Emma Slack

Last Name

Slack

First Name

Emma

ORCID

0000-0002-2473-1145

Organisational unit

09640 - Wetter Slack, Emma / Wetter Slack, Emma

Show all metadata

Search Results

Publications1 - 10 of 85

Systemic antibody responses to gut commensal bacteria during chronic HIV-1 infection
Haas, Anna; Zimmermann, Kathrin; Graw, Frederik; et al. (2011)
Gut
NADPH Oxidase Deficient Mice Develop Colitis and Bacteremia upon Infection with Normally Avirulent, TTSS-1- and TTSS-2-Deficient Salmonella Typhimurium
Felmy, Boas; Songhet, Pascal; Slack, Emma; et al. (2013)
PLoS ONE
Infections, microbe sampling and occasional leakage of commensal microbiota and their products across the intestinal epithelial cell layer represent a permanent challenge to the intestinal immune system. The production of reactive oxygen species by NADPH oxidase is thought to be a key element of defense. Patients suffering from chronic granulomatous disease are deficient in one of the subunits of NADPH oxidase. They display a high incidence of Crohn’s disease-like intestinal inflammation and are hyper-susceptible to infection with fungi and bacteria, including a 10-fold increased risk of Salmonellosis. It is not completely understood which steps of the infection process are affected by the NADPH oxidase deficiency. We employed a mouse model for Salmonella diarrhea to study how NADPH oxidase deficiency (Cybb−/−) affects microbe handling by the large intestinal mucosa. In this animal model, wild type S. Typhimurium causes pronounced enteropathy in wild type mice. In contrast, an avirulent S. Typhimurium mutant (S.Tmavir; invGsseD), which lacks virulence factors boosting trans-epithelial penetration and growth in the lamina propria, cannot cause enteropathy in wild type mice. We found that Cybb−/− mice are efficiently infected by S.Tmavir and develop enteropathy by day 4 post infection. Cell depletion experiments and infections in Cybb−/−Myd88−/− mice indicated that the S.Tmavir-inflicted disease in Cybb−/− mice hinges on CD11c+CX3CR1+ monocytic phagocytes mediating colonization of the cecal lamina propria and on Myd88-dependent proinflammatory immune responses. Interestingly, in mixed bone marrow chimeras a partial reconstitution of Cybb-proficiency in the bone marrow derived compartment was sufficient to ameliorate disease severity. Our data indicate that NADPH oxidase expression is of key importance for restricting the growth of S.Tmavir in the mucosal lamina propria. This provides important insights into microbe handling by the large intestinal mucosa and the role of NADPH oxidase in maintaining microbe-host mutualism at this exposed body surface.
Inflammation boosts bacteriophage transfer between Salmonella spp
Diard, Médéric; Bakkeren, Erik; Cornuault, Jeffrey K.; et al. (2017)
Science
Reversible microbial colonization of germ-free mice reveals the dynamics of IgA immune responses
Hapfelmeier, Siegfried; Lawson, Melissa A.E.; Slack, Emma; et al. (2010)
Science
Breathprints of the Barn: The Future of Livestock Research and Monitoring with Exhalomics
Niu, Mutian; Arshad, Usman; Md Zakirul, Islam; et al. (2026)
Annual Review of Animal Biosciences
Livestock farming faces increasing demands for sustainability and improved animal welfare. Noninvasive approaches for monitoring animal health and physiology are of growing interest. Exhaled breath analysis, or exhalomics, has emerged as a promising tool for detecting volatile organic compounds and gases associated with metabolism, disease states, physiological processes, and microbiome in livestock. This review synthesizes current advancements in breath sampling and analytical technologies and evaluates applications in disease diagnostics, nutritional assessment, and physiological and microbial profiling across livestock species. Although progress is evident, key challenges remain, including sampling variability, incomplete metabolite annotation, and limited scalability for field use. Future efforts should prioritize standardizing protocols; expanding livestock-specific spectral libraries; and developing affordable, real-time sensors for on-farm deployment. Integrating exhalomics with multi-omics and artificial intelligence–driven analytics holds potential to enable earlier disease detection, improve production efficiency, and reduce environmental impacts, ultimately advancing precision livestock farming and animal welfare over the coming decade.
Salmonella Typhimurium screen identifies shifts in mixed-acid fermentation during gut colonization
Nguyen, Bidong D.; Sintsova, Anna; Schubert, Christopher; et al. (2024)
Cell Host & Microbe
How enteric pathogens adapt their metabolism to a dynamic gut environment is not yet fully understood. To investigate how Salmonella enterica Typhimurium (S.Tm) colonizes the gut, we conducted an in vivo transposon mutagenesis screen in a gnotobiotic mouse model. Our data implicate mixed-acid fermentation in efficient gut-luminal growth and energy conservation throughout infection. During initial growth, the pathogen utilizes acetate fermentation and fumarate respiration. After the onset of gut inflammation, hexoses appear to become limiting, as indicated by carbohydrate analytics and the increased need for gluconeogenesis. In response, S.Tm adapts by ramping up ethanol fermentation for redox balancing and supplying the TCA cycle with α-ketoglutarate for additional energy. Our findings illustrate how S.Tm flexibly adapts mixed fermentation and its use of the TCA cycle to thrive in the changing gut environment. Similar metabolic wiring in other pathogenic Enterobacteriaceae may suggest a broadly conserved mechanism for gut colonization.
Non-invasive monitoring of microbiota and host metabolism using secondary electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry
Lan, Jiayi; Greter, Giorgia; Streckenbach, Bettina; et al. (2023)
Cell Reports Methods
The metabolic “handshake” between the microbiota and its mammalian host is a complex, dynamic process with major influences on health. Dissecting the interaction between microbial species and metabolites found in host tissues has been a challenge due to the requirement for invasive sampling. Here, we demonstrate that secondary electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (SESI-MS) can be used to non-invasively monitor metabolic activity of the intestinal microbiome of a live, awake mouse. By comparing the headspace metabolome of individual gut bacterial culture with the “volatilome” (metabolites released to the atmosphere) of gnotobiotic mice, we demonstrate that the volatilome is characteristic of the dominant colonizing bacteria. Combining SESI-MS with feeding heavy-isotope-labeled microbiota-accessible sugars reveals the presence of microbial cross-feeding within the animal intestine. The microbiota is, therefore, a major contributor to the volatilome of a living animal, and it is possible to capture inter-species interaction within the gut microbiota using volatilome monitoring.
Growing, evolving and sticking in a flowing environment: understanding IgA interactions with bacteria in the gut
Hoces Burga, Daniel Alexander; Arnoldini, Markus; Diard, Médéric; et al. (2020)
Immunology
Immunology research in the last 50 years has made huge progress in understanding the mechanisms of anti-bacterial defense of deep, normally sterile, tissues such as blood, spleen and peripheral lymph nodes. In the intestine, with its dense commensal microbiota, it seems rare that this knowledge can be simply translated. Here we put forward the idea that perhaps it is not always the theory of immunology that is lacking to explain mucosal immunity, but rather that we have overlooked crucial parts of the mucosal immunological language required for its translation: namely intestinal and bacterial physiology. We will try to explain this in the context of intestinal secretory antibodies (mainly secretory IgA), which have been described to prevent, to alter, to not affect, or to promote colonization of the intestine and gut-draining lymphoid tissues, and where effector mechanisms have remained elusive. In fact, these apparently contradictory outcomes can be generated by combining the basic premises of bacterial agglutination with an understanding of bacterial growth (i.e. secretory IgA-driven enchained growth), fluid handling and bacterial competition in the gut lumen.
In vitro and in vivo selection and cost of bacteriophage resistance on natural Escherichia coli
Cardoso, Luís Leónidas; Gaissmaier, Marla Sofie; von Strempel, Alexandra; et al. (2025)
microLife
Bacteriophages are a promising tool for treating bacterial infections, given the rise and spread of antibiotic resistances. However, phage-resistant bacteria can emerge during treatment, jeopardizing the success of therapy. In vitro studies with model organisms have provided valuable insights into the mechanisms by which phage resistance can evolve. However, the relevance of these findings often remains unclear. Here, we investigate the selection of phage-resistant variants and the cost of phage resistance in vitro and in the murine gut using a clinically relevant Escherichia coli K1 strain and a strain-specific phage cocktail. By performing experimental evolution studies in both settings, we obtained different phage-resistant E. coli mutants. Genome resequencing identified lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and the K1 capsule as bacterial surface structures altered in phage-resistant mutants. Targeted deletions of waaO, encoding an ɑ-1,3 glucosyltransferase, involved in the synthesis of the R core of LPS, a gene encoding a predicted O-antigen ligase and emrR involved in capsule gene regulation were generated and confirmed their role in phage-resistance. Escherichia coli mutants deficient in LPS or capsule showed a growth advantage in vitro when exposed to phages but LPS-deficient mutants exhibited severely attenuated growth in the murine gut, even in the presence of phages. Our observations add to the evidence that bacteria in the intestinal environment face a high cost of phage resistance conferred by cell surface alteration, which is not apparent in nutrient-rich culture media. Therefore, it is crucial to carefully consider the context in which phage cocktails are tested, particularly when studying phage efficacy and evolution of phage resistance.
Syk- and CARD9-dependent coupling of innate immunity to the induction of T helper cells that produce interleukin 17
LeibundGut-Landmann, Salomé; Gross, Olaf; Robinson, Matthew J.; et al. (2007)
Nature Immunology

Publications1 - 10 of 85

Emma Slack

Last Name

First Name

ORCID

Organisational unit

Filters

Search Results