A model system for studying the transcriptomic and physiological changes associated with mammalian host-adaptation by Leptospira interrogans serovar Copenhageni.
Citation:
Caimano MJ, Sivasankaran SK, Allard A, Hurley D, Hokamp K, Grassmann AA, Hinton JC, Nally JE, A model system for studying the transcriptomic and physiological changes associated with mammalian host-adaptation by Leptospira interrogans serovar Copenhageni., PLoS pathogens, 10, 3, 2014, e1004004Download Item:
Abstract:
Leptospirosis, an emerging zoonotic disease with worldwide distribution, is caused by spirochetes belonging to the genus
Leptospira
. More than 500,000 cases of severe leptospirosis are reported annually, with
.
10% of these being fatal.
Leptospires can survive for weeks in suitably moist conditions before encountering a new host. Reservoir hosts, typically
rodents, exhibit little to no signs of disease but shed large numbers of organisms in their urine. Transmission occurs when
mucosal surfaces or abraded skin come into contact with infected urine or urine-contaminated water or soil. In humans,
leptospires can cause a variety of clinical manifestations, ranging from asymptomatic or mild fever to severe icteric (Weil’s)
disease and pulmonary haemorrhage. Currently, little is known about how
Leptospira
persist within a reservoir host. Prior
in
vitro
studies have suggested that leptospires alter their transcriptomic and proteomic profiles in response to environmental
signals encountered during mammalian infection. However, no study has examined gene expression by leptospires within a
mammalian host-adapted state. To obtain a more faithful representation of how leptospires respond to host-derived
signals, we used RNA-Seq to compare the transcriptome of
L. interrogans
cultivated within dialysis membrane chambers
(DMCs) implanted into the peritoneal cavities of rats with that of organisms grown
in vitro
. In addition to determining the
relative expression levels of ‘‘core’’ housekeeping genes under both growth conditions, we identified 166 genes that are
differentially-expressed by
L. interrogans in vivo
. Our analyses highlight physiological aspects of host adaptation by
leptospires relating to heme uptake and utilization. We also identified 11 novel non-coding transcripts that are candidate
small regulatory RNAs. The DMC model provides a facile system for studying the transcriptional and antigenic changes
associated with mammalian host-adaption, selection of targets for mutagenesis, and the identification of previously
unrecognized virulence determinants
Author's Homepage:
http://people.tcd.ie/kahokampDescription:
PUBLISHED
Author: HOKAMP, KARSTEN
Type of material:
Journal ArticleCollections
Series/Report no:
PLoS pathogens10
3
Availability:
Full text availableKeywords:
GeneticsDOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1004004ISSN:
1553-7366Metadata
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