Project description:The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans offers currently untapped potential for carrying out high-throughput, live-animal screens of low molecular weight compound libraries to identify molecules that target a variety of cellular processes. We previously used a bacterial infection assay in C. elegans to identify 119 compounds that affect host-microbe interactions among 37,214 tested. We subsequently found that one of these small molecules, RPW-24, protects C. elegans from bacterial infection by stimulating the host immune response of the nematode. Using transcriptome profiling, epistasis pathway analyses with C. elegans mutants, and an RNAi screen, we showed that RPW-24 promotes resistance to Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection by inducing the transcription of a remarkably small number of C. elegans genes (~1.3% of all genes) in a manner that partially depends on the evolutionarily-conserved p38 MAP kinase pathway and the transcription factor ATF-7. These data demonstrated that the immunostimulatory activity of RPW-24 is required for its efficacy and define a novel C. elegans-based strategy to identify compounds with activity against antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens. Here we present the microarray data that were used to define the genes that are differentially regulated in wild-type nematodes following exposure to RPW-24.
Project description:The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans offers currently untapped potential for carrying out high-throughput, live-animal screens of low molecular weight compound libraries to identify molecules that target a variety of cellular processes. We previously used a bacterial infection assay in C. elegans to identify 119 compounds that affect host-microbe interactions among 37,214 tested. We subsequently found that one of these small molecules, RPW-24, protects C. elegans from bacterial infection by stimulating the host immune response of the nematode. Using transcriptome profiling, epistasis pathway analyses with C. elegans mutants, and an RNAi screen, we showed that RPW-24 promotes resistance to Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection by inducing the transcription of a remarkably small number of C. elegans genes (~1.3% of all genes) in a manner that partially depends on the evolutionarily-conserved p38 MAP kinase pathway and the transcription factor ATF-7. These data demonstrated that the immunostimulatory activity of RPW-24 is required for its efficacy and define a novel C. elegans-based strategy to identify compounds with activity against antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens. Here we present the microarray data that were used to define the genes that are differentially regulated in wild-type nematodes following exposure to RPW-24. There are six samples total that comprise three biological replicates of wild-type animals exposed to either 70 uM RPW-24 or DMSO for 15 hours at 15ᄚC. For a given biological replicate, N2 C. elegans animals in the late L4 larval stage were exposed to RPW-24 or DMSO in parallel to each other.
Project description:Elucidation of host-pathogen interaction is essential for developing effective strategies to combat bacterial infection. Dual RNA-Seq using cultured cells or tissues/organs as the pathogen host has emerged as a novel strategy to understand the response concurrently from both pathogen and host at cellular level. However, bacterial infection mostly causes systematic responses from the host at organism level where the interplay is urgently to be understood but inevitably being neglected by the current practice. Here, we developed an approach that simultaneously monitor the genome-wide infection-linked transcriptional alterations in both pathogenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus and the infection host nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Besides the dynamic alterations in both transcriptomes of C. elegans and V. parahaemolyticus during infection, we identify a two-component system, BarA/UvrY, that are essential for host colonization. BarA/UvrY not only controls the virulence factors in V. parahaemolyticus including Type III and Type VI secretion systems, but also represses the MAP kinase mediated signaling cascades to attenuate innate immune responses. Thus, our study exemplifies the use of dual RNA-Seq at organism level to uncover previously unrecognized interplay between host and pathogen.
Project description:The ability of many viruses to manipulate the host antiviral immune response often results in complex host-pathogen interactions. In order to study the interaction of dengue virus (DENV) with the Aedes aegypti immune response, we have characterized the DENV infection-responsive transcriptome of the immune-competent A. aegypti cell line Aag2. As in mosquitoes, DENV infection transcriptionally activated the cell line Toll pathway and a variety of cellular physiological systems. Most notably, however, DENV infection down-regulated the expression levels of numerous immune signaling molecules and antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Functional assays showed that transcriptional induction of AMPs from the Toll and IMD pathways in response to bacterial challenge is impaired in DENV-infected cells. In addition, Escherichia coli, a gram-negative bacteria species, grew better when co-cultured with DENV-infected cells than with uninfected cells, suggesting a decreased production of AMPs from the IMD pathway in virus-infected cells. Pre-stimulation of the cell line with gram-positive bacteria prior to DENV infection had no effect on DENV titers, while pre-stimulation with gram-negative bacteria resulted in an increase in DENV titers. These results indicate that DENV is capable of actively suppressing immune responses in the cells it infects, a phenomenon that may have important consequences for virus transmission and insect physiology. Infected (dengue virus or heat-inactivated dengue virus) vs. naive cells. 3 replicates each.
Project description:To understand how the interaction between an intracellular bacterium and the host immune system contributes to outcome at the site of infection, we studied leprosy, a disease that forms a clinical spectrum, in which progressive infection by the intracellular bacterium Mycobacterium leprae is characterized by the production of type I IFNs and antibody production. We performed dual RNAseq on patient lesions, identifying a continuum of distinct bacterial states that are linked to the host immune response. The bacterial burden, represented by the fraction of bacterial transcripts, correlates with a host type I IFN gene signature, known to inhibit antimicrobial responses. Second, the bacterial transcriptional activity, defined by the bacterial mRNA/rRNA ratio, links bacterial heat shock proteins with the BAFF-BCMA host antibody response pathway. Our findings provide a platform for interrogation of host and pathogen transcriptomes at the site of infection, allowing insight into mechanisms of inflammation in human disease
Project description:Germline-encoded pattern recognition receptors (e.g. Toll-like receptors) play key roles in innate immune activation. However, some metazoans, such as C. elegans, do not have canonical mechanisms of pattern recognition, yet they are able to mount anti-pathogen immune defenses. Here, we demonstrate that a nuclear hormone receptor (NHR), a ligand-gated transcription factor, functions in immune activation and pathogen defense. NHRs have expanded dramatically in C. elegans compared to other metazoans. Because NHRs often function redundantly, it has been challenging experimentally to characterize the biology of individual NHRs. Here, we use genetic epistasis experiments, transcriptome profiling analyses and chromatin immunoprecipitation to show NHR-86 is sufficient to activate protective immune defenses against the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Interestingly, NHR-86 drives the transcription of immune effectors whose basal regulation requires the canonical p38 MAPK PMK-1 immune pathway. However, NHR-86 functions independently of PMK-1 and directly induces the transcription of infection response genes in a manner that confers protection from bacterial infection. Importantly, we found that nhr-86 does control immune gene expression and is necessary for host defense against a different pathogen, Enterococcus faecalis. Our findings characterize an ancient role of an NHR in innate immunity, and suggest that the expansion of the NHR protein family in C. elegans has been fueled in part by the need to activate immune defenses in response to pathogen attack.
Project description:Germline-encoded pattern recognition receptors (e.g. Toll-like receptors) play key roles in innate immune activation. However, some metazoans, such as C. elegans, do not have canonical mechanisms of pattern recognition, yet they are able to mount anti-pathogen immune defenses. Here, we demonstrate that a nuclear hormone receptor (NHR), a ligand-gated transcription factor, functions in immune activation and pathogen defense. NHRs have expanded dramatically in C. elegans compared to other metazoans. Because NHRs often function redundantly, it has been challenging experimentally to characterize the biology of individual NHRs. Here, we use genetic epistasis experiments, transcriptome profiling analyses and chromatin immunoprecipitation to show NHR-86 is sufficient to activate protective immune defenses against the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Interestingly, NHR-86 drives the transcription of immune effectors whose basal regulation requires the canonical p38 MAPK PMK-1 immune pathway. However, NHR-86 functions independently of PMK-1 and directly induces the transcription of infection response genes in a manner that confers protection from bacterial infection. Importantly, we found that nhr-86 does control immune gene expression and is necessary for host defense against a different pathogen, Enterococcus faecalis. Our findings characterize an ancient role of an NHR in innate immunity, and suggest that the expansion of the NHR protein family in C. elegans has been fueled in part by the need to activate immune defenses in response to pathogen attack.
Project description:C. elegans has served as a laboratory model organism due to its ease of manipulation and the availability of both forward and reverse genetics. In recent years, efforts to study host-pathogen interactions in C. elegans have increased. For example, analysis of infections by bacteria such as Pseudomonas, Salmonella or Serratia has revealed the existence of innate immune pathways in C. elegans that are also conserved in vertebrates. To date, there has been no natural virus infection reported in C. elegans or C. briggsae. Here we describe evidence of natural virus infection in wild isolates of both C. elegans and C. briggsae. Two highly divergent but related RNA viruses in the family Nodaviridae, tentatively named Orsay nodavirus and Santeuil nodavirus, were detected and their genomes partially sequenced. Infected worm lysates passed through 0.2 um filters could be used to infect uninfected worms, which could be further passaged for many generations. Furthermore, the viruses were subject to processing by the RNAi machinery as evidenced by the detection of virally derived small RNAs. Infection of mutant worms defective in small RNA pathways yielded more robust levels of viral RNA as compared to infection of isogenic N2 reference worms. These data demonstrate that nodaviruses are natural parasites of nematodes in the wild. Further study of the interactions between these viruses and nematodes is likely to provide insight into the natural ecology of nematodes and may reveal novel innate immune mechanisms that respond to viral infection. Two small RNA libraries (18-30 nt) from nodavirus-infected and cured C. elegans wild isolate JU1580 were sequenced on the Illumina Genome Analyzer II platform. Samples were treated with tobacco acid pyrophosphatase to allow cloning of small RNA molecules with 5'-triphosphates. Each sample was labelled with a unique four base pair barcode and libraries were multiplexed together with a third library (not included in this submission). The multiplexed libraries were sequenced in triplicate.
Project description:The role of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification of host mRNA during bacterial infection is unclear. Here, we show that Helicobacter pylori infection upregulated major m6A “writers” and increased m6A level in gastric epithelial cells. Attenuating m6A increase by hemizygotic deletion of Mettl3 in mice or small interfering RNAs targeting m6A “writers” exacerbated H. pylori colonization. LOX-1 mRNA was identified as a key m6A-regulated target during H. pylori infection. m6A modification destabilized LOX-1 mRNA and reduced LOX-1 protein level. LOX-1 acted as a membrane receptor for H. pylori catalase to mediate the bacterial adhesion. BI-0115, a small-molecule inhibitor of LOX-1, suppressed H. pylori adhesion and colonization. Genetic ablation of Lox-1 also reduced H. pylori colonization in mice. In sum, this study reveals that m6A modification is an auto-protective mechanism against H. pylori infection by downregulating LOX-1 to prevent H. pylori adhesion. LOX-1 could be a druggable target for controlling H. pylori infection.