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Detection and identification of pathogenic bacteria isolated from biological samples (blood, urine, sputum, etc.) are crucial steps in accelerated clinical diagnosis. However, accurate and rapid identification remain difficult to achieve due to the challenge of having to analyse complex and large samples. Current solutions (mass spectrometry, automated biochemical testing, etc.) propose a trade-off between time and accuracy, achieving satisfactory results at the expense of time-consuming processes, which can also be intrusive, destructive and costly. Moreover, those techniques tend to require an overnight subculture on solid agar medium delaying bacteria identification by 12–48 hours, thus preventing rapid prescription of appropriate treatment as it hinders antibiotic susceptibility testing. In this study, lens-free imaging is presented as a possible solution to achieve a quick and accurate wide range, non-destructive, label-free pathogenic bacteria detection and identification in real-time using micro colonies (10–500 μm) kinetic growth pattern combined with a two-stage deep learning architecture. Bacterial colonies growth time-lapses were acquired thanks to a live-cell lens-free imaging system and a thin-layer agar media made of 20 μl BHI (Brain Heart Infusion) to train our deep learning networks. Our architecture proposal achieved interesting results on a dataset constituted of seven different pathogenic bacteria—Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Enterococcus faecium (E. faecium), Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis), Staphylococcus epidermidis (S. epidermidis), Streptococcus pneumoniae R6 (S. pneumoniae), Streptococcus pyogenes (S. pyogenes), Lactococcus Lactis (L. Lactis). At T = 8h, our detection network reached an average 96.0% detection rate while our classification network precision and sensitivity averaged around 93.1% and 94.0% respectively, both were tested on 1908 colonies. Our classification network even obtained a perfect score for E. faecalis (60 colonies) and very high score for S. epidermidis at 99.7% (647 colonies). Our method achieved those results thanks to a novel technique coupling convolutional and recurrent neural networks together to extract spatio-temporal patterns from unreconstructed lens-free microscopy time-lapses. Author summary In order to combat the spread of resistances and to meet the specific needs of infection diagnosis in rural and remote settings, there is a strong need for new diagnostic tools that are faster, space efficient and less expensive than conventional ones while still being accurate. To answer those criteria, optical identification methods such as lens-free microscopy seem best-suited. Indeed, lens-free microscopy is an imaging technique that allows for continuous image acquisition during incubation, as it is non-destructive and compact enough to be integrated into an incubator. Here, we propose the combined use of lens-free microscopy imaging and deep learning to train neural networks able to detect and identify pathogenic species thanks to bacteria growth time-lapses on thin-layer agar and a novel deep learning architecture combining recurrent and convolutional neural networks. We achieved high quality detection and identification from 8 hours onwards on a dataset composed of 7 different pathogenic strains. Our study provides new results proving the usefulness of lens-free imaging on pathogenic species for rapid detection and identification tasks in low-resource settings.

Two-component regulatory systems (TCS) are among the most widespread mechanisms that bacteria use to sense and respond to environmental changes. In the human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae, a total of 13 TCS have been identified and many of them have been linked to pathogenicity. Notably, TCS01 strongly contributes to pneumococcal virulence in several infection models. However, it remains one of the least studied TCS in pneumococci and its functional role is still unclear. In this study, we demonstrate that TCS01 cooperates with a BceAB-type ABC transporter to sense and induce resistance to structurally-unrelated antimicrobial peptides of bacterial origin that all target undecaprenyl-pyrophosphate or lipid II, which are essential precursors of cell wall biosynthesis. Even though tcs01 and bceAB genes do not locate in the same gene cluster, disruption of either of them equally sensitized the bacterium to the same set of antimicrobial peptides. We show that the key function of TCS01 is to upregulate the expression of the transporter, while the latter appears the main actor in resistance. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays further demonstrated that the response regulator of TCS01 binds to the promoter region of the bceAB genes, implying a direct control of these genes. The BceAB transporter was overexpressed and purified from E. coli. After reconstitution in liposomes, it displayed substantial ATPase and GTPase activities that were stimulated by antimicrobial peptides to which it confers resistance to, revealing new functional features of a BceAB-type transporter. Altogether, this inducible defense mechanism likely contributes to the survival of the opportunistic microorganism in the human host, in which competition among commensal microorganisms is a key determinant for effective host colonization and invasive path.

ABSTRACT The capsule is the dominant Streptococcus pneumoniae virulence factor, yet how variation in capsule thickness is regulated is poorly understood. Here, we describe an unexpected relationship between mutation of adcAII, which encodes a zinc uptake lipoprotein, and capsule thickness. Partial deletion of adcAII in three of five capsular serotypes frequently resulted in a mucoid phenotype that biochemical analysis and electron microscopy of the D39 adcAII mutants confirmed was caused by markedly increased capsule thickness. Compared to D39, the hyperencapsulated ΔadcAII mutant strain was more resistant to complement-mediated neutrophil killing and was hypervirulent in mouse models of invasive infection. Transcriptome analysis of D39 and the ΔadcAII mutant identified major differences in transcription of the Sp_0505-0508 locus, which encodes an SpnD39III (ST5556II) type I restriction-modification system and allelic variation of which correlates with capsule thickness. A PCR assay demonstrated close linkage of the SpnD39IIIC and F alleles with the hyperencapsulated ΔadcAII strains. However, transformation of ΔadcAII with fixed SpnD39III alleles associated with normal capsule thickness did not revert the hyperencapsulated phenotype. Half of hyperencapsulated ΔadcAII strains contained the same single nucleotide polymorphism in the capsule locus gene cps2E, which is required for the initiation of capsule synthesis. These results provide further evidence for the importance of the SpnD39III (ST5556II) type I restriction-modification system for modulating capsule thickness and identified an unexpected linkage between capsule thickness and mutation of ΔadcAII. Further investigation will be needed to characterize how mutation of adcAII affects SpnD39III (ST5556II) allele dominance and results in the hyperencapsulated phenotype. IMPORTANCE The Streptococcus pneumoniae capsule affects multiple interactions with the host including contributing to colonization and immune evasion. During infection, the capsule thickness varies, but the mechanisms regulating this are poorly understood. We have identified an unsuspected relationship between mutation of adcAII, a gene that encodes a zinc uptake lipoprotein, and capsule thickness. Mutation of adcAII resulted in a striking hyperencapsulated phenotype, increased resistance to complement-mediated neutrophil killing, and increased S. pneumoniae virulence in mouse models of infection. Transcriptome and PCR analysis linked the hyperencapsulated phenotype of the ΔadcAII strain to specific alleles of the SpnD39III (ST5556II) type I restriction-modification system, a system which has previously been shown to affect capsule thickness. Our data provide further evidence for the importance of the SpnD39III (ST5556II) type I restriction-modification system for modulating capsule thickness and identify an unexpected link between capsule thickness and ΔadcAII, further investigation of which could further characterize mechanisms of capsule regulation.

The coexistence of different lipid phases is well-known in vitro, but evidence for their presence and function in cellular membranes remains scarce. Using a combination of fluorescent lipid probes, we observe segregation of domains that suggests the coexistence of liquid and gel phases in the membrane of Streptococcus pneumoniae, where they are localized to minimize bending stress in the ellipsoid geometry defined by the cell wall. Gel phase lipids with high bending rigidity would be spontaneously organized at the equator where curvature is minimal, thus marking the future division site, while liquid phase membrane maps onto the oblong hemispheres. In addition, the membrane-bound cell wall precursor with its particular dynamic acyl chain localizes at the division site where the membrane is highly curved. We propose a complete “chicken-and-egg” model where cell geometry determines the localization of lipid phases that positions the cell division machinery, which in turn alters the localization of lamellar phases by assembling the cell wall with a specific geometry.

Zinc (Zn(2+)) homeostasis is critical for pathogen host colonization and invasion. Polyhistidine triad (Pht) proteins, located at the surface of various streptococci, have been proposed to be involved in Zn(2+) homeostasis. The phtD gene, coding for a Zn(2+)-binding protein, is organized in an operon with adcAII coding for the extracellular part of a Zn(2+) transporter. In the present work, we investigate the relationship between PhtD and AdcAII using biochemical and structural biology approaches. Immuno-precipitation experiments on purified membranes of Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae) demonstrate that native PhtD and AdcAII interact in vivo confirming our previous in vitro observations. NMR was used to demonstrate Zn(2+) transfer from the Zn(2+)-bound form of a 137 amino acid N-terminal domain of PhtD (t-PhtD) to AdcAII. The high resolution NMR structure of t-PhtD shows that Zn(2+) is bound in a tetrahedral site by histidines 83, 86, and 88 as well as by glutamate 63. Comparison of the NMR parameters measured for apo- and Zn(2+)-t-PhtD shows that the loss of Zn(2+) leads to a diminished helical propensity at the C-terminus and increases the local dynamics and overall molecular volume. Structural comparison with the crystal structure of a 55-long fragment of PhtA suggests that Pht proteins are built from short repetitive units formed by three β-strands containing the conserved HxxHxH motif. Taken together, these results support a role for S. pneumoniae PhtD as a Zn(2+) scavenger for later release to the surface transporter AdcAII, leading to Zn(2+) uptake.

Lipoproteins are an important class of surface associated proteins that have diverse roles and frequently are involved in the virulence of bacterial pathogens. As prolipoproteins are attached to the cell membrane by a single enzyme, prolipoprotein diacylglyceryl transferase (Lgt), deletion of the corresponding gene potentially allows the characterisation of the overall importance of lipoproteins for specific bacterial functions. We have used a Δlgt mutant strain of Streptococcus pneumoniae to investigate the effects of loss of lipoprotein attachment on cation acquisition, growth in media containing specific carbon sources, and virulence in different infection models. Immunoblots of triton X-114 extracts, flow cytometry and immuno-fluorescence microscopy confirmed the Δlgt mutant had markedly reduced lipoprotein expression on the cell surface. The Δlgt mutant had reduced growth in cation depleted medium, increased sensitivity to oxidative stress, reduced zinc uptake, and reduced intracellular levels of several cations. Doubling time of the Δlgt mutant was also increased slightly when grown in medium with glucose, raffinose and maltotriose as sole carbon sources. These multiple defects in cation and sugar ABC transporter function for the Δlgt mutant were associated with only slightly delayed growth in complete medium. However the Δlgt mutant had significantly reduced growth in blood or bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and a marked impairment in virulence in mouse models of nasopharyngeal colonisation, sepsis and pneumonia. These data suggest that for S. pneumoniae loss of surface localisation of lipoproteins has widespread effects on ABC transporter functions that collectively prevent the Δlgt mutant from establishing invasive infection.

In vascular endothelium, adherens junctions between endothelial cells are composed of VE-cadherin (vascular endothelial cadherin), an adhesive receptor that is crucial for the proper assembly of vascular structures and the maintenance of vascular integrity. As a classical cadherin, VE-cadherin links endothelial cells together by homophilic interactions mediated by its extracellular part and associates intracellularly with the actin cytoskeleton via catenins. Although, from structural crystallographic data, a dimeric structure arranged in a trans orientation has emerged as a potential mechanism of cell–cell adhesion, the cadherin organization within adherens junctions remains controversial. Concerning VE-cadherin, its extracellular part possesses the capacity to self-associate in solution as hexamers consisting of three antiparallel cadherin dimers. VE-cadherin-based adherens junctions were reconstituted in vitro by assembly of a VE-cadherin EC (extracellular repeat) 1–EC4 hexamer at the surfaces of liposomes. The artificial adherens junctions revealed by cryoelectron microscopy appear as a two-dimensional self-assembly of hexameric structures. This cadherin organization is reminiscent of that found in native desmosomal junctions. Further structural studies performed on native VE-cadherin junctions would provide a better understanding of the cadherin organization within adherens junctions. Homophilic interactions between cadherins are strengthened intracellularly by connection to the actin cytoskeleton. Recently, we have discovered that annexin 2, an actin-binding protein connects the VE-cadherin–catenin complex to the actin cytoskeleton. This novel link is labile and promotes the endothelial cell switch from a quiescent to an angiogenic state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]