Project description:Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC), including serotype O157:H7, cause severe food-borne illness. On route to the human colon, they encounter and resist, numerous anti-microbial ingestion stresses. We hypothesize that these stresses cue EHEC to alter virulence properties. This study investigated the impact of bile salts on virulence properties and examined the genetic basis of the phenotypes. Established assays were used to examine adhesion to human epithelial cells, motility, verotoxin (VT) production and antimicrobial resistance with/without bile salt stress. Bacteria treated for 90 minute in DMEM plus 0.15% (w/v) bile salt mix demonstrated significantly enhanced adhesion to epithelial cells and resistance to several antibiotics but did not increase motility or VT production. To determine the genetic basis of these phenotypes a microarray experiment was conducted. EHEC strain 86-24, in mid-log phase of growth, were grown in DMEM pH 7.4 (control), or DMEM plus bile salt mix (0.15% w/v), for 90 minutes, statically at 37˚C, 5% CO2 prior to harvesting RNA for the microarray study. Four biological replicates were produced for each treatment. Microarray and gene expression analysis (semi-quantitative RT-PCR and beta-galactosidase reporter assays) of bile salt-treated EHEC revealed significant up-regulation of genes for lipid A modification, fimbriae, an efflux pump, and a two-component regulatory system relative to the bacteria grown in DMEM alone. This work points to several mechanisms that EHEC employs to resist the stresses of the human small intestine, notably efflux, antimicrobial resistance, and outer membrane alterations. Bile salts enhanced the virulence-related properties of increased adhesion and resistance to antimicrobials but not VT production or motility. This research contributes to our understanding of how EHEC senses and responds to host environmental signals and the mechanisms this pathogen uses to successfully colonize and infect the human host. Bacteria were grown in LB broth overnight with shaking, then subcultured into DMEM and grown statically at 37˚C, 5%CO2 to mid-log phase. Bacteria were then subjected to one of two 90 minute treatments: 1) Control: DMEM pH 7.4, or 2) Bile Salt Stress: DMEM pH 7.4 plus 0.15%, grown statically at 37˚C, 5%CO2.

Project description:Biliary atresia causes jaundice and liver failure in newborn children. In this study, single nucleotide polymorphisms were characterized in children with biliary atresia and identified ARF6 as a susceptibility gene for this disease. Knockdown of this gene in zebrafish embryos impaired formation of bile ducts and excretion of bile from the zebrafish liver. Subject enrollment: Children with biliary atresia were enrolled at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHP) after obtaining written consent from parents for the University of Pittsburgh IRB approved protocol number 0405628. At the Center for Applied Genomics (CAG), all subjects were enrolled after obtaining written consent from parents per Children's Hospital of Philadelphia IRB approval number 06-004886 Genotyping array: Genotyping of DNA obtained from blood was performed with the Infinium HumanHap550K BeadChip (Illumina, San Diego, CA). Statistical methods and software: SNP genotype frequencies were compared between cases and controls with a chi-square test statistic applied in Plink [Purcell et al, 2007] for SNPs with at least 90% call rate and 1% minor allele frequency (MAF). Cases and controls: All DNA samples had excellent data quality with call rates > 98%. A total of 63 Caucasian BA cases and 1907 controls were compared at > 550000 SNPs, and demonstrated a very low genomic inflation factor of 1.00627. Description of Cases: Biliary atresia patients had received a Kasai procedure and demonstrated histopathological features of biliary obstruction, and were recruited at evaluation for transplantation or after liver transplantation. Reference: Purcell S, Neale B, Todd-Brown K, Thomas L, Ferreira MA, et al. (2007) PLINK: a tool set for whole-genome association and population-based linkage analyses. Am J Hum Genet 81: 559-575 (PMID: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=17701901">17701901</a>).

Project description:Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC), including serotype O157:H7, cause severe food-borne illness. On route to the human colon, they encounter and resist, numerous anti-microbial ingestion stresses. We hypothesize that these stresses cue EHEC to alter virulence properties. This study investigated the impact of bile salts on virulence properties and examined the genetic basis of the phenotypes. Established assays were used to examine adhesion to human epithelial cells, motility, verotoxin (VT) production and antimicrobial resistance with/without bile salt stress. Bacteria treated for 90 minute in DMEM plus 0.15% (w/v) bile salt mix demonstrated significantly enhanced adhesion to epithelial cells and resistance to several antibiotics but did not increase motility or VT production. To determine the genetic basis of these phenotypes a microarray experiment was conducted. EHEC strain 86-24, in mid-log phase of growth, were grown in DMEM pH 7.4 (control), or DMEM plus bile salt mix (0.15% w/v), for 90 minutes, statically at 37˚C, 5% CO2 prior to harvesting RNA for the microarray study. Four biological replicates were produced for each treatment. Microarray and gene expression analysis (semi-quantitative RT-PCR and beta-galactosidase reporter assays) of bile salt-treated EHEC revealed significant up-regulation of genes for lipid A modification, fimbriae, an efflux pump, and a two-component regulatory system relative to the bacteria grown in DMEM alone. This work points to several mechanisms that EHEC employs to resist the stresses of the human small intestine, notably efflux, antimicrobial resistance, and outer membrane alterations. Bile salts enhanced the virulence-related properties of increased adhesion and resistance to antimicrobials but not VT production or motility. This research contributes to our understanding of how EHEC senses and responds to host environmental signals and the mechanisms this pathogen uses to successfully colonize and infect the human host.

Project description:Recent studies have reported that glycosphingolipids (GSL) might be involved in obesity induced insulin resistance. Those reports suggested that inhibition of GSL biosynthesis in animals ameliorated insulin sensitivity accompanied with improved glycemic control leading to decreased liver steatosis in obese mice. In addition, GSL depletion altered hepatic secretory function. In those studies, ubiquitously acting inhibitors for GSL-biosynthesis have been used to inhibit function of the enzyme Ugcg (UDP-glucose:ceramide glucosyltransferase), catalyzing the first step of the glucosylceramide based GSL-synthesis pathway. In the present study, a genetic approach for GSL deletion in hepatocytes was chosen to achieve full inhibition of GSL synthesis and to prevent possible adverse effects caused by Ugcg-inhibitors. Using the Cre/loxP system under control of the albumin promoter, GSL biosynthesis in hepatocytes and their release into the plasma could be effectively blocked. Deletion of GSL in hepatocytes did not change quantity of bile excretion through the biliary duct. Total bile salt content in bile-, feces- and plasma from mutant mice showed no difference as compared to control animals. Cholesterol concentration in liver-, bile-, feces- and plasma-samples remained unaffected. Lipoprotein concentration in plasma-samples in mutant animals reached similar levels as in their control littermates. No alteration in glucose tolerance after intraperitoneal application of glucose and insulin appeared in mutant animals. A preventive effect of GSL-deficiency on development of liver steatosis after high fat diet feeding could not be observed. Conclusion: The data suggest that GSL in hepatocytes are not essential for sterol, glucose and lipoprotein metabolism and do not prevent high fat diet-induced liver steatosis, indicating that Ugcg inhibitors exert their effect on hepatocytes either independently of GSL or mediated by other (liver) cell types. Comparison of wildtype mouse liver function versus Ugcg-deficient

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Illumina_SNParray - samples

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Massive gene amplification drives paediatric hepatocellular carcinoma caused by bile salt export pump deficiency.

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