Project description:A major unresolved question is how bacteria living in complex communities respond to environmental changes. In communities, biotic interactions may either facilitate or constrain evolution depending on whether the interactions expand or contract the range of ecological opportunities. A fundamental challenge is to understand how the surrounding biotic community modifies evolutionary trajectories as species adapt to novel environmental conditions. Here we show that community context can dramatically alter evolutionary dynamics using a novel approach that 'cages' individual focal strains within complex communities. We find that evolution of focal bacterial strains depends on properties both of the focal strain and of the surrounding community. In particular, there is a stronger evolutionary response in low-diversity communities, and when the focal species have a larger genome and are initially poorly adapted. We see how community context affects resource usage and detect genetic changes involved in carbon metabolism and inter-specific interaction. The findings demonstrate that adaptation to new environmental conditions should be investigated in the context of interspecific interactions.
Project description:Comparative genomic hybridisation of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates from a single clonal complex, in order to determine genomic diversity. Isolates were selected from a range of tissue types and serotypes in order to cover the full diversity of the clone, and also in order to try and identify tissue-specific genes
Project description:Comparative genomic hybridisation of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates from a single clonal complex, in order to determine genomic diversity. Isolates were selected from a range of tissue types and serotypes in order to cover the full diversity of the clone, and also in order to try and identify tissue-specific genes Biological replicates: 19 clonal complex 199 S. pneumoniae isolates. One clonal complex 180 isolate used as an outgroup. Independently grown and isolated. One isolate per array
Project description:Lyme disease is a result from an infection by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, and is the leading vector-borne disease in North America. Due to the genomic and proteomic variability of different B. burgdorferi isolates, the study and further comparison of their proteome is key to understand the biology and infectivity of these spirochetes. Mass spectrometry-based proteomics was used to assemble peptide datasets of laboratory isolates B31, MM1, B31-ML23, and the infective isolates B31-5A4, B31-A3, and 297, as well as other public datasets, and is publicly available as the Borrelia PeptideAtlas (http://www.peptideatlas.org/builds/borrelia/). These datasets include information on total proteome, secretome, and membrane proteome of the B. burgdorferi.
Project description:Neisseria meningitidis is the leading cause of bacterial meningitis and septicemia worldwide. The novel ST-4821 clonal complex caused several serogroup C meningococcal outbreaks unexpectedly during 2003â2005 in China. We fabricated a whole-genome microarray of Chinese N. meningitidis serogroup C representative isolate 053442 and characterized 27 ST-4821 complex isolates which were isolated from different serogroups using comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) analysis. This paper provides important clues which are helpful to understand the genome composition and genetic background of different serogroups isolates, and possess significant meaning to the study of the newly emerged hyperinvasive lineage. To further understand the genome diversity of ST-4821 complex isolates, CGH analysis was employed to compare the genomic content of 053442 with those of 27 ST-4821 complex isolates which were isolated from 14 provinces of China during 1977â2005.
Project description:Neisseria meningitidis is the leading cause of bacterial meningitis and septicemia worldwide. The novel ST-4821 clonal complex caused several serogroup C meningococcal outbreaks unexpectedly during 2003–2005 in China. We fabricated a whole-genome microarray of Chinese N. meningitidis serogroup C representative isolate 053442 and characterized 27 ST-4821 complex isolates which were isolated from different serogroups using comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) analysis. This paper provides important clues which are helpful to understand the genome composition and genetic background of different serogroups isolates, and possess significant meaning to the study of the newly emerged hyperinvasive lineage. Keywords: comparative genomic hybridization
Project description:Understanding microbial gene functions relies on the application of experimental genetics in cultured microorganisms. However, the vast majority of bacteria and archaea remain uncultured, precluding the application of traditional genetic methods to these organisms and their interactions. Here, we characterize and validate a generalizable strategy for editing the genomes of specific organisms in microbial communities. We apply environmental transformation sequencing (ET-seq), in which nontargeted transposon insertions are mapped and quantified following delivery to a microbial community, to identify genetically tractable constituents. Next, DNA-editing all-in-one RNA-guided CRISPR-Cas transposase (DART) systems for targeted DNA insertion into organisms identified as tractable by ET-seq are used to enable organism- and locus-specific genetic manipulation in a community context. Using a combination of ET-seq and DART in soil and infant gut microbiota, we conduct species- and site-specific edits in several bacteria, measure gene fitness in a nonmodel bacterium and enrich targeted species. These tools enable editing of microbial communities for understanding and control.
Project description:We report the application of RNA-Seq to assess genomic transcriptional profiles of S. aureus clinical isolates from Clonal Complex 30 and related genetic backgrounds. In this study, CC30 isolates were shown to be significantly less virulent than other CCs in two in vivo sepsis models. The association of CC30 with adhesin-based complications in humans but not sepsis-induced mortality in animal models may be due in part to its unique genomic transcriptional profile and suggests that specific genotypes of S. aureus may be more likely to elicit certain complication types.
Project description:This study uses microarray analyses to examine transcriptional responses of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex clinical isolates to phagosomal cues encountered inside activated (IFN-gamma+LPS) murine bone marrow-derived macrophages 24hr post-infection. Transcript levels of intracellular mycobacteria were compared to extracellular bacteria of the same strain (An aliquot of the inoculum used to infect macrophages was incubated in the absence of macrophages for 24hr in an identical flask). Set of arrays that are part of repeated experiments Keywords: Biological Replicate Biological Replicate Computed
Project description:This study uses microarray analyses to examine transcriptional responses of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex clinical isolates to phagosomal cues encountered inside resting murine bone marrow-derived macrophages 24hr post-infection. Transcript levels of intracellular mycobacteria were compared to extracellular bacteria of the same strain (An aliquot of the inoculum used to infect macrophages was incubated in the absence of macrophages for 24hr in an identical flask). Set of arrays that are part of repeated experiments Keywords: Biological Replicate Biological Replicate Computed