Usv101 is a key regulator of cryptococcal virulence and determinant of host response
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ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Cryptococcus neoformans
PROVIDER: GSE69532 | GEO | 2016/03/31
SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA286180
REPOSITORIES: GEO
Similar Datasets
Project description:Cryptococcus neoformans is a fungal pathogen responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths per year. Its critical virulence factor is a polysacharride capsule which grows large upon entry into a mammalian host. We previously identified USV101 as a transcription factor whose deletion results in enlarged capsules. Here, we characterize strains lacking or overexpressing USV101 in terms of their virulence-related phenotypes, the altered course of infection by them and immune response to them in a mouse model, the relationship of Usv101 to other transcription factors involved in capsule regulation, and the changes in Usv101 activity during capsule induction. To study the function of Usv101, a key C. neoformans regulator of virulence, and its interactions with downstream capsule-regulating TFs GAT201 and SP1, expression profiles were generated by RNA-seq of a usv101 deletion mutant, a USV101 overexpression mutant, strains expressing GAT201 under various promoters, various double mutants, and wildtype cells grown in a capsule non-inducing condition, a capsule inducing condition for 90 minutes, or a capsule inducing condition for 24 hours.
2016-03-31 | E-GEOD-69532 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:In eukaryotes, inositol polyphosphates perform essential metabolic and signaling functions. Using human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans as a model, we created mutants in three inositol polyphosphates kinases: Arg1, Ipk1 and Kcs1. Each of the mutants produces a unique repertoire of inositol polyphosphates, different from the wild type strain. Comparative phenotypic and transcriptome analyses of wild type and mutant strains indicates that inositol polyphosphate PP-IP5 (IP7) is the key regulator of gene expression, fitness and virulence in C. neoformans.
2016-03-03 | GSE78824 | GEO
Project description:In eukaryotes, inositol polyphosphates perform essential metabolic and signaling functions. Using human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans as a model, we created mutants in three inositol polyphosphates kinases: Arg1, Ipk1 and Kcs1. Each of the mutants produces a unique repertoire of inositol polyphosphates, different from the wild type strain. Comparative phenotypic and transcriptome analyses of wild type and mutant strains indicates that inositol polyphosphate PP-IP5 (IP7) is the key regulator of gene expression, fitness and virulence in C. neoformans. Comparison of WT and mutants (Darg1, Dkcs1 and Dipk1) grown in broth culture in the absence of stress.
2016-03-03 | E-GEOD-78824 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Cryptococcus neoformans is a fungal pathogen with a polysaccharide capsule that becomes greatly enlarged in the mammalian host and during in vitro growth in response to host-like conditions. To understand how individual host-like signals affect capsule size and gene expression, we grew wild-type cells and cells lacking components of the cAMP pathway: Pde1, Pde2, Pkr1. We also took samples for RNA-Seq at 30, 90, 180, 1440 minutes and carried out RNA-Seq in quadruplicate. We also measured capsule thickness at 1440 min.
2023-08-02 | GSE226651 | GEO
Project description:Cryptococcus neoformans is an opportunistic basidiomycete pathogen that is a major etiological agent of fungal meningoencephalitis leading to more than 180,000 deaths worldwide annually. For this pathogen, the polysaccharide capsule is a key virulence factor, which interferes with the phagocytosis by host innate immune cells, but its complex signaling networks remain elusive. In this study, we systematically analyzed capsule biosynthesis and signaling networks by using C. neoformans transcription factor (TF) and kinase mutant libraries under diverse capsule-inducing conditions, such as Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s (DME), Littman’s medium (LIT) and fetal bovine serum (FBS) medium. We found that deletion of GAT201, YAP1, BZP4, and ADA2 consistently causes capsule production defects in all tested media, indicating that they are capsule-regulating core TFs. Epistatic and expression analysis showed that Yap1 and Ada2 control Gat201 upstream, whereas Bzp4 and Gat201 regulate capsule production independently. We next searched for potential upstream kinases and found that mutants deleted of PKA1, BUD32, POS5, IRE1 or CDC2801 showed reduced capsule production under all three capsule induction conditions, whereas mutants deleted of HOG1 and IRK5 displayed enhanced capsule production. Notably, Pka1 and Irk5 controls induction of GAT201 and BZP4, respectively, under capsule induction condition. Finally, we monitored transcriptome profiles governed by Bzp4, Gat201, and Ada2 under capsule-inducing condition and demonstrated that these TFs regulate redundant and unique sets of downstream target genes. In conclusion, this study provides further insight into the complex regulatory mechanism of capsule production related signaling pathways in C. neoformans.
2022-10-18 | GSE208163 | GEO
Project description:We compared the transcriptome of subpopulations of Cryptococcus neoformans cells within the lungs and C. neoformans cells cultured in capsule repressing medium, capsule inducing medium, and capsule inducing medium with the addition of 10% conditioned medium from cells grown in capsule repressing medium. The aim of the study was to identify genes that regulate C. neoformans cell body and capsule size reductions.
2022-01-01 | GSE152784 | GEO
Project description:Cryptococcus neoformans is a fungal pathogen with a polysaccharide capsule that becomes greatly enlarged in the mammalian host and during in vitro growth in response to host-like conditions. To understand how individual host-like signals affect capsule size and gene expression, we grew cells wild-type KN99 cells with either no added cyclic AMP (cAMP), 1.1 mM, 1.8 mM, 3.3 mM, 11 mM, or 20 mM cAMP. capsule thickness at 1440 min. We also took samples for RNA-Seq at 30, 90, 180, 1440 minutes and carried out RNA-Seq in quadruplicate. We also measured capsule thickness at 1440 min.
2023-08-02 | GSE226637 | GEO
Project description:Ubiquitination is a reversible protein modification involved in various cellular processes in eukaryotic cells. Deubiquitinating enzymes, the proteins responsible for the removal of ubiquitin, act as essential regulators to maintain ubiquitin homeostasis and to exquisitely regulate protein degradation via the ubiquitination pathway. Cryptococcus neoformans is an important basidiomycete pathogen that causes life-threatening meningoencephalitis primarily within the immunocompromised population. In order to understand the possible influence deubiquitinating enzymes have on growth and virulence of the model pathogenic yeast Cryptococcus neoformans, we generated deletion mutants of 7 putative deubiquitinase genes. Compared to other deubiquitinating enzyme mutants, a ubp5M-bM-^HM-^F mutant exhibited severely attenuated virulence and many distinct phenotypes, including decreased capsule formation, hypomelanization, defective sporulation, and elevated sensitivity to several external stressors (such as high temperature, oxidative and nitrosative stresses, high salts, and antifungal agents). Ubp5 appears to be the major deubiquitinating enzyme in C. neoformans for maintaining a pool of free ubiquitin for stress responses, supports the evolutionary divergence of Cryptococcus sp. from the model yeast S. cerevisiae, and provides an important paradigm for understanding the potential role of deubiquitination in virulence by other pathogenic fungi. In addition, other putative deubiquitinase mutants (doa4M-bM-^HM-^F and ubp13M-bM-^HM-^F) exhibit similar phenotypes to the ubp5M-bM-^HM-^F mutant, illustrating possible functional overlap among deubiquitinating enzymes in C. neoformans. Certain functioning deubiquitinating enzymes are essential for the virulence composite of C. neoformans and provide an additional yeast survival and propagation advantage in the host. In this study, transcription profiles of ubp5 mutant and WT Cryptococcus neoformans strains were compared in a dye-swap experiment following 1hr exposure to either 30C or 37C.
2012-04-10 | E-GEOD-35067 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Cryptococcus neoformans causes meningoencephalitis and is an increasing human health threat. C. neoformans is neurotropic, and persists in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of the mammalian host during infection. In order to survive in the host, pathogenic fungi must procure nutrients such as carbon and nitrogen. To enhance our understanding of nutrient acquisition during infection by Cryptococcus species, we examined utilization of nitrogen sources available in CSF. We screened for growth and capsule production of 817 global environmental and clinical isolates on various sources of nitrogen. Capsule production was assessed using ammonium and urea in the presence or absence of benomyl to determine the relationship of urea exposure to capsule production. Since urea is metabolized to ammonia and CO2 (a known signal for capsule induction), we examined urea metabolism mutants for their response to urea regarding capsule production. Non-preferred nitrogen sources were found to greatly affect capsule production in pathogenic species of Cryptococcus. Urea induced the greatest magnitude of capsule production. Capsule induction by urea was greater in Cryptococcus gattii strains than in C. neoformans strains. In addition, both environmental and clinical strains grew robustly on uric acid, casamino acids, creatinine, and asparagine as sole nitrogen sources. While substantial growth on nitrate was not apparent at day 3, growth was apparent by day 6 for all serotypes. In this study, transcription profiles of urea pathway mutants (ure1 and amt1/2) and WT Cryptococcus neoformans strains were compared in a dye-swap experiment following 1hr exposure to proline or proline + urea (.25g/L).
2013-09-25 | E-GEOD-46829 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Ubiquitination is a reversible protein modification involved in various cellular processes in eukaryotic cells. Deubiquitinating enzymes, the proteins responsible for the removal of ubiquitin, act as essential regulators to maintain ubiquitin homeostasis and to exquisitely regulate protein degradation via the ubiquitination pathway. Cryptococcus neoformans is an important basidiomycete pathogen that causes life-threatening meningoencephalitis primarily within the immunocompromised population. In order to understand the possible influence deubiquitinating enzymes have on growth and virulence of the model pathogenic yeast Cryptococcus neoformans, we generated deletion mutants of 7 putative deubiquitinase genes. Compared to other deubiquitinating enzyme mutants, a ubp5M-bM-^HM-^F mutant exhibited severely attenuated virulence and many distinct phenotypes, including decreased capsule formation, hypomelanization, defective sporulation, and elevated sensitivity to several external stressors (such as high temperature, oxidative and nitrosative stresses, high salts, and antifungal agents). Ubp5 appears to be the major deubiquitinating enzyme in C. neoformans for maintaining a pool of free ubiquitin for stress responses, supports the evolutionary divergence of Cryptococcus sp. from the model yeast S. cerevisiae, and provides an important paradigm for understanding the potential role of deubiquitination in virulence by other pathogenic fungi. In addition, other putative deubiquitinase mutants (doa4M-bM-^HM-^F and ubp13M-bM-^HM-^F) exhibit similar phenotypes to the ubp5M-bM-^HM-^F mutant, illustrating possible functional overlap among deubiquitinating enzymes in C. neoformans. Certain functioning deubiquitinating enzymes are essential for the virulence composite of C. neoformans and provide an additional yeast survival and propagation advantage in the host. WT Cryptococcus neoformans strain H99 was incubated in pooled ex vivo human CSF obtained from de-identified patients and harvested after 24hr for RNA extraction. New Zealand White rabbits were inoculated with WT strain H99 and harvested by intracisternal spinal tap on days 1 and 7 for RNA extraction.
2012-04-10 | E-GEOD-36182 | biostudies-arrayexpress