Project description:Pilot study on leaves from Papua New Guinea showing soil toxicity, extracted in RNAlater in one case and MQ water in another, also MQ blanks
Project description:Bats can harbor many pathogens without showing disease. However, the mechanisms by which bats resolve these infections or limit pathology remain unclear. To illuminate the bat immune response to coronaviruses, viruses with high public health significance, we will use serum proteomics to assess broad differences in immune proteins of uninfected and infected vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus). In contrast to global profiling techniques of blood such as transcriptomics, proteomics provides a unique perspective into immunology, as the serum proteome includes proteins from not only blood but also those secreted from proximal tissues. Here, we expand our recent work on the serum proteome of wild vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) to better understand CoV pathogenesis. Across 19 bats sampled in 2019 in northern Belize with available sera, we detected CoVs in oral or rectal swabs from four individuals. We used data independent acquisition-based mass spectrometry to profile and compare the undepleted serum proteome of these 19 bats. These results will provide much needed insight into changes in the bat serum proteome in response to coronavirus infection.
Project description:Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a serious health challenge affecting millions worldwide, and research advances are restricted by the limited availability of preclinical models recapitulating the complex disease etiology and hepatic histopathology. Uniquely, the diet induced guinea pig model develops NASH with fibrosis resembling human histopathology however, no data is available depicting the guinea pig NASH transcriptome. We provide the first high throughput sequencing results on guinea pig NASH with advanced fibrosis. Transcriptomic profiles in guinea pig NASH clearly separated from controls, and pathways involved in fibrosis, inflammation and lipid metabolism were all highly regulated.
Project description:Extensive remodeling of host gene expression by coronaviruses nsp1 proteins is a well-documented and conserved aspect of coronavirus-host takeover. Using comparative transcriptomics we investigate the diversity of transcriptional targets between nsp1 proteins between α- and β- coronaviruses. Additionally, Affinity Purification Mass-Spectrometry was implemented to identify common and divergent interactors between the nsp1 proteins. While we detected widespread RNA destabilization between the different nsp1s, closely related nsp1 showed little similarities in clustering of targeted genes. Partial overlapping transcriptional targeting between α-CoV 229E and MERS nsp1 may suggest a shared similar targeting mechanism, as MERS nsp1 preferentially targets nuclear transcripts. Our interactome data shows great variance between nsp1 interactions, with 229E nsp1, the smallest tested here, interacts with the most host proteins, while MERS nsp1 only engaged with a few. While nsp1 is a rather well-conserved protein with consistent functions across different coronaviruses, its precise effects on host cells is virus-specific.
Project description:In this study we developed a guinea pig oligonucleotide microarray (GPOM) comprising of a total number of 45,220 features including 43,803 valid features from different mammalian species. These features are inclusive of 2971 newly annotated probes corresponding to 344 unique genes of guinea pig. As a case study, we utilized this array to examine the gene expression profile in guinea pig lungs in response to infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Studying the global gene expression profile in guinea pigs allowed identification of the disease signature of pulmonary TB infection represented by several unique genes that are differentially regulated in this model. While, 1344 unique genes exhibited marked up regulation, 1856 genes were significantly down regulated. The newly developed tool not only finds its utility in studying the global gene expression profile associated with vaccination and/or M. tuberculosis infection in this highly useful animal model but would also be immensely useful in identification of new drug targets, testing of therapies, molecular genetic analysis for diseases other than tuberculosis as well. Genotypic Technology designed Custom Cavia porcellus 4x44k Gene Expression Array (Agilent-AMADID-019424) * In order to validate the GPOM developed in this study, we compared the gene expression profile of guinea pig lungs at 10 weeks post- M. tuberculosis infection with respect to that obtained from normal uninfected animals. To address this, guinea pigs were aerosol infected with M. tuberculosis, lungs were harvested at 10 weeks post-infection and RNA obtained from infected lungs was employed for cDNA synthesis and microarray hybridization. The gene expression was compared with the RNA sample obtained from the lungs of normal uninfected guinea pigs.