Biology subjects

Galleni, M.

Publications and source records attributed to Galleni, M..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2022

Development of nanobodies as theranostic agents against CMY-2-like class C β-lactamases

Soluble single-domain fragments derived from the unique variable region of camelid heavy-chain antibodies (VHHs) against enzymes may behave as potent inhibitors. The immunization of alpacas with the CMY-2 {beta}-lactamase led to the isolation of three VHHs that specifically recognized and inhibited CMY-2. The structure of the complex VHH cAbCMY-2(254)/CMY-2 was determined by X-ray crystallography. We showed that the epitope is close to the active site and that the CDR3 of the VHH protrudes in the catalytic site. The {beta}-lactamase inhibition was found to follow a mixed profile with a predominant non-competitive component. The three isolated VHHs recognized overlapping epitopes since they behaved as competitive binder. Our study identified a binding site that can be targeted by a new class of {beta}-lactamases inhibitors designed with the help of a peptidomimetic approach. Furthermore, the use of mono or bivalent VHH and rabbit polyclonal anti-CMY-2 antibodies enable the development of the first generation of ELISA test for the detection of CMY-2 produced by resistant bacteria. IMPORTANCEThe still increasing antimicrobial resistance in human clinic or veterinary medicine is a major threat for modern chemotherapy. Beside the major caution in the use of current antibiotics, it is important to develop new classes of antibiotics. This work was focused on {beta}-lactamases that are the enzymes involved in the hydrolysis of the major class of antibiotics, the {beta}-lactam compounds. We selected camelid antibodies that inhibit CMY-2, a class C {beta}-lactamase produced by bacteria isolated from the veterinary and human settings. We characterized the conformational epitope present in CMY-2 in order to create a new family of inhibitors based on the paratope of the antibody. Finally, we designed a primary version of a detection system based on an ELISA using VHH and polyclonal antibodies.

biochemistry↗

bioRxiv2022

An extended reservoir of class-D beta-lactamases in non-clinical bacterial strains

Bacterial genes coding for antibiotic resistance represent a major issue in the fight against bacterial pathogens. Among those, genes encoding beta-lactamases target penicillin and related compounds such as carbapenems, which are critical for human health. Beta-lactamases are classified into classes A, B, C and D, based on their amino acid sequence. Class D enzymes are also known as OXA beta-lactamases, due to the ability of the first enzymes described in this class to hydrolyze oxacillin. While hundreds of class D beta-lactamases with different activity profiles have been isolated from clinical strains, their nomenclature remains very uninformative. In this work, we have carried out a comprehensive survey of a reference database of 80,490 genomes and identified 24,916 OXA-domain containing proteins. These were deduplicated and their representative sequences clustered into 45 non-singleton groups derived from a phylogenetic tree of 1413 OXA-domain sequences, including five clusters that include the C-terminal domain of the BlaR membrane receptors. Interestingly, 801 known class D beta-lactamases fell into only 18 clusters. To probe the unknown diversity of the class, we selected ten protein sequences in ten uncharacterized clusters and studied the activity profile of the corresponding enzymes. A beta-lactamase activity could be detected for seven of them. Three enzymes were active against oxacillin and two against imipenem. These results indicate that, as already reported, environmental bacteria constitute a large reservoir of resistance genes that can be transferred to clinical strains, whether through plasmid exchange or hitchhiking with the help of transposase genes. ImportanceThe transmission of genes coding for resistance factors from environmental to nosocomial strains is a major component in the development of bacterial resistance towards antibiotics. Our survey of class D beta-lactamase genes in genomic databases highlighted the high sequence diversity of the enzymes that are able to recognize and/or hydrolyze beta-lactam antibiotics. Among those, we could also identify new beta-lactamases that are able to hydrolyze carbapenems, one of the last resort antibiotic families used in human chemotherapy. Therefore, it can be expected that the use of this antibiotic family will fuel the emergence of new beta-lactamases into clinically relevant strains.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2020

Mutational effects on carbapenem hydrolysis of YEM-1, a new sub-class B2 metallo-β-lactamase from Yersinia mollaretii

The analysis of the genome sequence of Yersinia mollaretii (Y. mollaretii) ATCC 43969 indicates the presence of the blaYEM gene coding for YEM-1, a putative subclass B2 metallo-{beta}-lactamase. The objectives of our work were to produce, purify and complete the kinetic characterization of YEM-1. Compared to the known subclass B2 metallo-{beta}-lactamases, YEM-1 displayed a narrowest substrate profile since it is only able to hydrolyse imipenem with a high catalytic efficiency but not all the other carbapenems tested such as biapenem, meropenem, doripenem and ertapenem. A possible explanation of this peculiar activity profile is the presence of tyrosine 67 (loop L1), threonine 156 (loop L2) and serine 236 (loop L3) respectively. We showed that the substitution of Y67 broadened the activity profile of the enzyme for all carbapenems but still displayed a poor activity toward the other {beta}-lactam classes.

biochemistry↗