effector evolution

The compact design of an environmentally adaptive battery and effectors forms the foundation for wearable electronics capable of time-resolved, long-term signal monitoring. Herein, we present a one-body strategy that utilizes a hydrogel as the ionic conductive medium for both flexible aqueous zinc-ion batteries and wearable strain sensors. The poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogel network incorporates nano-SiO2 and cellulose nanofibers (referred to as PSC) in an ethylene glycol/water mixed solvent, balancing the mechanical properties (tensile strength of 6 MPa) and ionic diffusivity at -20 °C (2 orders of magnitude higher than 2 M ZnCl2 electrolyte)...

Multiple myeloma (MM), a stage-developed plasma cell malignancy, evolves from monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) or smoldering MM (SMM). Emerging therapies including immunomodulatory drugs, proteasome inhibitors, monoclonal antibodies, chimeric antigen-T/natural killer (NK) cells, bispecific T-cell engagers, selective inhibitors of nuclear export, and small-molecule targeted therapy have considerably improved patient survival. However, MM remains incurable owing to inevitable drug resistance and post-relapse rapid progression...

B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA), expressed in plasmablasts and plasma cells, could serve as a promising therapeutic target for autoimmune diseases. We reported here chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells targeting BCMA in two patients with highly relapsed and refractory myasthenia gravis (one with AChR-IgG, and one with MuSk-IgG). Both patients exhibited favorable safety profiles and persistent clinical improvements over 18 months. Reconstitution of B-cell lineages with sustained reduced pathogenic autoantibodies might underlie the therapeutic efficacy...

Crop breeding for durable disease resistance is challenging due to the rapid evolution of pathogen virulence. While progress in resistance (R) gene cloning and stacking has accelerated in recent years1-3 , the identification of corresponding avirulence (Avr) genes in many pathogens is hampered by the lack of high-throughput screening options. To address this technology gap, we developed a platform for pooled library screening in plant protoplasts to allow rapid identification of interacting R-Avr pairs. We validated this platform by isolating known and novel Avr genes from wheat stem rust (Puccinia graminis f...

Many pathogens evolved compartmentalized genomes with conserved core and variable accessory regions (ARs) that carry effector genes mediating virulence. The fungal plant pathogen Fusarium oxysporum has such ARs, often spanning entire chromosomes. The presence of specific ARs influences the host range, and horizontal transfer of ARs can modify the pathogenicity of the receiving strain. However, how these ARs evolve in strains that infect the same host remains largely unknown. We defined the pan-genome of 69 diverse F...

Alphaviruses can replicate in arthropods and in many vertebrate species including humankind, but only in vertebrate cells do infections with these viruses result in a strong inhibition of host translation and transcription. Translation shutoff by alphaviruses is a multifactorial process that involves both host- and virus-induced mechanisms, and some of them are not completely understood. Alphavirus genomes contain cis-acting elements (RNA structures and dinucleotide composition) and encode protein activities that promote the translational and transcriptional resistance to type I IFN-induced antiviral effectors...

Citrus target spot, caused by Pseudofabraea citricarpa , was formerly considered a cold-tolerant fungal disease. However, it has now spread from high-latitude regions to warmer low-latitude regions. Here, we conducted physiological observations on two different strains of the fungus collected from distinct regions, and evaluated their pathogenicity. Interestingly, the CQWZ collected from a low-latitude orchard, exhibited higher temperature tolerance and pathogenicity when compared to the SXCG collected from a high-latitude orchard...

There is an urgent need for novel protection strategies to sustainably secure crop production under changing climates. Studying microbial effectors, defined as microbe-derived proteins that alter signalling inside plant cells, has advanced our understanding of plant immunity and microbial plant colonisation strategies. Our understanding of effectors in the establishment and beneficial outcome of plant symbioses is less well known. Combining functional and comparative interaction assays uncovered specific symbiont effector targets in highly interconnected plant signalling networks and revealed the potential of effectors in beneficially modulating plant traits...

The interactions between tumor and immune cells along the course of breast cancer progression remain largely unknown. Here, we extensively characterize multiple sequential and parallel multiregion tumor and blood specimens of an index patient and a cohort of metastatic triple-negative breast cancers. We demonstrate that a continuous increase in tumor genomic heterogeneity and distinct molecular clocks correlated with resistance to treatment, eventually allowing tumors to escape from immune control. TCR repertoire loses diversity over time, leading to convergent evolution as breast cancer progresses...

Viruses represent a major threat for all animals, which defend themselves through induction of a large set of virus-stimulated genes that collectively control the infection. In vertebrates, these genes include interferons that play a critical role in the amplification of the response to infection. Virus- and interferon-stimulated genes include restriction factors targeting the different steps of the viral replication cycle, in addition to molecules associated with inflammation and adaptive immunity. Predictably, antiviral genes evolve dynamically in response to viral pressure...

BACKGROUND: Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum species complex (RSSC) is one of the devastating diseases in crop production, seriously reducing the yield of crops. R. pseudosolanacearum, is known for its broad infrasubspecific diversity and comprises 36 sequevars that are currently known. Previous studies found that R. pseudosolanacearum contained four sequevars (13, 14, 17 and 54) isolated from sunflowers sown in the same field. RESULTS: Here, we provided the complete genomes and the results of genome comparison of the four sequevars strains (RS639, RS642, RS647, and RS650)...

Orthonectida is a group of multicellular endoparasites of a wide range of marine invertebrates. Their parasitic stage is a multinuclear shapeless plasmodium infiltrating host tissues. The development of the following worm-like sexual generation takes place within the cytoplasm of the plasmodium. The existence of the plasmodial stage and the development of a sexual stage within the plasmodium are unique features to Bilateria. However, the molecular mechanisms that maintain this peculiar organism, and hence enable parasitism in orthonectids, are unknown...

Fifty years of research has transformed our understanding of bacterial movement from one of description, based on a limited number of electron micrographs and some low-magnification studies of cells moving towards or away from chemical effectors, to probably the best understood behavioural system in biology. We have a molecular understanding of how bacteria sense and respond to changes in their environment and detailed structural insights into the workings of one of the most complex motor structures we know of...

Neutrophils are a highly heterogenous cellular population. However, a thorough examination of the different transcriptional neutrophil states between health and malignancy, has not been performed. We utilised single-cell RNA-sequencing of human and murine datasets, both publicly available and independently generated, to identify neutrophil transcriptomic subtypes and developmental lineages in health and malignancy. Datasets of lung, breast and colorectal cancer (CRC) were integrated to establish and validate neutrophil gene-signatures...

The Aegilops tauschii resistant accession prevented the pathogen colonization by controlling the sugar flow and triggering the hypersensitive reaction. This study suggested that NBS-LRRs probably induce resistance through bHLH by controlling JA- and SA-dependent pathways. Stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst) is one of wheat's most destructive fungal diseases that causes a severe yield reduction worldwide. The most effective and economically-friendly strategy to manage this disease is genetic resistance which can be achieved through deploying new and effective resistance genes...

The phylotypic or intermediate stages are thought to be the most evolutionary conserved stages throughout embryonic development. The contrast with divergent early and later stages derived in the concept of the evo-devo hourglass model. Nonetheless, this developmental constraint has been studied as a whole embryo process, not at organ level. In this review, we explore brain development to assess the existence of an equivalent brain developmental hourglass. In the specific case of vertebrates, we propose to split the brain developmental stages into: 1) Early: Neurulation, when the neural tube arises after gastrulation...

Obligate intracellular malaria parasites dramatically remodel their erythrocyte host through effector protein export to create a niche for survival. Most exported proteins contain a pentameric <u>P</u>lasmodium <u>ex</u>port <u>el</u>ement (PEXEL)/host-targeting motif that is cleaved in the parasite ER by the aspartic protease Plasmepsin V (PMV). This processing event exposes a mature N terminus required for translocation into the host cell and is not known to occur in non-exported proteins...

Generation of functional CD8 + T cell memory typically requires engagement of CD4 + T cells. However, in certain scenarios, such as acutely-resolving viral infections, effector (T E ) and subsequent memory (T M ) CD8 + T cell formation appear impervious to a lack of CD4 + T cell help during priming. Nonetheless, such "helpless" CD8 + T M respond poorly to pathogen rechallenge. At present, the origin and long-term evolution of helpless CD8 + T cell memory remain incompletely understood. Here, we demonstrate that helpless CD8 + T E differentiation is largely normal but a multiplicity of helpless CD8 T M defects, consistent with impaired memory maturation, emerge as a consequence of prolonged yet finite exposure to cognate antigen...

The order Rickettsiales (Alphaproteobacteria) encompasses multiple diverse lineages of host-associated bacteria, including pathogens, reproductive manipulators, and mutualists. Here, in order to understand how intracellularity and host association originated in this order, and whether they are ancestral or convergently evolved characteristics, we built a large and phylogenetically-balanced dataset that includes de novo sequenced genomes and a selection of published genomic and metagenomic assemblies. We perform detailed functional reconstructions that clearly indicates "late" and parallel evolution of obligate host-association in different Rickettsiales lineages...

A key adaptation of plants to life on land is the formation of water-conducting cells (WCCs) for efficient long-distance water transport. Based on morphological analyses it is thought that WCCs have evolved independently on multiple occasions. For example, WCCs have been lost in all but a few lineages of bryophytes but, strikingly, within the liverworts a derived group, the complex thalloids, has evolved a novel externalized water-conducting tissue composed of reinforced, hollow cells termed pegged rhizoids...