Project description:Two-condition experiment, Wild-type biofilm cells vs. smcR mutant biofilm cells. Biological replicates: 3 control, 3 mutant strains, independently grown and harvested. One replicate per array. A significant portion of the SmcR regulon predicted on the basis of microarray analysis results is indeed regulated by SmcR and that SmcR functions on biofilm dispersion in V. vulnificus. For transcriptome analysis, the V. vulnificus whole genome TwinChip, manufactured by e-biogen (Seoul, South Korea), was used.
Project description:Air pollutants including particulate matter (PM) and chemicals adsorbed onto PM pose a serious threat to human health. In this study, we analyzed the ability of PM to induce diverse gene expression profile modulation after chronic exposure in subjects living in two regions of the Czech Republic differing in levels and sources of the air pollution. We also considered impact of different seasonal conditions on concentrations and compositions of PM. Blood samples of 312 subjects from polluted Ostrava city and 154 controls from Prague city were collected in winter 2009, summer 2009 and winter 2010. The highest concentrations of air pollutants were detected in winter 2010 when the subjects were exposed to: PM of aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 M-BM-5m (70 vs. 44.9 M-BM-5g/m3); benzo[a]pyrene (9.02 vs. 2.56 ng/m3) and benzene (10.2 vs. 5.5 M-BM-5g/m3) in Ostrava and Prague, respectively. Global gene expression analysis of total RNA extracted from leukocytes was performed using whole genome microarrays (Illumina). The expression of selected genes was verified by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Despite lower concentrations of air pollutants we found a higher number of differentially expressed genes and affected KEGG pathways in subjects from Prague. In both locations we observed differences between seasons. The qRT-PCR analysis showed a significant decrease in expression of APEX, ATM, FAS, GSTM1, IL1B and RAD21 in subjects from Ostrava, in a comparison of winter 2010 and summer 2009. In Prague, an increase in gene expression was observed for GADD45A and PTGS2. In conclusion, high concentrations of pollutants in Ostrava do not increase the number of differentially expressed genes. This may be explained by adaption of humans to chronic exposure to air pollution. Total RNA was extracted from leukocytes of total of 154 control subjects and 312 subjects exposed to heavy air pollution. The samples were collected in three seasons (winter 2009, summer 2009, winter 2010) with different levels of air pollution. Most of the subjects were sampled repeatedly; however, some of them joined the study in summer 2009 or winter 2010.
Project description:Sequencing of 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene, which has improved the characterization of microbial community, has made it possible to detect a low level Helicobacter pylori (HP) sequences even in HP-negative subjects which were determined by a combination of conventional methods. This study was conducted to obtain a cutoff value for HP colonization in gastric mucosa biopsies and gastric juices by the pyrosequencing method. Corresponding author: Nayoung Kim, Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoungnam, Gyeonggi-do, Korea; Department of Internal Medicine and Liver Research Institute, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea (Tel., +82-31-787-7008; e-mail, nayoungkim49@empas.com).