Project description:We have used a lipoprotein-deficient mutant Streptococcus pneumoniae strain, delta lgt, to investigate the role of lipoproteins during inflammatory responses to live S. pneumoniae.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of biopsies from tuberculin skin test sites was performed to investigate the interaction of complex cellular and molecular networks at the interface between innate and adaptive immunity which coordinate anti-mycobacterial responses in vivo.
Project description:Regulation of gene expression is linked to the organization of the genome. With age, chromatin alterations occur on all levels of genome organization, accompanied by changes in the gene expression profile. However, little is known about the changes on the level of transcriptional regulation. Here, we used a multi-omics approach and integrated ATAC-, RNA- and NET-seq to identify age-related changes in the chromatin landscape of murine liver and to investigate how these are linked to transcriptional regulation. We provide the first systematic inventory of the connection between aging, chromatin accessibility and transcriptional regulation in a whole tissue. Aging in murine liver is characterized by an increase in chromatin accessibility at promoter regions, but not in an increase of transcriptional output. Instead, aging is accompanied by a decrease of promoter-proximal pausing of RNA polymerase II (Pol II). We propose that these changes in transcriptional regulation are due to a reduced stability of the pausing complex and may represent a mechanism to compensate for the age-related increase in chromatin accessibility in order to prevent aberrant transcription.
Project description:Influenza A(H1N1)pdm virus caused the first human pandemic of the 21st century. Although various probiotic Lactobacillus species have been shown to have anti-microbial effects against pneumonia-inducing pathogens, the prophylactic efficacy and mechanisms behind their protection remain largely unknown. Here, we evaluated the prophylactic efficacy of heat-killed Lactobacillus pentosus b240 against lethal influenza A(H1N1)pdm virus infection in a mouse model. To further define the protective responses induced by b240, we performed virologic, histopathologic, and transcriptomic analyses on the mouse lungs. Although we did not observe an appreciable effect of b240 on virus growth, cytokine production, or histopathology, gene expressional analysis revealed that oral administration of b240 differentially regulates antiviral gene expression in mouse lungs. Our results unveil the possible mechanisms behind the protection mediated by b240 against influenza virus infection and provide new insights into probiotic therapy. Six-week-old female BALB/c mice were used in the study. Oral administration of b240 was initiated in mice at six weeks of age. Mice were orally administered heat-killed Lactobacillus pentosus b240 every day at a dose of 10 mg/mouse in 200 μl of buffered saline for 5 weeks. The control group received saline. To investigate the effects of oral administration of b240 on host immune responses to CA04 virus infection, 9 mice per group were infected with 10 MLD50 of CA04 virus on day 21 post-b240 administration. Three mice per group were euthanized on days 1, 3, and 6 post-infection and their lungs were collected. To investigate the immune responses induced by oral administration of b240 in the lungs of uninfected mice, 15 mice per group were mock-infected with PBS on day 21 post-b240 administration. Three mice per group were euthanized on days 14, 21, 22, 24, and 27 post-b240 administration (-7, 0, 1, 3, and 6 days post-mock infection) and their lungs were collected. These lung tissues were subjected to microarray analysis (three biological replicates per each group).
Project description:The capacity of respiring cultures of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to instantaneously switch to fast alcoholic fermentation upon a transfer to anaerobic sugar-excess conditions is a key characteristic of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in many of its industrial applications. This transition was studied by exposing aerobic glucose-limited chemostat cultures grown at a low specific growth rate to two simultaneous perturbations: oxygen depletion and relief of glucose limitation. This shift towards fully fermentative conditions caused a massive transcriptional response, where one third of all genes within the genome were transcribed differentially. During the first 30 min, most of these changes were driven by relief from glucose limitation. An anaerobic induction response was only observed after the initial response to glucose excess. By comparing this study with public datasets representing dynamic and steady conditions, 14 up-regulated and 11 down-regulated genes were determined to be anaerobiosis specific and can therefore be use as âsignatureâ transcripts for anaerobicity under dynamic as well as under steady state conditions Experiment Overall Design: To invoke rapid and full induction of fermentative capacity, respiratory, aerobic glucose-limited chemostat cultures (D=0.1â¢h-1) were shifted to fully fermentative conditions by sudden depletion of oxygen and addition of glucose. The glucose was added two min after sparging the continuous culture with pure nitrogen, when the dissolved oxygen concentration had decreased from 75-80% to 10-15% of air saturation. Samples for micro-arrays were taken for each time point after the perturbation (5, 10, 30, 60 and 120 min) from two independently cultured replicates, while steady state data were taken from three independent chemostats. The complete dataset therefore comprised 13 samples.