Project description:Transcriptional profiling of gene expression between parental strain B31 and rrp1 mutant. Cyclic-di-GMP is a bacterial second messenger that modulates many biological processes. Although its role in bacterial pathogenesis during mammalian infection has been widely recognized, the role of c-di-GMP in pathogen's life cycle in vector hosts is less understood. The enzootic cycle of the Lyme disease pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi involves both a mammalian host and an Ixodes tick vector. The B. burgdorferi genome encodes a single copy of the diguanylate cyclase gene (rrp1), which is responsible for the production of c-di-GMP. To determine the role of c-di-GMP in the life cycle of B. burgdorferi, an Rrp1-deficient B. burgdorferi strain was generated. The rrp1 mutant remains infectious in the mammalian host, but could not survive in the tick vector. To identify the mechanisms of Rrp1 contributing to B. burgdorferi pathogenesis and gene regulation, microarray was employed to compare gene expression profiles between the parental strain B31 and the rrp1 mutant. Two-condition experiment, B31 vs. rrp1 mutant. Biological replicates: 3 B31, 3 rrp1 mutant, independently grown and harvested. One replicate (dye-swap) per array.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of gene expression between parental strain B31 and rrp1 mutant. Cyclic-di-GMP is a bacterial second messenger that modulates many biological processes. Although its role in bacterial pathogenesis during mammalian infection has been widely recognized, the role of c-di-GMP in pathogen's life cycle in vector hosts is less understood. The enzootic cycle of the Lyme disease pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi involves both a mammalian host and an Ixodes tick vector. The B. burgdorferi genome encodes a single copy of the diguanylate cyclase gene (rrp1), which is responsible for the production of c-di-GMP. To determine the role of c-di-GMP in the life cycle of B. burgdorferi, an Rrp1-deficient B. burgdorferi strain was generated. The rrp1 mutant remains infectious in the mammalian host, but could not survive in the tick vector. To identify the mechanisms of Rrp1 contributing to B. burgdorferi pathogenesis and gene regulation, microarray was employed to compare gene expression profiles between the parental strain B31 and the rrp1 mutant.
Project description:Endosymbiotic bacteria associated with eukaryotic hosts are omnipresent in nature, particularly in insects. Studying the bacterial side of host-symbiont interactions is, however, often limited by the unculturability and genetic intractability of the symbionts. Spiroplasma poulsonii is a maternally transmitted bacterial endosymbiont that is naturally associated with several Drosophila species. S. poulsonii strongly affects its host’s physiology, for example by causing male killing or by protecting it against various parasites. Despite intense work on this model since the 1950s, attempts to cultivate endosymbiotic Spiroplasma in vitro have failed so far. Here, we developed a method to sustain the in vitro culture of S. poulsonii by optimizing a commercially accessible medium. We also provide a complete genome assembly, including the first sequence of a natural plasmid of an endosymbiotic Spiroplasma species. Last, by comparing the transcriptome of the in vitro culture to the transcriptome of bacteria extracted from the host, we identified genes putatively involved in host-symbiont interactions. This work provides new opportunities to study the physiology of endosymbiotic Spiroplasma and paves the way to dissect insect-endosymbiont interactions with two genetically tractable partners.
Project description:We investigated the effect of Spiroplasma infection on Drosophila hemolymph protein content using Liquid Chromatography-tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). To this end, we extracted total hemolymph from uninfected and infected 10 days old females. At this age, Spiroplasma is already present at high titers in the hemolymph but does not cause major deleterious phenotypes to the fly. Extraction was achieved by puncturing the thorax and drawing out with a microinjector. Four replicates were made