Project description:Dendritic cells (DC) play a pivotal regulatory role in activation of the innate as well as the adaptive part of the immune system by responding to environmental microorganisms. We have previously shown that some lactobacilli strains induce a strong production of the pro-inflammatory and Th1 polarizing cytokine IL-12 in DC. Contrary, bifidobacteria do not induce IL-12, but are able to inhibit the IL-12 production induced by lactobacilli. In the present study, genome wide microarrays were used to investigate the maturation and gene expression pattern murine bone marrow derived DC stimulated with Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM and Bifidobacterium bifidum Z9. L. acidophilus NCFM strongly induced expression of interferon (IFN)-β, multiple virus defence genes, and cytokine and chemokine genes related to both the adaptive and the innate immune response. Contrary, B. bifidum Z9 mostly up-regulated genes encoding cytokines and chemokines related to the innate immune response. Moreover, B. bifidum Z9 inhibited the expression of the genes initiating the adaptive immune response induced by L. acidophilus NCFM and had an additive effect on genes of the innate immune response and some Th2 skewing genes. The gene encoding Jun dimerization protein 2 (JDP2), a key regulator in cell signalling, was one of the few genes only induced by B. bifidum Z9. Blocking of the JNK1/2 pathway completely inhibited the gene expression of Ifn-β. We suggest that B. bifidum Z9 employs an active mechanism to inhibit induction of genes in DC triggering the adaptive immune system and that JPD2 is involved in the regulatory mechanism.
Project description:Dendritic cells (DC) play a pivotal regulatory role in activation of the innate as well as the adaptive part of the immune system by responding to environmental microorganisms. We have previously shown that some lactobacilli strains induce a strong production of the pro-inflammatory and Th1 polarizing cytokine IL-12 in DC. Contrary, bifidobacteria do not induce IL-12, but are able to inhibit the IL-12 production induced by lactobacilli. In the present study, genome wide microarrays were used to investigate the maturation and gene expression pattern murine bone marrow derived DC stimulated with Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM and Bifidobacterium bifidum Z9. L. acidophilus NCFM strongly induced expression of interferon (IFN)-β, multiple virus defence genes, and cytokine and chemokine genes related to both the adaptive and the innate immune response. Contrary, B. bifidum Z9 mostly up-regulated genes encoding cytokines and chemokines related to the innate immune response. Moreover, B. bifidum Z9 inhibited the expression of the genes initiating the adaptive immune response induced by L. acidophilus NCFM and had an additive effect on genes of the innate immune response and some Th2 skewing genes. The gene encoding Jun dimerization protein 2 (JDP2), a key regulator in cell signalling, was one of the few genes only induced by B. bifidum Z9. Blocking of the JNK1/2 pathway completely inhibited the gene expression of Ifn-β. We suggest that B. bifidum Z9 employs an active mechanism to inhibit induction of genes in DC triggering the adaptive immune system and that JPD2 is involved in the regulatory mechanism. In the experiment saline control, Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM, Bifidobacterium bifidum Z9 or both bacteria were were added to murine dendritic cells and stimulated for 10 hours. Experiments were run in triplicates and analyzed in a Two-way ANOVA design.
Project description:BackgroundCellulose is the most prevalent biomass and renewable energy source in nature. The hydrolysis of cellulosic biomass to glucose units is essential for the economic exploitation of this natural resource. Cellulase enzyme, which is largely generated by bacteria and fungus, is commonly used to degrade cellulose. Cellulases are used in a variety of industries, including bioethanol manufacturing, textiles, detergents, drugs, food, and paper. As part of our quest to find an efficient biocatalyst for the hydrolysis of cellulosic biomass, we describe the amplification, cloning, and sequencing of cellulase (cel9z) from Bacillus licheniformis strain Z9, as well as the characterization of the resulting enzyme.ResultsCellulase was partially purified from B. licheniformis strain Z9 using (NH4)2SO4 precipitation and Sephadex G-100 gel column chromatography with 356.5 U/mg specific activity, 2.1-purification fold, and 3.07 % yield. The nucleotide sequence of the cellulase gene was deposited to the GenBank, B. licheniformis strain Z9 cellulase (cel9z) gene, under accession number MK814929. This corresponds to 1453 nucleotides gene and encodes for a protein composed of 484 amino acids. Comparison of deduced amino acids sequence to other related cellulases showed that the enzyme cel9z can be classified as a glycoside hydrolase family 9. SDS-PAGE analysis of the purified enzyme revealed that the molecular mass was 54.5 kDa. The optimal enzyme activity was observed at pH 7.4 and 30 °C. The enzyme was found to be strongly inhibited by Mg2+ and Na+, whereas strongly activated by Fe3+, Cu2+, and Ca2+.ConclusionsB. licheniformis strain Z9 and its cellulase gene can be further utilized for recombinant production of cellulases for industrial application.
Project description:To identify the putative salivary tPA activator, we fractionated salivary proteins by size-exclusion chromatography and identified fraction Z8 as the strongest tPA activator, whereas the adjacent fractions Z7 and Z9 activated tPA at lower levels. Mass spectrometry analysis of these fractions identified a total of 152 unique proteins.