Research Publications (Food Safety)

Common environmental contaminants such as bisphenols and phthalates and persistent contaminants such as polychlorinated biphenyls are thought to influence tissue homeostasis and carcinogenesis by acting as disrupters of endocrine function. In this study we investigated the direct effects of exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), mono-n-butyl phthalate (Pht), and polychlorinated biphenyl...

Necrotizing fasciitis (NF) caused by flesh-eating bacteria is associated with high case fatality. In an earlier study, we reported infection of an immunocompetent individual with multiple strains of Aeromonas hydrophila (NF1–NF4), the latter three constituted a clonal group whereas NF1 was phylogenetically distinct. To understand the complex interactions of these...

Pigs are important intermediate hosts for generating novel influenza viruses. The Eurasian avian-like H1N1 (EAH1N1) swine influenza viruses (SIVs) have circulated in pigs since 1979, and human cases associated with EAH1N1 SIVs have been reported in several countries. However, the biologic properties of EAH1N1 SIVs are largely unknown. Here, we...

Pain management would be greatly enhanced by a formulation that would provide local anesthesia at the time desired by patients and with the desired intensity and duration. To this end, we have developed near-infrared (NIR) light-triggered liposomes to provide on-demand adjustable local anesthesia. The liposomes contained tetrodotoxin (TTX), which has...

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) is an ancient and ubiquitous human pathogen recovered previously only from primates. The sole species of the genus Hepatovirus, existing in both enveloped and nonenveloped forms, and with a capsid structure intermediate between that of insect viruses and mammalian picornaviruses, HAV is enigmatic in its origins....

The History of HAV Earliest descriptions of epidemic liver disease, most likely due to hepatitis A virus (HAV), can be found in ancient Chinese literature, and similar observations, often in association with conflict and social disruption, have appeared on many occasions. However, evidence that the infection was of viral etiology...

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) is one of the leading causes of bacterial enteric infections worldwide, causing ∼100,000 illnesses, 3,000 hospitalizations, and 90 deaths annually in the United States alone. These illnesses have been linked to consumption of contaminated animal products and vegetables. Currently, other than thermal inactivation, there are no...

Food safety is a critical issue worldwide, and responsibility for ensuring and enhancing safety in the food chain is collectively shared by all involved, from producers to preparation to food service. Just over a century ago, the issues of food safety and production were brought to the forefront of public...

MICROBIOLOGY Correction for “The opportunistic marine pathogen Vibrio parahaemolyticus becomes virulent by acquiring a plasmid that expresses a deadly toxin,” by Chung-Te Lee, I-Tung Chen, Yi-Ting Yang, Tzu-Ping Ko, Yun-Tzu Huang, Jiun-Yan Huang, Ming-Fen Huang, Shin-Jen Lin, Chien-Yu Chen, Shih-Shuen Lin, Donald V. Lightner, Han-Ching Wang, Andrew H.-J. Wang, Hao-Ching...

Methylmercury (MeHg) is a potent neurotoxin that is biomagnified approximately 1–10 million-fold in aquatic carnivores such as the Northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris), whose excreta and molted pelage, in turn, constitute a source of environmental MeHg contamination at the base of marine food chains. The potential for this top-down contamination...

Elevated levels of neurotoxic methylmercury in Arctic food-webs pose health risks for indigenous populations that consume large quantities of marine mammals and fish. Estuaries provide critical hunting and fishing territory for these populations, and, until recently, benthic sediment was thought to be the main methylmercury source for coastal fish. New...

In 2006, a deadly Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak in bagged spinach was traced to California’s Central Coast region, where >70% of the salad vegetables sold in the United States are produced. Although no definitive cause for the outbreak could be determined, wildlife was implicated as a disease vector. Growers were...

Acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) is a severe, newly emergent penaeid shrimp disease caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus that has already led to tremendous losses in the cultured shrimp industry. Until now, its disease-causing mechanism has remained unclear. Here we show that an AHPND-causing strain of V. parahaemolyticus contains a 70-kbp...

The estuarine gram-negative rod and human diarrheal pathogen Vibrio cholerae synthesizes a VPS exopolysaccharide-dependent biofilm matrix that allows it to form a 3D structure on surfaces. Proteins associated with the matrix include, RbmA, RbmC, and Bap1. RbmA, a protein whose crystallographic structure suggests two binding surfaces, associates with cells...

Natural transformation is one mechanism of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of cholera. Recently, it was found that V. cholerae isolates from the Haiti outbreak were poorly transformed by this mechanism. Here, we show that an integrating conjugative element (ICE)-encoded DNase, which we name...

We have functionally and structurally defined an essential protein phosphorelay that regulates expression of genes required for growth, division, and intracellular survival of the global zoonotic pathogen Brucella abortus. Our study delineates phosphoryl transfer through this molecular pathway, which initiates from the sensor kinase CckA and proceeds through the ChpT...

Few studies within the pathogenic field have used advanced imaging and analytical tools to quantitatively measure pathogenicity in vivo. In this work, we present a novel approach for the investigation of host–pathogen processes based on medium-throughput 3D fluorescence imaging. The guinea pig model for Shigella flexneri invasion of the colonic...

Major changes in bacterial physiology including biofilm and spore formation involve signaling by the cyclic dinucleotides c-di-GMP and c-di-AMP. Recently, another second messenger dinucleotide, c-AMP-GMP, was found to control chemotaxis and colonization by Vibrio cholerae. We have identified a superregulon of genes controlled by c-AMP-GMP in numerous Deltaproteobacteria, including Geobacter...

Cyclic dinucleotides are an expanding class of signaling molecules that control many aspects of bacterial physiology. A synthase for cyclic AMP-GMP (cAG, also referenced as 3′-5′, 3′-5′ cGAMP) called DncV is associated with hyperinfectivity of Vibrio cholerae but has not been found in many bacteria, raising questions about the prevalence...

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) is a foodborne pathogen causing hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic uremic syndrome. EHEC colonizes the intestinal tract through a range of virulence factors encoded by the locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE), as well as Shiga toxin. Although the factors involved in colonization and disease are well characterized,...

Cellulose is the most abundant organic polymer on Earth. In bacteria, cellulose confers protection against environmental insults and is a constituent of biofilms typically formed on abiotic surfaces. We report that, surprisingly, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium makes cellulose when inside macrophages. We determine that preventing cellulose synthesis increases virulence, whereas...

RecQ helicases unwind remarkably diverse DNA structures as key components of many cellular processes. How RecQ enzymes accommodate different substrates in a unified mechanism that couples ATP hydrolysis to DNA unwinding is unknown. Here, the X-ray crystal structure of the Cronobacter sakazakii RecQ catalytic core domain bound to duplex DNA...

Tuberculosis (TB) is a devastating disease that affects humans and many animal species. In humans, TB is mainly caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, whereas most cases in cattle are caused by Mycobacterium bovis. However, M. bovis can also cause, albeit rarely, human TB. In PNAS, Wu et al. (1) report the...

Quorum sensing (QS) is a process of cell-to-cell communication that enables bacteria to transition between individual and collective lifestyles. QS controls virulence and biofilm formation in Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of cholera disease. Differential RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) of wild-type V. cholerae and a locked low-cell-density QS-mutant strain identified 7,240...

Flagella are multiprotein complexes necessary for swimming and swarming motility. In Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, flagella-mediated motility is repressed by the PhoP/PhoQ regulatory system. We now report that Salmonella can move on 0.3% agarose media in a flagella-independent manner when experiencing the PhoP/PhoQ-inducing signal low Mg2+. This motility requires the...