Project description:Diverse taxa of fungus kingdom are part of cancer related microbiota but which fungi induce pro-tumor immune responses and whether they impact specific cancer pathways are unclear. Here, we use Cladosporium cladosporioides to orally infect wildtype mice or mice lacking Ikka or Stat3/Ikka in epithelial stem cells. This infection promotes systemic inflammation, acidic oral milieu with Proteobacteria expansion, and oral and skin squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) development. Double Stat3 and Ikka deletions reverse these phenotypes. We found in the serum of mouse, C. cladosporioides induces IL-17a and Il-1b production. To determine which cells contribute the upregulated level of Il-1b and Il17a in the blood under fungi treament, we conducted 10x genomics single cell RNA sequencing on mRNA in blood cells from WT, Ikka or Stat3/Ikka inducible ablated mice with fungi treatment (Cladosporium cladosporioides).
Project description:Polychlorobiphenyls (PCB) are organochlorinated xenobiotics and pollute environmental matrices worldwide. Ascomycetes fungi colonize polluted soils and can transform PCB. Nonetheless, the mechanisms involved in PCB transformation by Ascomycetes fungi are still underexplored. In this study, the Ascomycetes Cladosporium europaeum F32, isolated from a soil historically polluted with PCB, was grown in presence of 4 different PCB congeners to assess its transcriptomic response. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first in-depth transcriptomic analysis on Ascomycetes fungi growing in presence of PCB congeners.
Project description:Diverse taxa of fungus kingdom are part of cancer related microbiota but which fungi induce pro-tumor immune responses and whether they impact specific cancer pathways are unclear. Here, we use Cladosporium cladosporioides to orally infect mice lacking Ikka in epithelial stem cells. This infection promotes systemic inflammation, acidic oral milieu with Proteobacteria expansion, and oral and skin squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) development. Double Stat3 and Ikka deletions reverse these phenotypes. We found in the serum of mouse, C. cladosporioides induces IL-17a and Il-1b production. To investigate what is happening in the oral environment as well as in the skin cells of mice, we conducted 10x genomics single cell RNA sequencing on mRNA in oral buccal tissues and skins from Ikka inducible ablated mouse with fungi treatment (Cladosporium cladosporioides).
Project description:Genetic and molecular evidence to support the hypothesis that fungal secondary metabolites play a significant role in protecting the fungi against fungivory is scarce. We investigated the impact of fungal secondary metabolites on transcript regulation of stress related expressed sequence tags (ESTs) of the Collembola Folsomia candida feeding on mixed vs. single diets. Aspergillus nidulans wildtype (WT; Ascomycota) able to produce secondary metabolites including sterigmatocystin (ST) and a knockout mutant with reduced secondary metabolism (A. nidulans ?LaeA) were combined with the high quality fungus Cladosporium cladosporioides as mixed diets or offered as single diets. We hypothesized that (i) A. nidulans WT triggers more genes associated with stress responses compared to the A. nidulans ?laeA strain with suppressed secondary metabolism, (ii) C. cladosporioides causes significantly different transcript regulation than the A. nidulans strains ?laeA and WT, and (iii) mixed diets will cause significantly different transcript expression levels than single diets. All three hypotheses are generally supported despite the fact that many functions of the affected ESTs are unknown. The results bring molecular evidence for the existence of a link between fungal secondary metabolites and responses in springtails supporting the hypothesis that fungal secondary metabolites act as a shield against fungivory. Twenty-three day old Folsomia candida were fed ad libitum for five days to fungal cuts respectively Cladosporium cladosporoides, Aspergillus nidulans WT, Aspergillus nidulans ?LaeA and two mixed diets of C.cladosporoides/A. nidulans WT (mix 1) and C. cladosporoides/A. nudlans ?LaeA (mix2) respectively. Four biological replicates were used for every treatment and a dye swap was used with the Cy3/Cy5 labels. This resulted in 20 samples which were analysed in 10 hybridisations executed in an interwoven loop design. The C. cladosporoides diet was used as the reference in the data analysis.
Project description:Arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) interactions between plants and Glomeromycota fungi primarily support phosphate aquisition of most terrestrial plant species. To unravel gene expression in Medicago truncatula root colonization by AM fungi, we used genome-wide transcriptome profiling based on whole mycorrhizal roots. We used GeneChips to detail the global programme of gene expression in response to colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and in response to a treatment with phosphate and identified genes differentially expressed during this process. Medicago truncatula roots were harvested at 28 days post inoculation with the two different arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi Glomus intraradices (Gi-Myc) and Glomus mosseae (Gm-Myc) under low phosphate conditions (20 µM phosphate) or after a 28 days treatment with 2 mM phosphate in the absence of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (2mM-P). As a control, uninfected roots grown under low phosphate conditions (20 µM phosphate) were used (20miM-P). Three biological replicates consisting of pools of five roots were used for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix GeneChips.
Project description:The efficiency of microorganisms to degrade lignified plants is of great importance in Earth’s carbon cycle, but also in industrial biorefinery processes, such as for biofuel production. Here, we present a large-scale proteomics approach to investigate and compare the enzymatic response of five filamentous fungi when grown on five very different substrates: bagasse, birch, spruce, cellulose and glucose. The five fungi included the ascomycetes Aspergillus terreus, Hypocrea jecorina, Myceliophthora thermophila, Neurospora crassa and the white-rot basidiomycete Phanerochaete chrysosporium, all expressing a diverse repertoire of enzymes. Many studies have previously been performed with these fungi under various growth conditions, but this study is unique as it presents comparable quantitative protein abundance values across five filamentous fungi and five diverse substrates that allows for direct comparison of fungal response to the different substrates; this approach gives indications to substrate specificity of individual carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) and identifies several novel co-expressed non-CAZymes. Specifically, we present a quantitative comparison of 34 lytic polysaccharide monooxidenases (LPMOs), which are crucial enzymes in biomass deconstruction.
Project description:The endophytic fungi of certain grasses and herbaceous plants provide anti-herbivore defense compounds, thus living in mutualistic interaction with their hosts. Still, there is little information on such cooperation for tree-associated endophytes. We investigate the influence of the endophytic fungus Cladosporium cladosporioides on the chemical defenses of black poplar Populus nigra trees and the consequences on feeding preference, fitness of herbivorous insects, and insect community assembly. Strikingly, endophyte colonization increases both constitutive- and induced poplar defenses. Generalist Lymantria dispar larvae prefer and perform better on uninfected poplars due to the higher concentrations of salicinoids and fungal alkaloid stachydrine in endophyte-infected leaves. Under field conditions, the endophytic fungus shapes insect community assembly in young black poplar trees. Our results show that endophytic fungi can play a significant role in defending trees against herbivorous insects and structuring insect communities.