Project description:Research on forms of memory in innate immune systems has recently gained momentum with the study of trained immunity in vertebrates and immune priming in invertebrates. Immune priming provides protection against previously encountered pathogens. However, causes and mechanisms of immune priming are still not well understood in most organisms. In this work, we combine RNA sequencing with transmission electron microscopy to investigate the dynamic processes during priming in the gut of a well-established model for oral immune priming, consisting of the host Tribolium castaneum and its entomopathogen Bacillus thuringiensis tenebrionis (Btt). We show that priming with specific, non-infectious pathogen-derived cues causes damage in the gut of T. castaneum larvae, which leads to an early physiological stress response as well as the upregulation of a specific set of immune genes. This response diminishes over time yet enables the gut to upregulate genes known to interfere with Btt virulence when T. castaneum larvae are later exposed to infectious Btt spores. These insights contribute to our understanding of immune priming as a dynamic process where cellular responses in concert with specific gene regulation prepare the gut tissue and thereby enables a more efficient protection against infection. Such work can further help us understand the origin and mechanism of innate immune memory.
Project description:The impact of CRTAM modulation on the balance between gut microbiota and the mucosal immune system under both homeostatic conditions and during enteric infections
Project description:The objective of the protject is to develop an immune cell-enrich library-assisted DIA method that enables the comprehensive identification and quantification of immunological proteins from micro-scale samples with high sensitivity. In the project, six immune cell subtype-specific libraries including CD8+ and CD4+ T cell, B cell, NK cell, DC and MP were established, and the six subtype libraries can be consolidated into a larger library termed the immune cell-enriched library. By integrating either a single cell-type specific library or multiple libraries into the conventional library-based DIA search, the method enhances the identification coverage of the immune landscape for micro-scale colonic polyps in CRC mice. Application of the method on the MLNs of the CRC mice offers an enlarged TME landscape that reveals proteomic changes in the MLN from different tumor growth of progrssion.