Host-pathogen interaction

The continued rise of drug-resistant bacterial infections heightens a threat of a pandemic of antimicrobial resistance to the global health. The urgency of infection control against antimicrobial-resistant bacteria is evident. Ferroptosis, a newly defined form of iron-dependent cell death characterized by lipid peroxidation, has garnered substantial interest since this programmed cell death was associated with pathophysiological processes of many diseases. Exploring whether ferroptosis could be utilized in infectious diseases holds significant importance for discovering novel antimicrobial approaches...

The emergence of plasmid-mediated tigecycline resistance gene tet(X4) among clinically relevant bacteria has promoted significant concerns, as tigecycline is considered a last-resort drug against serious infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria. We herein focused on the isolation and molecular characterization of tet(X4)-positive Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) in wild bird populations with anthropogenic interaction in Faisalabad, Pakistan. A total of 150 birds including black kites (Milvus migrans) and house crows (Corvus splendens) were screened for the presence of tigecycline resistance K...

The Red Queen Hypothesis (RQH), derived from Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking-Glass", postulates that organisms must continually adapt in response to each other to maintain relative fitness. Within the context of host-pathogen interactions, the RQH implies an evolutionary arms race, wherein viruses evolve to exploit hosts and hosts evolve to resist viral invasion. This study delves into the dynamics of the RQH in the context of virus-cell interactions, specifically focusing on virus receptors and cell receptors...

Kidney regeneration is hindered by the limited pool of intrinsic reparative cells. Advanced therapies targeting renal regeneration have the potential to alleviate the clinical and financial burdens associated with kidney disease. Delivery systems for cells, extracellular vesicles, or growth factors aimed at enhancing regeneration can benefit from vehicles enabling targeted delivery and controlled release. Hydrogels, optimized to carry biological cargo while promoting regeneration, have emerged as promising candidates for this purpose...

The phyllosphere is a vital yet often neglected habitat hosting diverse microorganisms with various functions. However, studies regarding how the composition and functions of the phyllosphere microbiome respond to agricultural practices, like nitrogen fertilization, are limited. This study investigated the effects of long-term nitrogen fertilization with different levels (CK, N90, N210, N330) on the functional genes and pathogens of the rice phyllosphere microbiome. Results showed that the relative abundance of many microbial functional genes in the rice phyllosphere was significantly affected by nitrogen fertilization, especially those involved in C fixation and denitrification genes...

The concept of plant-based protein consumption has been increasing recently because of the growing health consciousness among people. Mung bean is one of the most consumed legumes with a dense nutrient profile. Hence, current research is aimed to study the effect of mung bean protein-based products including mung bean snack (MBS) and textured vegetable protein (TVP) for treatment groups against the control groups, commercial ingredients group consisting of mung bean powder (MBP) and pea powder (PP) and commercial products group include commercial pea texture (cPT) and commercial textured vegetable protein (cTVP) for their proximate composition, digestibility, gut microbial profile and fatty acid metabolite profiling...

Probiotics are defined as "live microorganisms that provide health benefits to the host when administered in adequate amounts." Probiotics have beneficial effects on human health, including antibacterial activity against intestinal pathogens, regulation of blood cholesterol levels, reduction of colitis and inflammation incidence, regulation of the immune system, and prevention of colon cancer. In addition to probiotic bacteria, some phenolic compounds found in foods we consume (both food and beverages) have positive effects on human health...

Copper-doped ZnO nanoparticles with the formula Zn1-x(Cu) O, where x = 0.0, 0.03, 0.05, and 0.07 were produced using the co-precipitation process. Physical, chemical, and structural properties were properly examined. Powdered X-ray diffraction (P-XRD) patterns revealed the formation of hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure in all samples, through atomic substitutional incorporation in the Cu-doped ZnO lattice. The presence of Cu ions and their dissolution in the host ZnO crystal structure was supported by FT-IR spectra...

Nocardia seriolae pathogen causes chronic granulomatous disease, reportedly affecting over 40 species of marine and freshwater cultured fish. Hence, research is required to address and eliminate this significant threat to the aquaculture industry. In this respect, a reliable and reproducible infection model needs to be established to better understand the biology of this pathogen and its interactions with the host during infection, as well as to develop new vaccines or other effective treatment methods. In this study, we examined the pathogenicity of the pathogen and the immune response of snakehead (Channa argus) juvenile to N...

Bacterial extracellular vesicles (BEVs) are naturally occurring bioactive membrane-bound nanoparticles released by both gram-negative and positive bacterial species, exhibiting a multifaceted role in mediating host-microbe interactions across various physiological conditions. Increasing evidence supports BEVs as essential mediators of intercellular exchange, influencing bacterial pathogenicity, disease mechanisms, and modulating the host immune response. However, the extent to which these BEV-mediated actions can be leveraged to predict disease onset, guide treatment strategies, and determine clinical outcomes remains uncertain, particularly in terms of their clinical translation potentials...

To spread within a host, intracellular Burkholderia form actin tails to generate membrane protrusions into neighboring host cells and use type VI secretion system-5 (T6SS-5) to induce cell-cell fusions. Here, we show that B. thailandensis also uses T6SS-5 to lyse protrusions to directly spread from cell to cell. Dynamin-2 recruitment to the membrane near a bacterium was followed by a short burst of T6SS-5 activity. This resulted in the polymerization of the actin of the newly invaded host cell and disruption of the protrusion membrane...

Integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs) play a vital role in bacterial evolution by carrying essential genes that confer adaptive functions to the host. Despite their importance, the mechanism underlying the stable inheritance of ICEs, which is necessary for the acquisition of new traits in bacteria, remains poorly understood. Here, we identified SezAT, a type II toxin-antitoxin (TA) system, and AbiE, a type IV TA system encoded within the ICESsuHN105, coordinately promote ICE stabilization and mediate multidrug resistance in Streptococcus suis...

Prions or prion-like aggregates such as those composed of PrP, α-synuclein, and tau are key features of proteinopathies such as prion, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, respectively. Their presence on solid surfaces may be biohazardous under some circumstances. PrP prions bound to solids are detectable by ultrasensitive real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QuIC) assays if the solids can be immersed in assay wells or transferred to pads. Here we show that PrP prions can remain detectable on steel wires for at least a year, or even after enzymatic cleaning and sterilization...

Proper transcription orchestrated by RNA polymerase II (RNPII) is crucial for cellular development, which is rely on the phosphorylation state of RNPII's carboxyl-terminal domain (CTD). Sporangia, developed from mycelia, are essential for the destructive oomycetes Phytophthora, remarkable transcriptional changes are observed during the morphological transition. However, how these changes are rapidly triggered and their relationship with the versatile RNPII-CTD phosphorylation remain enigmatic. Herein, we found that Phytophthora capsici undergone an elevation of Ser5-phosphorylation in its uncanonical heptapeptide repeats of RNPII-CTD during sporangia development, which subsequently changed the chromosomal occupation of RNPII and primarily activated transcription of certain genes...

Toxocara canis is a parasitic zoonose that is distributed worldwide and is one of the two pathogens causing toxocariasis. After infection, it causes serious public health and safety problems, which pose significant veterinary and medical challenges. To better understand the regulatory effects of T. canis infection on the host immune cells, murine macrophages (RAW264.7) were incubated with recombinant T. canis C-type lectin 4 (rTc-CTL-4) protein in vitro. The quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blot were used to analyze the nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-containing protein 1/2 (NOD1/2), receptor-interacting protein 2 (RIP2), nuclear factor kappa-light-chain enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB), and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) on mRNA level and protein expression level in macrophages...

MTS1338, a distinctive small RNA in pathogenic mycobacteria, plays a crucial role in host-pathogen interactions during infection. Mycobacterial cells encounter heterogeneous stresses in macrophages, which highly upregulate MTS1338. A dormancy regulatory factor DosR regulates the intracellular abundance of MTS1338. Herein, we investigated the interplay of DosR and a low pH-inducible gene regulator PhoP binding to the MTS1338 promoter. We identified that DosR strongly binds to two regions upstream of the MTS1338 gene...

Defenses against oxidative damage to cell components are essential for survival of bacterial pathogens during infection, and here we have uncovered that the DmsABC S-/N-oxide reductase is essential for virulence and in-host survival of the human-adapted pathogen, Haemophilus influenzae . In several different infection models, H. influenzae Δ dmsA strains showed reduced immunogenicity as well as lower levels of survival in contact with host cells. Expression of DmsABC was induced in the presence of hypochlorite and paraquat, closely linking this enzyme to defense against host-produced antimicrobials...

INTRODUCTION: Potato ( Solanum tuberosum L.), the fourth most important food crop in the world, is affected by several viral pathogens with potato virus Y (PVY) having the greatest economic impact. At least nine biologically distinct variants of PVY are known to infect potato. These include the relatively new recombinant types named PVY-NTN and PVYN-Wi, which induce tuber necrosis in susceptible cultivars. To date, the molecular plant-virus interactions underlying this pathogenicity have not been fully characterized...

INTRODUCTION: There is an emerging body of evidence that vitamin C consumption can modulate microbiota abundance and can also impact DNA methylation in the host, and this could be a link between diet, microbiota, and immune response. The objective of this study was to evaluate common CpG sites associated with both vitamin C and microbiota phyla abundance. METHODS: Six healthy women participated in this cohort study. They were divided into two groups, according to the amount of vitamin C they ingested...

Dispersal evolution modifies diverse spatial processes, such as range expansions or biological invasions of single species, but we are currently lacking a realistic vision for metacommunities. Focusing on antagonistic species interactions, we review existing theory of dispersal evolution between natural enemies, and explain how this might be relevant for classic themes in host-parasite evolutionary ecology, namely virulence evolution or local adaptation. Specifically, we highlight the importance of considering the simultaneous (co)evolution of dispersal and interaction traits...