Effect of in vitro co-culturing of Lactobacillus crispatus on gene expression of Enterococcus faecalis OG1RF

Enterococci are opportunistic pathogens notorious for causing a variety of infections. While both Enterococcus faecalis and Lactobacillus crispatus are commensal residents of the vaginal tract, the molecular mechanisms that enable E. faecalis to outcompete L. crispatus, and consequently cause vaginal infections remains unknown. To begin to address this, we need to gain a better understanding of the competitive interactions between E. faecalis and L. crispatus. Here, we employed a RNAseq approach to identify adaptive genes and transcriptional networks that enable E. faecalis to compete with L. crispatus. Single species E. faecalis biofilms and Transwell co-cultured E. faecalis and L.crispatus biofilms are grown for 24 hrs in MRS media, and then RNA was isolated for RNA-seq differential gene expression analysis