MarR family transcription factors and antibiotic resistance in Chromobacterium violaceum

• Grant number: 15/12605-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: August 01, 2015
• End date: July 31, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Molecular Genetics and Genetics of Microorganisms
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: José Freire da Silva Neto
• Grantee: Kelly Cristina Martins Barroso
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (FMRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 12/20435-9 - Transcription factors of Chromobacterium violaceum: integrating signaling pathways, regulons and pathogenicity, AP.JP

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance is a global problem with serious implications for the treatment of various bacterial infections. The spread of resistance determinants among pathogens has been accentuated in recent decades due to antibiotics overuse in medicine and other human activities. Considering that environmental and pathogenic bacteria share antibiotic resistance genes, this project aims to study mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in Chromobacterium violaceum, an environmental bacterium found in soil and water that also acts as an occasional pathogen of humans. Our efforts will be concentrated on fifteen MarR family transcription factors annotated in the C. violaceum genome, since members of this family have been described regulating virulence, detoxification of harmful compounds and antibiotic resistance. For this purpose, a panel of fifteen mutant strains, eleven of them being already available in our laboratory and four to be constructed in this study, will be used in antimicrobial susceptibility testing with antibiotics of different classes, using disk diffusion and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) assays. After this screening, mutant strains showing altered antibiotic susceptibility will be more deeply characterized. To define which resistance determinants are with altered expression in the MarR mutants, we will perform DNA microarray assays and further validation of target genes. Data obtained in this project should help to understand the regulatory mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in C. violaceum, a pathogen producing antibiotics and showing high intrinsic resistance. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

BARROSO, KELLY C. M.; PREVIATO-MELLO, MARISTELA; BATISTA, BIANCA B.; BATISTA, JULIANA H.; DA SILVA NETO, JOSE F.. EmrR-Dependent Upregulation of the Efflux Pump EmrCAB Contributes to Antibiotic Resistance in Chromobacterium violaceum. FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY, v. 9, NOV 15 2018. (13/25745-9, 15/12605-0, 12/20435-9, 18/01388-6)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

BARROSO, Kelly Cristina Martins. MarR family transcription factors and antibiotic resistance in Chromobacterium violaceum. 2017. Master's Dissertation - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (PCARP/BC) Ribeirão Preto.