Project description:African trypanosomes are dixenous eukaryotic parasites that impose a significant human and veterinary disease burden on sub-Saharan Africa. Diversity between species and life-cycle stages is concomitant with distinct host and tissue tropisms within this group. Here, the spatial proteomes of two African trypanosome species, Trypanosoma brucei and Trypanosoma congolense, have been mapped, each in mammalian and insect life-stages represented by bloodstream form (BSF) and procyclic form (PCF) respectively. Using the hyperLOPIT (hyperplexed localisation of organelle proteins by isotope tagging) methodology, this work has provided four highly comprehensive spatial proteomes.
Project description:We sought to determine how gene expression changes during the first two years of HIV-1 infection among participants from HIV-1 serodiscordant couple cohorts from sub-Saharan Africa. This study included whole blood samples from 26 participants who did not have HIV-1 at study enrollment, had a steady sexual relationship with a partner with HIV-1 and acquired HIV-1 during follow-up. Most participants had samples from before and after infection.
Project description:Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) is a disease of major economic importance in Sub-Saharan Africa. In eastern and southern Africa. Here we analysed clinical isolates of T brucei rhodensiense, resistant to suramin by shotgun proteomics . And identified parasite proteins whose expression is associated with resistance to suramin.
Project description:Konzo, a disease characterized by sudden, irreversible spastic paraparesis, affecting up to 10% of the population in some regions of Sub-Saharan Africa during outbreaks and is strongly associated with dietary exposure to cyanogenic bitter cassava. The molecular mechanisms underlying the development of konzo, remain largely unknown. Here, through an analysis of 16 individuals with konzo and matched healthy controls from the same outbreak zones, we identified 117 differentially methylated loci involved in numerous biological processes that may identify cyanogenic- sensitive regions of the genome, providing the first study of epigenomic alterations associated with sub-lethal cyanide exposure and a clinical phenotype.
Project description:The history of click-speaking Khoe-San, and African populations in general, remains poorly understood. We genotyped ~2.3 million SNPs in 220 southern Africans and found that the Khoe-San diverged from other populations at least 100,000 years ago, but structure within the Khoe-San dated back to about 35,000 years ago. Genetic variation in various sub-Saharan populations did not localize the origin of modern humans to a single geographic region within Africa, instead, it indicated a history of admixture and stratification. We found evidence of adaptation targeting muscle function and immune response, potential adaptive introgression of UV-light protection, and selection predating modern human diversification involving skeletal and neurological development. These new findings illustrate the importance of African genomic diversity in understanding human evolutionary history .220 samples were analysed with the Illumina HumanOmni2.5-Quad BeadChip and are described herein.
Project description:Non-typhoidal Salmonella serotypes (NTS) cause a self-limited gastroenteritis while pediatric patients with severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria can develop a life threatening bacteremia that is a major source of child mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. We used microarrays to detail genome-scale gene expression profiles underlying gastrointestinal immune responses to bacterial infection in mice
