A Systems Biology Analysis of Aspergillus fumigatus Genome Exhibits Specific Gene Expression Patterns in Exposure to Human Blood Platelets

Arghavan, Bahareh; Borna, Hojat; Arabfard, Masoud

doi:10.30491/jabr.2024.461566.1742

A Systems Biology Analysis of Aspergillus fumigatus Genome Exhibits Specific Gene Expression Patterns in Exposure to Human Blood Platelets

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Bahareh Arghavan ¹

Hojat Borna ²

Masoud Arabfard ³

¹ Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Abadan University of Medical Sciences, Abadan, Iran

² Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran

³ Chemical Injuries Research Center, Systems Biology and Poisonings Institute, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran

10.30491/jabr.2024.461566.1742

Abstract

Introduction: Aspergillus fumigatus is an opportunistic filamentous fungus and is currently the most frequent cause of invasive aspergillosis, being the most common life-threatening opportunistic invasive mold infection in immunocompromised individuals. Understanding the genetic expression patterns of pathogens during feeding provides key insights for addressing such phenomena. As a complex nutrition source containing lipids, amino acids, and nucleotides, platelets appear to be a rich food source for microorganisms.
Materials and Methods: Using systems biology approaches, this study investigated the primary genes responsible for Aspergillus fumigatus behavior alteration during platelet exposure. The genes and corresponding modules were identified based on weighted gene co-expression network analysis.
Results: Differential Gene Expression analysis studies revealed that nine genes were downregulated, while 60 genes were upregulated. Weighted Gene Co-expression Network analysis identified non-preserved gene modules that showed highly altered genes over time steps. Gene Ontology studies based on Weighted Gene Co-expression Network analysis indicated that significant alterations occurred in molecular biological processes, including glycine, serine, and threonine metabolism, aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis, ABC transporters, RNA transport, ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis, transmembrane transport, and carbohydrate metabolic processes.
Conclusions: Our functional analysis highlighted a new research direction in the systems biology of Aspergillus fumigatus. This insight into invasive aspergillosis could also guide researchers towards novel platelet-based therapies involving molecular interventions.

Keywords

WGCNA

Aspergillus fumigatus

Platelet

Differentially Expressed Genes

Systems Biology