Colistin is a last-resort antibiotic that is used to treat severe infections caused by MDR and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) bacteria. The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated colistin as a “highest priority critically important antimicrobial for human medicine” (WHO, Critically Important Antimicrobials for Human Medicine , 5th revision , 2017, https://www.who.int/foodsafety/publications/antimicrobials-fifth/en/ ), as it is often one of the only therapies available for treating serious bacterial infections in critically ill patients. Plasmid-borne mcr genes that confer resistance to colistin pose a threat to public health at an international scale, as they can be transmitted via horizontal gene transfer and have the potential to spread globally. Therefore, the establishment of a complete reference of mcr genes that can be used to screen for plasmid-mediated colistin resistance is essential for developing effective control strategies.

Listeria (L.) monocytogenes is an opportunistic pathogen causing life-threatening infections in diverse mammalian species including humans and ruminants. As little is known on the link between strains and clinicopathological phenotypes, we studied potential strain-associated virulence and organ tropism in L. monocytogenes isolates from well-defined ruminant cases of clinical infections and the farm environment. The phylogeny of isolates and their virulence-associated genes were analyzed by multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and sequence analysis of virulence-associated genes. Additionally, a panel of representative isolates was subjected to in vitro infection assays. Our data suggest the environmental exposure of ruminants to a broad range of strains and yet the strong association of sequence type (ST) 1 from clonal complex (CC) 1 with rhombencephalitis, suggesting increased neurotropism of ST1 in ruminants, which is possibly related to its hypervirulence. This study emphasizes the importance of considering clonal background of L. monocytogenes isolates in surveillance, epidemiological investigation and disease control.

Listeria -infecting phages are readily isolated from Listeria -containing environments, yet little is known about the selective forces they exert on their host. Here, we identified that two virulent phages, LP-048 and LP-125, adsorb to the surface of Listeria monocytogenes strain 10403S through different mechanisms. We isolated and sequenced, using whole-genome sequencing, 69 spontaneous mutant strains of 10403S that were resistant to either one or both phages. Mutations from 56 phage-resistant mutant strains with only a single mutation mapped to 10 genes representing five loci on the 10403S chromosome. An additional 12 mutant strains showed two mutations, and one mutant strain showed three mutations. Two of the loci, containing seven of the genes, accumulated the majority ( n = 64) of the mutations. A representative mutant strain for each of the 10 genes was shown to resist phage infection through mechanisms of adsorption inhibition. Complementation of mutant strains with the associated wild-type allele was able to rescue phage susceptibility for 6 out of the 10 representative mutant strains. Wheat germ agglutinin, which specifically binds to N -acetylglucosamine, bound to 10403S and mutant strains resistant to LP-048 but did not bind to mutant strains resistant to only LP-125. We conclude that mutant strains resistant to only LP-125 lack terminal N -acetylglucosamine in their wall teichoic acid (WTA), whereas mutant strains resistant to both phages have disruptive mutations in their rhamnose biosynthesis operon but still possess N -acetylglucosamine in their WTA.

Gram-positive bacteria are ubiquitous and diverse microorganisms that can survive and sometimes even thrive in continuously changing environments. The key to such resilience is the ability of members of a population to respond and adjust to dynamic conditions in the environment. In bacteria, such responses and adjustments are mediated, at least in part, through appropriate changes in the bacterial transcriptome in response to the conditions encountered. Resilience is important for bacterial survival in diverse, complex, and rapidly changing environments and requires coordinated networks that integrate individual, mechanistic responses to environmental cues to enable overall metabolic homeostasis. In many Gram-positive bacteria, a key transcriptional regulator of the response to changing environmental conditions is the alternative sigma factor σ ^B . σ ^B has been characterized in a subset of Gram-positive bacteria, including the genera Bacillus , Listeria , and Staphylococcus . Recent insight from next-generation-sequencing results indicates that σ ^B -dependent regulation of gene expression contributes to resilience, i.e., the coordination of complex networks responsive to environmental changes. This review explores contributions of σ ^B to resilience in Bacillus , Listeria , and Staphylococcus and illustrates recently described regulatory functions of σ ^B .

Listeria monocytogenes can persist in food production facilities, resulting in serious threats to consumers due to the high mortality associated with listeriosis, especially in the very young, old and pregnant. We subtyped 124 strains of L. monocytogenes isolated from a meat processing facility in Switzerland by serotyping, multi locus sequence typing (MLST) typing and whole genome sequencing. We then analyzed their ability to form biofilms and their resistance to the disinfectants benzalkonium chloride (BC) and peracetic acid (PAA). The genotyping results of the strains showed that several clonal populations of L. monocytogenes belonging to CC9, CC204 and CC121 had persisted in this meat processing facility for at least four years. All of the strains showed biofilm forming capacity comparable to a known high biofilm forming strain. Known efflux pumps for BC were present in CC204, CC9 (brcABC) and CC121 (qacH) strains, while strains from other CC showed very low minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) for BC. For PAA, minimal bactericidal concentrations of 1.2–1.6% for 20 min and minimal inhibitory concentrations between 0.1 and 0.2% were observed. These values were close to or above the recommended concentration for use (0.5–1%), suggesting that PAA might be ineffective at controlling L. monocytogenes in this and potentially other meat processing facilities.

Reduced susceptibility of Listeria monocytogenes to benzalkonium chloride (BC), a quaternary ammonium compound widely used in food processing and hospital environments, is a growing public health and food safety concern. The minimal inhibitory concentration of BC on 392 L. monocytogenes strains from Switzerland (CH) and Finland (FIN) was determined. Within this strain collection, benzalkonium chloride resistance was observed in 12.3% (24/195) of Swiss and 10.6% (21/197) of Finnish strains. In both countries, the highest prevalence of BC-resistant strains (CH: 29.4%; FIN: 38.9%) was detected among serotype 1/2c strains. Based on PCR analysis, genes coding for the qacH efflux pump system were detected for most of the BC-resistant strains (CH: 62.5%; FIN: 52.4%). Some Swiss BC-resistant strains harbored genes coding for the bcrABC (16.7%) efflux pump system, while one Finnish BC-resistant strain harbored the emrE gene previously only described among BC-resistant L. monocytogenes strains from Canada. Interestingly, a subset of BC-resistant strains (CH: 5/24, 20.8%; FIN: 9/21, 42.8%) lacked genes for efflux pumps currently known to confer BC resistance in L. monocytogenes. BC resistance analysis in presence of reserpine showed that the resistance was completely or partially efflux pump dependent in ten out of the fourteen strains lacking the known BC resistance genes. Sequence types 155 and ST403 were over-representated among these strains suggesting that these strains might share similar but yet unknown mechanisms of BC resistance.