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:The human intestinal microbiota associated with rats produces in vivo a soluble(s) factor(s) that down-regulates the expression of genes encoding for the Shiga toxin II in E. coli O157:H7. The Shiga toxin II is one of the major virulence factors of E. coli enterohemorragic leading to the deadly hemolitic and uremic syndrome. Investigation of the effect of the human intestinal microbiota on the whole transcriptome of EHEC O157:H7 is of major importance to increase our understanding of the pathogen transcriptomic adaptation in response to the human microbiota. We analysed by microarray hybridization the gene expression pattern of EHEC O157:H7 grown in the caecal content of germ-free rats or rats associated with the human microbiota of a healthy human subject. By doing so, we increased our understanding of the regulatory activities of the human gut microbiota on E. coli O157:H7 A first group of twelve weeks old, male, germfree rats was colonized with the human fecal microbiota and a second group was kept germfree and condidered as a controle group. Rats were fed for two weeks with a sterile human type diet, and were sacrificed. E. coli O157:H7 was cultivated for 6 hours in the caecal content of germfree rats and rats associated with the human intestinal microbiota. RNAs were extracted and cDNAs were synthesized, fragmented and biotinylated before being hybridized on Affymetrix E. coli genome 2.0 arrays. The effect of the human intestinal microbiota was investigated by comparing the gene expression level in the caecal content of rats associated with the human microbiota with their expression level in the caecal content of the germfree rats.
Project description:The effect of oral microbiota on the intestinal microbiota has garnered growing attention as a mechanism linking periodontal diseases to systemic diseases. However, the salivary microbiota is diverse and comprises numerous bacteria with a largely similar composition in healthy individuals and periodontitis patients. Thus, the systemic effects of small differences in the oral microbiota are unclear. In this study, we explored how health-associated and periodontitis-associated salivary microbiota differently colonized the intestine and their subsequent systemic effects by analyzing the hepatic gene expression and serum metabolomic profiles. The salivary microbiota was collected from a healthy individual and a periodontitis patient and gavaged into C57BL/6NJcl[GF] mice. Samples were collected five weeks after administration. Gut microbial communities were analyzed by 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing. Hepatic gene expression profiles were analyzed using a DNA microarray and quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Serum metabolites were analyzed by capillary electrophoresis time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The gut microbial composition at the genus level was significantly different between periodontitis-associated microbiota-administered (PAO) and health-associated oral microbiota-administered (HAO) mice. The hepatic gene expression profile demonstrated a distinct pattern between the two groups, with higher expression of Neat1, Mt1, Mt2, and Spindlin1, which are involved in lipid and glucose metabolism. Disease-associated metabolites such as 2-hydroxyisobutyric acid and hydroxybenzoic acid were elevated in PAO mice. These metabolites were significantly correlated with Bifidobacterium, Atomobium, Campylobacter, and Haemophilus, which are characteristic taxa in PAO mice. Conversely, health-associated oral microbiota were associated with higher levels of beneficial serum metabolites in HAO mice. The multi-omics approach used in this study revealed that periodontitis-associated oral microbiota is associated with the induction of disease phenotype when they colonized the gut of germ-free mice.