Project description:In C. elegans cdc-48.2(-/-) mutant animals, ER stress-mediated expression of the UPR ckb-2::GFP reporter transgene is abolished. Here, we have used this phenotype in a genome-wide RNAi screen to identify genes involved in the CDC-48.2 mediated ER stress transcription. Combined with a comparative proteomic analysis, this approach has allowed us to identify the AAA+ ATPase RUVB-2 as a novel regulator of the ER stress response and a CDC-48 degradation target.
Project description:Dendritic cells (DC) are professional antigen presenting cells that develop from hematopoietic stem cells in bone marrow by successive steps of lineage commitment and differentiation. Different DC subsets were identified based on phenotype, localisation and function: (i) classical DC (cDC) and plasmacytoid DC (pDC) are found in lymphoid organs and (ii) migratory tissue DC are spread throughout peripheral organs, including Langerhans cells, the cutaneous contingent of DC. We have developed a two-step culture system that recapitulates DC development in vitro (Felker et al., J. Immunol. 185, 5326-5335, 2010). In this system multipotent hematopoietic progenitors (MPP) progress into DC-restricted common DC progenitors (CDP) and further into the two major DC subsets cDC and pDC. We employed chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) with deep sequencing (ChIP-seq) to determine the dynamics of H3K27ac occupancy in MPP, CMP, cDC and pDC. Histone modification H3K27ac and RNA-Seq in MPP, CDP, cDC and pDC
Project description:Bio-augmentation could be a promising strategy to improve processes for treatment and resource recovery from wastewater. In this study, the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis was co-cultured with the microbial communities present in wastewater samples with high concentrations of nitrate or ammonium. Glucose supplementation (1%) was used to boost biomass growth in all wastewater samples. In anaerobic conditions, the indigenous microbial community bio-augmented with B. subtilis was able to rapidly remove nitrate from wastewater. In these conditions, B. subtilis overexpressed nitrogen assimilatory and respiratory genes including NasD, NasE, NarG, NarH, and NarI, which arguably accounted for the observed boost in denitrification. Next, we attempted to use the the ammonium- and nitrate-enriched wastewater samples bio-augmented with B. subtilis in the cathodic compartment of bioelectrochemical systems (BES) operated in anaerobic condition. B. subtilis only had low relative abundance in the microbial community, but bio-augmentation promoted the growth of Clostridium butyricum and C. beijerinckii, which became the dominant species. Both bio-augmentation with B. subtilis and electrical current from the cathode in the BES promoted butyrate production during fermentation of glucose. A concentration of 3.4 g/L butyrate was reached with a combination of cathodic current and bio-augmentation in ammonium-enriched wastewater. With nitrate-enriched wastewater, the BES effectively removed nitrate reaching 3.2 mg/L after 48 h. In addition, 3.9 g/L butyrate was produced. We propose that bio-augmentation of wastewater with B. subtilis in combination with bioelectrochemical processes could both boost denitrification in nitrate-containing wastewater and enable commercial production of butyrate from carbohydrate- containing wastewater, e.g. dairy industry discharges. These results suggest that B. subtilis bio-augmentation in our BES promotes simultaneous wastewater treatment and butyrate production.
Project description:The interferon-producing plasmacytoid dendritic cells (PDC) share common progenitors with antigen-presenting classical dendritic cells (cDC), yet they possess distinct morphology and molecular features resembling those of lymphocytes. It is unclear whether the unique cell fate of PDC is actively maintained in the steady state. We report that the deletion of transcription factor E2-2 from mature peripheral PDC caused their spontaneous differentiation into cells with cDC properties. This included the loss of PDC markers, increase in MHC class II expression and T cell priming capacity, acquisition of dendritic morphology and induction of cDC signature genes. Genome-wide chromatin immunoprecipitation revealed direct binding of E2-2 to key PDC-specific and lymphoid genes, as well as to certain genes enriched in cDC. Thus, E2-2 actively maintains the cell fate of mature PDC and opposes the “default” cDC fate, in part through direct regulation of lineage-specific gene expression programs.