Project description:Microbes are an integral component of the tumor microenvironment (TME). However, mechanisms that direct microbial recruitment into tumors and the spatial relationship between intratumoral microbes and host cells remain poorly understood. Here, we show that microbes and immune cells have parallel spatial distribution and that the presence of intratumoral microbes is dependent on T cells. Analysis of human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC) and lung adenocarcinomas (LUAD) revealed a spatially heterogeneous distribution of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) that is associated with T cell infiltration. Using mouse models of PDAC, we found that microbes were more abundant and diverse in tumors that were enriched in T cells compared to tumors that lacked T cells, despite no significant differences in the fecal microbiome. Consistent with these findings, we detected elevated levels of microbial genes in T cell-enriched tumor nests in human PDAC. Compared to microbe-poor tumor nests, microbe-enriched tumor nests displayed a higher number of myeloid cells, B cells, and plasma cells. Microbe-enriched tumor nests also showed upregulation of immune-related processes, including responses to bacteria, and receptors that mediate mucosal immune responses to microbes. Administration of antibiotics to tumor-bearing mice altered the phenotype and presence of intratumoral myeloid cells and B cells but did not alter T cell infiltration. In contrast, depletion of T cells reduced the presence of intratumoral microbes. Our results identify a novel coupling between microbes and the intratumoral immune landscape, with T cells shaping microbial presence and subsequent microbial-host interactions.
Project description:<p>Root mutualistic microbes can modulate the production of plant secondary metabolites affecting plant–herbivore interactions. Still, the main mechanisms underlying the impact of root mutualists on herbivore performance remain ambiguous. In particular, little is known about how changes in the plant metabolome induced by root mutualists affect the insect metabolome and postlarval development. By using bioassays with tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum), we analyzed the impact of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Rhizophagus irregularis and the growth-promoting fungus Trichoderma harzianum on the plant interaction with the specialist insect herbivore Manduca sexta. We found that root colonization by the mutualistic microbes impaired insect development, including metamorphosis. By using untargeted metabolomics, we found that root colonization by the mutualistic microbes altered the secondary metabolism of tomato shoots, leading to enhanced levels of steroidal glycoalkaloids. Untargeted metabolomics further revealed that root colonization by the mutualists affected the metabolome of the herbivore, leading to an enhanced accumulation of steroidal glycoalkaloids and altered patterns of fatty acid amides and carnitine-derived metabolites. Our results indicate that the changes in the shoot metabolome triggered by root mutualistic microbes can cascade up altering the metabolome of the insects feeding on the colonized plants, thus affecting the insect development.</p>
Project description:Idenfication and characterization of oscillating transcripts after elicitation with oral secretions from the sepcialist herbivore, Manduca sexta larvae
Project description:Solid tumors are composed of cancer cells and host immune cells that are distributed in a non-uniform pattern. Growing evidence shows that intratumoral microbes are associated with immune microenvironments in cancer. However, mechanisms that direct the recruitment of microbes to tumors remain poorly understood. Here, we show that intratumoral infiltration of immune cells and microbes are heterogeneous, and the distribution of microbes within tumors are orchestrated by the spatial heterogeneity of intratumoral lymphoid populations. Analysis of human solid tumors revealed that the spatial distribution of immune cells, particularly CD8+ T cells, is markedly heterogeneous. Compared to T cell-poor (“cold”) tumor nests, T cell-rich (“hot”) tumor nests displayed a significantly higher number of myeloid cells, B cells, and plasma cells. We performed laser capture microdissection (LCM) followed by RNA sequencing to identify unique gene signatures that define tumor epithelium and stroma of cold and hot tumor nests. Cold tumor nests expressed genes that promote tumor proliferation and fibrosis, whereas hot tumor stroma and epithelium showed upregulation of immune-related processes, including responses to bacteria, and receptors that mediate mucosal immune responses to microbes, respectively. Consistent with these findings, we detected elevated levels of microbes within hot tumor nests in human pancreatic and lung cancers as well as in mouse models of pancreatic cancer. Intratumoral T cell infiltration plays a causal role in spatial distribution of bacteria in tumor. Our data implicate intratumoral immune heterogeneity in defining microbial spatial distribution and highlight a potential role for crosstalks between microbes, cancer cells, and the host immune system in shaping constituents of the tumor microenvironment (TME).
Project description:DICER-like proteins produce small RNAs that silence genes involved in development and defenses against viruses and pathogens. Which DCLs participate in plant-herbivore interactions remains unstudied. We identified four distinct DCL genes and stably silenced their expression by RNAi in Nicotiana attenuata, a model system for the study of plant-herbivore interactions. Silencing DCL1 expression was lethal to the plants. Manduca sexta larvae performed significantly better on ir-dcl3and ir-dcl4 plants, but not on ir-dcl2 plants compared to wild type plants. Phytohormones, defense metabolites and microarray analyses revealed that when DCL3 and DCL4 were silenced separately, herbivore resistance traits were regulated in distinctly different ways. Crossing of the lines revealed complex interactions in the patterns of regulation. Single ir-dcl4 and double ir-dcl2/ ir-dcl3 plants were impaired in JA accumulation, while JA-Ile was increased in ir-dcl3 plants. Ir-dcl3 and ir-dcl4 plants were impaired in nicotine accumulation; silencing DCL2 in combination with either DCL3 or DCL4 restored nicotine levels to those of WT. Trypsin proteinase inhibitor activity and transcripts were only silenced in ir-dcl3 plants. We conclude that DCL2/3/4 interact in a complex manner to regulate anti-herbivore defenses and that these interactions significantly complicate the already challenging task of understanding smRNA function in the regulation of biotic interactions.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of Arabidopsis thaliana wild type (WT) comparing MD (mechanical damage) and HW (herbivore wounding). The differences in the biochemical responses to herbivory seen prompted us to search for less obvious differences between treatments using gene expression profiling. Biological replicates: 4
Project description:DICER-like proteins produce small RNAs that silence genes involved in development and defenses against viruses and pathogens. Which DCLs participate in plant-herbivore interactions remains unstudied. We identified four distinct DCL genes and stably silenced their expression by RNAi in Nicotiana attenuata, a model system for the study of plant-herbivore interactions. Silencing DCL1 expression was lethal to the plants. Manduca sexta larvae performed significantly better on ir-dcl3and ir-dcl4 plants, but not on ir-dcl2 plants compared to wild type plants. Phytohormones, defense metabolites and microarray analyses revealed that when DCL3 and DCL4 were silenced separately, herbivore resistance traits were regulated in distinctly different ways. Crossing of the lines revealed complex interactions in the patterns of regulation. Single ir-dcl4 and double ir-dcl2/ ir-dcl3 plants were impaired in JA accumulation, while JA-Ile was increased in ir-dcl3 plants. Ir-dcl3 and ir-dcl4 plants were impaired in nicotine accumulation; silencing DCL2 in combination with either DCL3 or DCL4 restored nicotine levels to those of WT. Trypsin proteinase inhibitor activity and transcripts were only silenced in ir-dcl3 plants. We conclude that DCL2/3/4 interact in a complex manner to regulate anti-herbivore defenses and that these interactions significantly complicate the already challenging task of understanding smRNA function in the regulation of biotic interactions. Gene expression in leaves of Nicotiana attenuata wild type, irDCL3 and irDCL4 plants was measured at 1 hour after elicitation with oral secretions of Manduca sexta larvae. Three independent experiments were performed with wild type plants and three independent experiments were performed with irDCL3 and irDCL4 plants. A total of 811 genes were identified as differentially regulated in irDCL3 and irDCL4 compared to wild type plants.