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Time-Lapse Epifluorescence Microscopy Imaging of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus Heterogeneous Phenotypes
Published on: February 14, 2025
Hemolymph protein profiles of subterranean termite Reticulitermes flavipes challenged with methicillin resistant
Yuan Zeng1,2, Xing Ping Hu1, Guanqun Cao3
1Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA.
Abstract:
When the subterranean termite Reticulitermes flavipes is fed heat-killed methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the termite produces proteins with antibacterial activity against the inducer pathogen in its hemolymph. We used a proteomic approach to characterize the alterations in protein profiles caused by the inducer bacterium in the hemolymph of the termite. Nano-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis identified a total of 221 proteins and approximately 70% of these proteins could be associated with biological processes and molecular functions. Challenges with these human pathogens induced a total of 57 proteins (35 in MRSA-challenged, 16 in P. aeruginosa-challenged, and 6 shared by both treatments) and suppressed 13 proteins by both pathogens. Quasi-Poisson likelihood modeling with false discovery rate adjustment identified a total of 18 and 40 proteins that were differentially expressed at least 2.5-fold in response to MRSA and P. aeruginosa-challenge, respectively. We selected 7 differentially expressed proteins and verified their gene expression levels via quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Our findings provide an initial insight into a putative termite immune response against MRSA and P. aeruginosa-challenge.
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