A zebrafish high throughput screening system used for Staphylococcus epidermidis infection marker discovery

Area of Science:

• Microbiology
• Immunology
• Zebrafish Models

Background:

• Staphylococcus epidermidis is a primary cause of biomaterial-associated infections.
• Host responses to S. epidermidis on biomaterials are poorly understood.
• A need exists for animal models with high-throughput screening capabilities to study these host responses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a zebrafish embryo model for studying S. epidermidis infections.
• To enable high-throughput quantification of bacterial proliferation and host gene expression.
• To compare host responses to S. epidermidis and Mycobacterium marinum.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a zebrafish yolk injection system for S. epidermidis infection.
• Employed automated microinjection and Complex Object Parametric Analysis and Sorting (COPAS) for bacterial quantification.
• Conducted transcriptome analysis at multiple time points during infection.

Main Results:

• Developed a high-throughput fluorescence-based method to replace traditional CFU counting.
• Observed that Mycobacterium marinum induced a stronger host transcriptome response than S. epidermidis.
• Identified specific host genes differentially regulated by S. epidermidis, including a cell adhesion gene.

Conclusions:

• The zebrafish model provides quantitative assessment of bacterial proliferation.
• Identified zebrafish gene markers specific to S. epidermidis infection.
• The model facilitates comparison of host responses to different bacterial pathogens and future functional studies.