scholarly journals Diverse human astrocyte and microglial transcriptional responses to Alzheimer’s pathology

Author(s):  
Amy M. Smith ◽  
Karen Davey ◽  
Stergios Tsartsalis ◽  
Combiz Khozoie ◽  
Nurun Fancy ◽  
...  

AbstractTo better define roles that astrocytes and microglia play in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), we used single-nuclei RNA-sequencing to comprehensively characterise transcriptomes in astrocyte and microglia nuclei selectively enriched during isolation post-mortem from neuropathologically defined AD and control brains with a range of amyloid-beta and phospho-tau (pTau) pathology. Significant differences in glial gene expression (including AD risk genes expressed in both the astrocytes [CLU, MEF2C, IQCK] and microglia [APOE, MS4A6A, PILRA]) were correlated with tissue amyloid or pTau expression. The differentially expressed genes were distinct between with the two cell types and pathologies, although common (but cell-type specific) gene sets were enriched with both pathologies in each cell type. Astrocytes showed enrichment for proteostatic, inflammatory and metal ion homeostasis pathways. Pathways for phagocytosis, inflammation and proteostasis were enriched in microglia and perivascular macrophages with greater tissue amyloid, but IL1-related pathway enrichment was found specifically in association with pTau. We also found distinguishable sub-clusters in the astrocytes and microglia characterised by transcriptional signatures related to either homeostatic functions or disease pathology. Gene co-expression analyses revealed potential functional associations of soluble biomarkers of AD in astrocytes (CLU) and microglia (GPNMB). Our work highlights responses of both astrocytes and microglia for pathological protein clearance and inflammation, as well as glial transcriptional diversity in AD.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Smith ◽  
Karen Davey ◽  
Stergios Tsartsalis ◽  
Combiz Khozoie ◽  
Nurun Nahar Fancy ◽  
...  

To better define roles that astrocytes and microglia play in Alzheimers disease (AD), we used single-nuclei RNA sequencing to comprehensively characterize transcriptomes in astrocyte and microglia nuclei isolated post mortem from neuropathologically-defined AD and control brains with a range of amyloid-beta and phospho-tau (pTau) pathology. Significant differences in glial gene expression (including AD risk genes expressed in astrocytes [CLU, MEF2C, IQCK] and microglia [APOE, MS4A6A, PILRA]) were correlated with tissue amyloid and pTau expression. Astrocytes were enriched for proteostatic, inflammatory and metal ion homeostasis pathways. Pathways for phagocytosis, proteostasis and autophagy were highly enriched in microglia and perivascular macrophages. Gene co-expression analyses revealed potential functional associations of soluble biomarkers of AD in astrocytes (CLU) and microglia (GPNMB). Our work highlights responses of both astrocytes and microglia for pathological protein clearance and inflammation, as well as glial transcriptional diversity in AD.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dongshunyi Li ◽  
Jun Ding ◽  
Ziv Bar-Joseph

One of the first steps in the analysis of single cell RNA-Sequencing data (scRNA-Seq) is the assignment of cell types. While a number of supervised methods have been developed for this, in most cases such assignment is performed by first clustering cells in low-dimensional space and then assigning cell types to different clusters. To overcome noise and to improve cell type assignments we developed UNIFAN, a neural network method that simultaneously clusters and annotates cells using known gene sets. UNIFAN combines both, low dimension representation for all genes and cell specific gene set activity scores to determine the clustering. We applied UNIFAN to human and mouse scRNA-Seq datasets from several different organs. As we show, by using knowledge on gene sets, UNIFAN greatly outperforms prior methods developed for clustering scRNA-Seq data. The gene sets assigned by UNIFAN to different clusters provide strong evidence for the cell type that is represented by this cluster making annotations easier.


Metallomics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-132
Author(s):  
Nakisa Malakooti ◽  
Blaine Roberts ◽  
Melanie A. Pritchard ◽  
Irene Volitakis ◽  
Ron C. Kim ◽  
...  

A failure in metal ion homeostasis may be a characteristic feature of the Down syndrome brain.


2007 ◽  
Vol 189 (11) ◽  
pp. 3996-4013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karla D. Passalacqua ◽  
Nicholas H. Bergman ◽  
Jung Yeop Lee ◽  
David H. Sherman ◽  
Philip C. Hanna

ABSTRACT Microarray analyses were conducted to evaluate the paraquat-induced global transcriptional response of Bacillus anthracis Sterne (34F2) to varying levels of endogenous superoxide stress. Data revealed that the transcription of genes putatively involved in metal/ion transport, bacillibactin siderophore biosynthesis, the glyoxalase pathway, and oxidoreductase activity was perturbed most significantly. A B. anthracis mutant lacking the superoxide dismutase gene sodA1 (ΔsodA1) had transcriptional responses to paraquat similar to, but notably larger than, those of the isogenic parental strain. A small, unique set of genes was found to be differentially expressed in the ΔsodA1 mutant relative to the parental strain during growth in rich broth independently of induced oxidative stress. The bacillibactin siderophore biosynthetic genes were notably overexpressed in Sterne and ΔsodA1 cells after treatment with paraquat. The bacillibactin siderophore itself was isolated from the supernatants and lysates of cells grown in iron-depleted medium and was detected at lower levels after treatment with paraquat. This suggests that, while transcriptional regulation of these genes is sensitive to changes in the redox environment, additional levels of posttranscriptional control may exist for bacillibactin biosynthesis, or the enzymatic siderophore pipeline may be compromised by intracellular superoxide stress or damage. The ΔsodA1 mutant showed slower growth in a chelated iron-limiting medium but not in a metal-depleted medium, suggesting a connection between the intracellular redox state and iron/metal ion acquisition in B. anthracis. A double mutant lacking both the sodA1 and sodA2 genes (ΔsodA1 ΔsodA2) was attenuated for growth in manganese-depleted medium, suggesting a slight level of redundancy between sodA1 and sodA2, and a role for the sod genes in manganese homeostasis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Sukumaran ◽  
S. Pladwig ◽  
J. Geddes-McAlister

Abstract Background Microbial organisms encounter a variety of environmental conditions, including changes to metal ion availability. Metal ions play an important role in many biological processes for growth and survival. As such, microbes alter their cellular protein levels and secretion patterns in adaptation to a changing environment. This study focuses on Klebsiella pneumoniae, an opportunistic bacterium responsible for nosocomial infections. By using K. pneumoniae, we aim to determine how a nutrient-limited environment (e.g., zinc depletion) modulates the cellular proteome and secretome of the bacterium. By testing virulence in vitro, we provide novel insight into bacterial responses to limited environments in the presence of the host. Results Analysis of intra- and extracellular changes identified 2380 proteins from the total cellular proteome (cell pellet) and 246 secreted proteins (supernatant). Specifically, HutC, a repressor of the histidine utilization operon, showed significantly increased abundance under zinc-replete conditions, which coincided with an expected reduction in expression of genes within the hut operon from our validating qRT-PCR analysis. Additionally, we characterized a putative cation transport regulator, ChaB that showed significantly higher abundance under zinc-replete vs. -limited conditions, suggesting a role in metal ion homeostasis. Phenotypic analysis of a chaB deletion strain demonstrated a reduction in capsule production, zinc-dependent growth and ion utilization, and reduced virulence when compared to the wild-type strain. Conclusions This is first study to comprehensively profile the impact of zinc availability on the proteome and secretome of K. pneumoniae and uncover a novel connection between zinc transport and capsule production in the bacterial system.


2003 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 162-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.E. Theocharis ◽  
A.P. Margeli ◽  
A. Koutselinis

The metallothionein (MT) family is a class of low molecular weight, intracellular and cysteine-rich proteins presenting high affinity for metal ions. Although the members of this family were discovered nearly 40 years ago, their functional significance remains obscure. Four major MT isoforms, MT-1, MT-2, MT-3 and MT-4, have been identified in mammals. MTs are involved in many pathophysiological processes such as metal ion homeostasis and detoxification, protection against oxidative damage, cell proliferation and apoptosis, chemoresistance and radiotherapy resistance. MT isoforms have been shown to be involved in several aspects of the carcinogenic process, cancer development and progression. MT expression has been implicated as a transient response to any form of stress or injury providing cytoprotective action. Although MT participates in the carcinogenic process, its use as a potential marker of tumor differentiation or cell proliferation, or as a predictor of poor prognosis remains unclear. In the present review the involvement of MT in defense mechanisms to toxicity and in carcinogenicity is discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinting Guan ◽  
Yiping Lin ◽  
Yang Wang ◽  
Junchao Gao ◽  
Guoli Ji

Abstract Background Genome-wide association studies have identified genetic variants associated with the risk of brain-related diseases, such as neurological and psychiatric disorders, while the causal variants and the specific vulnerable cell types are often needed to be studied. Many disease-associated genes are expressed in multiple cell types of human brains, while the pathologic variants affect primarily specific cell types. We hypothesize a model in which what determines the manifestation of a disease in a cell type is the presence of disease module comprised of disease-associated genes, instead of individual genes. Therefore, it is essential to identify the presence/absence of disease gene modules in cells. Methods To characterize the cell type-specificity of brain-related diseases, we construct human brain cell type-specific gene interaction networks integrating human brain nucleus gene expression data with a referenced tissue-specific gene interaction network. Then from the cell type-specific gene interaction networks, we identify significant cell type-specific disease gene modules by performing statistical tests. Results Between neurons and glia cells, the constructed cell type-specific gene networks and their gene functions are distinct. Then we identify cell type-specific disease gene modules associated with autism spectrum disorder and find that different gene modules are formed and distinct gene functions may be dysregulated in different cells. We also study the similarity and dissimilarity in cell type-specific disease gene modules among autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The functions of neurons-specific disease gene modules are associated with synapse for all three diseases, while those in glia cells are different. To facilitate the use of our method, we develop an R package, CtsDGM, for the identification of cell type-specific disease gene modules. Conclusions The results support our hypothesis that a disease manifests itself in a cell type through forming a statistically significant disease gene module. The identification of cell type-specific disease gene modules can promote the development of more targeted biomarkers and treatments for the disease. Our method can be applied for depicting the cell type heterogeneity of a given disease, and also for studying the similarity and dissimilarity between different disorders, providing new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis and progression of diseases.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rute Oliveira ◽  
Matthew J. Bush ◽  
Sílvia Pires ◽  
Govind Chandra ◽  
Delia Casas-Pastor ◽  
...  

AbstractExtracytoplasmic function (ECF) sigma factors are key transcriptional regulators that prokaryotes have evolved to respond to environmental challenges. Streptomyces tsukubaensis harbours 42 ECFs to reprogram stress-responsive gene expression. Among them, SigG1 features a minimal conserved ECF σ2–σ4 architecture and an additional C-terminal extension that encodes a SnoaL_2 domain, which is characteristic for ECF σ factors of group ECF56. Although proteins with such domain organisation are widely found among Actinobacteria, the functional role of ECFs with a fused SnoaL_2 domain remains unknown. Our results show that in addition to predicted self-regulatory intramolecular amino acid interactions between the SnoaL_2 domain and the ECF core, SigG1 activity is controlled by the cognate anti-sigma protein RsfG, encoded by a co-transcribed sigG1-neighbouring gene. Characterisation of ∆sigG1 and ∆rsfG strains combined with RNA-seq and ChIP-seq experiments, suggests the involvement of SigG1 in the morphological differentiation programme of S. tsukubaensis. SigG1 regulates the expression of alanine dehydrogenase, ald and the WhiB-like regulator, wblC required for differentiation, in addition to iron and copper trafficking systems. Overall, our work establishes a model in which the activity of a σ factor of group ECF56, regulates morphogenesis and metal-ions homeostasis during development to ensure the timely progression of multicellular differentiation.


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