goiter and TSH receptor activation. It has recently been reported that the expression of p66 Shc was increased by TSH stimulation in thyrocytes, suggesting that the p66 Shc molecule may play a critical role in the transition of the TSH-induced growth signals. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this study, we examined the expression of p66 Shc by stimulation of TSH, and the regulatory mechanisms of the TSH-induced expression of the p66 Shc in FRTL-5 cells. In FRTL-5 cells, TSH could increase the expression of the p66 Shc, and the this expression was decreased to basal levels after the removal of TSH. The TSH-induced p66 Shc expression was competitively inhibited by TSH receptor blocking antibodies. The increments of the expression of the p66 Shc protein caused by TSH were both time and concentration dependent, and it was same in the mRNA levels. Cholera toxin increased the expression of the p66 Shc, while pertussis toxin did not. The activators of the cAMP/PKA pathway (8-bromo-cAMP and forskolin) also stimulated the expression of p66 Shc, and the PKA inhibitor H89 decreased the expression, while the inhibition of the PKC pathway by GF109203X, or PMA, affected the expression of p66 Shc very little. CONCLUSION: Our data suggests that p66 Shc may play an important role in regulating the growth of thyrocytes. The TSH receptor - Gs protein - adenylate cyclase - cAMP - PKA pathway mainly mediates the TSH effects on the expression of p66 Shc molecules.
Adenylyl Cyclases ; Antibodies, Blocking ; Cholera Toxin ; Goiter ; Pertussis Toxin ; Phospholipases ; Phosphotransferases ; Receptors, Thyrotropin ; RNA, Messenger ; Thyroid Gland

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to develop and validate a multiplex real-time PCR assay for simultaneous identification and toxigenic type characterization of Clostridium difficile. METHODS: The multiplex real-time PCR assay targeted and simultaneously detected triose phosphate isomerase (tpi) and binary toxin (cdtA) genes, and toxin A (tcdA) and B (tcdB) genes in the first and sec tubes, respectively. The results of multiplex real-time PCR were compared to those of the BD GeneOhm Cdiff assay, targeting the tcdB gene alone. The toxigenic culture was used as the reference, where toxin genes were detected by multiplex real-time PCR. RESULTS: A total of 351 stool samples from consecutive patients were included in the study. Fifty-five stool samples (15.6%) were determined to be positive for the presence of C. difficile by using multiplex real-time PCR. Of these, 48 (87.2%) were toxigenic (46 tcdA and tcdB-positive, two positive for only tcdB) and 11 (22.9%) were cdtA-positive. The sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value (NPV), and positive predictive value (PPV) of the multiplex real-time PCR compared with the toxigenic culture were 95.6%, 98.6%, 91.6%, and 99.3%, respectively. The analytical sensitivity of the multiplex real-time PCR assay was determined to be 103colonyforming unit (CFU)/g spiked stool sample and 0.0625 pg genomic DNA from culture. Analytical specificity determined by using 15 enteric and non-clostridial reference strains was 100%. CONCLUSIONS: The multiplex real-time PCR assay accurately detected C. difficile isolates from diarrheal stool samples and characterized its toxin genes in a single PCR run.
ADP Ribose Transferases/genetics ; Bacterial Proteins/*genetics ; Bacterial Toxins/*genetics ; Clostridium difficile/isolation & purification/*metabolism ; DNA, Bacterial/genetics/metabolism ; Enterotoxins/genetics ; Feces/*microbiology ; Humans ; Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prospective Studies ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Triose-Phosphate Isomerase/genetics

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important opportunistic human pathogen. It encodes many virulence factors and one of them is type III secretion system (TTSS). Effectors proteins can be delivered into host cells directly by this system, causing necrosis or apoptosis. popN gene is the first gene in the popN operon of TTSS gene cluster. To investigate its function, popN gene deletion mutant was generated in this study, and we found this mutant can secrete effectors proteins constitutively under non-inducting condition in DMEM medium containing serum. The results indicated that PopN is a negative regulator of the TTSS expression. However, no secreted effector proteins were detectable when the popN- mutant was grown in LB medium under non-inducting condition. To investigate the possible reasons, effects of growth status and protease (s) inhibitors on the TTSS were investigated. We present evidences that indicate protease mediated degradation of secreted effector proteins played a key role in the phenotypic inconsistency of popN- mutant.
ADP Ribose Transferases ; metabolism ; secretion ; Bacterial Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; secretion ; Bacterial Toxins ; metabolism ; Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial ; Mutation ; Peptide Hydrolases ; genetics ; metabolism ; Pore Forming Cytotoxic Proteins ; genetics ; secretion ; Protease Inhibitors ; pharmacology ; Pseudomonas aeruginosa ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathogenicity

OBJECTIVETo study the clinical significance of virulence genes exo U and exo S of type III secretion system (TTSS) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA).

METHODSOne hundred and eighty-nine clinical isolates of PA were collected from five hospitals. The incidence of virulence genes exo U and exo S in PA were determined with PCR. Minimum inhibitory concentration of anti-bacterial drug for PA was determined with microdilution method. The clinical features and outcomes of 60 hospitalized patients colonized or infected with exo U+/exo S- positive or exo U-/exo S+ positive PA isolated from sputum were analyzed retrospectively. Data were processed with chi-square test.

RESULTSAmong the 189 PA isolates, 85.2% (161/189) harbored TTSS genes, including exo U-/exo S+ type (120 isolates), exo U+/exo S- type (31 isolates), exo U-/exo S- type (7 isolates), and exo U+/exo S+ type (3 isolates). 72.0% (72/100) isolates from sputum and 81.5% (44/54) isolates from blood belonged to exo U-/exo S+ genotype. Compared with those of TTSS-negative isolates, the antimicrobial resistance of TTSS-positive isolates to cefoperazone/sulbactam, ceftazidime, amikacin, and cefepime were lower (with χ² value respectively 10.1, 16.1, 9.3, 33.8, P values all below 0.01). The antimicrobial resistance to all examined drug between exo U-/exo S+ type and exo U+/exo S- type isolates was close (with χ² values from 0.08 to 2.04, P values all above 0.05). Patients detected with exo U+/exo S- positive PA isolated from sputum were significantly associated with PA infection, and they usually had history of tracheal intubation, ICU hospitalization, and combined use of drugs for anti-infection treatment. Patients detected with exo U-/exo S+ positive PA isolated from sputum were significantly associated with PA colonization, which had basic lung disease and better outcome than the former infection type.

CONCLUSIONSThe TTSS exists in most clinical isolates of PA. Detection of exo U or exo S of PA isolated from sputum is helpful for the analysis of clinical features and outcome of patients.

ADP Ribose Transferases ; genetics ; metabolism ; Bacterial Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Bacterial Secretion Systems ; genetics ; Bacterial Toxins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Drug Resistance, Bacterial ; Genes, Bacterial ; Humans ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Pseudomonas Infections ; microbiology ; Pseudomonas aeruginosa ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; pathogenicity ; Retrospective Studies ; Virulence

Translocating protein and translocating peptides have therapeutic potential against tumors by exposing the cytotoxic domains of toxic proteins to the cell cytosol. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of N-terminally fused PE translocating peptides on granzyme B (GrBa) activity. PE II-GrBa fusion protein genes were constructed by replacing N-terminal signal and acidic dipeptide sequence of human granzyme B gene with two truncated translocating sequences of Pseudomonas exotoxin A (PE II aa 280-364/358) by recombinant PCR, and then cloned into pIND inducible expression vector. The resulting pIND-PE II-GrBa expression vectors were co-transfected with assistant plasmid pVgRXR into HeLa cells through lipofectamine, followed by selection on G418 and zeocin. The resistant cells were collected and induced with ponasterone A. Western blot analysis demonstrated that ponasterone A induction caused the expression of PE II-GrBa fusion proteins, and indirect immunofluorescence detected giant sized multinucleated cells, suggesting cytoskeletal and mitotic abnormalities as reported in our previous studies. Western blot, enzymatic activity assay and cell counting analysis indicated that two types of PE II-GrBa fusion proteins were capable of cleaving both endogenous and exogenous substrates of granzyme B, and inhibiting the growth of cells. The PE II (aa 280-358)-GrBa was shown to have higher serine protease activity and stronger growth inhibitory effect. Such inhibition was presumably associated with G2 arrest as determined by cell cycle analysis. These data prove that PE II-GrBa fusion proteins have cell inhibitory effect similar to GrBa, and that the shorter PE-derived peptide exerts less influence on GrBa activity. This study helps to optimize the construction of recombinant protein comprising translocating peptides and cytotoxic molecules for tumor cell killing.
ADP Ribose Transferases ; genetics ; pharmacology ; Bacterial Toxins ; genetics ; pharmacology ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Exotoxins ; genetics ; pharmacology ; Granzymes ; genetics ; pharmacology ; HeLa Cells ; Humans ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; pharmacology ; Virulence Factors ; genetics ; pharmacology

AIMTo investigate wether the corresponding protein of mono-ADP-ribosyltransferase 3 (ART3) mRNA is expressed in human testes and, if so, whether the expression is cell type-specific.

METHODSART3 mRNA was determined in human testes and sperm by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol linkage of ART3 was shown by treating ART3-transfected HEK-293-T cells with phospholipase C. Fluorescent activated cell sorter (FACS)-analyses were used to detect ART3 on mature spermatozoa and immunohistological studies to detect the protein in testes.

RESULTSART3 protein was shown to be present in testes. It was found on spermatocytes only. It was absent from spermatogonia, spermatids and spermatozoa. The absence of ART3 from spermatozoa was confirmed by FACS-analysis. ART3 protein was detected neither within a seminoma nor on Leydig cells.

CONCLUSIONHere we show for the first time that ART3 protein is expressed in testes in particular on spermatocytes, indicating that ART3 exerts a specific function only required at a particular stage of spermatogenesis.

ADP Ribose Transferases ; genetics ; Cell Line ; Flow Cytometry ; GPI-Linked Proteins ; Humans ; Male ; Membrane Proteins ; genetics ; Organ Specificity ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Spermatocytes ; enzymology ; Spermatozoa ; enzymology ; Testis ; enzymology ; Transfection

OBJECTIVEPseudomonas aeruginosa is a ubiquitous and opportunistic pathogen that uses the type III secretion system (TTSS) to inject effector proteins directly into the cytosol of target cells to subvert the host cell's functions. Specialized bacterial chaperones are required for effective secretion of some effectors. To identify the chaperone of ExoS, the representative effector secreted by the TTSS of P. aeruginosa, we analyzed the role of a postulated chaperone termed Orf1.

METHODSBy allelic exchange, we constructed the mutant with the deletion of gene Orf1. Analysis of secreted and cell-associated fractions was performed by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting. Using strain expressing in trans Orf1, tagged by V5 polypeptide and histidine, protein-protein interaction was determined by affinity resin pull-down assay in combination with MALDI-TOF. The role of Orf1 in the expression of exoS was evaluated by gene reporter analysis.

RESULTSPull-down assay showed that Orf1 binds to ExoS and ExoT. Secretion profile analysis showed that Orf1 was necessary for the optimal secretion of ExoS and ExoT. However, Orf1 had no effect on the expression of exoS.

CONCLUSIONOrf1 is important for the secretion of ExoS probably by maintaining ExoS in a secretion-competent conformation. We propose to name Orf1 as SpcS for "specific Pseudomonas chaperone for ExoS".

ADP Ribose Transferases ; genetics ; metabolism ; Bacterial Toxins ; genetics ; metabolism ; Base Sequence ; Blotting, Western ; DNA Primers ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Kinetics ; Molecular Chaperones ; genetics ; metabolism ; Protein Binding ; Pseudomonas aeruginosa ; metabolism ; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization