Project description:The overall goal of these experiments was to determine how human endothelial cells respond to pathogenic Leptospira interrogans. Leptospira interrogans causes leptospirosis, the most widespread zoonotic infection in the world. A hallmark of leptospirosis is widespread endothelial damage, which in severe cases leads to hemorrhage. In these experiments, we infected two endothelial cell lines with pathogenic Leptospira interrogans serovar Canicola strain Ca12-005, and as controls, with the non-pathogenic Leptospira biflexa serovar Patoc strain Pfra. As additional controls, uninfected cells were also included in the analyses.
Project description:The overall goal of these experiments was to determine how human endothelial cells respond to pathogenic Leptospira interrogans. Leptospira interrogans causes leptospirosis, the most widespread zoonotic infection in the world. A hallmark of leptospirosis is widespread endothelial damage, which in severe cases leads to hemorrhage. In these experiments, we infected two endothelial cell lines with pathogenic Leptospira interrogans serovar Canicola strain Ca12-005, and as controls, with the non-pathogenic Leptospira biflexa serovar Patoc strain Pfra. As additional controls, uninfected cells were also included in the analyses.
Project description:Leptospirosis is a major zoonotic disease affecting both public health and livestock production. In ruminants, serovar Hardjo is of particular importance because of its ability to establish persistent infections, whereas serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae is generally associated with incidental infection. The molecular basis of adaptation of serovar Hardjo to the ruminant host remain poorly understood. . The dialysis membrane chamber (DMC) model enables investigation of the short-term transcriptional response of leptospires to the host environment, including nutrient limitation, temperature and osmotic shifts, and soluble host-derived factors. In this study, an ovine peritoneal DMC model was used to compare the transcriptional responses of L. interrogans serovar Hardjo strains KR40 and N116 with those of L. interrogans serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae strains KR93 and KR95. For each strain, transcriptomic data were obtained after 24 h and 72 h of incubation in DMCs, as well as from in vitro cultures grown in T80/40/LH medium. This experimental design enabled the identification of shared and strain-associated transcriptional responses to the host environment.