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Kerstin Voigt

About Kerstin Voigt:
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SEEK ID: https://funginet.hki-jena.de/people/106

Location:  Germany

Expertise: Not specified

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ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1345-9991

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Visualization of HsbA in murine and human Lichtheimia infection
Z2
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Person responsible: Franziska Hoffmann

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The impact of episporic modification of Lichtheimia corymbifera on virulence and interaction with phagocytes.
A3

Abstract (Expand)

Fungal infections caused by the ancient lineage Mucorales are emerging and increasingly reported in humans. Comprehensive surveys on promising attributes from a multitude of possible virulence factors … are limited and so far, focused on Mucor and Rhizopus. This study addresses a systematic approach to monitor phagocytosis after physical and enzymatic modification of the outer spore wall of Lichtheimia corymbifera, one of the major causative agents of mucormycosis. Episporic modifications were performed and their consequences on phagocytosis, intracellular survival and virulence by murine alveolar macrophages and in an invertebrate infection model were elucidated. While depletion of lipids did not affect the phagocytosis of both strains, delipidation led to attenuation of LCA strain but appears to be dispensable for infection with LCV strain in the settings used in this study. Combined glucano-proteolytic treatment was necessary to achieve a significant decrease of virulence of the LCV strain in Galleria mellonella during maintenance of the full potential for spore germination as shown by a novel automated germination assay. Proteolytic and glucanolytic treatments largely increased phagocytosis compared to alive resting and swollen spores. Whilst resting spores barely (1-2%) fuse to lysosomes after invagination in to phagosomes, spore trypsinization led to a 10-fold increase of phagolysosomal fusion as measured by intracellular acidification. This is the first report of a polyphasic measurement of the consequences of episporic modification of a mucormycotic pathogen in spore germination, spore surface ultrastructure, phagocytosis, stimulation of Toll-like receptors (TLRs), phagolysosomal fusion and intracellular acidification, apoptosis, generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and virulence.

Authors: Mohamed Hassan, M. Keller, M. Hillger, U. Binder, S. Reuter, K. Herold, A. Telagathoti, H. M. Dahse, S. Wicht, Nora Trinks, S. Nietzsche, T. Deckert-Gaudig, V. Deckert, R. Mrowka, Ulrich Terpitz, H. Peter Saluz, Kerstin Voigt

Date Published: 18th Feb 2021

Journal: Comput Struct Biotechnol J

Quantitative Impact of Cell Membrane Fluorescence Labeling on Phagocytosis Measurements in Confrontation Assays.
FungiNet A - Aspergillus projects, B4

Abstract (Expand)

Phagocytosis is series of steps where the pathogens and the immune cells interact during an invasion. This starts with the adhesion process between the host and pathogen cells, and is followed by the … engulfment of the pathogens. Many analytical methods that are applied to characterize phagocytosis based on imaging the host-pathogen confrontation assays rely on the fluorescence labeling of cells. However, the potential effect of the membrane labeling on the quantitative results of the confrontation assays has not been studied in detail. In this study, we determine whether the fluorescence labeling processes themselves influence the results of the phagocytosis measurements. Here, alveolar macrophages, which form one of the most important compartments of the innate immune system, were used as an example of host cells, whereas Aspergillus fumigatus and Lichtheimia corymbifera that cause aspergillosis and mucormycosis, respectively, were studied as examples for pathogens. At first, our study investigated the importance of the sequence of steps of the fixation process when preparing the confrontation assay sample for microscopy studies. Here we showed that applying the fixation agent before the counter-staining causes miscalculations during the determination of the phagocytic measures. Furthermore, we also found that staining the macrophages with various concentrations of DID, as a typical membrane label, in most cases altered the capability of macrophages to phagocytose FITC-stained A. fumigatus and L. corymbifera spores in comparison with unlabeled macrophages. This effect of the DID staining showed a differential character dependent upon the labeling status and the specific type of pathogen. Moreover, labeling the spores of A. fumigatus and L. corymbifera with FITC increased the phagocytic measures during confrontation with unlabeled macrophages when compared to label-free spores. Overall, our study confirms that the staining process itself may significantly manipulate the quantitative outcome of the confrontation assay. As a result of our study, we also developed a user-friendly image analysis tool that analyses confrontation assays both with and without fluorescence labeling of the host cells and of the pathogens. Our image analysis algorithm saves experimental work effort and time, provides more precise results when calculating the phagocytic measures, and delivers a convenient analysis tool for the biologists to monitor host-pathogen interactions as they happen without the artifacts that fluorescence labeling imposes on biological interactions.

Authors: Z. Cseresnyes, M. I. A. Hassan, H. M. Dahse, Kerstin Voigt, Marc Thilo Figge

Date Published: 26th Jun 2020

Journal: Front Microbiol

Functional surface proteomic profiling reveals the host heat-shock protein A8 as a mediator of Lichtheimia corymbifera recognition by murine alveolar macrophages.
A1, A5, B4, Z2, A6

Abstract (Expand)

Mucormycosis is an emergent, fatal fungal infection of humans and warm-blooded animals caused by species of the order Mucorales. Immune cells of the innate immune system serve as the first line of … defence against inhaled spores. Alveolar macrophages were challenged with the mucoralean fungus Lichtheimia corymbifera and subjected to biotinylation and streptavidin enrichment procedures followed by LC-MS/MS analyses. A total of 28 host proteins enriched for binding to macrophage-L. corymbifera interaction. Among those, the HSP70-family protein Hspa8 was found to be predominantly responsive to living and heat-killed spores of a virulent and an attenuated strain of L. corymbifera. Confocal scanning laser microscopy of infected macrophages revealed colocalization of Hspa8 with phagocytosed spores of L. corymbifera. The amount of detectable Hspa8 was dependent on the multiplicity of infection. Incubation of alveolar macrophages with an anti-Hspa8 antibody prior to infection reduced their capability to phagocytose spores of L. corymbifera. In contrast, anti-Hspa8 antibodies did not abrogate the phagocytosis of Aspergillus fumigatus conidia by macrophages. These results suggest an important contribution of the heat-shock family protein Hspa8 in the recognition of spores of the mucoralean fungus L. corymbifera by host alveolar macrophages and define a potential immunomodulatory therapeutic target.

Authors: M. I. A. Hassan, J. M. Kruse, Thomas Krüger, H. M. Dahse, Z. Cseresnyes, M. G. Blango, Hortense Slevogt, F. Horhold, V. Ast, R. Konig, Marc Thilo Figge, Olaf Kniemeyer, Axel Brakhage, Kerstin Voigt

Date Published: 26th Jun 2020

Journal: Environ Microbiol

The geographical region of origin determines the phagocytic vulnerability of Lichtheimia strains.
FungiNet A - Aspergillus projects, B4

Abstract (Expand)

Mucormycoses are life-threatening infections that affect patients suffering from immune deficiencies. We performed phagocytosis assays confronting various strains of Lichtheimia species with alveolar … macrophages, which form the first line of defence of the innate immune system. To investigate 17 strains from four different continents in a comparative fashion, transmitted light and confocal fluorescence microscopy was applied in combination with automated image analysis. This interdisciplinary approach enabled the objective and quantitative processing of the big volume of image data. Applying machine-learning supported methods, a spontaneous clustering of the strains was revealed in the space of phagocytic measures. This clustering was not driven by measures of fungal morphology but rather by the geographical origin of the fungal strains. Our study illustrates the crucial contribution of machine-learning supported automated image analysis to the qualitative discovery and quantitative comparison of major factors affecting host-pathogen interactions. We found that the phagocytic vulnerability of Lichtheimia species depends on their geographical origin, where strains within each geographic region behaved similarly, but strongly differed amongst the regions. Based on this clustering, we were able to also classify clinical isolates with regard to their potential geographical origin.

Authors: M. I. A. Hassan, Z. Cseresnyes, N. Al-Zaben, H. M. Dahse, R. J. Vilela de Oliveira, G. Walther, Kerstin Voigt, Marc Thilo Figge

Date Published: 23rd Jul 2019

Journal: Environ Microbiol

Comparative Study on Alternative Splicing in Human Fungal Pathogens Suggests Its Involvement During Host Invasion.
INF, B1

Abstract (Expand)

Alternative splicing (AS) is an important regulatory mechanism in eukaryotes but only little is known about its impact in fungi. Human fungal pathogens are of high clinical interest causing recurrent … or life-threatening infections. AS can be well-investigated genome-wide and quantitatively with the powerful technology of RNA-Seq. Here, we systematically studied AS in human fungal pathogens based on RNA-Seq data. To do so, we investigated its effect in seven fungi during conditions simulating ex vivo infection processes and during in vitro stress. Genes undergoing AS are species-specific and act independently from differentially expressed genes pointing to an independent mechanism to change abundance and functionality. Candida species stand out with a low number of introns with higher and more varying lengths and more alternative splice sites. Moreover, we identified a functional difference between response to host and other stress conditions: During stress, AS affects more genes and is involved in diverse regulatory functions. In contrast, during response-to-host conditions, genes undergoing AS have membrane functionalities and might be involved in the interaction with the host. We assume that AS plays a crucial regulatory role in pathogenic fungi and is important in both response to host and stress conditions.

Authors: Patricia Sieber, Kerstin Voigt, P. Kammer, S. Brunke, Stefan Schuster, Jörg Linde

Date Published: 19th Oct 2018

Journal: Front Microbiol

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