Search bioRxiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/bioRxiv

bioRxiv · 10.1101/562975

The differential distribution of bacteria between cancerous and noncancerous ovarian tissues in situ

Wang, Q.·Zhao, L.·Han, L.·Fu, G.·Tuo, X.·Ma, S.·Li, Q.·Wang, Y.·Liang, D.·Tang, M.·Sun, C.·Song, Q.
View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

The female upper reproductive tract, including the uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries, is believed to be a sterile environment. With the improvement of bacterial detection, the theory of the sterile female upper reproductive tract has been frequently challenged in recent years. However, thus far, no researchers have used ovaries as study targets. Six women who were diagnosed with ovarian cancer were included in the cancer group, and ten women who were diagnosed with a noncancerous ovarian condition (including three patients with uterine myoma and seven patients with uterine adenomyosis) were included in the control group. Immunohistochemistry staining using an antibacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) antibody was used to confirm the presence of bacteria in the ovarian tissues. In addition, 16S rRNA sequencing was used to compare the differences in the bacteria between ovarian cancer tissues and noncancerous ovarian tissues. BugBase and Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States (PICRUSt) were used to predict the functional composition of the bacteria. Bacterial LPS was present in ovarian cancer tissue and noncancerous ovarian tissue, which implied the presence of bacteria in ovarian tissue. When compared to the noncancerous ovarian bacteria at the phylum level, the cancerous ovarian bacteria were composed of increased Aquificae and Planctomycetes and decreased Crenarchaeota. When predicting metagenomes, gene functions associated with the potentially pathogenic and the oxidative stress-tolerant phenotype were enriched in the ovaries of the cancer group. Forty-six significantly different KEGG pathways existed in the ovarian bacteria of the cancer group compared to that of the control group. Different bacteria compositions were present in cancerous and noncancerous ovarian tissues. Author summaryAbdominal solid viscera have always been believed to be absolutely sterile. With the improvement of bacterial detection, this concept is being challenged. Researchers found some bacteria existed in endometrial diseases, the question of whether the ovaries are sterile is still unclear. Therefore, we assume that the bacteria in ovarian tissue are associated with ovarian cancer. When compared to the noncancerous ovarian bacteria at the phylum level, the cancerous ovarian bacteria were composed of increased Aquificae and Planctomycetes and decreased Crenarchaeota. When predicting metagenomes, gene functions associated with the potentially pathogenic and the oxidative stress-tolerant phenotype were enriched in the ovaries of the cancer group. Forty-six significantly different KEGG pathways existed in the ovarian bacteria of the cancer group compared to that of the control group. Different bacteria compositions were present in cancerous and noncancerous ovarian tissues.

Source connections

Explore related subjects

microbiologyPreprint

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Wang, Q., Zhao, L., Han, L., Fu, G., Tuo, X., Ma, S., Li, Q., Wang, Y., Liang, D., Tang, M., Sun, C., Song, Q.. 2019-02-27. The differential distribution of bacteria between cancerous and noncancerous ovarian tissues in situ. https://doi.org/10.1101/562975

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related preprints

bioRxiv2026

Cell-scale confinement reorders bacterial speed rankings

Which bacterium swims fastest depends on where the race is run. Speeds are usually measured in open liquid, yet many bacteria live in pores, mucus and host passages no wider than a cell. Using a microfluidic device with eight channel widths (0.80-3.00 m) in one field of view, we tracked unlabeled cells of eight species spanning five motility systems. Chamber height, a polymer additive and channel width each reordered the ranking. Vibrio alginolyticus, the fastest in open liquid, slowed to ~4 m/s in 1.25-m channels, whereas Campylobacter jejuni and Bacillus subtilis kept 33-46 m/s. Open liquid speed did not predict robustness to confinement. In two unrelated lineages, host symbionts that pass through narrow passages during colonization, Caballeronia insecticola and Vibrio fischeri, outran their non-symbiotic relatives in the channels, and crossed them with flagella wrapped around the cell body at nearly the speed of unwrapped cells. Where space is tight, the ability to keep moving, not top speed, sets the ranking.

microbiology↗
bioRxiv2026

The biochemical composition of coronavirus Nucleocapsid proteins drives the bicistronic properties of their sub-genomic mRNAs

The nucleocapsid (N) gene of coronaviruses (CoVs) encodes a structural RNA-binding protein required for viral assembly. In SARS- and MERS-CoV viruses, reading frame 2 of N contains an overlapping open reading frame (ORF) encoding an innate immune antagonist accessory protein. However, the extent of this dual coding capacity across the CoV family, and the genetic features driving overlapping ORF formation, remain unexamined. Here, we developed an in-silico tool (ORFan) to screen structural gene sub-genomic mRNA sequences from 152 species of coronavirus for the presence of overlapping accessory gene candidates. We found that frame 2 of the N gene in Alpha-, Beta- and Delta-CoVs frequently contains a potential accessory ORF (AcORF), conserved at the subgenus level, unlike the spike, envelope and membrane genes. We also show that CoV nucleotide biases in conjunction with codon biases integral to N protein function drive the relatively high abundances of start codons in frame two and stop codons in frame three, explaining the tendency towards frame 2 AcORFs. We further suggest that viral nucleotide biases and the codon composition required for RNA-binding function facilitate overlapping ORF formation in other virus families

microbiology↗
bioRxiv2026

Evaluating non-oxidative glycolysis using 13C metabolic flux analysis

Non-oxidative glycolysis (NOG) converts glucose to acetyl-CoA without emitting CO2 during Escherichia coli bioproduction. Although 13C-metabolic flux analysis (13C-MFA) has the potential to evaluate NOG flux distribution in vivo, the precision of these estimates depends on the labeling patterns of glucose tracers. Because E. coli has multiple native glycolysis pathways, selecting the optimal glucose tracer is important for precise estimates. This study used simulations to evaluate the performance of 18 commercially available glucose tracers in precisely predicting NOG flux. We artificially generated flux distributions of central metabolic pathways, including three types of NOG pathways, and obtained 13C labeling patterns of amino acids metabolized from each glucose tracer. Using these data, we then calculated 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for NOG pathway fluxes. Comparing the sum of CI widths from three NOG fluxes showed that estimation with [1,3-13C]-glucose yielded the narrowest CIs. Several tracers, including [2,3-13C]glucose, were capable of determining fluxes with high precision, but [1-13C]glucose was not one of them, despite often being used for estimating glycolytic fluxes. We then experimentally evaluated [2,3-13C]- and [1-13C]glucose as tracers in E. coli strains with and without the expression of phosphoketolase, which is required for NOG pathways to function. The results suggested that [1-13C]glucose could not detect NOG fluxes, whereas [2,3-13C]glucose estimated the fluxes of all three NOG pathways with narrow CIs.

microbiology↗