GATA4 controls regionalization of tissue immunity and commensal-driven immunopathology

There is growing recognition that regionalization of bacterial colonization and immunity along the intestinal tract has an important role in health and disease. Yet, the mechanisms underlying intestinal regionalization and its dysregulation in disease are not well understood. This study found that regional epithelial expression of the transcription factor GATA4 controls bacterial colonization and inflammatory tissue immunity in the proximal small intestine by regulating retinol metabolism and luminal IgA. Furthermore, in mice without jejunal GATA4 expression, the commensal segmented filamentous bacteria promoted pathogenic inflammatory immune responses that disrupted barrier function and increased mortality upon Citrobacter rodentium infection. In celiac disease patients, low GATA4 expression was associated with metabolic alterations, mucosal Actinobacillus, and increased IL-17 immunity. Taken together, these results reveal broad impacts of GATA4-regulated intestinal regionalization on bacterial colonization and tissue immunity, highlighting an elaborate interdependence of intestinal metabolism, immunity, and microbiota in homeostasis and disease.

A Gata3 enhancer necessary for ILC2 development and function

The type 2 helper effector program is driven by the master transcription factor GATA3 and can be expressed by subsets of both innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) and adaptive CD4+ T helper (Th) cells. While ILC2s and Th2 cells acquire their type 2 differentiation program under very different contexts, the distinct regulatory mechanisms governing this common program are only partially understood. Here we show that the differentiation of ILC2s, and their concomitant high level of GATA3 expression, are controlled by a Gata3 enhancer, Gata3 +674/762, that plays only a minimal role in Th2 cell differentiation. Mice lacking this enhancer exhibited defects in several but not all type 2 inflammatory responses, depending on the respective degree of ILC2 and Th2 cell involvement. Our study provides molecular insights into the different gene regulatory pathways leading to the acquisition of the GATA3-driven type 2 helper effector program in innate and adaptive lymphocytes.

Oxygen Availability Influences Expression of Dickeya solani Genes Associated With Virulence in Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) and Chicory (Cichorium intybus L.)

Dickeya solani is a Gram-negative necrotrophic, plant pathogenic bacterium able to cause symptoms in a variety of plant species worldwide. As a facultative anaerobe, D. solani is able to infect hosts under a broad range of oxygen concentrations found in plant environments. However, little is known about oxygen-dependent gene expression in Dickeya spp. that might contribute to its success as a pathogen. Using a Tn5 transposon, harboring a promoterless gusA reporter gene, 146 mutants of D. solani IPO2222 were identified that exhibited oxygen-regulated expression of the gene into which the insertion had occurred. Of these mutants 114 exhibited higher expression under normal oxygen conditions than hypoxic conditions while 32 were more highly expressed under hypoxic conditions. The plant host colonization potential and pathogenicity as well as phenotypes likely to contribute to the ecological fitness of D. solani, including growth rate, carbon and nitrogen source utilization, production of pectinolytic enzymes, proteases, cellulases and siderophores, swimming and swarming motility and the ability to form biofilm were assessed for 37 strains exhibiting the greatest oxygen-dependent change in gene expression. Eight mutants expressed decreased ability to cause disease symptoms when inoculated into potato tubers or chicory leaves and three of these also exhibited delayed colonization of potato plants and exhibited tissue specific differences in gene expression in these various host tissues. The genes interrupted in these eight mutants encoded proteins involved in fundamental bacterial metabolism, virulence, bacteriocin and proline transport, while three encoded hypothetical or unknown proteins. The implications of environmental oxygen concentration on the ability of D. solani to cause disease symptoms in potato are discussed.