Project description:Poriferans, like the demosponge Amphimedon queenslandica, are the earliest diverging metazoans and may hold the key to understanding the evolution of metazoan pathways. A. queenslandica exhibits a biphasic lifecycle, with free-swimming larvae and sessile adult stages. To study changes in the transcriptome during this period of morphological and ecological transition, we generated poly(A) fragment libraries for A. queenslandica at four developmental stages: precompetent and competent larvae, postlarvae, and adult. These libraries were sequenced using Applied Biosystems SOLiD technology. This study provides the most comprehensive analysis to date of gene expression in the sponge. It has elucidated the genes that define the two main phases of the sponge lifestyle and identified genes that are important for competence and metamorphosis. More importantly, this study has provided insights into the expression of the genes that characterize metazoan features, such as cell adhesion and differentiation, in an early metazoan. 4 stages sequenced: precompetent larvae, competent larvae, postlarvae, adult
Project description:Mediterranean mussels are a worldwide spread bivalve species with extraordinary biological success. One of the reasons of this success could be the reproduction strategy of bivalves, characterized by the presence of trochophore larvae. Larval development in bivalves has been a topic of raising interest in the scientific community but it deserves much more attention. The principal objective of this work was to study the transcriptomic profile of the ontogeny of M. galloprovincialis analyzing the gene expression in different developmental stages, from oocytes to seed. For this purpose, after conducting a 454 sequencing of transcriptome of mussel hemocytes, adult tissues and larvae, a new DNA microarray comprising sequences of was designed and developed. The studied developmental stages: unfertilized oocytes, veliger (3 days post fertilization; dpf) and pediveliger (20dpf) larvae, settled juveniles (25dpf) and seed (30dpf), showed very different transcriptomic profiles and clustered in groups defining their characteristic gene expression along ontogeny.
Project description:Zebrafish embryos/larvae are a choice model system for studying early stages of vertebrate development and how these stages can be perturbed by environmental stressors. Petrochemical combustion products elicit developmental toxicity that is associated with transcriptome changes in zebrafish embryos (ZFE). We used microarrays to characterize transcriptome changes in ZFE that had been exposed in the laboratory to oil emulsions collected from the GoM shoreline, ~9 weeks after the Deepwater Horizon blowout. ZFE were exposed to oil emulsions collected (July 1-4, 2010) at the GoM shoreline. ZFE were exposed to emulsions, consisting of varying amounts of alkanes, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), sand and seawater that had been M-bM-^@M-^\butteredM-bM-^@M-^] on the bottom of cups, in which ZFE were suspended in zebrafish medium. ZFE development was monitored by light microscopy. M-BM- Control ZFE were suspended in zebrafish medium without emulsions. Gross developmental abnormalities, including axial changes, altered swimming patterns and yolk sac and pericardial sac swelling were noted and photographed. M-BM- M-BM- ZFE/larvae were collected after exposures ended, and placed in clean medium until 192 hr post-fertilization, when larvae were collected for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix zebrafish microarrays.
Project description:Poriferans, like the demosponge Amphimedon queenslandica, are the earliest diverging metazoans and may hold the key to understanding the evolution of metazoan pathways. A. queenslandica exhibits a biphasic lifecycle, with free-swimming larvae and sessile adult stages. To study changes in the transcriptome during this period of morphological and ecological transition, we generated poly(A) fragment libraries for A. queenslandica at four developmental stages: precompetent and competent larvae, postlarvae, and adult. These libraries were sequenced using Applied Biosystems SOLiD technology. This study provides the most comprehensive analysis to date of gene expression in the sponge. It has elucidated the genes that define the two main phases of the sponge lifestyle and identified genes that are important for competence and metamorphosis. More importantly, this study has provided insights into the expression of the genes that characterize metazoan features, such as cell adhesion and differentiation, in an early metazoan.
Project description:The emergence of multi-drug resistant pathogens is a major public health problem, leading to rethink and innovate in our bacterial control strategies. Here, we explore the anti-biofilm and anti-virulence activities of nineteen 6-polyaminosterol derivatives (squalamine-based), presenting a modulation of their polyamine side chain, on 4 major pathogens, i.e. carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii (CRAB) and P. aeruginosa (CRPA), a methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and a vancomycin-resistant E. faecium (VRE) strains. We screened the effect of these derivatives on biofilm formation and eradication. 4e (for CRAB, VRE and MRSA) and 4f (for all the strains) were the most potent one and displayed activities as good as conventional antibiotics. We also identified 11 compounds able to decrease by more than 40% the production of pyocyanin, a major virulence factor of P. aeruginosa. We demonstrated that 4f treatment acts against bacterial infections in Galleria mellonella and significantly prolonged the larvae survival (from 50% to 80%) after 24 h of CRAB, VRE and MRSA infections. As shown by proteomic studies, 4f triggered distinct cellular responses depending on the bacterial species, but essentially related to the cell envelop. Its interesting anti-biofilm and anti-virulence properties make it promising candidate for use in therapeutics.
Project description:To gain mechanistic insights into the molecular changes of Caenorhabditis briggsae between the two developmental stages: embryo and larvae