Genomic and Functional Characterization of Enterococcus faecalis Isolates Recovered From the International Space Station and Their Potential for Pathogenicity
Enterococcus faecalis is a multidrug resistant, opportunistic human pathogen and a leading cause of hospital acquired infections. Recently, isolates have been recovered from the air and surfaces onboard the International Space Station (ISS). Pangenomic and functional analyses were carried out to ass...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media SA
2021
|
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129818 |
| _version_ | 1826191669025832960 |
|---|---|
| author | Bryan, Noelle C. Lebreton, Francois Gilmore, Michael Ruvkun, Gary Zuber, Maria Carr, Christopher E. |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Bryan, Noelle C. Lebreton, Francois Gilmore, Michael Ruvkun, Gary Zuber, Maria Carr, Christopher E. |
| author_sort | Bryan, Noelle C. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Enterococcus faecalis is a multidrug resistant, opportunistic human pathogen and a leading cause of hospital acquired infections. Recently, isolates have been recovered from the air and surfaces onboard the International Space Station (ISS). Pangenomic and functional analyses were carried out to assess their potential impact on astronaut health. Genomes of each ISS isolate, and both clinical and commensal reference strains, were evaluated for their core and unique gene content, acquired antibiotic resistance genes, phage, plasmid content, and virulence traits. In order to determine their potential survival when outside of the human host, isolates were also challenged with three weeks of desiccation at 30% relative humidity. Finally, pathogenicity of the ISS strains was evaluated in the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans. At the culmination of this study, there were no defining signatures that separated known pathogenic strains from the more commensal phenotypes using the currently available resources. As a result, the current reliance on database information alone must be shifted to experimentally evaluated genotypic and phenotypic characteristics of clinically relevant microorganisms. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:59:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/129818 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:59:31Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media SA |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1298182022-09-30T12:41:45Z Genomic and Functional Characterization of Enterococcus faecalis Isolates Recovered From the International Space Station and Their Potential for Pathogenicity Bryan, Noelle C. Lebreton, Francois Gilmore, Michael Ruvkun, Gary Zuber, Maria Carr, Christopher E. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Enterococcus faecalis is a multidrug resistant, opportunistic human pathogen and a leading cause of hospital acquired infections. Recently, isolates have been recovered from the air and surfaces onboard the International Space Station (ISS). Pangenomic and functional analyses were carried out to assess their potential impact on astronaut health. Genomes of each ISS isolate, and both clinical and commensal reference strains, were evaluated for their core and unique gene content, acquired antibiotic resistance genes, phage, plasmid content, and virulence traits. In order to determine their potential survival when outside of the human host, isolates were also challenged with three weeks of desiccation at 30% relative humidity. Finally, pathogenicity of the ISS strains was evaluated in the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans. At the culmination of this study, there were no defining signatures that separated known pathogenic strains from the more commensal phenotypes using the currently available resources. As a result, the current reliance on database information alone must be shifted to experimentally evaluated genotypic and phenotypic characteristics of clinically relevant microorganisms. NASA (Awards 80NSSC17K0688, NNX15AF85G) 2021-02-18T16:38:22Z 2021-02-18T16:38:22Z 2021-01 2019-11 2021-02-04T17:49:07Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1664-302X https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129818 Bryan, Noelle C. et al. "Genomic and Functional Characterization of Enterococcus faecalis Isolates Recovered From the International Space Station and Their Potential for Pathogenicity." Frontiers in Microbiology 11 (January 2021): 515319 © 2021 Bryan et al. en http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.515319 Frontiers in Microbiology Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf Frontiers Media SA Frontiers |
| spellingShingle | Bryan, Noelle C. Lebreton, Francois Gilmore, Michael Ruvkun, Gary Zuber, Maria Carr, Christopher E. Genomic and Functional Characterization of Enterococcus faecalis Isolates Recovered From the International Space Station and Their Potential for Pathogenicity |
| title | Genomic and Functional Characterization of Enterococcus faecalis Isolates Recovered From the International Space Station and Their Potential for Pathogenicity |
| title_full | Genomic and Functional Characterization of Enterococcus faecalis Isolates Recovered From the International Space Station and Their Potential for Pathogenicity |
| title_fullStr | Genomic and Functional Characterization of Enterococcus faecalis Isolates Recovered From the International Space Station and Their Potential for Pathogenicity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Genomic and Functional Characterization of Enterococcus faecalis Isolates Recovered From the International Space Station and Their Potential for Pathogenicity |
| title_short | Genomic and Functional Characterization of Enterococcus faecalis Isolates Recovered From the International Space Station and Their Potential for Pathogenicity |
| title_sort | genomic and functional characterization of enterococcus faecalis isolates recovered from the international space station and their potential for pathogenicity |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129818 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT bryannoellec genomicandfunctionalcharacterizationofenterococcusfaecalisisolatesrecoveredfromtheinternationalspacestationandtheirpotentialforpathogenicity AT lebretonfrancois genomicandfunctionalcharacterizationofenterococcusfaecalisisolatesrecoveredfromtheinternationalspacestationandtheirpotentialforpathogenicity AT gilmoremichael genomicandfunctionalcharacterizationofenterococcusfaecalisisolatesrecoveredfromtheinternationalspacestationandtheirpotentialforpathogenicity AT ruvkungary genomicandfunctionalcharacterizationofenterococcusfaecalisisolatesrecoveredfromtheinternationalspacestationandtheirpotentialforpathogenicity AT zubermaria genomicandfunctionalcharacterizationofenterococcusfaecalisisolatesrecoveredfromtheinternationalspacestationandtheirpotentialforpathogenicity AT carrchristophere genomicandfunctionalcharacterizationofenterococcusfaecalisisolatesrecoveredfromtheinternationalspacestationandtheirpotentialforpathogenicity |