title: Transcriptome profiling analysis of Vibrio vulnificus during human infection.
abstract: Vibrio vulnificus is a waterborne pathogen that was responsible for an outbreak of severe soft-tissue infections among fish farmers and fish consumers in Israel. Several factors have been shown to be associated with virulence. However, the transcriptome profile of the pathogen during human infection has not been determined yet. We compared the transcriptome profile, using RNA sequencing, of a human-pathogenic strain harvested directly from tissue of a patient suffering from severe soft-tissue infection with necrotizing fasciitis, with the same strain and three other environmental strains grown in vitro. The five sequenced libraries were aligned to the reference genomes of V. vulnificus strains CMCP6 and YJ016. Approximately 47.8 to 62.3 million paired-end raw reads were generated from the five runs. Nearly 84 % of the genome was covered by reads from at least one of the five runs, suggesting that nearly 16 % of the genome is not transcribed or is transcribed at low levels. We identified 123 genes that were differentially expressed during the acute phase of infection. Sixty-three genes were mapped to the large chromosome, 47 genes mapped to the small chromosome and 13 genes mapped to the YJ016 plasmid. The 123 genes fell into a variety of functional categories including transcription, signal transduction, cell motility, carbohydrate metabolism, intracellular trafficking and cell envelope biogenesis. Among the genes differentially expressed during human infection we identified genes encoding bacterial toxin (RtxA1) and genes involved in flagellar components, Flp-coding region, GGDEF family protein, iron acquisition system and sialic acid metabolism.
authors.affiliation: Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.|Department of Medicine D, Emek Medical Center, Afula, Israel.
authors.forename: Naiel
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bisharat
authors.affiliation: Center for Genomic Technologies, Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bronstein
authors.affiliation: Center for Genomic Technologies, Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Mira
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Korner
authors.affiliation: Goldyne Savad Institute of Gene Therapy, Hadassah Medical Center, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: Temima
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schnitzer
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine D, Emek Medical Center, Afula, Israel.
authors.forename: Yael
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Koton
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D059467:Transcriptome; D014735:Vibrio Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D041261:Vibrio vulnificus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins