Abstract
BackgroundDespite clinical research and development in the last decades, infectious diseases remain a top global problem in public health today, being responsible for millions of morbidities and mortalities each year. Therefore, many studies have sought to investigate host-pathogen interactions from various viewpoints in attempts to understand pathogenic and defensive mechanisms, which could help control pathogenic infections. However, most of these efforts have focused predominately on the host or the pathogen individually rather than on a simultaneous analysis of both interaction partners.ResultsIn this study, with the help of simultaneously quantified time-course Candida albicans-zebrafish interaction transcriptomics and other omics data, a computational framework was developed to construct the interspecies protein-protein interaction (PPI) network for C. albicans-zebrafish interactions based on the inference of ortholog-based PPIs and the dynamic modeling of regulatory responses. The identified C. albicans-zebrafish interspecies PPI network highlights the association between C. albicans pathogenesis and the zebrafish redox process, indicating that redox status is critical in the battle between the host and pathogen.ConclusionsAdvancing from the single-species network construction method, the interspecies network construction approach allows further characterization and elucidation of the host-pathogen interactions. With continued accumulation of interspecies transcriptomics data, the proposed method could be used to explore progressive network rewiring over time, which could benefit the development of network medicine for infectious diseases.
Highlights
Despite clinical research and development in the last decades, infectious diseases remain a top global problem in public health today, being responsible for millions of morbidities and mortalities each year
The identified C. albicans-zebrafish interspecies protein-protein interaction (PPI) network highlights the association between C. albicans pathogenesis and the zebrafish redox process, indicating that redox status is critical in the battle between the host and pathogen
On the basis of the time-course gene expression profiles and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), 1,728 genes (27.86%) for C. albicans and 680 genes (2.59%) for zebrafish were identified as dynamically regulated genes and their corresponding gene products were selected as target proteins in the protein pool
Summary
Despite clinical research and development in the last decades, infectious diseases remain a top global problem in public health today, being responsible for millions of morbidities and mortalities each year. Many studies have sought to investigate host-pathogen interactions from various viewpoints in attempts to understand pathogenic and defensive mechanisms, which could help control pathogenic infections. Most of these efforts have focused predominately on the host or the pathogen individually rather than on a simultaneous analysis of both interaction partners. The zebrafish model has been used to study human pathogens or closely related animal pathogens, either using adult fish with a fully developed adaptive immune system, or using embryos or larvae that rely solely on innate immunity [13,14]. Zebrafish are suitable for our study characterizing host-pathogen interactions with C. albicans
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
