Project description:Desulfotomaculum reducens is the first Gram-positive sulfate- and metal- reducing bacterium for which the transcriptomic response to uranium exposure has been evaluated. The genes upregulated during fermentative growth in the presence of U(VI) as compared to its absence included those encoding for proteins involved in respiration such as NADH quinone oxidoreductase and heterodisulfide reductase. This finding suggested that electrons were shuttled to the electron transport chain during fermentation which points to the reduction of U(VI) as a metabolic process. While U(IV) is typically insoluble and readily removable by filtration, U(IV) produced during active growth was not retained by a 0.2 µm pore size filter and filtration was not sufficient to differentiate between U(VI) and U(IV). In addition, genes involved in iron homeostasis were upregulated in the presence of uranium, which was consistent with the upregulation of genes involved in c-type cytochrome biogenesis. Despite the upregulation of cytochrome biosynthesis genes, the sole c-type cytochrome encoded in the genome was not differentially expressed. Finally, genes encoding metal efflux pumps were also upregulated indicating the toxic nature of uranium. Analysis of the time-dependent gene expression showed that sporulation was the dominant process at the early stationary phase and that the presence of U at that stage did not impact expression. This data set is a time course comparing sulfate and uranium reduction with fermentative growth.
Project description:As a successful commensal and pathogen of humans, Candida albicans encounters a wide range of environmental changes. Among them, ambient pH is an important factor, which changes frequently and affects many biological processes in this species. The ability to adapt to pH changes is tightly linked with pathogenesis and morphogenesis. In this study, we report that pH has a profound effect on white-opaque switching and sexual mating in C. albicans. Acidic pHs promote white-to-opaque switching but repress sexual mating of opaque cells. The cAMP signaling and Rim101-mediated pH sensing pathways are involved in the regulation of pH-regulated white-opaque switching. Interestingly, white and opaque cells of the cyr1/cyr1 mutant, which is defective in producing cAMP, show distinct growth defects under acidic and alkaline conditions. Phr2 could play a major role in acidic pHs-induced opaque cell formation. We further discover that acidic pH conditions repress sexual mating due to the failure of activation of the Ste2-mediated a-pheromone response pathway. The effects of pH changes on phenotypic switching and sexual mating could be a balance behavior between host adaptation and sexual reproduction.
Project description:Abstract:
Despite intensive treatments including temozolomide (TMZ) administration, glioblastoma patient prognosis remains dismal and innovative therapeutic strategies are urgently needed. A systems pharmacology approach was undertaken to investigate TMZ pharmacokinetics‐pharmacodynamics (PK‐PD) incorporating the effect of local pH, tumor spatial configuration and micro‐environment. A hybrid mathematical framework was designed coupling ordinary differential equations describing the intracellular reactions, with a spatial cellular automaton to individualize the cells. A differential drug impact on tumor and healthy cells at constant extracellular pH was computationally demonstrated as TMZ‐induced DNA damage was larger in tumor cells as compared to normal cells due to less acidic intracellular pH in cancer cells. Optimality of TMZ efficacy defined as maximum difference between damage in tumor and healthy cells was reached for extracellular pH between 6.8 and 7.5. Next, TMZ PK‐PD in a solid tumor was demonstrated to highly depend on its spatial configuration as spread cancer cells or fragmented tumors presented higher TMZ‐induced damage as compared to compact tumor spheroid. Simulations highlighted that smaller tumors were less acidic than bigger ones allowing for faster TMZ activation and their closer distance to blood capillaries allowed for better drug penetration. For model parameters corresponding to U87 glioma cells, inter‐cell variability in TMZ uptake play no role regarding the mean drug‐induced damage in the whole cell population whereas this quantity was increased by inter‐cell variability in TMZ efflux which was thus a disadvantage in terms of drug resistance. Overall, this study revealed pH as a new potential target to significantly improve TMZ antitumor efficacy.
Change the value of pH for different cases.
2019-09-30 | MODEL1909300003 | BioModels
Project description:Acidic-alkaline shocks in vinasse fermentation shape methanogenesis and sulfate reduction dynamics
Project description:Since VirS was shown to be upregulated in acidic conditions and MtbΔvirS displayed defect in growth at pH4.5, we performed microarray at pH 6.6 and pH 4.5 to study the role of VirS in regulating gene expression at acidic pH.
Project description:Thermoacidophilic archaea are found in heavy metal-rich environments and, in some cases, these microorganisms are causative agents of metal mobilization through cellular processes related to their bioenergetics. Given the nature of their habitats, these microorganisms must deal with the potentially toxic effect of heavy metals. Here, we show that two thermoacidophilic Metallosphaera species with nearly identical (99.99%) genomes differed significantly in their sensitivity and reactivity to uranium. M. prunae, isolated from a smoldering heap on a uranium mine in Thuringen, Germany, could be viewed as a M-bM-^@M-^\spontaneous mutantM-bM-^@M-^] of M. sedula, an isolate from Pisciarelli solfatara near Naples, Italy. M. prunae tolerated U3O8 and U(VI) to a much greater extent than M. sedula. Within 15 minutes following exposure to M-bM-^@M-^\U(VI) shockM-bM-^@M-^], M. sedula, and not M. prunae, exhibited transcriptomic features associated with severe stress response. Furthermore, within 15 minutes post-U(VI) shock, M. prunae, and not M. sedula, showed evidence of substantial degradation of cellular RNA. This suggested that transcriptional and translational processes were aborted as a dynamic mechanism for resisting U toxicity; by 60 minutes post-U(VI) shock, RNA integrity in M. prunae recovered, and known modes for heavy metal resistance were activated. In addition, M. sedula rapidly oxidized solid U3O8 to soluble U(VI) for bioenergetic purposes, a chemolithoautotrophic feature not previously reported. M. prunae, however, did not solubilize solid U3O8 to any significant extent, thereby not exacerbating U(VI) toxicity. These results point to uranium extremophily as an adaptive, rather than intrinsic, feature for Metallosphaera species, driven by environmental factors. The study comprises 9 Samples, described in detail below. MprAU_MseAU: Transcriptional analysis of the response of Metallosphaera prunae (Mpr) and Metallosphaera sedula(Mse) to chemolithoautotrophic conditions (0.1 wt% Uranium octaoxide with CO2 supplementation in headspace). This experiment was done to identify the key terminal oxidases which responded to a Uranium oxide while doing inter-species comparison between Mpr and Mse. Transcriptional response of the terminal oxidase clusters proved that certain key genes play a role in the vastly different physiologies of these two species. MprN_MprU60: Transcriptional analysis of the response of Metallosphaera prunae (Mpr) to 60 min of Uranium shock. This experiment was done to analyze the differential transcription of Mpr cells challenged with 1 mM uranyl acetate shock (U shock) compared to normal growth. The Uranium cultures were harvested 60 min after the shock. MprN_MseN: Differential transcription of Metallosphaera species under normal growth conditions. This experiment was done to analyze the differential transcription of Mpr cells compared with Mse cells at mid log phase. MprN_MprU3h: Transcriptional response of Metallosphaera prunae (Mpr) to 3h of Uranium shock compared to normal growth. This experiment was done to analyze the differential transcription of Mpr cells challenged with 1 mM uranyl acetate shock (U shock) . The Uranium cultures were harvested 3 h after the shock. MseN_MseU15: Transcriptional response of Metallosphaera sedula (Mse) to 15 min of Uranium shock. This experiment was done to analyze the differential transcription of Mse cells challenged with 1 mM uranyl acetate shock (U shock) compared to normal growth. The Uranium cultures were harvested 15 min after the shock. MseN_MseU60: Transcriptional response of Metallosphaera sedula to 60 min of Uranium shock. Mse cells were grown upto mid log phase after which the cells were subjected to U shock and harvested 60 min later. Biological repeats were done for both experimental conditions. MseN_MseU3h: Transcriptional response of Metallosphaera sedula (Mse) to 3h of Uranium shock compared to normal growth. This experiment was done to analyze the differential transcription of Mse cells challenged with 1 mM uranyl acetate shock (U shock) . The Uranium cultures were harvested 3 h after the shock. MseU15_MseU60: Transcriptional response of Metallosphaera sedula to 15 min of Uranium shock compared with 60 min of Uranium shock. This experiment was done to analyze the differential transcription of Mse cells challenged with 1 mM uranyl acetate shock (U shock) . The Uranium cultures were harvested 15 min and 60 min after the shock. MprU3h_MseU3h: Differential transcription of Metallosphaera cells under Uranium shock. This experiment was done to analyze the differential transcription of Metallosphaera sedula (Mse) and Metallosphaera prunae (Mpr) challenged with 1 mM uranyl acetate.
Project description:To investigate the function of Rfg1 in sensing acidic pH and regulating filamentation in C. albicans, we performed the global gene expression profile analysis of WT and rfg1/rfg1 mutant.We reveal that Rfg1 is an essential acidic pH sensor in C. albicans. Rfg1 regulates filamentous growth in acidic pH condition via co-regulation of Rim101-Phr1 pathway, cAMP signaling pathway,and the transcription factors Bcr1, Efg1, Flo8, and Hgc1.
Project description:Previous analysis of gene transcript levels of Geobacter species in groundwater during in situ bioremediation of a uranium-contaminated aquifer detected expression of genes encoding superoxide dismutase (sodA) and cytochrome d ubiquinol oxidase (cydA), proteins known to be involved in the response to oxidative stress in other microorganisms. In order to further elucidate gene expression patterns that could be attributed to oxygen exposure, G. uraniumreducens was grown with acetate as the electron donor and fumarate as the electron acceptor in the presence of oxygen and compared to non-oxygen treated cultures.