Project description:The release of cells from S. epidermidis biofilms formed on medical devices has been associated with the onset of bloodstream infections, resulting in increased morbidity and mortality rates. This has to do, in part, with the difficulty to accurately diagnose S. epidermidis bloodstream infections. S. epidermidis is a ubiquitous commensal of human skin and mucosa and, thus, a positive blood culture does not always represent an infection, possibly being the result of contamination during blood collection. As such, there is a high demand to find markers that can help clinicians to distinguish infection (clinical isolates) from contamination (commensal strains). With that in mind, several studies comparing phenotypic or genetic characteristics of clinical and commensal isolates have been performed over the years. However, because S. epidermidis virulence factors seem to be the same that confer its fitness as a commensal, we hypothesized that the ability of S. epidermidis strains to adapt to the host environment may not depend on a specific phenotypic and/or genetic makeup, but rather on the regulation of gene transcription. Thus, using RNA-Sequencing (RNA-seq), we characterized the transcriptome of commensal and clinical isolates in the context of infection to try to uncover differences and, thus, identify markers that could be used for the diagnostics. Several markers with the potential to discriminate between both groups were highlighted. Nevertheless, when the results obtained were confirmed in a wider collection of clinical and commensal isolates the discriminatory power of the genes initially identified was lost. Although we cannot rule out that the characterization of a larger collection of isolates would identify potential candidates, our transcriptomic data was not able to confirm our initial hypothesis, evidencing S. epidermidis opportunistic nature.
Project description:Proteomic analysis of a commensal Staphylococcus epidermidis strain in different pH conditions for describing the molecular players involved in the skin-to-blood adaptation of the bacterium.
Project description:Skin serves as both barrier and interface between body and environment. Skin microbes are intermediaries evolved to respond, transduce, or act in response to changing environmental or physiological conditions. Here, we quantify genome-wide changes in gene expression levels for one abundant skin commensal, Staphylococcus epidermidis, in response to an internal physiological signal, glucose levels, and an external environmental signal, temperature. We find 85 of 2354 genes change up to ~34-fold in response to medically-relevant changes in glucose concentration (0 mM to 17 mM; adj P value ≤ 0.05). We observed carbon catabolite repression in response to a range of glucose spikes, as well as upregulation of genes involved in glucose utilization in response to persistent glucose. We observed 366 differentially expressed genes in response to a physiologically-relevant change in temperature (37°C to 45°C; adj P value ≤ 0.05) and an S. epidermidis heat-shock response that mostly resembles the heat-shock response of related staphylococcal species. DNA motif analysis also revealed CtsR and CIRCE operator sequences arranged in tandem upstream of dnaK and groESL operons. We further identified 38 glucose-responsive genes as candidate ON or OFF genes for use in controlling synthetic genetic systems. Such systems might be used to instrument the in-situ skin microbiome or help control microbes bioengineered to serve as embedded diagnostics, monitoring, or treatment platforms.
Project description:The custom-made S. epidermidis GeneChips(Shanghai Biochip Co., Ltd) included qualifiers representing open reading frame (ORF) sequences identified in the genomes of the S. epidermidis strain RP62A, as well as unique ORFs in S. epidermidis strain 12228. The GeneChips were composed of cDNA array containing PCR products of 2316 genes and oligonucleotide array containing 252 genes.Two-component regulatory systems (TCSs) play a pivotal role in bacterial adaptation, survival, and virulence by sensing changes in the external environment and modulating gene expression in response to a variety of stimuli.To investigate the regulatory role of LytSR, one of the TCSs identified in the genomes of S. epidermidis, we used the GeneChips to perform a transcriptional profile analysis of the wild strain and lytSR mutant.
Project description:To investigate whether skin bacteria might influence the expression of selected genes, we co-cultured human keratinocytes with S. epidermidis, an abundant commensal in human skin and performed RNA sequencing analysis.
Project description:The custom-made S. epidermidis GeneChips(Shanghai Biochip Co., Ltd) included qualifiers representing open reading frame (ORF) sequences identified in the genomes of the S. epidermidis strain RP62A, as well as unique ORFs in S. epidermidis strain 12228. The GeneChips were composed of cDNA array containing PCR products of 2316 genes and oligonucleotide array containing 252 genes.Two-component regulatory systems (TCSs) play a pivotal role in bacterial adaptation, survival, and virulence by sensing changes in the external environment and modulating gene expression in response to a variety of stimuli.To investigate the regulatory role of LytSR, one of the TCSs identified in the genomes of S. epidermidis, we used the GeneChips to perform a transcriptional profile analysis of the wild strain and lytSR mutant. Wild type untreated in triplicate is compared to lytSR mutant in triplicate for cDNA array and four replicates on the oligo array.
Project description:Background: Lysine succinylation is a newly identified PTM, which exists widely from prokaryotes to eukaryotes and participates in various cellular processes, especially in the metabolic processes. Staphylococcus epidermidis is a commensal bacterium in the skin, which attracts more attention as a pathogen, especially in immunocompromised patients and neonates by attaching to medical devices and forming biofilms. However, the significance of lysine succinylation in proteins of Staphylococcus epidermidis has not been investigated. Materials and methods: Using antibody affinity enrichment followed by LC-MS/MS analysis, we examined the succinylome of Staphylococcus epidermidis (ATCC®12228™). Then, bioinformatics analysis was performed, including Gene Ontology, KEGG enrichment, motif characterization, secondary structure, protein-protein interaction, and BLAST analysis. Results: A total of 1557 succinylated lysine sites in 649 proteins were identified in Staphylococcus epidermidis (ATCC 12228). Among these succinylation proteins, GO annotation showed that proteins related to metabolic processes and binding activity accounted for the most based on the analysis of biological process and molecular function, respectively. KEGG pathway characterization indicated that proteins associated with the glycolysis/ gluconeogenesis, and citrate cycle (TCA cycle) pathway were more likely to be succinylated. Moreover, 13 conserved motifs were identified. The specific motif KsuD was conserved in model prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Succinylated proteins with this motif were highly enriched in the glycolysis/gluconeogenesis pathway. One succinylation site(K144) was identified in S-ribosylhomocysteine lyase, a key enzyme in the quorum sensing system, indicating the regulatory role succinylation may play in bacterial processes. Furthermore, 15 succinyltransferases and 18 desuccinylases(erasers) were predicted in S.epidermidis by BLAST analysis. Conclusions: We performed the first comprehensive profile of succinylation in Staphylococcus epidermidis and illustrated the significant role succinylation may play in energy metabolism, QS system, and other bacterial behaviors. This study may be a fundamental basis to investigate the underlying mechanisms of colonization, virulence, and infection of S. epidermidis, as well as provide a new insight into regulatory effects succinylation may lay on metabolic processes.
Project description:Denmark has an extraordinarily large and well-preserved collection of archaeological skin garments found in peat bogs, dated to approximately 920 BC - AD 775. These objects provide not only the possibility to study prehistoric skin costume and technologies, but also to investigate the animal species used for production of skin garments. Until recently, species identification of archaeological skin was mainly performed by light and scanning electron microscopy or analysis of ancient DNA. However, the efficacy of these methods can be limited due to the harsh, mostly acidic environment of peat bogs leading to morphological and molecular degradation within the samples. We compared species assignment results of twelve archaeological skin samples from Danish bogs using Mass Spectrometry (MS)-based peptide sequencing, against results obtained using light and scanning electron microscopy