Project description:Coccidioidomycosis, or Valley Fever, is a lung disease caused by inhaling Coccidioides fungi, prevalent in the Southwestern U.S., Mexico, and parts of Central and South America. Climate change is contributing to the spread of this disease. Many cases are asymptomatic, some are often misdiagnosed, and a small subset can progress to severe illness. To better understand lung responses during late Coccidioides infection, we used 10x Visium spatial transcriptomics. We analyzed non-infected lung (D0) and infected lung at 14 days post-infection (D14).
Project description:Coccidioidomycosis, or Valley Fever, is a lung disease caused by inhaling Coccidioides fungi, prevalent in the Southwestern U.S., Mexico, and parts of Central and South America. Climate change is contributing to the spread of this disease. Many cases are asymptomatic, some are often misdiagnosed, and a small subset can progress to severe illness. To better understand lung responses during Coccidioides infection, we used single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). We analyzed non-infected lungs (D0) and infected lungs at 5, 9, and 14 days post-infection (D5, D9, D14).
Project description:The aims of this study were to present modifications to the annotations of the genome of C. posadasii, one of two closely related species of Coccidioides, a dimorphic fungal pathogen that causes coccidioidomycosis, also called Valley Fever. Proteins present in lysates and filtrates of in vitro grown mycelia and parasitic phase spherules from C. posadasii strain Silveira were analyzed using a GeLC-MS/MS method.
Project description:The innate immune responses to Coccidioides are not well understood, particularly regarding which immune cells initiate the response upon infection. This study uses mouse models 24 hours post-infection to explore the initial immunological response to Coccidioides. Data sets include CD45+ MACS bead-sorted lung immune cells labeled with Coccidioides to differentiate which immune cells were directly interacting with the fungus versus bystander cells. The unlabeled Coccidioides data set includes all immune cells from the lungs. Using fungal fluorescent labeling and single-cell RNA sequencing, we identified CD274 (PD-L1) expressing neutrophils and contact-dependent Spp1+ macrophages as dominant responders, indicating an anti-inflammatory initial response. These findings elucidate the early dynamics of host immune interactions with Coccidioides, providing a foundation for further understanding host-pathogen interactions in fungal respiratory infections.