Project description:Streptococcus equi subsp. equi (SEE) is a host-restricted bacterium that causes the common infectious upper respiratory disease known as strangles in horses. Perpetuation of SEE infection appears attributable to inapparent carrier horses because it does not persist long-term in the environment, infect other host mammals or vectors, and result in short-lived immunity. Whether pathogen factors enable SEE to remain in horses without causing clinical signs remains poorly understood. Thus, our objective was to use next-generation sequencing technologies to characterize the transcriptome of isolates of SEE from horses with acute clinical strangles and inapparent carrier horses to assess pathogen-associated changes that might reflect adaptions of SEE to the host contributing to inapparent carriage. RNA sequencing of SEE isolates from Pennsylvania demonstrated no genes that were differentially expressed between acute clinical and inapparent carrier isolates of SEE.
Project description:To advance our understanding of cellular host-pathogen interactions, technologies that facilitate the co-capture of both host and pathogen spatial transcriptome information are needed. Here, we present an approach to simultaneously capture host and pathogen spatial gene expression information from the same formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissue section using the spatial transcriptomics technology. We applied the method to COVID-19 patient lung samples and enabled the dual detection of human and SARS-CoV-2 transcriptomes at 55 µm resolution. We validated our spatial detection of SARS-CoV-2 and identified an average specificity of 94.92% in comparison to RNAScope and 82.20% in comparison to in situ sequencing (ISS). COVID-19 tissues showed an upregulation of host immune response, such as increased expression of inflammatory cytokines, lymphocyte and fibroblast markers. Our colocalization analysis revealed that SARS-CoV-2+ spots presented shifts in host RNA metabolism, autophagy, NFκB, and interferon response pathways. Future applications of our approach will enable new insights into host response to pathogen infection through the simultaneous, unbiased detection of two transcriptomes.
Project description:The factors that determine the outcome of clinical tuberculosis lie within both the host and the pathogen, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). The advent of recombinant inbred mouse panels and next-generation transposon mutagenesis and sequencing approaches has enabled dissection of the host-pathogen interface for mammalian and pathogen genetic determinants of disease outcome. To identify host and pathogen genetic drivers of Mtb infection, we infected 19 genotypes from the BXD panel, bred from Mtb-resistant C57BL/6J (B6) and Mtb-susceptible DBA/2J (D2), with a comprehensive library of transposon mutants (TnSeq). The survival of each of the ~4000 bacterial mutants within each distinct host was quantified and leveraged as refined “endophenotypes”, directly reporting on the infection microenvironment. We leveraged QTL mapping to associate each varying bacterial fitness endophenotype to the host genome and identified 140 significant host-pathogen quantitative trait loci (hpQTL). This host-pathogen interaction screen reinforces the utility of bacterial mutant libraries as precise reporters of host immunological microenvironment during infection and highlights host gene candidates for further investigation.
Project description:We examined the potential for characterization of host, pathogen and microbiome interactions at a molecular level and identification of novel, outcome-relevant biomarkers in a single, easily obtained, clinical specimen using total RNA-seq.
Project description:<p>We report the case of a 15-year-old female with hypodiploid pre-B acute lymphoblastic leukemia status post allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) from a matched unrelated male donor who presented on transplant day +75 with cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation associated with fulminant myocarditis. Using conventional diagnostics, an exhaustive search for microbial pathogens in the heart biopsy as well as nasopharynx, blood, urine, and endotracheal aspirate was performed but did not uncover a candidate pathogen. The family consented to a research study for the use of unbiased next-generation genomic sequencing for pathogen identification in the myocardial biopsy. DNA sequencing was performed on 1.5 x 10<sup>8</sup> sequencing pairs and no microbial pathogens were identified. Interestingly, a significant component of Y-chromosomal human DNA was identified, suggesting infiltration of at least 10 donor leukocytes per host cell. This finding is grossly consistent with the lymphocyte:myocyte ratio in the biopsy according to visual inspection at 40x magnification. This case merits discussion due to (1) her survival after 17 days of veno-arterial extracorporeal life support (ECLS) and (2) the possibility of cardiotropic graft versus host disease (GVHD).</p>
Project description:Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is a pervasive perinatal pathogen, yet factors driving GBS dissemination in utero are poorly defined. Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), a complication marked by dysregulated immunity and maternal microbial dysbiosis, increases risk for GBS perinatal disease. We interrogated host-pathogen dynamics in a novel murine GDM model of GBS colonization and perinatal transmission. GDM mice had greater GBS in utero dissemination and subsequently worse neonatal outcomes. Dual-RNA sequencing revealed differential GBS adaptation to the GDM reproductive tract, including a putative glycosyltransferase (yfhO), and altered host responses. GDM disruption of immunity included reduced uterine natural killer cell activation, impaired recruitment to placentae, and altered vaginal cytokines. Lastly, we observed distinct vaginal microbial taxa associated with GDM status and GBS invasive disease status. Our translational model of GBS perinatal transmission in GDM hosts recapitulates several clinical aspects and enables discovery of host and bacterial drivers of GBS perinatal disease.
Project description:Avian influenza A (H7N9) viruses have emerged in China in 2013 and caused zoonotic disease associated with a case-fatality ratio of over 30%. Transcriptional profile from peripheral blood has been shown to reflect host responses against a specific respiratory pathogen and can be used to understand the disease. Methods: We correlated the clinical data and blood transcriptomic profile of patients with avian influenza A (H7N9) disease and determined the biological significance of the infection from the analysis.
Project description:To distinguish between Helicobacter pylori isolates that may cause greater disease in patients, we used whole genome expression profiling as a platform to study host-pathogen interactions and identify gene signatures associated with isolates from patients with higher cancer risk. Expression profiles were studied for 3 clinical isolates from a region of high gastric cancer incidence (PZ5056, PZ5080, PZ5086) in Colombia and 3 isolates from a region with low gastric cancer incidence in Colombia (PZ5004, PZ5024, PZ5026). Each experiment was done in triplicate by infecting monolayers of gastric epithelial cells for 1 hour with the isolates.