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Biological and synthetic surfactant exposure increases antimicrobial gene occurrence in a freshwater mixed microbial biofilm environment
Get PDFPublication history: Accepted - 8 March 2023; Published - 17 March 2023.Aquatic habitats are particularly susceptible to chemical pollution, such as antimicrobials, from domestic, agricultural, and industrial sources. This has led to the rapid increase of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) gene prevalence. Alternate approaches to counteract pathogenic bacteria are in development including synthetic and biological surfactants such as sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and rhamnolipids. In the aquatic environment, these surfactants may be present as pollutants with the potential to affect biofilm formation and AMR gene occurrence. We tested the effects of rhamnolipid and SDS on aquatic biofilms in a freshwater stream in Northern Ireland. We grew biofilms on contaminant exposure substrates deployed within the stream over 4 weeks. We then extracted DNA and carried out shotgun sequencing using a MinION portable sequencer to determine microbial community composition, with 16S rRNA analyses (64,678 classifiable reads identified), and AMR gene occurrence (81 instances of AMR genes over 9 AMR gene classes) through a metagenomic analysis. There were no significant changes in community composition within all systems; however, biofilm exposed to rhamnolipid had a greater number of unique taxa as compared to SDS treatments and controls. AMR gene prevalence was higher in surfactant-treated biofilms, although not significant, with biofilm exposed to rhamnolipids having the highest presence of AMR genes and classes compared to the control or SDS treatments. Our results suggest that the presence of rhamnolipid encourages an increase in the prevalence of AMR genes in biofilms produced in mixed-use water bodies.EPSRC, Grant/Award Number: EP/P032427/1; University of Ulste
Interlaboratory Evaluation of Multiple LC–MS/MS Methods and a Commercial ELISA Method for Determination of Tetrodotoxin in Oysters and Mussels
Get PDFPublication history: Accepted - 29 December 2022; Published - 6 January 2023.Background
Given the recent detection of tetrodotoxin (TTX) in bivalve molluscs but the absence of a full collaborative validation study for TTX determination in a large number of shellfish samples, interlaboratory assessment of method performance was required to better understand current capabilities for accurate and reproducible TTX quantitation using chemical and immunoassay methods.
Objective
The aim was to conduct an interlaboratory study with multiple laboratories, using results to assess method performance and acceptability of different TTX testing methods.
Methods
Homogenous and stable mussel and oyster materials were assessed by participants using a range of published and in-house detection methods to determine mean TTX concentrations. Data were used to calculate recoveries, repeatability, and reproducibility, together with participant acceptability z-scores.
Results
Method performance characteristics were good, showing excellent sensitivity, recovery, and repeatability. Acceptable reproducibility was evidenced by HorRat values for all LC–MS/MS and ELISA methods being less than the 2.0 limit of acceptability. Method differences between the LC–MS/MS participants did not result in statistically different results. Method performance characteristics compared well with previously published single-laboratory validated methods and no statistical difference was found in results returned by ELISA in comparison with LC–MS/MS.
Conclusion
The results from this study demonstrate that current LC–MS/MS methods and ELISA are on the whole capable of sensitive, accurate, and reproducible TTX quantitation in shellfish. Further work is recommended to expand the number of laboratories testing ELISA and to standardize an LC–MS/MS protocol to further improve interlaboratory precision.
Highlights
Multiple mass spectrometric methods and a commercial ELISA have been successfully assessed through an interlaboratory study, demonstrating excellent performance.Materials were prepared at and shipped from Cefas, with laboratory work, statistical assessment and report writing funded by Interreg Alertox-Net EAPA-317–2016 (Atlantic Area Program)
Natural Antimicrobials Promote the Anti-Oxidative Inhibition of COX-2 Mediated Inflammatory Response in Primary Oral Cells Infected with Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes and Enterococcus faecalis
Get PDFPublication history: Accepted - 27 April 2023; Published - 28 April 2023.Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes and Enterococcus faecalis can colonize the tooth root canals, adhere to dentin walls, and frequently cause periodontitis in dogs. Bacterial periodontal diseases are common in domesticated pets, causing severe oral cavity inflammation and a strong immune response. This study investigates the antioxidant effect of a natural antimicrobial mixture (Auraguard—Ag) on the ability of S. aureus, S. pyogenes and E. faecalis to infect primary canine oral epithelial cells as well as its impact on their virulence factors. Our data show that a concentration of 0.25% Ag is sufficient to inhibit the growth of all three pathogens, whereas a concentration of 0.5% will become bactericidal. The sub-inhibitory concentration of 0.125% Ag reveals that the antimicrobial mixture can significantly reduce biofilm formation and exopolysaccharide production. The impact on these virulence factors was further translated into a significantly reduced ability to infect primary canine oral epithelial cells and restore epithelial tight junctions, with no impact on the epithelial cell viability. The post-infection inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β and IL-8) and the COX-2 mediator were also reduced both in mRNA and protein expression levels. The oxidative burst, detected upon infection, was also decreased in the presence of Ag, as our results show a significant decrease in H2O2 released by the infected cells. We show that inhibition of either NADPH or ERK activity will result in a downregulation of COX-2 expression and lower levels of H2O2 in infected cells. Conclusively, our study shows that natural antimicrobials reduce pro-inflammatory events, post infection, through an antioxidative mechanism that involves the downregulation of the COX-2 mediator via the inactivation of ERK in the absence of H2O2. As a result, they significantly reduce the risk of secondary bacterial infections and host oxidative stress caused by Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes and Enterococcus faecalis accumulation in biofilms in an in vitro canine oral infection model.Environtech, Dublin, Ireland for funding the PhD of Eugenia Butucel. Grant number 49650.
The publication of this paper was supported through the University of Life Sciences King Mihai I from Timisoara doctoral grants
Farmers’ Trust in Extension Staff and Productivity: An Economic Experiment in Rural Areas of Iran
Get PDFPublication history: Accepted - 25 June 2022; Published - 4th May 2023.Farmers’ trust in extension staff may improve the performance of agricultural extension services and productivity through transferred knowledge and new farming practices. Using the trust game and trust questionnaire, this study measured farmers’ trust in extension staff. Measures obtained from the two methods were statistically different. We examined the relationship between the measured trust and agricultural productivity to control socio-economic factors. The findings revealed an insignificant relationship between trust and productivity that might be due to inappropriate attributes of extension programs. This emphasizes the need for more participation of farmers in researching and structuring training programs. While age had a negative impact on trust, traditional farmers with high experience showed a high level of trust. This indicates that young farmers who mostly inherited their lands from their parents and have occupations other than farming or practice modern farming, do not trust the extension staff. Farm size positively influences productivity by reducing the number of laborers per hectare. This emphasizes that the traditional way of farming is the cause of low productivity in Iranian agriculture
Investigating the Factors Influencing the Intention to Adopt Long-Term Land Leasing in Northern Ireland
Get PDFPublication history: Accepted - 7 March 2023; Published - 9 March 2023.Short-term land rental agreements such as the traditional conacre system in Northern Ireland offer flexibility between the landowners and the farmers renting the land. However, the uncertainty of tenure linked to such short-term land rental systems does not allow for farmers renting the land to make longer-term investment planning and decisions, particularly around sustainable land management practices. Long-term tenancy agreements have been identified as a viable option to cope with short-term uncertainties and improve the environmental management of the land. In this study, we analysed the factors influencing farmers’ intention to adopt long-term land leasing with and without income tax incentives in Northern Ireland. To achieve our objective, we employed ordered logistic regression models complemented with qualitative analysis. The results of our analyses showed that varying factors including risk attitude, pro-environmental behaviour, profit consciousness, having a dairy enterprise, the area of farmland owned, the presence of a successor, and the age and education of the farmer influence farmers’ intention to adopt long-term land leasing. However, variability exists depending on the farmers’ rental status and availability of income tax incentives. It can be concluded from the study that policies aimed at encouraging long-term land leasing should take a holistic approach that incorporates environmental and socioeconomic factors.This research was funded by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs
(DAERA) as part of the Evidence and Innovation Programme (DAERA E&I), grant number 19-1-05
Barriers and Enablers of Long-term Land Leasing: a Case Study of Northern Ireland
No full textPublication history: Published online - 6 August 2023.Long-term land leasing offers a viable alternative to land ownership in relation to increasing efficiency of agricultural production, economies of scale, and delivering environmental improvements in terms of land management. However, with no significant tenanted sector in Northern Ireland, access to land via long-term land leasing is limited. This study analysed the barriers and enablers of long-term land leasing. To achieve our objective, we employed a mixed methods approach. The results show that the main barriers to long-term land leasing were environmental concern (around how the land will be managed), inheritance tax implications and the potential effect of long-term land leasing on future succession plans of the farm business. We also found that as much as 70 per cent of the farmers surveyed believe the inclusion of a ‘break clause’ and the introduction of income tax incentives will encourage the adoption of long-term land leasing, while 61 per cent of the farmers stated that the environmental management of the land will encourage long-term land leasing. The study concluded that any model designed to encourage long-term land leasing in Northern Ireland should include clauses which cover the environmental management of the land and break clauses. Income tax incentives for landowners could also be considered
Bioinformatics analysis of differentially gene expression profiles related to heat stress in brain, liver, and leg muscle of broiler chickens based on microarray technique
No full textPublication history: Accepted - 5 August 2022; Published online - 23 September 2023.In the poultry industry, the heat stress caused by high environmental temperature has a negative influence on broiler chicken performance and has become a major challenge. Transcriptome profile analysis of the data and identification of patterns of differential gene expression in related tissues can be involved in the discovery of molecular mechanisms resistant to heat stress. The main purpose of this study was to use transcriptome profiles of three tissues brain, liver, and leg muscle of two groups of the control and heat stress broiler chickens to identify candidate genes associated with heat stress. By the analysis of microarray data to express the gene differences, 657 significant genes (P ± 2). Then, by studying the ontology of the relevant genes resulting from data analysis and literature mining as well as the reconstructed protein-protein interaction network, hub genes including NSDHL, DHCR24, LSS, FDPS, PCK1, ACTA1, HSP90AA1, HSPA2, HSPB1, HSF1, CRYAB, APOB, and IL6 were identified. Annotation results of these genes indicated that they have a role in the main process of metabolic and signaling pathways related to the ion transport system, steroid, antibodies, cholesterol biosynthesis, lipid metabolism, immune system function, and various signaling pathways such as MAP kinase, RET, and ERK. Overall, the present study can provide new insights into evidence of the pathways activated by these genes to identify effective genes and a better understanding of biological processes related to heat stress
Overview of Virulence and Antibiotic Resistance in Campylobacter spp. Livestock Isolates
Get PDFPublication history: Accepted - 10 February 2023; Published online - 17 February 2023Campylobacter remains the most prevalent foodborne pathogen bacterium responsible for causing gastroenteritis worldwide. Specifically, this pathogen colonises a ubiquitous range of environments, from poultry, companion pets and livestock animals to humans. The bacterium is uniquely adaptable to various niches, leading to complicated gastroenteritis and, in some cases, difficult to treat due to elevated resistance to certain antibiotics. This increased resistance is currently detected via genomic, clinical or epidemiological studies, with the results highlighting worrying multi-drug resistant (MDR) profiles in many food and clinical isolates. The Campylobacter genome encodes a rich inventory of virulence factors offering the bacterium the ability to influence host immune defences, survive antimicrobials, form biofilms and ultimately boost its infection-inducing potential. The virulence traits responsible for inducing clinical signs are not sufficiently defined because several populations have ample virulence genes with physiological functions that reflect their pathogenicity differences as well as a complement of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) systems. Therefore, exhaustive knowledge of the virulence factors associated with Campylobacter is crucial for collecting molecular insights into the infectivity processes, which could pave the way for new therapeutical targets to combat and control the infection and mitigate the spread of MDR bacteria. This review provides an overview of the spread and prevalence of genetic determinants associated with virulence and antibiotic resistance from studies performed on livestock animals. In addition, we have investigated the relevant coincidental associations between the prevalence of the genes responsible for pathogenic virulence, horizontal gene transfer (HGT) and transmissibility of highly pathogenic Campylobacter strain
Blooms also like it cold
No full textPublication history: Accepted - 30 January 2023; Published - 17 February 2023.Cyanobacterial blooms have substantial direct and indirect negative impacts on freshwater ecosystems including releasing toxins, blocking light needed by other organisms, and depleting oxygen. There is growing concern over the potential for climate change to promote cyanobacterial blooms, as the positive effects of increasing lake surface temperature on cyanobacterial growth are well documented in the literature; however, there is increasing evidence that cyanobacterial blooms are also being initiated and persisting in relatively cold-water temperatures (< 15°C), including ice-covered conditions. In this work, we provide evidence of freshwater cold-water cyanobacterial blooms, review abiotic drivers and physiological adaptations leading to these blooms, offer a typology of these lesser-studied cold-water cyanobacterial blooms, and discuss their occurrence under changing climate conditions.Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Northern Ireland
ERDF/ESF Project Biomanipulation. Grant Number: CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_025/0007417
MINECO. Grant Number: BES-2017-080558
US National Science Foundation (NSF). Grant Numbers: 1638554, 0639229, MSB 1137327, 1137353
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Grant Number: RGPIN-2018-06389
NOAA Office for Coastal Management. Grant Number: NA18NOS4200151
Projekt DEAL
Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación. Grant Number: CTM2016-79741-R
Swedish Research Council. Grant Numbers: 2020-01825, 2020-03222
Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning. Grant Number: 2020-01091
U.S. Geological Survey. Grant Number: G21AC1003
Grand challenges in entomology: Priorities for action in the coming decades
Get PDFPublicaton history: Accepted - 21 February 2023; Published - 20 March 2023.1. Entomology is key to understanding terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems at a time of unprecedented anthropogenic environmental change and offers substantial untapped potential to benefit humanity in a variety of ways, from improving agricultural practices to managing vector-borne diseases and inspiring technological advances.
2. We identified high priority challenges for entomology using an inclusive, open, and democratic four-stage prioritisation approach, conducted among the membership and affiliates (hereafter ‘members’) of the UK-based Royal Entomological Society (RES).
3. A list of 710 challenges was gathered from 189 RES members. Thematic analysis was used to group suggestions, followed by an online vote to determine initial priorities, which were subsequently ranked during an online workshop involving 37 participants.
4. The outcome was a set of 61 priority challenges within four groupings of related themes: (i) ‘Fundamental Research’ (themes: Taxonomy, ‘Blue Skies’ [defined as research ideas without immediate practical application], Methods and Techniques); (ii) ‘Anthropogenic Impacts and Conservation’ (themes: Anthropogenic Impacts, Conservation Options); (iii) ‘Uses, Ecosystem Services and Disservices’ (themes: Ecosystem Benefits, Technology and Resources [use of insects as a resource, or as inspiration], Pests); (iv) ‘Collaboration, Engagement and Training’ (themes: Knowledge Access, Training and Collaboration, Societal Engagement).
5. Priority challenges encompass research questions, funding objectives, new technologies, and priorities for outreach and engagement. Examples include training taxonomists, establishing a global network of insect monitoring sites, understanding the extent of insect declines, exploring roles of cultivated insects in food supply chains, and connecting professional with amateur entomologists. Responses to different challenges could be led by amateur and professional entomologists, at all career stages.
6. Overall, the challenges provide a diverse array of options to inspire and initiate entomological activities and reveal the potential of entomology to contribute to addressing global challenges related to human health and well-being, and environmental change.This study was approved by the University of Cambridge Psychology Research Ethics Committee (permit number PRE.2020.103). The exercise was funded by the Royal Entomological Society (RES). Helen E. Roy acknowledges support from UK Natural Environment Research Council grant NE/V006533/1 GLobal Insect Threat-Response Synthesis (GLiTRS): a comprehensive and predictive assessment of the pattern and consequences of insect declines. Lorna J. Cole's time was funded by the Rural & Environment Science & Analytical Services Division of the Scottish Government. Amelia S.C. Hood received funding from Horizon 2020 EU-funded SHOWCASE Project (Grant number 862480). Daniel J. Leybourne was supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation through a postdoctoral research fellowship. Sajidha Mohammed thanks the RES for providing 1-year of free student membership which allowed them to contribute to the workshop. Archie K. Murchie was supported by the Agri-Food & Biosciences Institute which is sponsored by the Department of Agriculture, Environment & Rural Affairs (NI). Maria-Rosa Paiva receives support from CENSE (Center for Environmental and Sustainability Research), which is financed by national funds from FCT/MCTES (UID/AMB/04085/2020). Chris R. Shortall was supported by the Rothamsted Insect Survey, a National Capability, which is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council under the Core Capability Grant BBS/E/C/000J0200. Christopher D. Williams thanks the Faculty of Science at Liverpool John Moores University for funding attendance at various Royal Entomological Society meetings. Natalia B. Zielonka was supported by the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Norwich Research Park Biosciences Doctoral Training Partnership (BB/M011216/1). Lynn V. Dicks's time was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (grant code: NE/N014472/2)