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Intravital imaging of host–parasite interactions in skin and adipose tissues

Publication . De Niz, Mariana; Meehan, Gavin R.; Brancucci, Nicolas M. B.; Marti, Matthias; Rotureau, Brice; Figueiredo, Luisa M.; Frischknecht, Friedrich

Intravital microscopy allows the visualisation of how pathogens interact with host cells and tissues in living animals in real time. This method has enabled key advances in our understanding of host-parasite interactions under physiological conditions. A combination of genetics, microscopy techniques, and image analysis have recently facilitated the understanding of biological phenomena in living animals at cellular and subcellular resolution. In this review, we summarise findings achieved by intravital microscopy of the skin and adipose tissues upon infection with various parasites, and we present a view into possible future applications of this method.

2019Journal article

Open access

A long noncoding RNA promotes parasite differentiation in African trypanosomes

Publication . Guegan, Fabien Marc; Rajan, K. Shanmugha; Bento, Fabio; Neves, Daniel; Sequeira, Mariana; Gumińska, Natalia; Mroczek, Seweryn; Dziembowski, Andrzej; Cohen-Chalamish, Smadar; Doniger, Tirza; Galili, Beathrice; Estévez, Antonio M.; Notredame, Cedric; Michaeli, Shulamit; Figueiredo, Luisa M.

The parasite Trypanosoma brucei causes African sleeping sickness that is fatal to patients if untreated. Parasite differentiation from a replicative slender form into a quiescent stumpy form promotes host survival and parasite transmission. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are known to regulate cell differentiation in other eukaryotes. To determine whether lncRNAs are also involved in parasite differentiation, we used RNA sequencing to survey the T. brucei genome, identifying 1428 previously uncharacterized lncRNA genes. We find that grumpy lncRNA is a key regulator that promotes parasite differentiation into the quiescent stumpy form. This function is promoted by a small nucleolar RNA encoded within the grumpy lncRNA. snoGRUMPY binds to messenger RNAs of at least two stumpy regulatory genes, promoting their expression. grumpy overexpression reduces parasitemia in infected mice. Our analyses suggest that T. brucei lncRNAs modulate parasite-host interactions and provide a mechanism by which grumpy regulates cell differentiation in trypanosomes.

2022Journal article

Open access