Project description:Urban versus rural residency in northern Tanzania is associated with a pro-inflammatory phenotype which is explained by differences in food- and endogenous-derived metabolites with immune properties.
Project description:Bacteria isolated from potato scab lesions in Finland or northern Sweden were analyzed using microarrays, PCR, and sequencing. Data indicate wide genetic variability in pathogenicity islands among S.turgidiscabies and S.scabies strains.
Project description:Nine Anopheles gambiae populations were sampled in three areas of Tanzania showing contrasting agriculture activity, urbanization and usage of insecticides for vector control. Insecticide resistance levels were measured in larvae and adults through bioassays with deltamethrin, DDT and bendiocarb. A microarray approach was used for identifying transcription level variations associated to different environments and insecticide resistance. the Ifakara strain originating from central Tanzania and susceptible to all insecticides was used as a reference strain.
Project description:Transcription profiles of three field collections of Anopheles arabiensis from Tanzania were compared to investigate their phenotypic differences in insecticide resistance
Project description:Transcription profiles of three field collections of Anopheles arabiensis from Tanzania were compared to investigate their phenotypic differences in insecticide resistance
Project description:This study aims to determine the epidemiology of Enterobacteriaceae resistant to antibiotics of last resort in pregnant women in labour at a tertiary hospital, Pretoria, South Africa. Rectal swabs shall be used to screen for colonisation with CRE and colistin-resistant Enterobacteriales in pregnant women during labour. Carbapenem and colistin-resistant Enterobacterales can cause the following infections: bacteraemia; nosocomial pneumonia; urinary tract infections, and intra-abdominal infections. Due to limited treatment options, infections caused by these multidrug-resistant organisms are associated with a mortality rate of 40-50%. Screening for colonisation of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) and colistin-resistant Enterobacteriaceae will help implement infection and prevention measures to limit the spread of these multidrug-resistant organisms.
Project description:The Enterobacteriaceae are a scientifically and medically important clade of bacteria, containing the gut commensal and model organism Escherichia coli, as well as several major human pathogens including Salmonella enterica and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Essential gene sets have been determined for several members of the Enterobacteriaceae, and the E. coli Keio single-gene deletion library is often regarded as a gold standard for gene essentiality studies. However, it remains unclear how much essential genes vary between strains and species. To investigate this, we have assembled a collection of thirteen sequenced high-density transposon mutant libraries from five genera of the Enterobacteriaceae. We first benchmark a number of gene essentiality prediction approaches, investigate the effects of transposon density on essentiality prediction, and identify biases in transposon insertion sequencing data. Based on these investigations we develop a new classifier for gene essentiality. Using gene essentiality defined by this new classifier, we define a core essential genome in the Enterobacteriaceae of 201 universally essential genes, and reconstruct an ancestral essential gene set of 296 genes. Despite the presence of a large cohort of variably essential genes, we find an absence of evidence for genus-specific essential genes. A clear example of this sporadic essentiality is given by the set of genes regulating the σE extracytoplasmic stress response, which appears to have independently become essential multiple times in the Enterobacteriaceae. Finally, we compare our essential gene sets to the natural experiment of gene loss in obligate insect endosymbionts closely related to the Enterobacteriaceae. This isolates a remarkably small set of genes absolutely required for survival, and uncovers several instances of essential stress responses masked by redundancy in free-living bacteria.
