Project description:Bacteria possess many small noncoding RNAs whose regulatory roles in pathogenesis are little understood due to a paucity of macroscopic phenotypes in standard virulence assays. Here, we use a novel Dual RNA-seq approach for a single-step simultaneous RNA profiling in both pathogen and host to reveal molecular phenotypes of sRNAs during infection with Salmonella Typhimurium. We identify a new PhoP/Q-activated small RNA which upon bacterial internalization acts to temporally control the expression of both, invasion-associated effectors and virulence genes required for intracellular survival. This riboregulatory activity is shown to adjust the human response to replicating Salmonella, and have a pervasive impact on host RNA expression both inside and outside protein-coding regions including infection-specific alterations of an array of long noncoding RNAs. Our study provides a paradigm for a comprehensive RNA-based analysis of intracellular bacterial pathogens without their physical purification from a host and a new discovery route for hidden functions of pathogen genes.
Project description:We utilized host-pathogen dual RNA-sequencing to elucidate the transcriptomes of both Chlamydia trachomatis and the infected HeLa cell during nutritional conditions that induce persistence.
Project description:Parasite biology, by its very nature, cannot be understood without integrating it with that of the host, nor can the host response be adequately explained without considering the activity of the parasite. However, due to experimental limitations, molecular studies of parasite-host systems have been predominantly one-sided investigations focusing on either of the partners. Here we conduct a joint dual RNA-seq time course analysis of filarial parasite and host mosquito to better understand the parasite processes underlying development in, and interaction with, the host tissue from the establishment of infection to the emergence of infective-stage larva. Using the Brugia malayi-Aedes aegypti system, we report the parasite gene transcription dynamics, which exhibit a highly ordered developmental program consisting of a series of cyclical and state-transitioning temporal patterns. And, we contextualize these parasite data in relation to the concurrent dynamics of the host transcriptome. Comparative analyses using uninfected tissues and different host strains reveal the influence of parasite development on the host gene transcription as well as the influence of host environment on the parasite gene transcription. Furthermore, we critically evaluate the life-cycle transcriptome of B. malayi by comparing developmental stages in the mosquito relative to those in the mammalian host, providing insight into gene expression changes underpinning the mosquito-borne parasitic lifestyle of this heteroxenous parasite. Time-course mRNA profiles of filarial parasite Brugia malayi and host mosqutio Aedes aegypti were generated by deep sequencing using Illumina GAIIx.
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:Bacteria possess many small noncoding RNAs whose regulatory roles in pathogenesis are little understood due to a paucity of macroscopic phenotypes in standard virulence assays. Here, we use a novel Dual RNA-seq approach for a single-step simultaneous RNA profiling in both pathogen and host to reveal molecular phenotypes of sRNAs during infection with Salmonella Typhimurium. We identify a new PhoP/Q-activated small RNA which upon bacterial internalization acts to temporally control the expression of both, invasion-associated effectors and virulence genes required for intracellular survival. This riboregulatory activity is shown to adjust the human response to replicating Salmonella, and have a pervasive impact on host RNA expression both inside and outside protein-coding regions including infection-specific alterations of an array of long noncoding RNAs. Our study provides a paradigm for a comprehensive RNA-based analysis of intracellular bacterial pathogens without their physical purification from a host and a new discovery route for hidden functions of pathogen genes.