Project description:Mycotoxin citrinin (CTN) is a contaminant widely found in foods, feeds, and fermented health supplements. To investigate the potential neurotoxic effect of CTN, RNA-seq was performed on human neuroblastoma cells SH-SY5Y exposed to 0, 10, and 20 μM CTN for 72 h. The transcriptomic profile revealed novel underlying mechanisms of CTN neurotoxicity, providing useful information for risk assessment of consuming CTN-contaminated grains and its commercial food products.
Project description:Nowadays, Western diets and lifestyle lead to an increasing occurrence of chronic gut inflammation, that represents an emerging health concern with still a lack of successful therapies. Fermented foods, and their associated Lactic Acid Bacteria, have recently regained popularity for their probiotic potential including the maintenance of gut homeostasis by modulating the immune and inflammatory response. Our study aims to investigate the cross-talk between the food-borne strain Lactiplantibacillus plantarum C9O4 and intestinal epithelial cells in an in vitro inflammation model. Cytokines profile shows the ability of C9O4 to significantly reduce levels of IL-2, IL-5, IL-6, and IFN-γ. Proteomic functional analysis reveals an active host-microbe interaction that highlights an immunoregulatory role of C9O4, able to revert both the detrimental effects of IFN-γ through the JAK/STAT pathway and the apoptosis process in inflamed cells. These results suggest a promising therapeutic role of fermented food-associated microbes for the management of gastrointestinal inflammatory diseases.
Project description:Background: The soil environment is responsible for sustaining most terrestrial plant life on earth, yet we know surprisingly little about the important functions carried out by diverse microbial communities in soil. Soil microbes that inhabit the channels of decaying root systems, the detritusphere, are likely to be essential for plant growth and health, as these channels are the preferred locations of new root growth. Understanding the microbial metagenome of the detritusphere and how it responds to agricultural management such as crop rotations and soil tillage will be vital for improving global food production. Methods: The rhizosphere soils of wheat and chickpea growing under + and - decaying root were collected for metagenomics sequencing. A gene catalogue was established by de novo assembling metagenomic sequencing. Genes abundance was compared between bulk soil and rhizosphere soils under different treatments. Conclusions: The study describes the diversity and functional capacity of a high-quality soil microbial metagenome. The results demonstrate the contribution of the microbiome from decaying root in determining the metagenome of developing root systems, which is fundamental to plant growth, since roots preferentially inhabit previous root channels. Modifications in root microbial function through soil management, can ultimately govern plant health, productivity and food security.