Sinberger, L. A. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2025

Sex-Based Transcriptomic Differences in Psoriatic Lesions: A Comprehensive Meta-Analysis

Psoriasis, a chronic inflammatory skin disease affecting men and women equally, presents distinct gender-based differences in severity and treatment response. While molecular mechanisms underlying psoriasis are well-studied, sex-specific differences remain largely unexplored. To address this, we conducted a meta-analysis of transcriptomic data from lesional psoriasis skin and healthy controls, comparing male and female cohorts.Our findings reveal 2,760 overlapping differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between sexes, highlighting shared pathways like IL-17 signaling and Th17 differentiation. However, sex-specific pathways emerged, including male-enriched PI3K-Akt signaling and chemokine receptor activity, and female-enriched glycolysis and AHR-NRF2 pathways. Upstream regulator analysis identified sex-specific drivers, including VEGFA activation and CFTR inhibition in males, and AHR activation and FGF21 inhibition in females. Notably, Tregs and neutrophil abundance differed by sex, aligning with disease severity trends. These results highlight critical molecular and cellular disparities, emphasizing the need for personalized, sex-specific therapeutic approaches in psoriasis management. TeaserGender disparities in psoriatic lesions reveal transcriptomic differences and variations in neutrophil cell type abundance.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2024

Differential colonization and succession dynamics of marine bacteria on different plastic polymers

During the past decades since plastic was introduced to the world, marine microorganisms have been adapted for life on marine plastic debris, forming unique plastic-attached microbial communities. To date, little is known about the colonization and succession processes that take place on plastic surfaces in marine environments and how the plastic polymer type affects the plastic-attached microbiome composition. To address this knowledge gap, we examined the colonization and succession dynamics of marine bacteria on four common plastic polymers - PE, PP, PS, and PET-compared to glass and wood in a controlled seawater system under different temperatures. Using a simple experimental design, coupled with a long-read 16S rRNA metabarcoding pipeline and a set of complementary data analyses, we characterized the temporal trends in the composition of the bacterial microbiome developed on different surfaces over 2 - 90 days. By applying weighted gene co-expression network (WGCNA) analysis, we established co-occurrence networks and identified genera with specific succession signatures, significant enrichment on specific plastic polymers and/or strong intra-genus connections. Among them, members of genus Alcanivorax were significantly enriched on either PE or PP plastic surfaces as early as 2 days post-inoculation. Alcanivorax colonization preference to polyolefins was confirmed in colonization assays with pure Alcanivorax strains. Our research approach presented here may contribute to understanding how plastisphere communities are being formed and help identify taxa with specific adaptations to plastic surfaces.

ecology↗