Combined transcriptome sequencing of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and infected pig lung tissue

In this project we aimed to perform dual mRNA sequencing on M. hyopneumoniae infection using whole tissue and lung flush RNA extracts. To assess bacterial transcriptome changes during infection, we developed a sampling method to isolate sufficient quantities of bacterial RNA from lung flushes and compared the transcriptome of M. hyopneumoniae during in vivo growth to culture grown (in vitro) cells. We analyzed the host response to infection by transcriptome comparison of infected tissue mRNA with non-infected tissue mRNA. In this project unique insight was gained in the bacterial in vivo transcriptome which could be used to further develop novel vaccine candidates or treatment strategies.