Project description:A rapid ex vivo microbiome assay and metaproteomics approach was used for rapid evaluation of the cultivability of bio-banked live microbiota, which shows minimal detrimental influences of long-term freezing in deoxygenated glycerol buffer on the cultivability of fecal microbiota.
Project description:The aim of this study was to develop a suitable method to preserve fecal samples for metaproteomics analyses when flash-freezing is not an option. Fecal samples were collected from conventional adult C57BL/6 mice and combined into a fecal master mix. The fecal master mix was then split into 48 subsamples that were subjected to different preservation treatments. The following six preservation methods were tested: flash-freezing in liquid nitrogen followed by storage at -80°C, immersion in RNAlater® and storage at room temperature, immersion in RNAlater® and immediate storage at -80°C, immersion in 95% ethanol and storage at room temperature, immersion in a RNAlater-like buffer “NAP buffer” and storage at room temperature, and immersion in an autoclaved RNAlater-like buffer “Autoclaved NAP buffer” and storage at room temperature. Proteins were extracted from the samples after being stored for 1 and 4 weeks. There were 4 replicates per treatment and time-point. Samples were analyzed by LC-MS/MS and the data were analyzed with Proteome Discoverer against a large database of mouse microbiota protein sequences.
Project description:Recombinant human erythropoietin administration studies involving transcriptomic approaches have demonstrated a gene-expression signature that could aid detection of blood doping. However, current anti-doping testing does not involve blood collection into tubes with RNA preservative. This study investigated if whole blood in long-term storage and whole blood leftover from standard haematological testing in short-term storage could be used for transcriptomic analysis despite lacking RNA preservative. Whole blood samples were collected from thirteen and fourteen healthy males, for long-term and short-term storage experiments. Long-term storage: whole blood collected into Tempus™ tubes and K2EDTA tubes and subjected to long-term (i.e., −80°C) storage and RNA extracted. After storage, K2EDTA tubes were thawed and extracted using GeneJET RNA Purification Kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Vilnius, Lithuania) or Tempus™ Spin RNA Isolation Kit (Life Technologies, Carlsbad, CA, USA). RNA quality and purity was sufficient for gene expression analysis. Principle Component Analysis of microarray and RNA-seq gene expression data for long-term storage: When comparing gene expression between blood tubes with and without RNA preservation, 6% (4058 transcripts) were differentially expressed. RNA quantity, purity and integrity was not significantly compromised from long-term storage in blood storage tubes lacking RNA preservative, indicating that transcriptomic analysis could be conducted using anti-doping samples collected or biobanked without RNA preservation.
Project description:Microbial RNAseq analysis of cecal and fecal samples collected from mice colonized with the microbiota of human twins discordant for obesity. Samples were colleted at the time of sacrifice, or 15 days after colonization from mice gavaged with uncultured or cultured fecal microbiota from the lean twins or their obese co-twins. Samples were sequenced using Illumina HiSeq technology, with 101 paired end chemistry.
Project description:Microbial RNAseq analysis of cecal and fecal samples collected from mice colonized with the microbiota of human twins discordant for obesity. Samples were colleted at the time of sacrifice, or 15 days after colonization from mice gavaged with uncultured or cultured fecal microbiota from the lean twins or their obese co-twins. Samples were sequenced using Illumina HiSeq technology, with 101 paired end chemistry. Comparisson of microbial gene expression between the microbiota of lean and obese twins fed a Low fat, rich in plant polysaccharide diet.
Project description:Recent evidence suggests an important role of the gut microbiome in early life on immune cell entraining. Using two independent transgenic (Tg) lines of Alzheimer’s disease, we have demonstrated that life-long antibiotic (ABX)-perturbation of the gut microbiome is associated with reduced amyloid beta (Ab) plaque pathology and microglial phenotypes in male mice. Furthermore, fecal microbiota transfer (FMT) from age-matched APPPS1-21 Tg mice into long-term ABX-treated male APPPS1-21 mice partially restored amyloidosis and microgliosis, thus establishing causality. in the current studies, we planned to investigate the transcriptome profiles in APPPS1-21 mice treated with short-term abx (PND14-21) compared with vehicle treated groups in genotype-, sex- and time -dependent manner. Most importantly, we also investigated if fecal microbiota transplants from age-matched Tg male mice into short-term abx (PND14-21)-treated male mice restores brain transcriptomes to that of obsreved in vehicle-treated male mice at 9 weeks of age.
Project description:Analysis of breast cancer survivors' gut microbiota after lifestyle intervention, during the COVID-19 lockdown, by 16S sequencing of fecal samples.
Project description:Gut bacterial β-glucuronidases (GUS) promote the toxic side effects of therapeutics by reactivating drugs from their inactive glucuronide conjugates. It is increasingly clear that the interindividual variability of bacterial GUS-producing species in the gut microbiota contributes to differential drug responses. Indeed, the anticancer drug irinotecan exhibits variable clinical toxicity outcomes that have been linked to interindividual differences in the composition of the gut microbiota. However, identification of the specific GUS enzymes responsible for drug metabolism in the context of the complexity of the human fecal microbiota has not been achieved. Here we pinpoint the specific bacterial GUS enzymes that reactivate SN-38, the active metabolite of irinotecan, from complex human fecal microbiota samples with activity-based protein profiling (ABPP). We identify and quantify gut bacterial GUS enzymes from human feces with ABPP-enabled proteomics and then integrate this information with ex vivo kinetics to reveal the specific GUS enzymes responsible for the reactivation of SN-38. The same ABPP approach also reveals the molecular basis for differential gut bacterial GUS inhibition between human fecal samples. Taken together, this work provides an unprecedented pipeline to identify the specific bacterial GUS enzymes responsible for drug-induced GI toxicity from the complexity of human feces, which may serve as highly precise biomarkers of clinical outcomes for irinotecan and other therapeutics.
Project description:We found that low protein diet consumption resulted in decrease in the percentage of normal Paneth cell population in wild type mice, indicating that low protein diet could negatively affect Paneth cell function. We performed fecal microbiota composition profiling. Male mice were used at 4-5 weeks of age. Fecal samples were collected for microbiome analysis.