Expression data from primary bovine mammary epithelial cells (pbMEC) challenged with heat inactivated E. coli and S. aureus particles

Infections of the udder by Escherichia coli very often elicit acute inflammation, while Staphylococcus aureus infections tend to cause mild, subclinical inflammation and persistent infections. The molecular causes undercovering the different disease patterns are poorly understood. We therefore profiled kinetics and extent of global changes in the transcriptome of primary bovine mammary epithelia cells (MEC) subsequent to challenging them with heat inactivated preparations of E. coli or S. aureus pathogens. E. coli swiftly and strongly induced expression of cytokines and bactericidal factors. S. aureus elicited a retarded response and failed to quickly induce expression of bactericidal factors. Both pathogens induced a similar pattern of chemokines for cell recruitment into the udder, but E. coli stimulated their synthesis much faster and stronger. The genes which are exclusively and most strongly up-regulated by E. coli may be clustered into a regulatory network with Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a) and Interleukin 1 (IL-1) in a central position. In contrast, the expression of these master cytokines is barely regulated by S. aureus. Both pathogens quickly trigger enhanced expression of IL-6. This is still possible after completely abrogating MyD88 dependent TLR-signalling in MEC. The E. coli specific strong induction of TNF-a and IL-1 expression may be causative for the severe inflammatory symptoms of animals suffering from E. coli mastitis while avoidance to quickly induce synthesis of bactericidal factors may support persistent survival of S. aureus within the udder. We suggest that S. aureus subverts MyD88-dependent activation of immune gene expression in MEC.

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Günther J, Esch K, Poschadel N, Petzl W, Zerbe H, Mitterhuemer S, Blum H, Seyfert HM