Project description:ChIP-seq analysis was used to identify B. dermatitidis genes bound by the GATA transcription factor encoded by SREB during growth as yeast at 37oC
Project description:ChIP-seq analysis was used to identify B. dermatitidis genes bound by the GATA transcription factor encoded by SREB during growth as yeast at 37oC SREB was engineered to contain an in-frame 3x-hemagglutinin (HA) epitope tag at the C-terminus. The SREB-3xHA construct was under control of its native promoter and contained the 3-untranslated region. Using Agrobacterium tumefaciens, B. dermatitidis ATCC 26199 was transformed with the SREB-3xHA construct (referred to a SREB-3xHA strain in this document). The SREB-3xHA construct was functional because retransformation of SREB? with the construct complented the null mutant. Chromatin was extracted and sheared from ATCC 26199 and SREB-3xHA yeast grown in liquid Histoplasma macrophage medium (HMM) containing 10 ?M iron sulfate (FeSO4) at 37oC. ATCC 26199 was the untagged control strain.
Project description:Blastomyces spp. fungi, the causal agent of blastomycosis, are common in North America but do occur in other areas of the world. The most prevalent pathogen in the genus is B. dermatitidis. Most B. dermatitidis isolates originate from North America, but there are sporadic reports of B. dermatitidis recovery from Africa and Asia. High-quality reports that incorporate genetic information about the fungus outside North America have been rare. Genome sequencing of 3 fungal isolates from patients in India with chronic respiratory diseases revealed that the isolates belong to a genetically differentiated lineage of B. dermatitidis. Because the patients had no history of traveling outside of Asia, blastomycosis was most likely autochthonously acquired, which suggests a local population of B. dermatitidis. Our results suggest the endemic range of B. dermatitidis is larger than previously thought, calling for a reassessment of the geographic range of different agents of endemic mycoses.
