Project description:16S amplicon pool analyses of the four gut sections of the wood-feeding beetle, Odontotaenius disjunctus The beetle is purely wood feeding, and we aim to first characterize the community that exist within the gut sections
Project description:This agent-based model is based on an adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) experiment scenario of two mutually cross feeding strains of bacteria and yeast. The bacterial strain secretes vitamins for which the yeast strain is auxotrophic and the yeast strain secrets amino acids for which the bacterial strain is auxotrophic. In particular, the model simulates a situation where a mutation arises in the bacterial strain that results in the emergence of individuals (mutant bacteria) with a higher secretion of vitamins as compared to the wild type (WT). This increase in secretion comes with a cost in terms of fitness (growth rate) of the mutant bacteria. The model can be used to assess if this mutant is able to persist and increase in frequency in the cross-feeding community.
Project description:Objectives: To define the inflammatory signature of healthy keratinocytes induced by gram-negative anaerobe bacteria commonly found in HS and investigate pathways of activation. Methods: Type strains of P. nigrescens, P. melanogenica, P. intermedia, P. asaccharolytica, F. nucleatum, as well as S. aureus and the normal skin commensal S. epidermidis were heat-killed and co-incubated with normal human keratinocytes. RNA was analyzed using RNAseq and RT-qPCR. TLR4 and JAK inhibitors were used to investigate mRNA and protein inhibition of inflammatory cytokines. Results: All GNAs tested induced significantly higher levels of CXCL8 than S. epidermidis or negative control. P. nigrescens, P. melanogenica, and F. nucleatum were the most stimulatory and produced CXCL8 levels much higher than S. aureus. RNASeq revealed a broad inflammatory profile most strongly induced by F. nucleatum. All three bacteria strongly activated the IL-17 pathway and correlated with HS skin transcriptomes. Both TLR4 and JAK inhibition significantly reduced keratinocyte inflammation. Results: All GNAs tested induced significantly higher levels of CXCL8 than S. epidermidis or negative control. P. nigrescens, P. melanogenica, and F. nucleatum were the most stimulatory and produced CXCL8 levels much higher than S. aureus. RNASeq revealed a broad inflammatory profile most strongly induced by F. nucleatum. All three bacteria strongly activated the IL-17 pathway and correlated with HS skin transcriptomes.
