Transcriptomic Crosstalk between Fungal Invasive Pathogens and Their Host Cells: Opportunities and Challenges for Next-Generation Sequencing Methods

Journal of Fungi

Francisco J. Enguita²  Marina C. Costa²  Ana Marisa Fusco-Almeida³  Maria José Mendes-Giannini³  Ana Lྫྷia Leitão¹ 

[1] MEtRICs, Departamento de Ciências e Tecnologia da Biomassa, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Campus de Caparica, Caparica 2829-516, PortugalFaculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Professor Egas Moniz, Lisboa 1649-028, Portugal;Núcleo de Proteômica, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas, Universidade Estadual Paulista—UNESP, Rodovia Araraquara—Jaú Km 1, Araraquara 14801-902, São Paulo, Brazil;

关键词: fungal pathogen;    invasive infection;    high-throughput transcriptomics;    next generation sequencing;    non-coding RNAs;    dual RNA-seq;   

DOI  :  10.3390/jof2010007

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Fungal invasive infections are an increasing health problem. The intrinsic complexity of pathogenic fungi and the unmet clinical need for new and more effective treatments requires a detailed knowledge of the infection process. During infection, fungal pathogens are able to trigger a specific transcriptional program in their host cells. The detailed knowledge of this transcriptional program will allow for a better understanding of the infection process and consequently will help in the future design of more efficient therapeutic strategies. Simultaneous transcriptomic studies of pathogen and host by high-throughput sequencing (dual RNA-seq) is an unbiased protocol to understand the intricate regulatory networks underlying the infectious process. This protocol is starting to be applied to the study of the interactions between fungal pathogens and their hosts. To date, our knowledge of the molecular basis of infection for fungal pathogens is still very limited, and the putative role of regulatory players such as non-coding RNAs or epigenetic factors remains elusive. The wider application of high-throughput transcriptomics in the near future will help to understand the fungal mechanisms for colonization and survival, as well as to characterize the molecular responses of the host cell against a fungal infection.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.