Project description:Humans and animals encounter a summation of exposures during their lifetime (the exposome). In recent years, the scope of the exposome has begun to include microplastics. Microplastics (MPs) have increasingly been found in locations where there could be an interaction with Salmonella enterica Typhimurium, one of the commonly isolated serovars from processed chicken. In this study, the microbiota response to a 24-hour co-exposure to Salmonella enterica Typhimurium and/or low-density polyethylene (PE) microplastics in an in vitro broiler cecal model was determined using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing (Illumina) and untargeted metabolomics. Community sequencing results indicated that PE fiber with and without S. Typhimurium yielded a lower Firmicutes/Bacteroides ratio compared to other treatment groups, which is associated with poor gut health, and overall had greater changes to the cecal microbial community composition. However, changes in the total metabolome were primarily driven by the presence of S. Typhimurium. Additionally, the co-exposure to PE Fiber and S. Typhimurium caused greater cecal microbial community and metabolome changes than either exposure alone. Our results indicate that polymer shape is an important factor in effects resulting from exposure. It also demonstrates that microplastic-pathogen interactions cause metabolic alterations to the chicken cecal microbiome in an in vitro chicken cecal model.
Project description:Microplastics (MPs) as widespread contamination pose high risk for aquatic organisms.Intestinal microbiotahas have high interaction with immune system of host body. In this study, intestinal microbiota of zebrafish after Polystyrene (PS-MPs) exposure were characterized by 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing. We found that 100nm and 200μm PS-MPs exposure significantly increased diversity of intestinal microbiota and all the three sizes of PS-MPs increased abundance of pathogenic bacteria.
Project description:Cellular uptake and cytotoxicity data from neural cells treated with microplastics were compared and contrasted. Transcriptomic data obtained by RNA-seq from astrocytes treated with microplastics was assessed further.
Project description:Hippocampal sclerosis (HS) is the most common neuropathological finding of medically intractable cases of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE), the most common form of partial epilepsy. Within the dentate gyrus, HS may be associated with granule cell dispersion and aberrant mossy fiber sprouting, and these pathological changes are accompanied by a range of molecular changes. In this study, we analyzed the gene expression profiles of dentate granule cells of MTLE patients with and without HS to show that next-generation sequencing methods can produce interpretable genomic data from RNA collected from small homogenous cell populations and to shed light on the transcriptional changes associated with HS. 12 samples of dentate granule cells from patients with mesial tempora lobe epilepsy, 5 with hippocampal sclerosis and 7 without hippocampal sclerosis. 10 samples had replicates.
Project description:Microplastics represent a growing environmental concern for the oceans due to their potential capability to adsorb different classes of pollutants, thus representing a still unexplored source of exposure for aquatic organisms. In this study polystyrene (PS) microplastics were characterized for their capability to adsorb pyrene (PYR) as model compound for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and transfer this chemical to filter feeding mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis. Gene expression analyses of Mytilus galloprovincialis exposed to polystyrene (PS) microplastics and to polystyrene contaminated with pyrene (PS-PYR) have been performed trough a DNA microarray platform.
Project description:Whereas the gill chambers of extant jawless vertebrates (lampreys and hagfish) open directly into the environment, jawed vertebrates have evolved skeletal appendages that promote the unidirectional flow of oxygenated water over the gills. A major anatomical difference between the two jawed vertebrate lineages is the presence of a single operculum covering a large common gill cavity in bony fishes versus separate covers for each gill chamber in cartilaginous fishes. Here we find that these divergent gill cover patterns correlate with the pharyngeal arch expression of Pou3f3 orthologs, and we identify a deeply conserved Pou3f3 arch enhancer that is present in nearly all jawed vertebrates but undetectable in lampreys. Despite only minor sequence differences, bony fish and cartilaginous fish versions of this enhancer are sufficient to drive the respective single versus multiple gill arch expression. In zebrafish, loss of Pou3f3 gene function or its conserved enhancer disrupts gill cover formation. Conversely, forced expression of Pou3f3b in the gill arches generates ectopic skeletal elements reminiscent of the multiple gill covers of cartilaginous fish. Emergence and modification of this ancient Pou3f3 enhancer may thus have contributed to the acquisition and diversification of gill covers during early gnathostome evolution.