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Acanthamoeba containing endosymbiotic chlamydia isolated from hospital environments and its potential role in inflammatory exacerbation

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Microbiology, December 2016
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Title
Acanthamoeba containing endosymbiotic chlamydia isolated from hospital environments and its potential role in inflammatory exacerbation
Published in
BMC Microbiology, December 2016
DOI 10.1186/s12866-016-0906-1
Pubmed ID
Authors

Tatsuya Fukumoto, Junji Matsuo, Torahiko Okubo, Shinji Nakamura, Kentaro Miyamoto, Kentaro Oka, Motomichi Takahashi, Kouji Akizawa, Hitoshi Shibuya, Chikara Shimizu, Hiroyuki Yamaguchi

Abstract

Environmental chlamydiae belonging to the Parachlamydiaceae are obligate intracellular bacteria that infect Acanthamoeba, a free-living amoeba, and are a risk for hospital-acquired pneumonia. However, whether amoebae harboring environmental chlamydiae actually survive in hospital environments is unknown. We therefore isolated living amoebae with symbiotic chlamydiae from hospital environments. One hundred smear samples were collected from Hokkaido University Hospital, Sapporo, Japan; 50 in winter (February to March, 2012) and 50 in summer (August, 2012), and used for the study. Acanthamoebae were isolated from the smear samples, and endosymbiotic chlamydial traits were assessed by infectivity, cytokine induction, and draft genomic analysis. From these, 23 amoebae were enriched on agar plates spread with heat-killed Escherichia coli. Amoeba prevalence was greater in the summer-collected samples (15/30, 50%) than those of the winter season (8/30, 26.7%), possibly indicating a seasonal variation (p = 0.096). Morphological assessment of cysts revealed 21 amoebae (21/23, 91%) to be Acanthamoeba, and cultures in PYG medium were established for 11 of these amoebae. Three amoebae contained environmental chlamydiae; however, only one amoeba (Acanthamoeba T4) with an environmental chlamydia (Protochlamydia W-9) was shown the infectious ability to Acanthamoeba C3 (reference amoebae). While Protochlamydia W-9 could infect C3 amoeba, it failed to replicate in immortal human epithelial, although exposure of HEp-2 cells to living bacteria induced the proinflammatory cytokine, IL-8. Comparative genome analysis with KEGG revealed similar genomic features compared with other Protochlamydia genomes (UWE25 and R18), except for a lack of genes encoding the type IV secretion system. Interestingly, resistance genes associated with several antibiotics and toxic compounds were identified. These findings are the first demonstration of the distribution in a hospital of a living Acanthamoeba carrying an endosymbiotic chlamydial pathogen.

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 48 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 48 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 8 17%
Researcher 7 15%
Student > Master 7 15%
Student > Bachelor 7 15%
Lecturer > Senior Lecturer 3 6%
Other 8 17%
Unknown 8 17%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 11 23%
Immunology and Microbiology 7 15%
Medicine and Dentistry 6 13%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 5 10%
Nursing and Health Professions 2 4%
Other 5 10%
Unknown 12 25%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 04 January 2017.
All research outputs
#16,099,609
of 23,881,329 outputs
Outputs from BMC Microbiology
#1,827
of 3,286 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#261,287
of 425,827 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Microbiology
#27
of 50 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,881,329 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 22nd percentile – i.e., 22% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,286 research outputs from this source. They receive a mean Attention Score of 4.2. This one is in the 36th percentile – i.e., 36% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 425,827 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 29th percentile – i.e., 29% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 50 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 36th percentile – i.e., 36% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.