Strains Of Mycobacteria Research Articles

Design of a light-responsive porphyrin/polysaccharide hybrid film for smart release of hydrocortisone

Responsive materials are the utmost systems to deliver drugs in a controllable and efficient manner. In this sense, the association between photo-responsive molecules and polysaccharides can result in materials able to deliver drugs under demand using light as external stimuli. Herein, a light-responsive hybrid film of Ca2+-cross-linked alginate (ALG) and 3-PtTPyP, a metalloporphyrin, was prepared and tested as a delivery system. Fully characterization revealed that the prepared film had a light-induced weight loss behavior caused by the degradation of the alginate matrix by reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by the photo-excited 3-PtTPyP. This light-responsive property was further exploited to control the release of hydrocortisone (HC) from the hybrid film. As observed, the HC release rate is faster when light irradiates the film, which also changes the release mechanism. The finds reported indicated that the prepared hybrid film is a potential smart delivery system for the HC release, which may benefit the use of this drug to treat skin diseases. Furthermore, the photodynamic action of the 3-PtTPyP@ALG films against mycobacteria strains was demonstrated, highlighting the ability of this original material to act simultaneously in antibacterial photodynamic therapy.

Unravelling the flexibility of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: an escape way for the bacilli.

The persistence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis makes it difficult to eradicate the associated infection from the host. The flexible nature of mycobacteria and their ability to adapt to adverse host conditions give rise to different drug-tolerant phenotypes. Granuloma formation restricts nutrient supply, limits oxygen availability and exposes bacteria to a low pH environment, resulting in non-replicating bacteria. These non-replicating mycobacteria, which need high doses and long exposure to anti-tubercular drugs, are the root cause of lengthy chemotherapy. Novel strategies, which are effective against non-replicating mycobacteria, need to be adopted to shorten tuberculosis treatment. This not only will reduce the treatment time but also will help prevent the emergence of multi-drug-resistant strains of mycobacteria.

Bacilloscopy, Bacterial culture, and Spoligotyping of Mycobacterium bovis strains isolated from cattle in North Central Algeria

This study aimed to assess bovine tuberculosis-like cases in three slaughterhouses in North Central Algeria and to confirm these suspected cases using microscopic, bacteriological examination, and molecular biology technique. We highlighted the factors influencing the prevalence of the disease. Also, the genomic profiles of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) strains isolated by Oligonucleotide typing technique (Spoligotyping) were determined. At the abattoir level, bovine carcasses were routinely inspected to detect visible abnormalities including suspicious lesions of bovine tuberculosis (BTB). At the laboratory level (Pasteur Institute, Algiers), Ziehl-Neelsen staining, bacterial culture, biochemical study (nitrate reduction test), and spoligotyping were performed to confirm suspected cases. On a total of 1300 bovine carcasses, 100 presented BTB-like cases (7.69%). Animals over 5 years of age were more affected compared to other age groups. Lesions were observed more often in females than in males and cattle of local breed were the most exposed to BTB-like cases (P<0.05). Bacilloscopy data were positive for 44 of the 100 suspected samples (44%) while bacteriology showed that 56 cultures were positive, while 35 were negative and 9 were contaminated. Molecular spoligotyping of 40 Mycobacterium strains samples showed 19 spoligotype profiles of M. bovis, of which 50% of profiles have been previously detected in the Mediterranean area and the three spoligotype patterns not previously reported were named SB2651, SB2652, SB2653 (by http:// www.Mbovis.org). Measures and means to prevent TB transmission among animals and to humans should be recommended, and more intensive investigations are required using both routine and molecular diagnostic techniques to understand and further explore MTBC.

Synthesis of New 4′-(Substituted phenyl)spiro[indoline-3,3′-[1,2,4]triazolidine]-2,5′-diones as Antimicrobial, Antitubercular, and Antifungal Agents: An Insight into the ADME and Toxicity Prediction as well as in-silico Molecular Docking Studies

Spiro-compounds are a significant class of naturally occurring materials distinguished by their prominent biological characteristics. Spiro[indole-thiazolidines] analogues find an extensive application in the development of biologically active compounds. The synthesis of the 4′-(substitutedphenyl)spiro[indoline-3,3′-[1,2,4]triazolidine]-2,5′-diones (3a-d) described here was quick and efficient, and it produced excellent yields. The synthesis was carried out in a hydro-alcoholic (EtOH:H2O; 1:2 v/v) system with an addition of 30% mol of boric acid in glycerol. The structure of the prepared compounds was validated using infrared (IR), nuclear magnetic resonance (1H & 13C NMR) and mass spectral (GC-MS) data, followed by their antibacterial, antitubercular and antifungal activities. Among the series, 4́-(3-chloro-4-fluorophenyl)spiro[indoline-3,3́-[1,2,4]triazolidine]-2,5́-dione (3d) was found to be the most potent, with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) values ranging from 4 to 8 µg/mL against both the gram positive (Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus) as well as gram negative (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) bacterial strains. However, the compound 3d was found to have inconsequential activity against the mycobacterium strains (Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra and M. bovis) and less activity against fungal strains (Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans). On the other hand 4́-(2-methoxyphenyl)spiro[indoline-3,3́-[1,2,4]triazolidine]-2,5́-dione (3c) displayed moderate but significant antifungal activity. The title compounds (3a-d) were further subjected to ADME and toxicity prediction as well as in-silico molecular docking studies against bacterial DNA gyrase (PDB ID: 6KZV). All the compounds (3a-d) followed the Lipinski's rule of five and were predicted as free from toxicities like immunotoxicity, mutagenicity and cytotoxicity and placed in Class IV category (300 < LD50 ≤ 2000). The docking score of the compound 3d was found to be −6.689 kcal/mol and demonstrated H-bond interactions with the residue Arg76 and Asp73 via water molecule.

A CRISPR-Cas12a-based platform for ultrasensitive rapid highly specific detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in clinical application.

Tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), is the second leading cause of death after COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we coupled multiple cross displacement amplification (MCDA) technique with CRISPR-Cas12a-based biosensing system to design a novel detection platform for tuberculosis diagnosis, termed MTB-MCDA-CRISPR. MTB-MCDA-CRISPR pre-amplified the specific sdaA gene of MTB by MCDA, and the MCDA results were then decoded by CRISPR-Cas12a-based detection, resulting in simple visual fluorescent signal readouts. A set of standard MCDA primers, an engineered CP1 primer, a quenched fluorescent ssDNA reporter, and a gRNA were designed targeting the sdaA gene of MTB. The optimal temperature for MCDA pre-amplification is 67°C. The whole experiment process can be completed within one hour, including sputum rapid genomic DNA extraction (15 minutes), MCDA reaction (40 minutes), and CRISPR-Cas12a-gRNA biosensing process (5 minutes). The limit of detection (LoD) of the MTB-MCDA-CRISPR assay is 40 fg per reaction. The MTB-MCDA-CRISPR assay does not cross reaction with non-tuberculosis mycobacterium (NTM) strains and other species, validating its specificity. The clinical performance of MTB-MCDA-CRISPR assay was higher than that of the sputum smear microscopy test and comparable to that of Xpert method. In summary, the MTB-MCDA-CRISPR assay is a promising and effective tool for tuberculosis infection diagnosis, surveillance and prevention, especially for point-of-care (POC) test and field deployment in source-limited regions.

Assessment of Student&amp;apos;s Knowledge in High Institute of Medical Technology / Abuslim About Tuberculosis Diseases

Tuberculosis (TB) is the second leading cause of human death after human immune deficiency virus (HIV) Tuberculosis is an airborne disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) (2). <i>Objective: </i>The study aims to identify the student knowledge about tuberculosis disease. <i>Method: </i>The sample of 140 students was selected from the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth class from the medical departments in high Institute of Medical Technology/abusleem for the period from March 2019 to June 2019. The questionnaire was designed to achieve the aims of study, it was consisting of many parts, the first content the demographic information, the second part include knowledge of students about categories that infected with tuberculosis. The third part include the student knowledge of the signs of disease, the fourth content methods of transmission of disease, and the last part include the student information about the methods of protection of tuberculosis disease. Data were analyzed by using frequency distribution, percentage. <i>Results:</i> This study found insufficient TB knowledge in a sample of students, poor knowledge about TB. They must improve knowledge about TB, because these students could be exposed to the Mycobacterium strains during their training activities or when they are employed in private and public health care settings.

Structural Basis of PE_PGRS Polymorphism, a Tool for Functional Modulation.

The mycobacterial PE_PGRS protein family is present only in pathogenic strains of the genus mycobacterium, such as Mtb and members of the MTB complex, suggesting a likely important role of this family in pathogenesis. Their PGRS domains are highly polymorphic and have been suggested to cause antigenic variations and facilitate pathogen survival. The availability of AlphaFold2.0 offered us a unique opportunity to better understand structural and functional properties of these domains and a role of polymorphism in Mtb evolution and dissemination. We made extensive use of AlphaFold2.0 computations and coupled them with sequence distribution phylogenetic and frequency analyses, and antigenic predictions. Modeling of several polymorphic forms of PE_PGRS33, the prototype of the PE_PGRS family and sequence analyses allowed us to predict the structural impact of mutations/deletions/insertions present in the most frequent variants. These analyses well correlate with the observed frequency and with the phenotypic features of the described variants. Here, we provide a thorough description of structural impacts of the observed polymorphism of PE_PGRS33 protein and we correlate predicted structures to the known fitness of strains containing specific variants. Finally, we also identify protein variants associated with bacterial evolution, showing sophisticated modifications likely endowed with a gain-of-function role during bacterial evolution.

Antimycobacterial Activity of Hedeoma drummondii against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Non-Tuberculous Mycobacteria.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major health problem worldwide, and the emergence of multi-resistant strains to first-line drugs has become the biggest obstacle to its treatment. On the other hand, the incidence of non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) in humans has increased remarkably in recent years. The search for new and better treatments against mycobacterial infections is a constant at the global level. Hence, in this study, we propose to investigate the antimycobacterial effect of the extracts and major compounds of Hedeoma drummondii against clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and non-tuberculous mycobacteria: M. abscessus, M. fortuitum, M. intracellulare, and M. gordonae. To determine the antimycobacterial activity, a microdilution assay was used to establish the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the different strains of Mycobacterium. The methanolic extract presented the best activity against M. tuberculosis, inhibiting ten of the twelve strains analyzed at a concentration < 2500 µg/mL; meanwhile, the hexanic extract presented the best activity against non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) by inhibiting eight of the ten strains studied at ≤625 µg/mL. Moreover, there is a strong positive correlation between the antimycobacterial activity of pulegone and the hexanic extract against non-tuberculous strains, so this compound could serve as a predictability marker against these types of microorganisms.

A novel repeat sequence-based PCR (rep-PCR) using specific repeat sequences of Mycobacterium intracellulare as a DNA fingerprinting.

Repetitive sequence-based PCR (rep-PCR) is a potential epidemiological technique that can provide high-throughput genotype fingerprints of heterogeneous Mycobacterium strains rapidly. Previously published rep-PCR primers, which are based on nucleotide sequences of Gram-negative bacteria may have low specificity for mycobacteria. Moreover, it was difficult to ensure the continuity of the study after the commercial rep-PCR kit was discontinued. Here, we designed a novel rep-PCR for Mycobacterium intracellulare, a major cause of nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease with frequent recurrence. We screened the 7,645 repeat sequences for 200 fragments from the genome of M. intracellulare ATCC 13950 in silico, finally generating five primers with more than 90% identity for a total of 226 loci in the genome. The five primers could make different band patterns depending on the genome of three different M. intracellulare strains using an in silico test. The novel rep-PCR with the five primers was conducted using 34 bacterial samples of 7 species containing 25 M. intracellulare clinical isolates, compared with previous published rep-PCRs. This shows distinguished patterns depending on species and blotting assay for 6 species implied the sequence specificity of the five primers. The Designed rep-PCR had a 95-98% of similarity value in the reproducibility test and showed 7 groups of fingerprints in M. intracellulare strains. Designed rep-PCR had a correlation value of 0.814 with VNTR, reference epidemiological method. This study provides a promising genotype fingerprinting method for tracing the recurrence of heterogeneous M. intracellulare.

Abstract 554: The role of Mycobacterium w as a novel treatment for osteosarcoma

Abstract Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common malignant primary tumor of bone and occurs in adolescents and young adults as well as in the elderly. Despite a number of large clinical trial efforts, metastatic sarcoma remains a lethal disease, and there have been no meaningful advances in therapy or improvements in patient outcomes for decades. Mycobacterium w (Mw, also known as Mycobacterium indicus pranii) is a non-pathogenic strain of mycobacterium which has been used as an immunomodulator against leprosy, tuberculosis and several cancers and is approved for treatment of NSCLC along with chemotherapy in India. Mw promotes a Th1 immune response and its administration in tumor bearing animals is associated with an increase in total number of tumor infiltrating immune cells (TIIC) with decrease in FOXP3 and PD-1 expressing TIIC in pancreatic cancer and melanoma. Previous studies in our lab have shown that Mw promotes mature dendritic cell and activated CD8+ T cell accumulation within the tumor microenvironment in a mouse model of pancreatic cancer. We compared the effects Mw with standard of care doxorubicin on OS tumor progression in a subcutaneous K7M2 syngeneic mouse model. Mw treatment was more effective at tumor inhibition than doxorubicin. Immunohistochemistry analyses of OS tumors revealed an increase in macrophages following Mw treatment. We aim to further analyze the tumor immune microenvironment using a panel of 28 antibodies to determine alterations due to Mw treatment. With these results we hope to show that Mw is a promising candidate for further development as a therapy for OS. Citation Format: Kirsten Stefan, Arpit Dheeraj, Dhanir Tailor, Sushil Kumar, Wenqi Li, Rajiv Modi, Manjul Joshipura, Bakulesh Khamar, Lara E. Davis, Sanjay V. Malhotra. The role of Mycobacterium w as a novel treatment for osteosarcoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 554.

Side Effects of TB Therapy and Recent Therapeutic Approaches for Tuberculosis Management

Tuberculosis or TB caused by the micro-organism Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a highly contagious and the second most fatal disease after AIDS. It is estimated that it will soon surpass the deaths caused by HIV.BCG is the only vaccine available to prevent TB, however it is not effective in case of adult pulmonary TB which is actually the most common type of TB. The currently used treatment regimen in most developing countries is a single tablet with fixed dose combination of four drugs- Isoniazid (INH), Rifampicin, Ethambutol and Pyrazinamide which are 1st line anti-tubercular drugs. This combination reduces the risk of development of multi-drug resistant (MDR) Mycobacterium. But this drug combination is known to have various severe side-effects, which if not taken into consideration might lead to fatal reactions. MDR-TB treatment involves the use of 2nd line drugs which are less potent and more toxic compared to 1st line drugs. Increasing number of MDR strains of mycobacterium and failure of these conventional regimens to treat them is a huge challenge. Also, these side-effects associated with anti-TB drugs are a major reason for patient non-compliance and non-adherence to the treatment. Treatment discontinuation leads to increased risk of mortality and morbidity due to TB. Thus, it is very important to develop new therapeutic approaches towards the treatment of this disease which provide a better cure without relapse, lesser side-effects and prevents formation of drug resistant strains. The article reviews the various side-effects associated with the Anti-Tubercular drugs that are currently used and discusses certain newer, nanoparticle-basedapproaches to overcome the shortcomings of the current conventional therapy.

In vitro activity of tetracycline analogs against multidrug-resistant and extensive drug resistance clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

BackgroundMultidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) has become a big threaten to global health. The current strategy for treatment of MDR-TB and extensive drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) is with low efficacy and high side effect. While new drug is fundamental for cure MDR-TB, repurposing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs represents an alternative soluation with less cost. MethodsThe activity of 8 tetracycline-class antibiotics against mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) were determined by Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) in vitro. A transposon M.smeg libraries was generated by using the Harm phage and then used to isolate the conditional growth mutants in doxycycline containing plate. Eleven mutants were isolated and genomic DNAs were extracted using the cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) method and analyzed by whole genome sequencing. ResultsWe found that three of eight drugs efficiently inhibited mycobacteria growth under the peak plasma concentration in the human body. Further tests showed these three tetracycline analogs (demeclocycline, doxycycline and methacycline) had antimicrobial activity against seven clinical isolates, including MDR and XDR strains. Among them, Doxycycline had the lowest MICs in all mycobacteria strains tested in this study. By using a transposon library, we identify the insertion of transposon in two genes, porin and MshA, associatewith the resistant to doxycycline. ConclusionsOur findings show that tetracycline analogs such as doxycycline, has bactericidal activity against not only drug sensitive M.tb, but also clinical MDR and XDR strains, provided proof of concept to repurpose doxycycline to fight MDR-TB and XDR-TB. Further investigations are warranted to clarify the underlying mechanism and optimize the strategy in combination with other anti-TB drugs.

In-Silico Drug Design And Adme Studies Of Substituted 1, 3, 4-Oxadiazole Analogues As Potent Mycobacterial Dpre1 Enzyme Inhibitors

Mycobacterial infections and multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains of Mycobacterium generate high mortality, this has triggered the scientific community to search for novel, effective, and safer therapeutics. A series of 4, 5-disubstituted-1, 3, 4-oxadiazole derivatives were screened for mycobacterial activity against H37Rv, MDR and XDR strains. To recognize the mechanism of action of these compounds and to identify their supposed drug target, molecular docking and dynamics studies were employed against DprE1 mycobacterial enzyme, which is reported to be an essential enzyme for mycobacterial growth and survival. The ADME and drug-likeness properties revealed that all the compounds have good pharmacokinetic properties. All the compounds have high affinity towards the enzyme. The newly synthesized derivatives were confirmed through FT-IR, 1 H-NMR, and LCMS. In-vitro microplate alamar blue assay (MABA) to determine the MIC (minimum inhibitory concentration) values against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv was performed for the synthesized compounds. The synthesized compounds 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A and 6A exhibited promising activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Unusual prophages in Mycobacterium abscessus genomes and strain variations in phage susceptibilities.

Mycobacterium abscessus infections are relatively common in patients with cystic fibrosis and are clinically challenging, with frequent intrinsic resistance to antibiotics. Therapeutic treatment with bacteriophages offers some promise but faces many challenges including substantial variation in phage susceptibilities among clinical isolates, and the need to personalize therapies for individual patients. Many strains are not susceptible to any phages or are not efficiently killed by lytic phages, including all smooth colony morphotype strains tested to-date. Here, we analyze a set of new M. abscessus isolates for the genomic relationships, prophage content, spontaneous phage release, and phage susceptibilities. We find that prophages are common in these M. abscessus genomes, but some have unusual arrangements, including tandemly integrated prophages, internal duplications, and they participate in active exchange of polymorphic toxin-immunity cassettes secreted by ESX systems. Relatively few strains are efficiently infected by any mycobacteriophages, and the infection patterns do not reflect the overall phylogenetic relationships of the strains. Characterization of these strains and their phage susceptibility profiles will help to advance the broader application of phage therapies for NTM infections.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis induces delayed lipid droplet accumulation in dendritic cells depending on bacterial viability and virulence.

Tuberculosis remains a global health threat with high morbidity. Dendritic cells (DCs) participate in the acute and chronic inflammatory responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) by directing the adaptive immune response and are present in lung granulomas. In macrophages, the interaction of lipid droplets (LDs) with mycobacteria-containing phagosomes is central to host-pathogen interactions. However, the data available for DCs are still a matter of debate. Here, we reported that bone marrow-derived DCs (BMDCs) were susceptible to Mtb infection and replication at similar rate to macrophages. Unlike macrophages, the analysis of gene expression showed that Mtb infection induced a delayed increase in lipid droplet-related genes and proinflammatory response. Hence, LD accumulation has been observed by high-content imaging in late periods. Infection of BMDCs with killed H37Rv demonstrated that LD accumulation depends on Mtb viability. Moreover, infection with the attenuated strains H37Ra and Mycobacterium bovis-BCG induced only an early transient increase in LDs, whereas virulent Mtb also induced delayed LD accumulation. In addition, infection with the BCG strain with the reintroduced virulence RD1 locus induced higher LD accumulation and bacterial replication when compared to parental BCG. Collectively, our data suggest that delayed LD accumulation in DCs is dependent on mycobacterial viability and virulence.

Whole-genome sequencing to characterize the genetic structure and transmission risk of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Yichang city of China.

The burden of both general and drug-resistant tuberculosis in rural areas is higher than that in urban areas in China. To characterize the genetic structure and transmission risk of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in rural China, we used whole genome sequencing to analyze clinical strains collected from patients in two counties of Yichang for three consecutive years. From 2018 to 2020, sputum samples were collected for cultures from patients with suspected tuberculosis in Yidu and Zigui county, and DNA was extracted from the positive strains for genome sequencing. The online SAM-TB platform was used to identify the genotypes and drug resistance-related mutations of each strain, establish a phylogenetic tree, and calculated the genetic distances between pairwise strains. Twelve single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were used as thresholds to identify transmission clusters. The risk of related factors was estimated by univariable and multivariable logistic regression. A total of 161 out of the collected 231 positive strains were enrolled for analysis, excluding non-tuberculous mycobacterium and duplicate strains from the same patient. These strains belonged to Lineage 2 (92, 57.1%) and Lineage 4 (69, 42.9%), respectively. A total of 49 (30.4%) strains were detected with known drug resistance-related mutations, including 6 (3.7%) multidrug-resistant-TB (MDR-TB) strains and 11 (6.8%) RIF-resistant INH-susceptible TB (Rr-TB) strains. Six of the MDR/Rr-TB (35.3%) were also resistant to fluoroquinolones, which made them pre-extensively drug-resistant TB (pre-XDR-TB). There were another seven strains with mono-resistance to fluoroquinolones and one strain with resistance to both INH and fluoroquinolones, making the overall rate of fluoroquinolones resistance 8.7% (14/161). A total of 50 strains (31.1%) were identified as transmission clusters. Patients under 45 years old (adjusted odds ratio 3.46 [95% confidential intervals 1.28-9.35]), treatment-naive patients (6.14 [1.39-27.07]) and patients infected by lineage 4 strains (2.22 [1.00-4.91]) had a higher risk of transmission. The drug resistance of tuberculosis in rural China, especially to the second-line drug fluoroquinolones, is relatively serious. The standardized treatment for patients and the clinical use of fluoroquinolones warrant attention. At the same time, the recent transmission risk of tuberculosis is high, and rapid diagnosis and treatment management at the primary care needs to be strengthened.

Fluorescent spectroscopy paired with parallel factor analysis for quantitative monitoring of phenanthrene biodegradation and metabolite formation

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a class of environmental contaminants released into the environment from both natural and anthropogenic sources that are associated with carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic health effects. Many remediation strategies for the treatment of PAH contaminated material, including bioremediation, can lead to the formation of toxic transformation products. Analytical techniques for PAHs and PAH transformation products often require extensive sample preparation including solvent extraction and concentration, chromatographic separation, and mass spectrometry to identify and quantify compounds of interest. Excitation-emission matrix (EEM) fluorescent spectroscopy paired with parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) is an approach for analyzing PAHs that eliminates the need for extensive sample preparation and separation techniques before analysis. However, this technique has rarely been applied to monitoring PAH biotransformation and formation of PAH metabolites. The objectives of this research were to compare an established targeted analytical method to two-dimensional fluorescent spectroscopy and combined EEM-PARAFAC methods to monitor phenanthrene degradation by a bacterial pure culture, Mycobacterium Strain ELW1, identify and quantify phenanthrene transformation products, and derive kinetic constants for phenanthrene degradation and metabolite formation. Both phenanthrene and its primary transformation product, trans-9,10-dihydroxy-9,10-dihydrophenanthrene, were identified and quantified with the EEM-PARAFAC method. The value of the EEM-PARAFAC method was demonstrated in the superiority of sensitivity and accuracy of quantification to two-dimensional fluorescent spectroscopy. Quantification of targets and derivation of kinetic constants using the EEM-PARAFAC method were validated with an established gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to use an EEM-PARAFAC method to monitor, identify, and quantify both PAH biodegradation and PAH metabolite formation by a bacterial pure culture.

Performance Evaluation of MolecuTech REBA Myco-ID Using HybREAD480 for Identification of Nontuberculous Mycobacteria.

Rapid and accurate identification of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) species is essential for the diagnosis and treatment of NTM disease. MolecuTech REBA Myco-ID (YD Diagnostics, Yongin, Korea) is a line probe assay for identification of NTM species and can be performed using HybREAD480, an instrument for automating the post-PCR steps. In this study, we assessed the performance of MolecuTech REBA Myco-ID using HybREAD480. Seventy-four reference strains, including 65 Mycobacterium strains and nine non-Mycobacterium strains within the order Mycobacteriales, were used to determine the analytical specificity of MolecuTech REBA Myco-ID. The clinical performance of this assay was evaluated with 192 clinical Mycobacterium strains, and the assay results were compared to those of multigene sequencing-based typing. The accuracy of MolecuTech REBA Myco-ID for the 74 reference strains and 192 clinical strains was 77.0% (57/74; 95% confidence interval [CI], 65.8 - 86.0%) and 94.3% (181/192; 95% CI, 90.0 - 97.1%), respectively. Although some rarely isolated NTM species are misidentified, the most commonly isolated NTM species, including M. avium complex, M. abscessus subsp. abscessus, M. abscessus subsp. massiliense, and M. fortuitum com-plex, were all correctly identified. Of note, all M. lentiflavum strains tested (reference strain, n = 1; clinical strain, n = 10) were misidentified as M. gordonae. MolecuTech REBA Myco-ID using HybREAD480 was accurate for identifying commonly isolated NTM species and for discriminating between M. abscessus subsp. abscessus and M. abscessus subsp. massiliense. However, the main limitations of this assay, including misidentification of some rarely isolated NTM species and cross-reactivity between M. lentiflavum and M. gordonae, should be considered.

СТРУКТУРНО-ФУНКЦИОНАЛЬНАЯ ХАРАКТЕРИСТИКА БРОНХИОЛИТОВ, ВЫЗВАННЫХ БЫСТРОРАСТУЩИМИ ШТАММАМИ НЕТУБЕРКУЛЕЗНЫХ МИКОБАКТЕРИЙ

The relevance of the research is associated with the need to study changes in the lungs caused by rapidly growing strains of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). Objective: to analyze results obtained by the complex study of the lungs for evaluation of the frequency and nature of terminal bronchiole lesions in patients with nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM)infection caused by rapidly growing strains. Materials and methods. We carried out clinical, radiological, morphological, and spirometric studies of the lungs of 35 patients with rapidly growing NTM strains isolated by real-time PCR. All the patients underwent multislice CT (MSCT) of the chest using the Somatom Emotion 16 scanner (Siemens, Germany) based on the high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) algorithm with 0.8 mm slice thickness and 1.5 mm slice increment. Lung ventilation was studied using the standard spirometry. Morphological studies were performed using resection samples from 11 patients with pulmonary TB comorbidity and 7 patients with only TB (the comparison group). Results. Rapidly growing strains of NTM cause exudative lymphocytic bronchiolitis, cell infiltration of the peribronchial tissue, which is not typical for TB infection. Later, lymphocytic bronchiolitis of terminal bronchioles develops into chronic constrictive bronchiolitis accompanied by the development of bronchiolectasis, atelectasis, and emphysema confirmed by HRCT results. They show prevailing bronchogenic lesions of small airways, accompanied by obstructive-type pulmonary ventilation disorders in 80% of cases (FEV1 is more than 70% of the predicted values). The results of the complex study should be considered in diagnosis and treatment of patients with NTM infection of the lungs.

Evaluation of the influence of the cultivation medium on the result of identification of microorganisms from the group of acid-resistant bacteria of the order actinomycetales by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

Problem with mass spectrometers is the difficulty in identifying some genera of acid-fast bacteria (AFB). Due to the peculiarities of the colony architectonics (the formation of dry colonies with a complex structure) and the structure of the cell wall, the probability of obtaining a sufficient amount of ribosomal proteins is significantly reduced. This problem is partially solved using an extended method of direct application and extraction with formic acid, which can significantly improve the quality of the identification. The study analyzed strains of microorganisms obtained during the examination of patients with suspected tuberculosis. In total, 287 strains of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) were obtained. In addition, 63 strains of the most common bacteria from the AFB group were analyzed. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) was used. Three main methods of sample preparation of microorganisms according to the manufacturer's recommendations for use with the MALDI-time-of-flight (ToF) mass spectrometry method were used in the work: Direct coating method, extended direct coating method, and formic acid extraction method. When evaluating the influence of the cultivation medium on the result of NTM identification by MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry, statistically significant results of the influence of the medium on the result of NTM identification were revealed for all compared parameters. Optimization of sample preparation protocols and assessment of the impact on the identification of new methods of cultivating microorganisms can significantly improve the quality of the identification of both clinically significant microorganisms from the AFB group and saprophytic microflora, the clinical significance of which has not been proven at the moment.