Project description:Comparisson of expression profiling of a etrA deletion mutant strain (experimental sample) with that of the wild type Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 strain to assess global direct/indirect genetic regulation EtrA in Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 shares 73.6% and 50.8% amino acid sequence identity with the oxygen-sensing regulator Fnr in E. coli and Anr in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, respectively; however, its regulatory role of anaerobic metabolism in Shewanella spp. is complex and not well understood. Whole-genome expression profiling using a etrA gene deletion mutant as the experimental sample and the wild type strain as the reference, determine that EtrA fine-tunes the expression of genes involved in various anaerobic metabolic pathways, including nitrate, fumarate and dimethyl sulfoxide reduction. Moreover, genes involved in prophage activation and and genes implicated in aerobic metabolism were also differentially expressed. In contrast to previous studies that attributed a minor regulatory role to EtrA in Shewanella spp., this study demonstrates that EtrA acts as a global transcriptional regulator and cofers physiological advantages to the strain under certain growth conditions.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of Shewanella OS185 and OS195 strains grown under aerobic, anaerobic thiosulfate and nitrate respiratory conditions.
Project description:The on-going Microbial Observatory Experiments on the International Space Station (ISS) revealed the presence of various microorganisms that may be affected by the distinct environment of the ISS. The low-nutrient environment combined with enhanced irradiation and microgravity may trigger changes in the molecular suit of microorganisms leading to increased virulence and resistance of microbes. Proteomic characterization of two Aspergillus fumigatus strains, ISSFT-021 and IF1SW-F4, isolated from HEPA filter debris and cupola surface of the ISS, respectively, is presented, along with a comparison to experimentally established clinical isolates Af293 and CEA10. In-depth analysis highlights variations in the proteome of both ISS-isolated strains when compared to the clinical strains. Proteins up-regulated in ISS isolates were involved in oxidative stress response, and carbohydrate and secondary metabolism. This report provides insight into possible molecular adaptation of filamentous fungi to the unique ISS environment. Lastly, an attempt was made to elucidate plausible causes of the enhanced virulence of both ISS-isolated A. fumigatus strains.
Project description:Shewanella spp. possess a broad respiratory versatility, which contributes to the occupation of hypoxic/anoxic environmental or host-associated niches. Here we observed a strain-specific induction of biofilm formation in response to supplementation with the anaerobic electron acceptors dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and nitrate in a panel of Shewanella algae isolates. The respiration-driven biofilm response is not observed in DMSO and nitrate reductase deletion mutants of the type strain S. algae CECT 5071, and can be restored upon complementation with the corresponding reductase operon(s) but not by an operon containing a catalytically inactive nitrate reductase. The distinct transcriptional changes, proportional to the effect of these compounds on biofilm formation, include cyclic di-GMP (c-di-GMP) turnover genes. In support, ectopic expression of the c-di-GMP phosphodiesterase YhjH of Salmonella Typhimurium but not its catalytically inactive variant decreased biofilm formation. The respiration-dependent biofilm response of S. algae may permit differential colonization of environmental or host niches.
Project description:We combined high-resolution tiling microarrays and 5'-end RNA sequencing to obtain a genome-wide map of transcription start sites (TSSs) for Shewanella oneidensis MR-1. To test the reliability of these TSSs, we compared our result to those from differential RNA sequencing (dRNA-seq), which discriminates primary and processed ends of transcripts. We found that our identified TSSs tend to have significantly more mapped reads in the TEX(+) sample than the TEX(-) sample. Overall, the dRNA-seq results support the validity of our predictions for TSS.
Project description:Studies of expression of mechanims of defense of the Acinetobacter sp.5-2Ac.02 from airborne hospital environment under stress conditions, such as SOS response (ROS response, heavy metals resistant mechanisms, peptides), as well as Quorum network (acetoin cluster and aromatics biodegradation cluster). Characterization functional of AcoN-like as negative regulator protein from acetoin cluster in Acinetobacter spp. Strains