Project description:<p>This project aims at characterizing the human host susceptibility to pulmonary non-tuberculous mycobacterial (PNTM) infections. PNTM infections occur in patients with chronic lung disease, but also in a distinct group of elderly women without lung defects but who share a common body morphology: tall and lean with scoliosis, pectus excavatum, and mitral valve prolapse. We performed whole exome and genome sequencing in extended families of patients with active PNTM. This unique collection of familial cohorts in PNTM represents an important opportunity for a high yield search for genes that regulate mucosal immunity. We also sequenced the genome of mycobacterial isolates from PNTM patients to integrate host PNTM susceptibility with mycobacterial genotypes and gain insights into the key factors involved in this devastating disease.</p>
| phs000719 | dbGaP
Project description:Sequencing of Clinical Non-Tuberculosis Mycobacterial Strains
Project description:Experiment 2: This experiment concerns the comparison of smooth and wrinkled versus clinical isolates of Candida auris. RNA-seq experiments were performed to correlate differential gene expression in non-fermentable carbon sources to pathogenic traits.
Project description:The alarming rise of antimicrobial resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis coupled with the shortage of new antibiotics has made tuberculosis (TB) control a global health priority. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) inhibit the growth of multi-drug resistant isolates of M. tuberculosis. Repurposing NSAIDs, with known clinical properties and safety records, offers a direct route to clinical trials. Therefore we investigated the novel mechanisms of anti-mycobacterial action of the NSAID, carprofen. Integrative molecular and microbiological approaches revealed that carprofen, a bactericidal drug, inhibited bacterial drug efflux mechanisms. In addition, carprofen restricted mycobacterial biofilm-like growth, highlighting the requirement of efflux-mediated communicative systems for the formation of biofilms. Transcriptome profiling revealed that carprofen likely acts by inhibiting respiration through the disruption of membrane potential, which may explain why spontaneous drug-resistant mutants could not be raised due to the pleiotropic nature of carprofen’s anti-tubercular action. This immunomodulatory drug has the potential to reverse TB antimicrobial resistance by inhibiting drug efflux pumps and biofilm formation, and paves a new chemotherapeutic path for tackling tuberculosis.
Project description:We performed microRNA microarray analysis to determine microRNAs that are differentially expressed between the differentiated hfRPE monolayer (pigmented, hexagonally packed) and dedifferentiated hfRPE cells (non-pigmented, fibroblast-like). Experiment was performed using the Agilent-019118 Human miRNA Microarray 2.0 G4470B.
Project description:Transcriptional profile comparison among Beijing and non-Beijing M. tuberculosis isolates. Three M. tuberculosis strains were compared. The laboratory reference strain, H37Rv, belongs to the Euro-American or lineage 4. Two clinical isolates of the East-Asian or lineage 2: 98_1663 is a pre-Beijing or Group 1 isolate, and HN878 is a Beijing or Group 5 isolate. Three replicates were performed for each comparison using two different biological samples.
Project description:Members of the Mycobacterium (M.) abscessus complex (MABC) are rapidly growing mycobacteria showing smooth and/or rough colony morphotype. While not as virulent as M. tuberculosis, they can cause soft tissue infection and fatal pulmonary disease, especially in patients with cystic fibrosis. Diagnosing MABC pulmonary disease is challenging since the isolation of M. abscessus from respiratory samples is in itself not diagnostic and the clinical features are often non-specific. Immunologic assays, which could aid in the understanding and diagnosis of the disease, are not available. In this study eight rough and six smooth colony morphotype isolates were collected from seven clinical MABC strains and the M. abscessus reference strain ATCC19977, as six strains showed both morphotypes simultaneously and two strains only showed a rough morphotype. Clinical isolates were submitted to whole genome sequencing. Quantitative proteomic analysis was performed on bacterial lysates and the culture supernatant of all 14 isolates. Supernatant proteins present in all isolates were compared in a BLAST search against other clinically significant mycobacterial species to determine species-specific proteins of MABC. In silico B- and T-cell epitope prediction was performed for species-specific proteins. All clinical strains were found to be M. abscessus ssp. abscessus. Six of seven rough colony clinical isolates contained genetic changes in the MAB_4099c gene, which is a likely genetic basis for the rough morphotype. Proteomic analysis detected 3 137 different proteins in total of which 79 proteins were found in the culture supernatants of all isolates. BLAST analyses of these 79 proteins identified 12 of those exclusively encoded by all members of MABC plus M. immunogenum. In silico prediction of epitopes predicted B- and T-cell epitopes in all these 12 species-specific proteins, rendering them promising candidates for future studies on immune pathogenesis and immune diagnostic tools for MABC disease.