Project description:Pantoea sp. YR343, isolated from the Populus deltoides rhizosphere, is a robust plant root colonizer that produces indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). Genomic and metabolomic analyses predicted that Pantoea sp. YR343 synthesizes IAA primarily using the indole-3-pyruvate pathway. Pantoea sp. YR343 proteomes showed upregulation of IpdC for growth in the presence of tryptophan or IAA versus controls.
Project description:The microbiota of the mouth disperses into the lungs and both compartments share similar phyla. Considering the importance of the microbiota in the maturation of the immunity and physiology during the first days of life, we hypothesized that primo-colonizing bacteria of the oral cavity may induce immune responses in bronchial epithelial cells. Herein, we have isolated and characterized 57 strains of the buccal cavity of two human new-borns. These strains belong to Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Enterococcus, Rothia and Pantoea genera; Streptococcus being the most represented. The strains were co-incubated with a bronchial epithelial cell line (BEAS-2B) and we established their impact on a panel of cytokines/chemokines and global changes in gene expression. The Staphylococcus strains, which appeared soon after birth, induced a high production of IL-8, suggesting they can trigger inflammation, whereas the Streptococcus strains were less associated with inflammation pathways. The genera Streptococcus, Enterococcus and Pantoea induced differential profiles of cytokine/chemokine/growth factor and set of genes associated with maturation of morphology. Altogether, our results demonstrate that the micro-organisms, primo-colonizing the oral cavity, impact immunity and morphology of the lung epithelial cells, with specific effects depending on the phylogeny of the strains.
Project description:To analyse the differential protein expression of Pantoea sp. BJ2 in the presence and absence of TNT, a TMT differential protein quantitative analysis was conducted.
Project description:Microarrays have become a powerful tool for DNA-based molecular diagnostics and identification of pathogens. However, most of them target a limited range of organisms and are generally based on only one or very few genes for organism identification. Although such microarrays are proven tools for species identification, they suffer from the fact that identification is only possible for organisms for which probes were specifically pre-developed. Furthermore, this approach often leads to problems with taxonomic-level resolution with insufficient diagnostic differences between closely related taxa found in the commonly used DNA sequences. An alternative strategy is to use the hybridisation pattern generated by many different anonymous markers distributed over the entire genome for identification based on comparison to a type database. We realised this strategy using a high density microarray containing 95,000 different 13-mer probes. Here, we demonstrate the specificity of our microarray based on results obtained with nine different bacterial species and strains. The hybridisation patterns allowed clear differentiation at the strain and even variant level. The reproducibility of our system was high as shown by high correlation coefficients between replicates, despite the occurrence of mismatch hybridisation. The results indicate the potential for identification of all bacterial taxa at the subspecies level using our universal microarray. Hybridisation patterns of DNA from bacterial type strains (E. coli strains K12 and B, Pantoea agglomerans strains ATCC27155T and C9-1, Pantoea stewartii pv stewartii strain DC283, Salmonella Typhimurium strains LT2 and DT204 and Micrococcus luteus) were compared to each other. Using GeneSpring v7.3.1, cluster analyses were performed as well as ANOVA in order to determine the more discriminative probes out of our 95,000-probe panel.
Project description:Ticks are obligate hematophagous arthropods that transmit a wide range of pathogens to humans as well as wild and domestic animals. They also harbor a non-pathogenic microbiota, although our previous study has shown that the diverse bacterial microbiome in the midgut of Ixodes ricinus is quantitatively poor and lacks a core microbe. In artificial infections by capillary feeding of ticks with two model bacteria (Gram-positive Micrococcus luteus and Gram-negative Pantoea sp.), rapid clearance of these microbes from the midgut was observed, indicating the presence of active immune mechanisms in this organ. In the current study, RNA-seq analysis was performed on the midgut of I. ricinus females inoculated with either M. luteus or Pantoea sp. or with sterile water as a control. While no immune-related transcripts were upregulated by microbial inoculation compared to the sterile control, capillary feeding itself triggered dramatic transcriptional changes in the tick midgut. Manual curation of the transcriptome from the midgut of unfed I. ricinus females, complemented by proteomic analysis, revealed the presence of several constitutively expressed putative antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) that are independent of microbial stimulation and are referred to here as ‘guard’ AMPs. These included two types of midgut-specific defensins, two different domesticated amidase effector 2 (Dae2), microplusin/ricinusin-related molecules, two lysozymes and two gamma interferon-inducible lysosomal thiol reductases (GILTs). The in vitro antimicrobial activity assays of two synthetic mature defensins, defensin 1 and defensin 8, confirmed their specificity against Gram-positive bacteria showing exceptional potency to inhibit the growth of M. luteus at nanomolar concentrations. The antimicrobial activity of midgut defensins is likely part of a multicomponent system responsible for the rapid clearance of bacteria in the tick midgut. Further studies are needed to evaluate the role of other identified ‘guard‘ AMPs in controlling microorganisms entering the tick midgut.