Project description:The “Spanish influenza” of 1918 claimed an unprecedented number of lives, yet the determinants of virulence for this virus are still not fully understood. Here, we used functional genomics and an in vitro human lung epithelial cell infection model to define the global host transcriptional response to the eight-gene 1918 virus. To better understand the role of the 1918 virus NS1 gene, we evaluated the host response to A/Texas/36/91 (a seasonal isolate of human influenza virus) and a reassortant of A/Texas/36/91 containing the 1918 NS1 gene.
Project description:The “Spanish influenza” of 1918 claimed an unprecedented number of lives, yet the determinants of virulence for this virus are still not fully understood. Here, we used functional genomics and an in vitro human lung epithelial cell infection model to define the global host transcriptional response to the eight-gene 1918 virus. To better understand the role of the 1918 virus NS1 gene, we also evaluated the host response to fully reconstructed 1918 and reassortant 1918 virus containing the NS1 gene from A/Texas/36/91 (a seasonal isolate of human influenza virus).
Project description:Mediterranean forests such as those integrated by Spanish firs in southern Spain are extremely sensitive to the effects of climate climate-driven stresses. Recurrent periods of drought and prolonged warming in the last few years are major factors involves in the current vulnerability of local populations. In this work, physiological and transcriptional analyses were combined to assess the response of trees growing in the forest under natural conditions. The results show a modulation of the transcriptome in response to climatic stress with substantial changes in the expression of genes involved in water stress, aromatic amino acid metabolism, and transcription factors associated with the transcriptional regulation of the observed patterns of gene expression. Roots were determined to be the primary organs involved in the transcriptional response to stress which may be mediated by a gene-network including interactions among structural and regulatory genes. Interactive elements comprise genes encoding stress-related proteins of the ApLEA family, ApADH, the first committed enzyme in tyrosine biosynthesis, and root-specific transcription factors implicated in stress regulation belonging to the ApERF, ApYABBY and ApNAC superfamilies. Data provide new insights to understand the response of Spanish firs to current climatic disturbances by the identification of individual genes and gene-networks potentially involved in local adaptation. This new knowledge will facilitate comparative studies of gene variation in the Spanish fir populations using the identified genes as molecular markers for selection of the best adapted genotypes in the response of climate stress.
