Project description:Clostridium tetani produces the tetanus-causing tetanus toxin (TeNT), one of the most powerful bacterial toxins known to humankind. The regulation of toxin expression is complex and involves the alternative sigma factor TetR as well as other regulators. Here, we identified a novel regulatory molecule, a non-coding small regulatory RNA (sRNA), located in the 3’ untranslated region of the tent gene. We show with an antisense RNA approach and recombinant expression of the tent locus with and without the sRNA in C. tetani strains that the sRNA acts as a negative regulator of TeNT expression and modulates the growth pattern of C. tetani. Its possible role is to limit tetanus toxin levels in the exponential growth phase; thus, it might interlock bacterial growth and toxin production.
Project description:We used RNA-seq to determine Clostridium tetani gene expression changes in response to culture conditions and time. Changes in response to time were more pronounced than those in response to culture conditions. The tetanus toxin gene is always highly expressed but does show expression changes between culture conditions. These results may become part of an approach to reduce animal testing during vaccine manufacturing.
Project description:Purpose: The purpose of this study is to clarify the response of Clostridium perfringens ATCC 13124 to host polysaccharide. Methods: Clostridium perfringens ATCC 13124 cells were cultured anaerobically in a medium containing Minimal medium-like condition Poor + medium, medium in which hyaluronic acid or mucin was added to Poor + medium. Total RNA was extracted from bacterial cells by the Hot-Phenol method. Samples for RNA-seq were prepared according to the Illmina protocol available from the manufacturer. Array leads passed through quality filters were analyzed at the transcript isoform level using bowtie v 1.1.2. Results: Using the optimized data analysis workflow, we mapped about 50 million sequence leads per sample to the whole genome of Clostridium perfringens ATCC 13124. In addition, 2735 transcripts in C. perfringens ATCC 13124 were identified using a Bowtie aligner. Lead counts per genome were extracted from known gene annotations using the HTSeq program.
Project description:Bordetella pertussis is the etiological agent of whooping cough, a bacterial infection of especially children, which may be fatal without treatment. In frame of studies to investigate putative effects of vaccination on host-pathogen interaction and clonal distribution of strains, in addition to Corynebacterium diphtheriae and Clostridium tetani toxoid vaccines, also whole-cell and acellular pertussis vaccines were analyzed by mass spectrometry.
