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Bacterial Genetics

Research Lines

Content with Investigacion Entomología Médica .

The Laboratory of Medical Entomology (LME) develops an intense reference and research activity, focused on the field of disease vectors of interest in Public Health. The LME has an insectary where biological cycles of insect vectors are currently maintained, allowing the performance, among others, of vector competence and xenodiagnostic studies. The LME supports the national health system by offering techniques available in the portfolio of services for the taxonomic identification of arthropods of health interest. In addition, it performs entomological surveillance of outbreaks, supporting Surveillance Plans. In particular, the LME plays a leading role in the Entomological Surveillance Plan for Leishmaniasis in the Community of Madrid. On the other hand, the LME offers scientific advice to the CCAES (Centro de Coordinación de Alertas y Emergencias Sanitarias, Ministerio de Sanidad, Consumo y Bienestar Social), and participates in the elaboration of reports and rapid risk assessments.


 

The main research lines of the Laboratory of Medical Entomology are:

1. Maintenance of insect vector colonies: phlebotomine sand flies (Phlebotomus perniciosus, Phlebotomus papatasi and Phlebotomus argentipes, vectors of Leishmania infantum, Leishmania major and Leishmania donovani, respectively), Culex and Aedes mosquitoes (vectors of various arboviruses) and Rhodnius prolixus (vector of Trypanosoma cruzi). 
2. Biology of disease vectors of public health interest: biology, vector competence, experimental infections. The CNM has a BSL3 safety laboratory to carry out vector competence studies with culicidae and phlebotomine sand flies.
3. Entomological sampling, infectivity of potential reservoirs of leishmaniasis.
4. Insecticides and repellents: evaluation of their efficacy. 
5. Characterization of saliva proteins of hematophagous Diptera: genomics, proteomics, biochemistry and gene editing. Study of salivary proteins as markers of bite exposure, virulence factors and/or vaccines.
6. Xenodiagnosis of leishmaniasis.
7. Molecular biology and taxonomy of phlebotomine sand flies. Molecular detection of Leishmania infantum in phlebotomine sand flies and characterization of Leishmania spp. Molecular identification of blood ingested by vectors.

Research projects

Content with Investigacion Entomología Médica .

CURRENT PROJECTS

Project title: "Biochemical and functional characterisation of salivary proteins of Phlebotomus perniciosus and their role in infection by Leishmania infantum (PERNIPROT)"
Reference: Project PID2023-147773NA-I00 funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by FEDER, EU.
Start date: 01/09/2024
End date: 31/08/2028
Funding: €175,000
Principal investigator: Inés Elena Martín Martín. 
Funding agency: Agencia Estatal de Investigación (Proyecto de Generación del Conocimiento 2023).


 

Project title: "Surveillance of leishmaniasis in the Community of Madrid from a “One Health” perspective: study of the infectious capacity of patients with visceral leishmaniasis and their role as reservoirs"
Reference: PI24CIII/00026
Start date: 01/01/2025
End date: 31/12/2027
Funding: €60,000.00
Principal investigator: Inés Elena Martín Martín. 
Co-principal investigator: Maribel Jiménez Alonso
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Strategic Action in Intramural Health, AESI). 

Service Contract: "Analysis for the surveillance of the vector and wild reservoirs that transmit leishmaniasis in the Community of Madrid"
Reference: file no. 17/2024 (A/SER-008455/2024).
Start date: 26/06/2024
End date: 10/12/25, extendable to 2026
Total funding: €171,084
Principal Investigator: Maribel Jiménez Alonso
Funding agency: Service Contract between the Instituto de Salud Carlos III and the Directorate-General for Public Health, Regional Ministry of Health of the Community of Madrid 

Project Title: CIBERINFEC Research Group (CB21/13/00110)
Start date: 2021
End date: currently active
Principal Investigator: Dr. Mª Paz Sánchez-Seco, Arbovirus and Imported Viral Diseases Unit. 
Researchers from the Medical Entomology Laboratory: Maribel Jiménez (member), Inés Martín Martín (collaborator).
Funding: €108,134. File number: CB21/13/00110.
Funding agency: Consortium Centre for Biomedical Research in NETWORK (CIBER)


 

PAST PROJECTS

Service Contract: "Evaluation of the anti-leishmania effect of the bacteria Tc1 and its derivatives in the intravectorial cycle"
Reference: ISCIII-06896
Start date: 15/12/2022
End date: 15/04/2025
Funding: €71,265.67
Principal Investigator: Inés Elena Martín Martín
Funding agency: Service Contract between the company GlaxoSmithKline R&D (GSK) and the Instituto de Salud Carlos III

Service Contract: "Analysis for the surveillance of the vector and wild reservoirs that transmit leishmaniasis in the Community of Madrid"
Reference: 59/2020 (A/SER-040739/2020)
Start date: 10/12/2021
End date: 10/12/2023.   
Funding: €42,612.17 per year   Total 2021-2023: €127,836.51
Principal Investigators: Ricardo Molina /Maribel Jiménez Alonso
Funding agency: Service contract between the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) and the Directorate-General for Public Health, Regional Ministry of Health of the Community of Madrid

Project title: "Research and Integrated Surveillance of Emerging Arboviruses West Nile, Toscana and Dengue in some areas of Spain"
Reference: PI19CIII/00014
Start date: 2020
End date: 2022
Principal Investigator: Ana Vázquez González
Co-Principal Investigator: Ricardo Molina
Funding: €60,000.00
Funding agency: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Strategic Action in Intramural Health, AESI).

Project title: "Characterisation of the concept of ‘asymptomatic carrier’ in leishmaniasis: implications for treatment".
Start date: 01/01/2015
End date: 31/12/2017
Principal investigators: Javier Moreno and Javier García
Funding: €159,940
Funding agency: Study Agreement between Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi), the Spanish Foundation for International Cooperation, Health and Social Policy (FCSAI) and Fuenlabrada Hospital. Subcontractor: ISCIII Medical Entomology Unit (Maribel Jiménez and Ricardo Molina).

Project title: "Biology and control of vector-borne infections in Europe (EDENext Collaborative Project): Sandfly-borne diseases".  
Reference: Subproject (PBD) (EU, FP7-HEALTH-2010-single-stage, contract No. 261504).
Start date: 2011
End date: 2014
Principal investigator: Ricardo Molina     General coordinator: Petr Volf
Funding: €140,000
Funding agency: EU-FP7

Project Title: "Phlebotomus perniciosus saliva as a source in the search for potential targets for the development of vaccines against Leishmania infantum"
Reference: AGL2008-01592/GAN (MICINN)
Start date: 2009
End date: 2011
Principal investigator: Ricardo Molina
Funding: €70,180
Funding agency: Ministry of Science and Innovation

Publications

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CD45 expression discriminates waves of embryonic megakaryocytes in the mouse.

Cortegano, I., Serrano, N., Ruiz, C., Rodríguez, M., Prado, C., Alía, M., Hidalgo, A., Cano, E., de Andrés B. and Gaspar, ML. 2018. Haematologica, 104(9):1853-1865

PUBMED DOI

Hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae: Epidemiology outside Asian countries, antibiotic resistance association, methods of detection and clinical management

12. Hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae: Epidemiology outside Asian countries, antibiotic resistance association, methods of detection and clinical management. Autores: García-Cobos S, Oteo-Iglesias J, Pérez-Vázquez M. Revista: Enferm Infecc Microbiol Clin (Engl Ed). 2025 Feb;43(2):102-109.

PUBMED DOI

Vector-mediated gene transfer engenders long-lived neutralizing activity and protection against SIV infection in monkeys

Johnson PR, Schnepp BC, Zhang J, Connell MJ, Greene SM, Yuste E, Desrosiers RC, Clark KR; Nat Med. 2009 Aug;15(8):901-6

PUBMED DOI

Listeriosis outbreak caused by contaminated stuffed pork, Andalusia, Spain, July to October 2019

Fernández-Martínez NF, Ruiz-Montero R, Briones E, Baños E, García San Miguel Rodríguez-Alarcón L, Chaves JA, Abad R, Varela C; LISMOAN team; Lorusso N. Euro Surveill . 2022 Oct;27(43):2200279

PUBMED DOI

Resistance gene pool to co-trimoxazole in non-susceptible Nocardia strains

Valdezate S, Garrido N, Carrasco G, Villalón P, Medina-Pascual MJ, Saéz-Nieto JA. (2015). Resistance gene pool to co-trimoxazole in non-susceptible Nocardia strains. Front Microbiol. 2015 Apr 28;6:376

PUBMED DOI

A novel typing method for Streptococcus pneumoniae using selected surface proteins

Domenech A, Moreno J, Ardanuy C, Liñares J, de la Campa AG, Martin-Galiano AJ. Front Microbiol. 2016; 31;7:420.

PUBMED DOI

Podocytes as new cellular targets of hemoglobin toxicity in massive intravascular hemolysis.

Rubio-Navarro A, Sanchez-Niño MD, Guerrero-Hue M, García-Caballero C, Gutiérrez E, Yuste C, Sevillano A, Praga M, Egea J, Román E, Cannata P, Ortega R, Cortegano I, de Andrés B, Gaspar ML, Cadenas S, Ortiz A, Egido J, Moreno JA. Podocytes as new cellular targets of hemoglobin toxicity in massive intravascular hemolysis. 2018. J.Pathol. 244(3):296-310.

PUBMED DOI

Carbapenemase-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in COVID-19 Intensive Care Patients: Identification of IncL-VIM-1 Plasmid in Previously Non-Predominant Sequence Types.

13. Carbapenemase-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in COVID-19 Intensive Care Patients: Identification of IncL-VIM-1 Plasmid in Previously Non-Predominant Sequence Types. Autores: Cañada-García JE, Ramírez de Arellano E, Jiménez-Orellana M, Viedma E, Sánchez A, Alhambra A, Villa J, Delgado-Iribarren A, Bautista V, Lara N, García-Cobos S, Aracil B, Cercenado E, Pérez-Vázquez M, Oteo-Iglesias J. Revista: Antibiotics (Basel). 2023 Jan 6;12(1):107.

PUBMED DOI

Identification and characterization of HIV-1 CD8+ T cell escape variants with impaired fitness

Sanchez-Merino V, Farrow MA, Brewster F, Somasundaran M, Luzuriaga K; J Infect Dis. 2008 Jan 15;197(2):300-8

PUBMED DOI

Pertactin-Deficient Bordetella pertussis with Unusual Mechanism of Pertactin Disruption, Spain, 1986-2018

14. Mir-Cros A, Moreno-Mingorance A, Martín-Gómez MT, Abad R, Bloise I, Campins M, González-Praetorius A, Gutiérrez MN, Martín-González H, Muñoz-Almagro C, Orellana MÁ, de Pablos M, Roca-Grande J, Rodrigo C, Rodríguez ME, Uriona S, Vidal MJ, Pumarola T, Larrosa MN, González-López JJ. Emerg Infect Dis. 2022 May;28(5):967-976

PUBMED DOI

Genomic Background and Phylogeny of cfiA-Positive Bacteroides fragilis Strains Resistant to Meropenem-EDTA

Medina-Pascual MJ, Valdezate S, Carrasco G, Villalón P, Garrido N, Saéz-Nieto JA. (2015) Increase in isolation of Burkholderia contaminans from Spanish patients with cystic fibrosis. Clin Microbiol Infect. ;21(2):150-6.

PUBMED DOI

An increase in negative supercoiling in bacteria reveals topology-reacting gene clusters and a homeostatic response mediated by the DNA topoisomerase I gene

Ferrándiz MJ, Martín-Galiano AJ, Arnanz C, Camacho-Soguero I, Tirado-Vélez JM, de la Campa AG. 2016. Nucl Acids Res. 44:7292-7303 (2016).

PUBMED DOI

Spatially-restricted JAG1-Notch signaling in the human thymus provides permissive microenvironments for dendritic cell development.

Martín Gayo, E., González-García, S., García-León, M., Murcia-Ceballos, A., Alcain, J., García-Peydró, M., Allende, L., de Andrés, B., Gaspar, ML. and Toribio, ML. J.Exp.Med. (2017) 214:3361-3379

PUBMED DOI

Carbapenemase-producing Emergence of NDM-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli in Spain: phylogeny, resistome, virulence and plasmids encoding blaNDM-like genes as determined by WGS. aeruginosa in Spain: interregional dissemination of the high risk-clones ST175 and ST244 carrying blaVIM-2, blaVIM-1, blaIMP-8, blaVIM-20 and blaKPC-2

14. Emergence of NDM-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli in Spain: phylogeny, resistome, virulence and plasmids encoding blaNDM-like genes as determined by WGS. Autores: Pérez-Vázquez M, Sola Campoy PJ, Ortega A, Bautista V, Monzón S, Ruiz-Carrascoso G, Mingorance J, González-Barberá EM, Gimeno C, Aracil B, Sáez D, Lara N, Fernández S, González-López JJ, Campos J, Kingsley RA, Dougan G, Oteo-Iglesias J; Spanish NDM Study Group. Revista: J Antimicrob Chemother. 2019 Dec 1;74(12):3489-3496.

PUBMED DOI

Glycosylation of gp41 of simian immunodeficiency virus shields epitopes that can be targets for neutralizing antibodies

Yuste E, Bixby J, Lifson J, Sato S, Johnson W, Desrosiers R*. 2008. J Virol 82:12472-86.

PUBMED DOI

Large Increase in Azithromycin-Resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae in Northern Spain

Carballo R, Povoa MC, Abad R, Navarro C, Martin E, Alvarez M, Salgado A, Potel C. Microb Drug Resist. 2022 Jan;28(1):81-86

PUBMED DOI

Epidemiology of the Acinetobacter-derived cephalosporinase, carbapenem-hydrolysing oxacillinase and metallo-beta-lactamase genes, and of common insertion sequences, in epidemic clones of Acinetobacter baumannii from Spain

Villalón P, Valdezate S, Medina-Pascual MJ, Carrasco G, Vindel A, Saez-Nieto JA. Epidemiology of the Acinetobacter-derived cephalosporinase, carbapenem-hydrolysing oxacillinase and metallo-beta-lactamase genes, and of common insertion sequences, in epidemic clones of Acinetobacter baumannii from Spain. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2013;68(3):550-3.

PUBMED DOI

Reactive oxygen species contribute to the bactericidal effects of the fluoroquinolone moxifloxacin in Streptococcus pneumoniae

Ferrándiz MJ, Martín-Galiano AJ, Arnanz C, Zimmerman T, de la Campa AG. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 60:409-417 (2016).

PUBMED DOI

Altered Marginal Zone and innate-like B cells in aged SAMP8 mice with defective IgG1 responses

Cortegano, I., Rodriguez, M., Martin, I., Prado, C., Ruiz, C., Hortigüela, R., Alia, M., Vilar, M., Mira, H., Cano, E., de Andrés, B., and Gaspar, ML. Cell death & disease (2017) 8, e3000

PUBMED DOI

Rapid cross-border emergence of NDM-5-producing Escherichia coli in the European Union/European Economic Area, 2012 to June 2022

15. Rapid cross-border emergence of NDM-5-producing Escherichia coli in the European Union/European Economic Area, 2012 to June 2022. Autores: Linkevicius M, Bonnin RA, Alm E, Svartström O, Apfalter P, Hartl R, Hasman H, Roer L, Räisänen K, Dortet L, Pfennigwerth N, Hans JB, Tóth Á, Buzgó L, Cormican M, Delappe N, Monaco M, Giufrè M, Hendrickx AP, Samuelsen Ø, Pöntinen AK, Caniça M, Manageiro V, Oteo-Iglesias J, Pérez-Vázquez M, Westmo K, Mäkitalo B, Palm D, Monnet DL, Kohlenberg A. Revista: Euro Surveill. 2023 May;28(19):2300209.

PUBMED DOI

Content with Investigacion Entomología Médica .

List of staff

Additional Information

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a human pathogen that, despite the development of vaccines, continues to be an important cause of mortality and morbidity. We investigate the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in this bacterium. On the one hand by identifying new therapeutic targets and on the other hand by investigating the molecular basis of the action of antibiotics already used in clinical practice (the fluoroquinolones levofloxacin and moxifloxacin) or not yet used (seconeolitsine). For this purpose, we used a multidisciplinary analysis involving genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics to understand the organization of the S. pneumoniae chromosome and the identification of the factors that stabilize this organization, including ncRNAs. Changes in the level of global supercoiling, either by inhibition of gyrase (decrease) or by inhibition of topoisomerase I (increase) alter the transcriptome. The modulated genes are located in domains, whose genes show specific functional characteristics. The aim is to identify new factors essential for S. pneumoniae physiology and to characterize transcriptional regulation in response to topological stress. In addition, RNA interference technology and CRISPR systems will be used as novel antibacterials. These studies will establish the bases for translational research aimed at the development of new therapeutic targets for the treatment of pneumococcal diseases.

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a human pathogen that, despite the development of vaccines, continues to be an important cause of mortality and morbidity. We investigate the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in this bacterium. On the one hand by identifying new therapeutic targets and on the other hand by investigating the molecular basis of the action of antibiotics already used in clinical practice (the fluoroquinolones levofloxacin and moxifloxacin) or not yet used (seconeolitsine). For this purpose, we used a multidisciplinary analysis involving genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics to understand the organization of the S. pneumoniae chromosome and the identification of the factors that stabilize this organization, including ncRNAs. Changes in the level of global supercoiling, either by inhibition of gyrase (decrease) or by inhibition of topoisomerase I (increase) alter the transcriptome. The modulated genes are located in domains, whose genes show specific functional characteristics. The aim is to identify new factors essential for S. pneumoniae physiology and to characterize transcriptional regulation in response to topological stress. In addition, RNA interference technology and CRISPR systems will be used as novel antibacterials. These studies will establish the bases for translational research aimed at the development of new therapeutic targets for the treatment of pneumococcal diseases.

Content with Investigacion Entomología Médica .