Project description:Industrial production of penicillins with the filamentous fungus Penicillium chrysogenum is based on an unprecedented effort in microbial strain improvement. Sequencing of the 32.19 Mb genome of P. chrysogenum Wisconsin54-1255 revealed many genes responsible for key steps in penicillin production. DNA microarrays were used to compare the transcriptomes of the sequenced strain and a penicillinG high-producing strain, grown in the presence and absence of the side-chain precursor phenylacetic acid. Transcription of genes involved in biosynthesis of valine, cysteine and alpha-aminoadipic acid, the amino-acid precursors for penicillin biosynthesis, as well as genes encoding microbody proteins, increased in the high-producing strain. Many key (intra)cellular transport processes involving penicillins and intermediates remain to be characterized at the molecular level. Genes predicted to encode transporters were strongly overrepresented among the genes transcriptionally upregulated under conditions that stimulate penicillinG production, illustrating potential for future genomics-driven functional analysis. Keywords: genetic modification
Project description:Rgg-dependent transcriptional regulation in SF370 Streptococcus pyogenes strain was analyzed during post-exponential phase of growth Keywords: rgg mutant
Project description:Streptococcus agalactiae, also known as Group B streptococcus, emerged in the 1960s as a leading cause of septicemia and meningitis in neonates. It is also an increasing cause of infections in adults with underlying diseases. To characterize transcription start sites (TSS) in the hypervirulent ST17 lineage (strain BM110) we used a differential RNA-seq strategy, based on selective Tobacco Acid Pyrophosphatase (TAP) treatment and adapter ligation, which differentiates primary transcripts and processed RNAs
Project description:Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is a major human respiratory pathogen and the leading cause of bacterial pneumonia worldwide. Small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs), which often act by post-transcriptionally regulating gene expression, have been shown to be crucial for the virulence of S. pneumoniae and other bacterial pathogens. Over 170 putative sRNAs have been identified in S. pneumoniae TIGR4 strain (serotype 4) through transcriptomic studies, and a subset of these sRNAs have been further implicated in regulating pneumococcal pathogenesis. However, there was little overlap in the sRNAs identified among these studies, which indicated that the approaches used for sRNA identification were not sufficiently sensitive and robust and that there were likely many more undiscovered sRNAs encoded in the S. pneumoniae genome. Here, we sought to comprehensively identify sRNAs in Avery's virulent S. pneumoniae strain D39 using two independent RNA-seq based approaches. We developed an unbiased method for identifying novel sRNAs from bacterial RNA-seq data and have further tested the specificity of our analysis program towards identifying sRNAs encoded by both strains D39 and TIGR4. Interestingly, the genes for 15% of the putative sRNAs identified in strain TIGR4 including ones previously implicated in virulence were not present in strain D39 genome suggesting that the differences in sRNA repertoires between these two serotypes may contribute to their strain-specific virulence properties. Finally, this study has identified 67 new sRNA candidates in strain D39, 28 out of which have been further validated, raising the total number of sRNAs that have been identified in strain D39 to 112.
Project description:Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is a major human respiratory pathogen and a leading cause of bacterial pneumonia worldwide. Small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs), which often act by post-transcriptionally regulating gene expression, have been shown to be crucial for the virulence of S. pneumoniae and other bacterial pathogens. Over 170 putative sRNAs have been identified in S. pneumoniae TIGR4 strain (serotype 4) through transcriptomic studies, and a subset of these sRNAs have been further implicated in regulating pneumococcal pathogenesis. However, there is little overlap in the sRNAs identified among these studies, which indicates that the approaches used for sRNA identification were not sufficiently sensitive and robust and that there are likely many more undiscovered sRNAs encoded in the S. pneumoniae genome. Here, we sought to comprehensively identify sRNAs in Avery's virulent S. pneumoniae strain D39 using two independent RNA-seq based approaches. We developed an unbiased method for identifying novel sRNAs from bacterial RNA-seq data and have further tested the specificity of our analysis program towards identifying sRNAs encoded by both strains D39 and TIGR4. Interestingly, the genes for 15% of the putative sRNAs identified in strain TIGR4 including ones previously implicated in virulence are not present in strain D39 genome suggesting that the differences in sRNA repertoires between these two serotypes may contribute to their strain-specific virulence properties. Finally, this study has identified 67 new sRNA candidates in strain D39, 28 out of which have been further validated, raising the total number of sRNAs that have been identified in strain D39 to 112.
Project description:Two large-scale outbreaks of streptococcal toxic shock-like syndrome (STSLS) have revealed Streptococcus suis 2 (SS2) to be a severe, evolving pathogen in humans. We investigated the mechanism by which SS2 causes STSLS. The transcriptional regulator TstS up-regulated during experimental infection. Compared with the wild type 05ZY strain, the tstS deletion mutant (∆tstS) elicited reduced cytokine secretion in macrophages. In mice, tstS deletion decreased virulence, bacterial load, and cytokine production. Moreover, TstS expression in P1/7 strain led to induction of STSLS in the infected mice. This is noteworthy because although virulent, P1/7 does not normally induce STSLS. Through microarray-based comparative transcriptomics analysis, we found that TstS regulates multiple metabolism related genes and several virulence-related genes associated with immune evasion.