Project description:Brucella suis infects macrophages and dendritic cells. Wild boars act as reservoirs and carriers of Brucella suis biovar 2, and there is evidence that wild boar can be the main source of infection for domestic pigs through the venereal route. Transmission through this route could be an important path for disesease dissemination. The result from this study will contribute to the overall understanding of the molecular pathogenic mechanisms involved during Brucella suis infection in European wild boar.
Project description:Brucella suis infects macrophages and dendritic cells. Wild boars act as reservoirs and carriers of Brucella suis biovar 2, and there is evidence that wild boar can be the main source of infection for domestic pigs through the venereal route. Transmission through this route could be an important path for disesease dissemination. The result from this study will contribute to the overall understanding of the molecular pathogenic mechanisms involved during Brucella suis infection in European wild boar. Experiment Overall Design: In this study we preliminarily characterized differential gene expression in European wild boar naturally infected with Brucella suis biovar 2 using Microarray hybridization and Real Time RT-PCR analysis. Since Brucella suis acts by infecting macrophages, we used spleen cells to analyze the gene expression response to Brucella suis infection.
Project description:To explore the role of Brucella BI-1 in Brucella suis S2, we constructed the Brucella BI-1 deletion mutant strain and its complementary strain. We then determined the effect of Brucella BI-1 deletion on the physiological characteristics of Brucella suis S2 and revealed them via integrated transcriptomic and proteomic analyses. Brucella BI-1 deletion altered the membrane properties of Brucella suis S2 and decreased its resistance to acidic pH, H2O2, polymyxin B, and lincomycin. Additionally, deleting Brucella BI-1 led to defective growth, cell division, and viability in Brucella suis S2. In conclusion, our results revealed that Brucella BI-1 is a bacterial cytoprotective protein involved in membrane homeostasis, cell division, and stress resistance in Brucella suis S2.