Dual transcriptome profiling of murine macrophages infected with Leishmania amazonensis

• Grant number: 16/03273-6
• Support type: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): January 01, 2018
• Effective date (End): February 28, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Molecular Genetics and Genetics of Microorganisms
• Principal Investigator: Lucile Maria Floeter-Winter
• Grantee: Juliana Ide Aoki
• Home Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Leishmania is a protozoan parasite that alternates its life cycle between the sand fly and the mammalian hosts. This alternation involves environmental changes and submits the parasite to dynamic modifications in morphology, metabolism, cellular signaling and gene expression regulation to allow a rapid adaptation to new conditions. Our research group have been studying the role of arginase in L. amazonensis during the parasite life cycle and its role in the establishment and maintenance of the infection in mammalian macrophages. Arginase is an immune-regulatory enzyme, which can reduce the nitric oxide concentrations produced by activated macrophages and limit the availability of L-arginine, regulating the polyamines pathway, supporting the resistance of some pathogens to host defense mechanisms. Currently, we described by RNA-seq technology, the differential gene expression profile on polyamines pathway in promastigotes and axenic amastigotes regulated by arginase activity. Our goal in this project is to identify gene signature and differential gene expression profile between two mice strains, one highly susceptible and another less susceptible to L. amazonensis (La-WT) or L. amazonensis arginase knockout (La-arg-) infections. Further, validate and correlate the miRNAs participation that has been providing interesting data on understanding how regulation of gene expression is used by Leishmania to subvert the macrophage defenses.

Scientific publications

(4)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

AOKI, JULIANA IDE; LARANJEIRA-SILVA, MARIA FERNANDA; MUXEL, SANDRA MARCIA; FLOETER-WINTER, LUCILE MARIA. The impact of arginase activity on virulence factors of Leishmania amazonensis. Current Opinion in Microbiology, v. 52, p. 110-115, DEC 2019. Web of Science Citations: 0.

MARCIA MUXEL, SANDRA; MAMANI-HUANCA, MARICRUZ; AOKI, JULIANA IDE; ZAMPIERI, RICARDO ANDRADE; FLOETER-WINTER, LUCILE MARIA; LOPEZ-GONZALVEZ, ANGELES; BARBAS, CORAL. Metabolomic Profile of BALB/c Macrophages Infected with Leishmania amazonensis: Deciphering L-Arginine Metabolism. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES, v. 20, n. 24 DEC 2019. Web of Science Citations: 0.

RIBEIRO FERNANDES, JULIANE CRISTINA; AOKI, JULIANA IDE; ACUNA, STEPHANIE MAIA; ZAMPIERI, RICARDO ANDRADE; MARKUS, REGINA P.; FLOETER-WINTER, LUCILE MARIA; MUXEL, SANDRA MARCIA. Melatonin and Leishmania amazonensis Infection Altered miR-294, miR-30e, and miR-302d Impacting on Tnf, Mcp-1, and Nos2 Expression. FRONTIERS IN CELLULAR AND INFECTION MICROBIOLOGY, v. 9, MAR 20 2019. Web of Science Citations: 2.

MUXEL, SANDRA MARCIA; ACUNA, STEPHANIE MAIA; AOKI, JULIANA IDE; ZAMPIERI, RICARDO ANDRADE; FLOETER-WINTER, LUCILE MARIA. Toll-Like Receptor and miRNA-let-7e Expression Alter the Inflammatory Response in Leishmania amazonensis-Infected Macrophages. FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY, v. 9, NOV 29 2018. Web of Science Citations: 3.