Find research datasets worth reusing
Search datasets from major research repositories and use ShareScore to quickly assess how well each record supports discovery, access, and reuse.
35
datasets available to search
ShareScore release 0.9.0
Dataset results
35 results for “opportunistic pathogen”
The effect of a temperature‐sensitive prophage on the evolution of virulence in an opportunistic bacterial pathogen
<p>Viruses are key actors of ecosystems and have major impacts on global biogeochemical cycles. Prophages deserve particular attention as they are ubiquitous in bacterial genomes and can enter a lytic cycle when triggered by environmental conditions. We explored how temperature affects the interactions between prophages and other biological levels by using an opportunistic pathogen, the bacterium <em>Serratia marcescens</em>, that harbours several prophages and that had undergone an evolution experiment under several temperature regimes. We found that the release of one of the prophages was temperature-sensitive and malleable to evolutionary changes. We further discovered that the virulence of the bacterium in an insect model also evolved and was positively correlated with phage release rates. We determined through analysis of genetic and epigenetic data that changes in the bacterial outer cell wall structure possibly explain this phenomenon. We hypothezise that the temperature-dependent phage release rate acted as a selection pressure on <em>S. marcescens</em> and that it resulted in modified bacterial virulence in the insect host. Our study system illustrates how viruses can mediate the influence of abiotic environmental changes to other biological levels and thus be involved in ecosystem feedback loops.</p>
The effect of a temperature‐sensitive prophage on the evolution of virulence in an opportunistic bacterial pathogen
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Feedbacks between forest structure and an opportunistic fungal pathogen
<p>Abiotic stresses, physiological dysfunction, forest stand dynamics, and primary tree attackers (native and non-native) are all recognized as important contributors to both anomalous tree mortality and background tree mortality, and thus as important influences on biogeochemical cycling and habitat for associated terrestrial organisms. Opportunistic and latent tree pathogens and insect pests have largely been left out of this discussion, probably because they are difficult to monitor and their effects sometimes more diffuse, yet they play important roles in tree mortality scenarios.</p> <p>We know very little about the influence of biotic gradients, e.g., forest dynamics and forest structure, on the occurrence and effects of these opportunistic biotic enemies. To better understand the influence of an important biotic gradient—forest structure as represented by tree density and competition—on the occurrence and distribution of a typical opportunistic pathogen, we analyzed the relationship between tree neighborhood competition and soil-dwelling rhizomorphs of the fungus Armillaria gallica in regenerating (20-yr-old) and mature (80-100-yr-old) hardwood-dominated forest stands in central Missouri following a severe drought.</p> <p>We detected A. gallica, rhizomorphs in twice as many sampling sites in young (dense) plots as in mature (open) plots, and by contrast, found a twofold occurrence of other saprophytic fungi in the soil of mature plots compared to young plots. Mean tree density and competition index were significantly higher in subplots where A. gallica was found than in those with no A. gallica detections, and the pattern of A. gallica occurrence tracked closely with the occurrence of dense "hotspots" of competition in the plots.</p> <p>Synthesis. Early stages of forest structure and succession—potentially through initial inputs of disturbance-produced woody biomass, increased host connectivity and competition-influenced host tree susceptibility to fungal colonization—provide important feedbacks to A. gallica foraging, which in turn influences forest development. The recognition that tree density and competition influence A. gallica foraging suggests that in order to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of forest growth, development, and biogeochemical cycling, it may be necessary to increase life-history studies and basic occurrence surveys for opportunistic tree pathogens and insect pests.</p>
Data from: Life in the cystic fibrosis upper respiratory tract influences competitive ability of the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Feedbacks between forest structure and an opportunistic fungal pathogen
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
An adjunctive therapy administered with an antibiotic prevents enrichment of antibiotic-resistant clones of a colonizing opportunistic pathogen
<p>Therapeutic antibiotic use drives the spread of antibiotic resistance, a major threat to public health. Ideally, clinicians could treat infections with antibiotics without fueling transmission of resistant pathogens. Here, we show proof of concept for an adjunctive therapy approach that allows treatment of target pathogens without the emergence and onward transmission of resistance. Like many of the bacterial species responsible for the antimicrobial resistance crisis, vancomycin-resistant <i>Enterococcus</i> (VRE) is a colonizing opportunistic pathogen and an important cause of drug-resistant healthcare-associated infections. VRE causes life-threatening infections in the bloodstream, but spreads via fecal-oral transmission because it asymptomatically colonizes the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Thus, there is a physical separation between the VRE targeted by treatment (those in the blood) and the VRE contributing to onward transmission (those in the GI tract). An oral adjuvant that could eliminate or inactivate antibiotic in the GI tract would make possible intravenous patient treatment without promoting transmissible resistance. We tested this idea in a mouse model of VRE GI tract colonization using cholestyramine, which we show binds daptomycin, one of the few remaining front-line antibiotics against VRE. Adjunctive cholestyramine therapy reduced the fecal shedding of daptomycin-resistant VRE by up to 80-fold in mice treated with daptomycin. These results provide proof-of-concept for an approach that could reduce the spread of antibiotic resistance for many important hospital pathogens.</p>
Data from: Broad thermal tolerance is negatively correlated with virulence in an opportunistic bacterial pathogen
Predicting the effects of global increase in temperatures on disease virulence is challenging, especially for environmental opportunistic bacteria, because pathogen fitness may be differentially affected by temperature within and outside host environment. So far, there is very little empirical evidence on the connections between optimal temperature range and virulence in environmentally growing pathogens. Here we explored if the virulence of an environmentally growing opportunistic fish pathogen, Flavobacterium columnare, is malleable to evolutionary changes via correlated selection on thermal tolerance. To this end, we experimentally quantified the thermal performance curves (TPCs) for maximum biomass of 49 F. columnare isolates from eight different geographic locations in Finland over ten years (2003-2012). We also characterized virulence profiles of these strains in a zebra-fish (Danio rerio) infection model. We show that virulence among the strains increased over the years, but tolerance to higher temperatures was negatively associated with virulence. Our data suggest that temperature has a strong effect on the pathogen genetic diversity, and therefore presumably also on disease dynamics. However, the observed increase in frequency and severity of F. columnare epidemics over the last decade cannot be directly linked to bacterial evolution due to increased mean temperature, but is most likely associated with factors related to increased length of growing season, or other time dependent change in environment. Our study demonstrates that complex interactions between the host, the pathogen and the environment influence disease virulence of environmentally growing opportunistic pathogen.
Data from: Rich resource environment of fish farms facilitates phenotypic variation and virulence in an opportunistic fish pathogen
<p><span>Phenotypic variation is suggested to facilitate the persistence of environmentally growing pathogens under environmental change. Here we hypothesized that the intensive farming environment induces higher phenotypic variation in microbial pathogens than natural environment, because of high stochasticity for growth and stronger survival selection compared to the natural environment. We tested the hypothesis with an opportunistic fish pathogen <em>Flavobacterium columnare</em> isolated either from fish farms or from natural waters. We measured growth parameters of two morphotypes from all isolates in different resource concentrations and two temperatures relevant for the occurrence of disease epidemics at farms and tested their virulence using a zebrafish (<em>Danio rerio</em>) infection model. According to our hypothesis, isolates originating from the fish farms had higher phenotypic variation in growth between the morphotypes than the isolates from natural waters. The difference was more pronounced in higher resource concentrations and the higher temperature, suggesting that phenotypic variation is driven by the exploitation of increased outside-host resources at farms. Phenotypic variation of virulence was not observed based on isolate origin but only based on morphotype. However, when in contact with the larger fish, the less virulent morphotype of some of the isolates also had high virulence. As the less virulent morphotype also had higher growth rate in outside-host resources, the results suggest that both morphotypes can contribute to <em>F. columnare</em> epidemics at fish farms, especially with current prospects of warming temperatures. Our results suggest that higher phenotypic variation per se does not lead to higher virulence, but that environmental conditions at fish farms could select isolates with high phenotypic variation in bacterial population and hence affect evolution in <em>F. columnare</em> at fish farms. Our results highlight the multifaceted effects of human-induced environmental alterations in </span><span>shaping epidemiology and evolution in microbial</span><span> pat</span><span>hogens.</span></p> <p> </p>
Data from: Evidence for structure and variable recombination rates among Dutch populations of the opportunistic human pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Data from: Broad thermal tolerance is negatively correlated with virulence in an opportunistic bacterial pathogen
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Data from: Rich resource environment of fish farms facilitates phenotypic variation and virulence in an opportunistic fish pathogen
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
An adjunctive therapy administered with an antibiotic prevents enrichment of antibiotic-resistant clones of a colonizing opportunistic pathogen
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Data from: Fitness trade-offs explain low levels of persister cells in the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Microbial populations often contain a fraction of slow-growing persister cells that withstand antibiotics and other stress factors. Current theoretical models predict that persistence levels should reflect a stable state in which the survival advantage of persisters under adverse conditions is balanced with the direct growth cost impaired under favourable growth conditions, caused by the nonreplication of persister cells. Based on this direct growth cost alone, however, it remains challenging to explain the observed low levels of persistence (<<1%) seen in the populations of many species. Here, we present data from the opportunistic human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa that can explain this discrepancy by revealing various previously unknown costs of persistence. In particular, we show that in the absence of antibiotic stress, increased persistence is traded off against a lengthened lag phase as well as a reduced survival ability during stationary phase. We argue that these pleiotropic costs contribute to the very low proportions of persister cells observed among natural P. aeruginosa isolates (3 × 10−8–3 × 10−4) and that they can explain why strains with higher proportions of persister cells lose out very quickly in competition assays under favourable growth conditions, despite a negligible difference in maximal growth rate. We discuss how incorporating these trade-offs could lead to models that can better explain the evolution of persistence in nature and facilitate the rational design of alternative therapeutic strategies for treating infectious diseases.
Data from: Coinfection outcome in an opportunistic pathogen depends on the inter-strain interactions
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Data from: Unravelling species boundaries in the Aspergillus viridinutans complex (section Fumigati): opportunistic human and animal pathogens capable of interspecific hybridization
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Data from: Fitness trade-offs explain low levels of persister cells in the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Open the record for dataset details and reuse information.
Comprehensive analysis of human keratinocyte and opportunistic pathogenic Candida interactions
GEO Series GSE276717. Candida albicans; Homo sapiens. 30 samples. Type: Expression profiling by high throughput sequencing.
Drosophila and Commensal Bacteria Synergistically Compete with Opportunistic Pathogens at Bulk and Single-Cell Resolutions [scRNA-seq]
GEO Series GSE251782. Serratia marcescens; Lactiplantibacillus plantarum. 6 samples. Type: Expression profiling by high throughput sequencing.
The ubiquitous human skin commensal Staphylococcus hominis protects against opportunistic pathogens
GEO Series GSE199818. Staphylococcus hominis. 6 samples. Type: Expression profiling by high throughput sequencing.
The C-terminal region of the RNA helicase CshA is required for the interaction with the degradosome and turnover of bulk RNA in the opportunistic pathogen Staphylococcus aureus.
GEO Series GSE68772. Staphylococcus aureus. 24 samples. Type: Expression profiling by high throughput sequencing.
ScienceDex guides
Understand access before you commit
These curated guides explain access requirements, typical timelines, costs, and reuse considerations for widely used research datasets.
Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
ABODe is a University of Edinburgh DataShare dataset for behavior classification in group-housed mice using home-cage video, identities, bounding boxes, ground-plate positions, and annotator labels.
DANDI Archive for NWB datasets
DANDI is a BRAIN Initiative archive for publishing and sharing neurophysiology data, including electrophysiology, optophysiology, and behavioral data packaged as NWB and related standards.
International Brain Laboratory public data
The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
OpenNeuro
OpenNeuro is a free, open platform for sharing neuroimaging datasets, with public search, dataset pages, and download paths for web, S3, DataLad, and the OpenNeuro CLI.