Project description:The primary goal of this project is to monitor host global gene expression patterns in response to viral infection in the shrimp, Litopenaeus stylirostris. Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) L. stylirostris were obtained from High Health Aquaculture (Honolulu, Hawaii) and kept in environmentally controlled tanks. For control, animals were injected with saline (30 ul) between the second and third tergal plates of the lateral side of the tail using a 1 ml tuberculin syringe. Infected individuals were inoculated with homogenate created from IHHNV infected shrimp tissue. After 24 hours, the shrimp were sacrificed and tissue was collected from the ventral and flash frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored in the -80 ºC freezer. Libraries of sequence tags were generated via the Long-SAGE kit (Invitrogen®, Carlsbad, CA) until the ditag PCR preparation step and directly pyrosequenced by 454 Roche.
Project description:Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) is a probiotic used for treatment of intestinal disorders. EcN improves gastrointestinal homeostasis and microbiota balance; however little is known about how this probiotic delivers effector molecules to the host. Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) are constitutively produced by gram-negative bacteria and have a relevant role in bacteria-host interactions. Here we performed proteomic analysis of EcN OMVs. Using 1D SDSD-PAGE and highly sensitive LC-MS/MS analysis we identified 192 EcN vesicular proteins with high confidence in three independent experiments. Of these proteins, 18 were encoded by strain-linked genes and 57 were common to pathogen-derived OMVs. These proteins may contribute to the ability of this probiotic to colonize the human gut as they fulfil functions related to adhesion to host tissues, immune modulation or bacterial survival in host niches. This study describes the first global OMV proteome of a probiotic strain and provides evidence that probiotic-derived OMVs contain proteins that can target these vesicles to the host and mediate their beneficial effects on intestinal function.
Project description:Topic application of the probiotic Streptoccus dentisani improves clinical and microbiological parameters associated with oral health
Project description:Acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) is a shrimp farming disease, caused by a pathogenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus carrying a plasmid encoding Vp_PirAB-like toxin (VpAHPND). Whiteleg shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei were fed food pellets containing formalin-killed VpAHPND (FKC-VpAHPND) to select for toxin resistance. To identify genes associated with Vp_PirAB-like toxin resistance, total RNA was sequenced to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the stomach and hepatopancreas among surviving shrimp (sur-FKC), AHPND-infected shrimp (Vp-inf) and normal shrimp (control). From a total of 79,591 genes, 194 and 224 DEGs were identified in the stomach and hepatopancreas transcriptomes, respectfully. The expressions of DEGs were validated by qPCR of ten genes. Only one gene, a gene homologous to L vannamei anti-lipopolysaccharide factor AV-R isoform (LvALF AV-R), was expressed significantly more strongly in sur-FKC than in the other groups. The association of LvALF AV-R expression and toxin resistance was affirmed from the surviving shrimp in a second-trial of FKC-VpAHPND feeding. These results suggest that LvALF AV-R may be involved in shrimp defense mechanisms against Vp_PirAB-like toxin virulence.
Project description:A lactobacilli dominated microbiota in most pre and post-menopausal women is an indicator of vaginal health. A Nugent scoring system serves as a proxy for determining the ratio of lactobacilli to other vaginal inhabitants where a high score usually represents a diseased state, whilst an intermediate score represents a warning zone. The objective of this double blinded, placebo-controlled crossover study was to evaluate in 14 post-menopausal women with an intermediate score, the effect of vaginal administration of probiotic L. rhamnosus GR-1 and L. reuteri RC-14 on the microbiota and host response. The probiotic treatment did not result in changes to clinical parameters such as dryness, irritation and comfort, compared to when placebo was applied. Analysis using 16S rRNA sequencing and metabolomics profiling revealed that the proportional abundance of Lactobacillus was increased following probiotic administration as compared to placebo, which was weakly associated with an increase in lactate levels. Analysis of host responses by microarray showed the probiotics had an immune-modulatory response and multiplex cytokine analysis showed up-regulation of IL-5. This is the first study to use an interactomic approach for the study of vaginal probiotic administration in post-menopausal women. It shows that in some cases multifaceted approaches are required to detect the subtle trigger molecular changes induced by the host to instillation of probiotic strains. A total of 35 total RNA samples extracted from vaginal brushes were analyzed on Affymetrix Gene 2.0 ST arrays from 14 Participants collected over multiple visits including administration of either a probiotic supplement or placebo control.
Project description:The indigenous human gut microbiota is a major contributor to the human superorganism with established roles in modulating nutritional status, immunity, and systemic health including diabetes and obesity. The complexity of the gut microbiota consisting of over 1012 residents and approximately 1000 species has thus far eluded systematic analyses of the precise effects of individual microbial residents on human health. In contrast, health benefits have been shown upon ingestion of certain so-called probiotic Lactobacillus strains in food products and nutritional supplements, thereby providing a unique opportunity to study the global responses of a gut-adapted microorganism in the human gut and to identify the molecular mechanisms underlying microbial modulation of intestinal physiology, which might involve alterations in the intestinal physico-chemical environment, modifications in the gut microbiota, and/or direct interaction with mucosal epithelia and immune cells. Here we show by transcriptome analysis using DNA microarrays that the established probiotic bacterium, L. plantarum 299v, adapts its metabolic capacity in the human digestive tract for carbohydrate acquisition and expression of exo-polysaccharide and proteinaceous cell surface compounds. This report constitutes the first application of global gene expression profiling of a gut-adapted commensal microorganism in the human gut. Comparisons of the transcript profiles to those obtained for L. plantarum WCFS1 in germ-free mice revealed conserved L. plantarum responses indicative of a core transcriptome expressed in the mammalian gut and provide new molecular targets for determining microbial-host interactions affecting human health. Hybridization of the samples against a common reference of gDNA isolated from L. plantarum 299v
Project description:Bifidobacterium thermophilum RBL67 (RBL67), a human fecal isolate and promising probiotic candidate, showed antagonistic and protective effects against Salmonella and Listeria in vitro. However, the underlying mechanisms fostering these health-related effects remain unknown. Therefor the transcriptome response of RBL67 and Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium N-15 (N-15) in co-culture compared to the response in their respective mono-cultures. RNA was extracted from culture samples taken after 4 (N-15) or 5 h (RBL67) and RNAseq was performed on an Illumina HiSeq 2000 sequencer. Three biological replciates were performed resulting in 12 data sets: 3 RBL67 mono culture, 3 N15 mono-culture, 3 RBL67 co-culture, 3 N15 co-culture. Our study provided first insights into probiotic-pathogen interaction on transcriptional level and suggests a mechanism for how probiotic organisms can protect the host from infections.
Project description:Difference in gut microbiome is linked with health, disease and eventually host fitness, however, the molecular mechanisms by which this variation affects the host fitness are not well characterized. Here, we modified the fish gut microbiota by using antibiotic and probiotic to address the effect of host microbiome on gene expression pattern by using transcriptome.
Project description:Obesity is a chronic, complex and multifactorial disease that has reached pandemia levels and is becoming a serious health problem. Intestinal microbiota is considered a main factor that affects body weight and fat mass, which points toward a critical role in the development of obesity. In this sense, probiotic bacteria might modulate the intestinal microbiota and the mucosal-associated lymphoid tissue. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of L. paracasei, L. rhamnosus and B. breve feeding on the intestinal mucosa gene expression in a genetic animal model of obesity. We used microarrays to investigate the global gene expression on intestinal mucosa after the treatment with probiotic strains.
Project description:Bifidobacterium thermophilum RBL67 (RBL67), a human fecal isolate and promising probiotic candidate, showed antagonistic and protective effects against Salmonella and Listeria in vitro. However, the underlying mechanisms fostering these health-related effects remain unknown. Therefor the transcriptome response of RBL67 and Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium N-15 (N-15) in co-culture compared to the response in their respective mono-cultures. RNA was extracted from culture samples taken after 4 (N-15) or 5 h (RBL67) and RNAseq was performed on an Illumina HiSeq 2000 sequencer. Three biological replciates were performed resulting in 12 data sets: 3 RBL67 mono culture, 3 N15 mono-culture, 3 RBL67 co-culture, 3 N15 co-culture. Our study provided first insights into probiotic-pathogen interaction on transcriptional level and suggests a mechanism for how probiotic organisms can protect the host from infections. RNA was extracted from culture samples taken after 4 (N-15) or 5 h (RBL67) and RNAseq was performed on an Illumina HiSeq 2000 sequencer. Three biological replciates were performed resulting in 12 data sets: 3 RBL67 mono culture, 3 N15 mono-culture, 3 RBL67 co-culture, 3 N15 co-culture.