Project description:VS94 gene expression at different time-points in SAPI medium in absence and presence of AI-2 was studied. Autoinducer-2 (AI-2) is produced by many species of bacteria, including various commensal bacteria and is involved in inter-species communication. Since, pathogens encounter AI-2 once they enter the human gastro-intestinal tract; we studied the effects of presence of AI-2 on various phenotypes associated with infection and colonization of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) namely, chemotaxis, motility and attachment to HeLa cells. AI-2 attracted EHEC when observed in agarose plug assays and also increased EHEC motility by 1.44-fold. AI-2 also increased EHEC attachment to HeLa cells by 1.6-fold; hence, suggesting that exposure to AI-2 inside the gastro-intestinal tract can play an important role in EHEC colonization. We then investigated the global effects of AI-2 on EHEC gene expression using DNA microarrays at various time-points. We found that AI-2 controls virulence gene expression and several other groups of genes (flagellar genes, iron related genes, biofilm genes etc.) associated with virulence in a time-dependent manner. Hence, through these studies we have shown that AI-2 may be a key component in EHEC infection of human gastro-intestinal tract. Keywords: Time course
Project description:Implantation is crucial for placental development which directly impacts fetal growth and pregnancy success with possible consequences on post-natal health. We postulated that early perturbations of the conceptus-maternal environment communication may alter the endometrium physiology that could account for the final reproductive outcome. Using cattle as an animal model, we compared gene expression profiles of the endometrial caruncular and intercaruncular areas during the critical period of implantation in three types of pregnancies: artificial insemination (AI), in vitro fertilization with embryo transfer (IVF-ET) or somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Less than 35% of the differentially expressed genes were found to be common between AI, IVF-ET, and SCNT conditions. Compared to AI, numerous biological functions and several canonical pathways and genes were found to be significantly affected in IVF-ET or SCNT, with a major impact on metabolism and immune function in SCNT. Our data show that the endometrium can fine-tune its physiology and could be considered as a biological sensor in response to pregnancy manipulations. Determining the limits of the endometrial plasticity should bring new insights on the contribution of the maternal compartment to the pregnancy outlet. Keywords: Fluorescence Microarray - Dye switch loop design
Project description:Next-Generation-Sequencing (NGS) technologies have led to important improvement in the detection of new or unrecognized infective agents, related to infectious diseases. In this context, NGS high-throughput technology can be used to achieve a comprehensive and unbiased sequencing of the nucleic acids present in a clinical sample (i.e. tissues). Metagenomic shotgun sequencing has emerged as powerful high-throughput approaches to analyze and survey microbial composition in the field of infectious diseases. By directly sequencing millions of nucleic acid molecules in a sample and matching the sequences to those available in databases, pathogens of an infectious disease can be inferred. Despite the large amount of metagenomic shotgun data produced, there is a lack of a comprehensive and easy-use pipeline for data analysis that avoid annoying and complicated bioinformatics steps. Here we present HOME-BIO, a modular and exhaustive pipeline for analysis of biological entity estimation, specific designed for shotgun sequenced clinical samples. HOME-BIO analysis provides comprehensive taxonomy classification by querying different source database and carry out main steps in metagenomic investigation. HOME-BIO is a powerful tool in the hand of biologist without computational experience, which are focused on metagenomic analysis. Its easy-to-use intrinsic characteristic allows users to simply import raw sequenced reads file and obtain taxonomy profile of their samples.
Project description:Next-Generation-Sequencing (NGS) technologies have led to important improvement in the detection of new or unrecognized infective agents, related to infectious diseases. In this context, NGS high-throughput technology can be used to achieve a comprehensive and unbiased sequencing of the nucleic acids present in a clinical sample (i.e. tissues). Metagenomic shotgun sequencing has emerged as powerful high-throughput approaches to analyze and survey microbial composition in the field of infectious diseases. By directly sequencing millions of nucleic acid molecules in a sample and matching the sequences to those available in databases, pathogens of an infectious disease can be inferred. Despite the large amount of metagenomic shotgun data produced, there is a lack of a comprehensive and easy-use pipeline for data analysis that avoid annoying and complicated bioinformatics steps. Here we present HOME-BIO, a modular and exhaustive pipeline for analysis of biological entity estimation, specific designed for shotgun sequenced clinical samples. HOME-BIO analysis provides comprehensive taxonomy classification by querying different source database and carry out main steps in metagenomic investigation. HOME-BIO is a powerful tool in the hand of biologist without computational experience, which are focused on metagenomic analysis. Its easy-to-use intrinsic characteristic allows users to simply import raw sequenced reads file and obtain taxonomy profile of their samples.
Project description:Implantation is crucial for placental development which directly impacts fetal growth and pregnancy success with possible consequences on post-natal health. We postulated that early perturbations of the conceptus-maternal environment communication may alter the endometrium physiology that could account for the final reproductive outcome. Using cattle as an animal model, we compared gene expression profiles of the endometrial caruncular and intercaruncular areas during the critical period of implantation in three types of pregnancies: artificial insemination (AI), in vitro fertilization with embryo transfer (IVF-ET) or somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Less than 35% of the differentially expressed genes were found to be common between AI, IVF-ET, and SCNT conditions. Compared to AI, numerous biological functions and several canonical pathways and genes were found to be significantly affected in IVF-ET or SCNT, with a major impact on metabolism and immune function in SCNT. Our data show that the endometrium can fine-tune its physiology and could be considered as a biological sensor in response to pregnancy manipulations. Determining the limits of the endometrial plasticity should bring new insights on the contribution of the maternal compartment to the pregnancy outlet. Keywords: Fluorescence Microarray - Dye switch loop design 44 samples
Project description:Autoinducer 2 (AI-2), a widespread by-product of the LuxS-catalyzed S-ribosylhomocysteine cleavage reaction in the activated methyl cycle, has been suggested to serve as an intra- and interspecies signaling molecule, but in many bacteria AI-2 control of gene expression is not completely understood. Particularly, we have a lack of knowledge about AI-2 signaling in the important human pathogens Staphylococcus aureus and S. epidermidis. Here, to determine the role of LuxS and AI-2 in S. epidermidis, we analyzed genome-wide changes in gene expression in an S. epidermidis luxS mutant and after addition of AI-2 synthesized by over-expressed S. epidermidis Pfs and LuxS enzymes. Genes under AI-2 control included mostly genes involved in sugar, nucleotide, amino acid, and nitrogen metabolism, but also virulence-associated genes coding for lipase and bacterial apoptosis proteins. In addition, we demonstrate by liquid chromatography/mass-spectrometry of culture filtrates that the pro-inflammatory phenol-soluble modulin (PSM) peptides, key virulence factors of S. epidermidis, are under luxS/AI-2 control. Our results provide a detailed molecular basis for the role of LuxS in S. epidermidis virulence and suggest a signaling function for AI-2 in this bacterium. Keywords: wild type without glucose control vs luxS mutant vs luxS mutant with auto-inducer II
Project description:Allelic imbalance (AI) region calls: start and end positions and the measured mBAF and LRR mean of each region after the BAF segmentation algorithm. Software: Illumina GenomeStudio;PennCNV v. 1.0.4;BAF segmentation v1.2.0.
Project description:Autoinducer 2 (AI-2), a widespread by-product of the LuxS-catalyzed S-ribosylhomocysteine cleavage reaction in the activated methyl cycle, has been suggested to serve as an intra- and interspecies signaling molecule, but in many bacteria AI-2 control of gene expression is not completely understood. Particularly, we have a lack of knowledge about AI-2 signaling in the important human pathogens Staphylococcus aureus and S. epidermidis. Here, to determine the role of LuxS and AI-2 in S. epidermidis, we analyzed genome-wide changes in gene expression in an S. epidermidis luxS mutant and after addition of AI-2 synthesized by over-expressed S. epidermidis Pfs and LuxS enzymes. Genes under AI-2 control included mostly genes involved in sugar, nucleotide, amino acid, and nitrogen metabolism, but also virulence-associated genes coding for lipase and bacterial apoptosis proteins. In addition, we demonstrate by liquid chromatography/mass-spectrometry of culture filtrates that the pro-inflammatory phenol-soluble modulin (PSM) peptides, key virulence factors of S. epidermidis, are under luxS/AI-2 control. Our results provide a detailed molecular basis for the role of LuxS in S. epidermidis virulence and suggest a signaling function for AI-2 in this bacterium. Keywords: wild type without glucose control vs luxS mutant vs luxS mutant with auto-inducer II wild type without glucose control vs luxS mutant vs luxS mutant with auto-inducer II
Project description:Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium is known to synthesize and respond to the cell signaling molecule, autoinducer-2 (AI-2). The luxS gene is involved in the synthesis of AI-2. We have previously shown that luxS controls a variety of bacterial processes in S. Typhimurium. In this study we identified the genes regulated by AI-2 using mRNA samples from isogenic luxS gene mutant of S. Typhimurium strain 87-26254 grown in LB media in the presence/absence of in vitro synthesized AI-2. In the presence of in vitro synthesized AI-2, 536 genes were significantly (p<0.05) regulated. Interestingly, in vitro synthesized AI-2 caused the down-regulation of 39 genes in Salmonella Pathogenicity Island-1 (SPI-1) including the transcriptional regulators hilA, hilD, and invF.