Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Article Title: Human genetic variation in VAC14 regulates Salmonella invasion and typhoid fever through modulation of cholesterol
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1706070114
Figure Lengend Snippet: Loss-of-function studies and complementation indicate that VAC14 limits Salmonella invasion. (A) Reduction of VAC14 expression in LCLs by RNAi increases S. Typhi invasion. Percentages of S. Typhi invasion of 18,507 LCLs (YRI population) treated with either nontargeting (NT) or VAC14 siRNA demonstrated increased invasion with VAC14 depletion (P = 0.008). Data shown are the mean ± SEM of three experiments. Quantification of three Western blots of VAC14 knockdown showed 40% reduction in VAC14 protein levels (P = 0.01). (B) Reduction of VAC14 expression in HeLa cells by RNAi increased S. Typhi invasion. Shown are percentages of S. Typhi invasion in HeLa cells treated with either NT or VAC14 siRNA (P = 0.02). Data shown are the mean ± SEM from four experiments. (C) Representative Western blot of VAC14 protein demonstrated endogenous protein levels (WT), effective RNAi (siRNA VAC14), CRISPR knockout (vac14−/−), and plasmid overexpression (pVAC14) in HeLa cells. Protein extracted from each lane was collected from 300,000 cells, and α-tubulin was used as a loading control. Values below the blots show the mean ± SEM of three Western blots. (D) vac14−/− HeLa cells contain enlarged vacuoles, and transfection of pVAC14 rescued the vacuolated phenotype. Asterisks in the phase image denote cells that are transiently transfected with pVAC14-GFP. (E) Quantified (n = 100) vacuole-containing vac14−/− HeLa cells transfected with pVAC14-GFP demonstrated complementation (P = 0.001). (F) Complete loss of VAC14 protein expression in HeLa cells by CRISPR/Cas9 mutation increased S. Typhi invasion. S. Typhi invasion percentages demonstrated increased invasion in vac14−/− compared with WT cells (P = 0.005). Data shown are the mean ± SEM from four experiments. (G) Increase in Salmonella invasion is inversely correlated with VAC14 depletion (P = 0.05, r = −0.88). Increases in invasion percentage and the percentage of VAC14 protein depletion are calculated relative to Salmonella invasion with the GG allele in LCLs, NT siRNA controls, or WT HeLa cell controls. (H) Transient transfection of pVAC14 in vac14−/− cells complements invasion phenotype (P = 0.02). Data shown are the mean ± SEM from five experiments. All P values are calculated from paired t tests.
Article Snippet: Expression levels were assessed by Western blot for human vac14 (1:500) (SAB4200074; Sigma).
Techniques: Expressing, Western Blot, CRISPR, Knock-Out, Plasmid Preparation, Over Expression, Transfection, Mutagenesis