Project description:Bacteria access iron, a key nutrient, by producing siderophores or using siderophores produced by other microorganisms. The pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa produces two siderophores but is also able to pirate enterobactin (ENT), the siderophore produced by Escherichia coli. ENT-Fe complexes are imported across the outer membranes of P. aeruginosa by the two-outer membrane transporters PfeA and PirA. Iron is released from ENT in the P. aeruginosa periplasm by hydrolysis of ENT by the esterase PfeE. We show here that pfeE gene deletion renders P. aeruginosa unable to grow in the presence of ENT because it is unable to access iron via this siderophore. Two-species co-culture under iron-restricted conditions show that P. aeruginosa strongly represses the growth of E. coli as long it is able to produce its own siderophores. Both strains are present in similar proportions in the culture as long as the siderophore-deficient P. aeruginosa strain is able to use ENT produced by E. coli to access iron. If pfeE is deleted, E. coli has the upper hand in the culture and P. aeruginosa growth is repressed. Overall, these data show that PfeE is the Achilles heel of P. aeruginosa in communities with bacteria producing ENT.
Project description:This study provides comparative RNA-seq datasets for four freshwater bacterial isolates, Pseudomonas sp. FBCC-B13192, Herbaspirillum sp. FBCC-B12834, Pantoea sp. FBCC-B5559, and Micrococcus sp. FBCC-B5738, cultured under iron-replete (+100 uM FeCl3) and iron-limited (no FeCl3) conditions. Iron availability is a key factor influencing bacterial fitness, and iron limitation is known to activate siderophore biosynthesis, iron transport, and homeostasis pathways. A total of eight libraries generated in 2024 and 2025 were analyzed, comprising 349.9 million processed reads. Reference-guided mapping rates varied among strains, with higher mapping efficiency observed in Pseudomonas, Herbaspirillum, and Pantoea, while Micrococcus showed comparatively lower mapping rates under both conditions. Differential expression analysis revealed strain-specific responses to iron limitation. Genes related to pyoverdine and ferrichrome uptake were enriched in Pseudomonas and Herbaspirillum, enterobactin-associated pathways were prominent in Pantoea, and genes associated with siderophore production, heme utilization, and Fe-S cluster assembly were identified in Micrococcus. Raw sequencing data are available in the NCBI Sequence Read Archive under BioProject PRJNA1456794, and processed data are deposited in a public repository. These datasets provide a valuable resource for understanding bacterial adaptation to iron availability and for comparative transcriptomic analyses.
Project description:Palmitic acid (PA), a major component of Western dietary fats, is known to induce ferroptotic cell death in enteric neurons. In this study, we performed bulk RNA-seq on Immortalized Mouse-Fetal Enteric Neurons (IM-FEN) treated with PA (0.5 mM, 24 h) or vehicle control to characterize transcriptional changes associated with ferroptosis. Sequencing was performed using the Illumina NovaSeq 6000 platform. The dataset provides insight into lipid-induced neuronal stress and ferroptosis-relevant signaling networks.
Project description:This study aims at investigating the ability of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to detect the presence of siderophore-antibiotic conjugates in an epithelial cell infection assay. We show that the presence of siderophore-antibiotic conjugates induces the transcription and expression of their corresponding transporters, indicating the bacteria are able to sense the chelators in their environment and adapt their phenotype accordingly.
Project description:Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a common nosocomial pathogen which produces siderophores to solubilize and transport chelated Fe3+ to aid its survival in both the environment and the host. However, there is a lack of comprehensive understanding regarding the molecular mechanisms underlying siderophore synthesis, uptake, and regulation within various ecological niches. In this study, we demonstrated that the BfmRS two-component system, part of the core genome of P. aeruginosa, plays a crucial role in siderophore metabolism. We have identified BfmS as an osmosensing histidine kinase that responds to external osmolytes, then modulates the activation of the response regulator BfmR. Under high osmolality, BfmR could directly bind to the promoters of pvd, fpv, and femARI gene clusters, thereby enhancing their expression and promoting siderophore metabolism. The proteomic and phenotypic analyses confirmed that deletion of bfmRS results in reduced expression levels of siderophore-related proteins as well as siderophore production. Importantly, loss of bfmR or bfmS significantly impaired bacterial survival in both iron deficiency medium and mouse lung infection models. Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis revealed that BfmRS is highly conserved and widely distributed across Pseudomonas species, evidences also proved that the BfmR of P. putida KT2440 and P. sp. MRSN12121 activated siderophore genes in response to high osmolality. Overall, this study sheds light on the previously unexplored signal transduction pathway, BfmRS, which governs the siderophore regulation in Pseudomonas species through perceiving an osmotic upshift. Considering that siderophores serve as unique social mediators, our findings contribute to a better understanding of how siderophores facilitate bacterial interactions with their eukaryotic hosts and contribute to the establishment of stable communities.
Project description:Pseudomonas aeruginosa is known to tolerate antibiotic therapy during infection. This prevents clearance of infection and negatively impacts patient outcomes. Here, we report the transcriptome sequence of antibiotic-treated and untreated P. aeruginosa cultures and the differential gene expression observed when treated cells are compared to untreated cells.