Project description:Whole transcriptome RNA sequencing in brain tissue was generated to explore differences between young and old animals of two closely related species of deer mice (genus Peromyscus) that reportedly differ in their lifespans: P. leucopus that lives for up to 8 years and P. maniculatus that exhibits a lifespan of about 4 years.
2021-03-31 | GSE166394 | GEO
Project description:Population genomics of range expansion in the white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) and secondary contact with the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus)
Project description:Whole transcriptome RNA sequencing in primary fibroblasts of outbred Peromyscus maniculatus was generated to explore the degree of coordination in gene expression.
Project description:We used RNA-seq to compare transcriptional profiles from the embryonic tails from E12.5–E15.5 Peromyscus maniculatus. Samples are from two ecotypes, forest (P.m.nubiterrae) and prairie (P.m.bairdii) with different numbers of caudal vertebrae.
Project description:We used RNA-seq to estimate allelic expression bias in the embryonic tails of E12.5 and E14.5 Peromyscus maniculatus nubiterrae x bairdii. Samples are from F1 hybrids between forest (P.m.nubiterrae) and prairie (P.m.bairdii) with different numbers of caudal vertebrae.
Project description:The Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi drives a range of acute and chronic maladies in humans and other incidental hosts infected with the pathogen. However, the primary vertebrate reservoir, Peromyscus leucopus appears spared from any symptomology following infection. This has led to a common hypothesis that P. leucopus and B. burgdorferi exist symbiotically: P. leucopus restrain their immune response against the microbe and enable the enzootic cycle while B. burgdorferi avoids causing damage to the host. While aspects of this hypothesis have been tested, the exact interactions that occur between P. leucopus and B. burgdorferi during infection remain largely unknown. Here we utilized an inbred colony of P. leucopus in order to compare B. burgdorferi (B31) fitness in these rodents to the traditional B. burgdorferi murine models—C57BL/6J and C3H/HeN Mus musculus, which develop signs of inflammation akin to human disease. We find that in contrast to our expectations, B. burgdorferi were able to reach much higher burdens in M. musculus, and that the overall kinetics of infection differed between the two rodent species. Surprisingly, we also found that P. leucopus remained infectious to larval Ixodes scapularis for a far shorter period than either M. musculus strain. In line with these observations, we found that P. leucopus does launch a modest but sustained inflammatory response against B. burgdorferi in the skin, which we hypothesize leads to reduced bacterial viability and infectivity in these hosts. These observations provide new insight into the nature of reservoir species and the B. burgdorferi enzootic cycle.
