Project description:Pathogenic mycobacteria have the ability to survive within macrophages and persist inside granulomas composed of host immune cells. The complex host-pathogen interactions that determine the outcome of a mycobacterial infection process result in marked alterations of the host gene expression profile. Here we used the zebrafish model to investigate the specificity of the host response to infections with two mycobacterium strains that give distinct disease outcomes: an acute disease with early lethality or a chronic disease with granuloma formation, caused by Mycobacterium marinum strains Mma 20 and E11, respectively. We performed a microarray study of different stages of disease progression in adult zebrafish and found that the acute and the chronic strains evoked partially overlapping host transcriptome signatures, despite that they induce profoundly different disease phenotypes. Both strains affected many signaling cascades, including Wnt and Tlr pathways. Interestingly, the strongest differences were observed at the initial stage of the disease. The immediate response to the acute strain was characterized by higher expression of genes encoding MHC class I proteins, matrix metalloproteinases, transcription factors, cytokines and other common immune response proteins. In contrast, small GTPase and histone gene groups showed higher expression in response to the chronic strain. We also found that nearly 1,000 mycobacterium-responsive genes overlapped between the expression signatures of infected zebrafish adults and embryos at different stages of granuloma formation. Since adult zebrafish possess an adaptive immune system similar to mammals and zebrafish embryos rely solely on innate immunity, this overlap indicates a major contribution of the innate component of the immune system in the response to mycobacterium infection. Taken together, our comparison of the transcriptome responses involved in acute versus chronic infections and in the embryonic versus adult situation provides important new leads for investigating the mechanism of mycobacterial pathogenesis. Zebrafish were handled in compliance with the local animal welfare regulations and maintained according to standard protocols (http://ZFIN.org). Infection experiments were approved by the local animal welfare committee (DEC) of the VU University medical center and of Leiden Univeristy. Infection experiments with adult fish were performed on young males selected from a wild type laboratory-breeding colony and acclimated to their new environment for one week in a quarantine area. These fish were kept at 28ËC on a 12:12 h light/dark rhythm throughout the experiment. Groups of 30 fish, infected with the same dose and strain of mycobacteria, were kept in small fish tanks (10 l) with their own separate filtering system (Eheim Ecco). Zebrafish were inoculated intraperitoneally as previously described (Meijer et al., 2004) with approximately 10000 bacteria or with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) as a control. For the acute infection study with E11 and Mma20 strains, 3 fish per group were sacrificed at 1 and 6 days post infection (dpi) and used for microarray analysis. For comparison with the end stage of chronic E11 infection we used RNA samples from our previously published chronic infection study (Meijer et al., 2005; control fish c2 and infected fish i2) and additional RNA samples (2 controls, 2 infected) from a similar infection experiment. All chronically infected fish showed overt signs of fish tuberculosis, including lethargy and skin ulcers. Histological examination of fish from the same experiments confirmed that the pathology of infected fish corresponded to fish tuberculosis (Van der Sar et al., 2004) and that no characteristics of the disease were present in the control fish. Infection experiments at the embryonic stage were performed using mixed egg clutches from different pairs of AB strain zebrafish. Embryos were grown at 28,5 -30 Â°C in egg water (60Âµg/ml Instant Ocean see salts) and for the duration of bacterial injections embryos were kept under anaesthesia in egg water containing 0.02% buffered 3-aminobenzoic acid ethyl ester (tricaine, Sigma). Embryos were staged at 28 hours post fertilization (hpf) by morphological critera (Kimmel et al.) and approximately 50 cfu of E11 bacteria were injected into the caudal vein close to the urogenital opening. As a control an equal volume of PBS was likewise injected. Infection experiments were carried out in triplicate on separate days and pools of 15-20 embryos were taken at 2, 24 and 120 hours post infection (hpi).

Project description:Novel high-throughput deep sequencing technology has dramatically changed the way that the functional complexity of transcriptomes can be studied. Here we report on the first use of this technology to gain insight into the wide range of transcriptional alterations that are associated with an infectious disease process. Using Solexa/IlluminaM-bM-^@M-^Ys digital gene expression (DGE) system, a tag-based transcriptome sequencing method, we investigated mycobacterium-induced transcriptome changes in a model vertebrate species, the zebrafish. Our DGE data substantiate recent RNA-seq results from other models indicating a much larger extent of genome transcription than previously thought, and demonstrate that the host response to bacterial infection adds a further degree of complexity to the transcriptome. We obtained a sequencing depth of over 5 million tags per sample with strong correlation between replicates. Tag mapping indicated that mycobacterium-infected adult zebrafish express over 70% of all genes represented in transcript databases. Comparison of our DGE data with a previous multiplatform microarray analysis showed that both types of technologies identified regulation of similar functional groups of genes, more specifically the up-regulation of different classes of immune response genes concomitant with a broad down-regulation of metabolic genes. However, the unbiased nature of DGE analysis provided insights that microarray analysis could not have achieved. As demonstrated here, DGE data are useful for the verification of predicted gene models and allowed us to detect mycobacterium-regulated switching between different transcript isoforms. Moreover, genomic mapping of infection-induced DGE tags revealed novel transcript forms for which any previous EST-based evidence of expression was lacking. Adult male zebrafish were infected by intraperitoneal inoculation with approximately 1x 10-3 M. marinum bacteria. All four infected fish were sacrificed when they showed overt signs of fish tuberculosis, including lethargy, skin ulcers and extensive granuloma formation in organs such as liver and kidney. Histological examination of fish from the same experiments confirmed that the pathology of infected fish corresponded to fish tuberculosis and that no characteristics of the disease were present in the control fish. For DGE analysis RNA samples from the four control adult zebrafish (c1,c2,c3,c4) were pooled, and RNA samples from the four M.marinum-infected adult zebrafish (i1,i2,i3,i4) were pooled. Before pooling the individual RNA samples had been checked by microarray analysis for correlation between biological replicates.

Project description:The Spi1/ Pu.1 transcription factor plays a crucial role in myeloid cell development across many species. Several Spi1 target genes have been identified so far, yet the Spi1-dependent gene group remains largely unknown. To identify novel genes downstream of Spi1 we employed a microarray strategy using zebrafish embryos. We established the gene group down-regulated upon spi1 knockdown while simultaneously enriched in FACS-sorted embryonic myeloid cells of a spi1:GFP transgenic line, thus representing putative myeloid-specific Spi1 target genes. This gene group contained all previously identified Spi1-dependent zebrafish genes, confirming the validity of the approach, as well as novel immune-related genes. Colocalization studies with neutrophil and macrophage markers revealed that genes cxcr3.2, mpeg1, ptpn6 and mfap4 were expressed specifically in early embryonic macrophages. The analysis of adult zebrafish hematopoietic tissue showed that genes mfap4 and mpeg1 remained macrophage specific within the myeloid fraction throughout zebrafish life. We also demonstrated that gene cxcr3.2, coding for chemokine receptor 3.2, functions in macrophage migration to the site of bacterial infection. These results establish a myeloid-specific gene group dependent on Spi1 in zebrafish and identify novel early macrophage-specific marker genes, which will facilitate further studies of macrophage development and innate immune function. Zebrafish strains Zebrafish (Danio rerio) were handled in compliance with the local animal welfare regulations and maintained according to standard protocols (http://ZFIN.org). The spi1-gfp transgenic line used in this study (Pu1-lynEGFP, a gift from Franscesca Peri, EMBL, Heidelberg) contains 4 kb of spi1/pu.1 promoter sequence driving expression of membrane-targeted EGFP. Morpholino knock-down experiments Morpholino oligonucleotides (Gene Tools) were diluted to required concentration in 1x Danieu’s buffer (58 mM NaCl, 0.7 mM KCl, 0.4 mM MgSO4, 0.6 mM Ca(NO3)2, 5.0 mM HEPES; pH 7.6) containing 1% Phenol red (Sigma) and approximately 1 nl was injected into the 1-2 cell stage embryo using a Femtojet injector (Eppendorf). Embryo dissociation and FACS (Fluorescent activated cell sorting) Dissociation of embryos was performed according to Covassin et al. 30. In short, ~300 embryos of spi1:GFP line at 28 hpf were dechorionated by pronase treatment, rinsed in calcium free Ringer solution, followed by digestion with 0.25% trypsin. The obtained cell suspension was centrifuged, rinsed with PBS and resuspended in Leibovitz medium L15 without phenol red, 1% fetal calf serum, 0.8mM CaCl2, penicillin 50 U/ml and streptomycin 0.05 mg/ml. The single cell suspension was subject to FACS at room temperature using a FACSAria (Becton Dickinson) with the BD FACSDiva software version 5.0.3 and a Coherent Sapphire solid state laser 488 nm with 13 mW power. The GFP+ and GFP- cell fractions were collected separately into L15 medium supplemented with 0.8 mM CaCl2, 10% fetal calf serum and penicillin 50 U/ml and streptomycin 0.05 mg/ml. The standard yield from circa 300 embryos was approximately 2 x 105 GFP+ cells. Microarray experiment design and analysis Embryos injected either with 1 mM Pu1 morpholino19 or 1 mM Standard Control morpholino were harvested at 28 hours post fertilization (hpf). As a control, embryos injected with an equal volume of 1% Phenol red in Danieu’s buffer (1xPR/D) were used. Pools of 20-30 embryos were collected. RNA samples from spi1 morphants and standard control morphants were labelled with Cy5 and hybridized against a Cy3-labelled common reference (a mixture of all samples injected with 1xPR/D). This experiment was performed in triplicate. FACS sorted spi1-GFP zebrafish embryos at 28hpf were analyzed as follows: the RNA of GFP-positive fraction was labelled with Cy5 and hybridized against a Cy3-labelled RNA of corresponding GFP-negative fraction of cells from the same pool of embryos. This experiment was performed in duplicate. RNA isolation, synthesis of amino allyl labeled aRNA, coupling of Cy3 and Cy5 dyes, and hybridization conditions were as described31. Microarray analysis was performed using custom-designed 44k Agilent chips (platform accession number in GEO: GPL7735) described elsewhere 31. Microarray data were processed and analyzed as described 31. Significance cut-offs for differentially expressed probe sequences were set at 1.2 fold change at P <10-2.

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