Human macrophage-Leishmania infectome

The goal of this study is to simultaneously interrogate host and parasite gene expression programs in human macrophages infected with the intracellular parasites from the genus Leishmania. We conducted high-resolution sequencing of the transcriptomes of human macrophages infected with Leishmania spp. using an RNA-seq approach. An array of computational tools was applied to map reads to the Leishmania and human genomes and reconstruct full-length transcripts. mRNA abundance was determined for Leishmania and human genes at various time points post-infection, enabling us to identify co-expression patterns that correlate with the biology of the parasite and to obtain a preliminary analysis of the dynamic nature of parasite and host cell gene expression programs in the context of infection. This study provides a solid framework for future functional and genomic studies of leishmaniasis as well as intracellular pathogenesis in general.