Project description:Microarray comparative genome hybridization (mCGH) data was collected from one Neisseria cinerea, two Neisseria lactamica, two Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and 48 Neisseria meningitidis isolates. For N. meningitidis, these isolates are from diverse clonal complexes, invasive and carriage strains, and all major serogroups. The microarray platform represented N. meningitidis strains MC58, Z2491, and FAM18 and N. gonorrhoeae FA1090.
Project description:The sexually transmitted pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae releases outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) during infections. OMVs traffic the major porin PorB, other membrane proteins and lipo-oligosaccharide (LOS) into host innate immune cells and activate programmed cell death pathways and inflammation. Little is known, however, about the proteome and LOS content of OMVs released by clinical strains isolated from different infection sites, and whether this affects immune responses. Here, we characterized OMVs from four N. gonorrhoeae isolates and determined their size, abundance, proteome and activation of inflammatory responses in macrophages. The overall proteome of the OMVs was conserved between the four different isolates, included major outer membrane, periplasm, cytoplasmic membrane proteins. Despite this, we observed differences in the rate of OMV biogenesis and the relative abundance of major outer membrane proteins and LOS. Consequently, OMVs from clinical isolates induced varying rates of macrophage cell death and the secretion of interleukin-1 family members, such as Il-1andIl-1. Overall, these findings demonstrate that clinical isolates of N. gonorrhoeae utilize OMVs to release major proteins and lipids, which affects innate immune responses.
Project description:The overall goals and objectives of this study are to investigate the transcriptomics of Neisseria gonorrhoeae using RNA-seq. This work will look at gene expression, start points of transcription, transcriptional termination, and differences between these in different conditions and between strains and growing cultures over time.
Project description:Hfq is an RNA chaperone, which functions as a pleiotropic regulator for RNA metabolism in bacteria. To characterize the role of Hfq in pathogenicity of Neisseria gonorrhoeae we generated a N. gonorrhoeae hfq mutant, MS11hfq.Transcriptional analysis using a custom-made N. gonorrhoeae microarray revealed that 369 open reading frames were differentially regulated in MS11hfq compared to the wild-type (wt) strain (202 were upregulated, 167 were downregulated).
Project description:Neisseria gonorrhoeae is the causative agent of gonorrhea, a leading sexually transmitted disease with severe complications on reproductive health. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has categorized the public health threat induced by N. gonorrhoeae as “urgent”, due to the ease of transmission and the fast emergence of multi-drug resistant strains. The need for development of vaccines and understanding the underlying factors leading to antibiotic resistance is of utmost importance. The proteomic profiles of the 14 WHO N. gonorrhoeae reference strains have been compared to the WHO F reference strain using a mass spectrometry with tandem mass tags (TMT) labeling to analyze the cell envelope and the cytoplasmic fractions extracted from each strain. Identifying novel vaccine candidates and proteomic signatures for antimicrobial resistance will further our understanding of N. gonorrhoeae proteotypes, in relationship to their respective genotypes and phenotypes, and provide deep insights that will impact the development of preventive and therapeutic tools to combat gonorrhea.