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Chromatin-Associated Protein Complexes Link DNA Base J and Transcription Termination in Leishmania mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-24 Bryan C. Jensen, Isabelle Q. Phan, Jacquelyn R. McDonald, Aakash Sur, Mark A. Gillespie, Jeffrey A. Ranish, Marilyn Parsons, Peter J. Myler, William J. Sullivan
Unlike most other eukaryotes, Leishmania and other trypanosomatid protozoa have largely eschewed transcriptional control of gene expression, relying instead on posttranscriptional regulation of mRNAs derived from polycistronic transcription units (PTUs). In these parasites, a novel modified nucleotide base (β-d-glucopyranosyloxymethyluracil) known as J plays a critical role in ensuring that transcription
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Primer, Pipelines, Parameters: Issues in 16S rRNA Gene Sequencing mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-24 Isabel Abellan-Schneyder, Monica S. Matchado, Sandra Reitmeier, Alina Sommer, Zeno Sewald, Jan Baumbach, Markus List, Klaus Neuhaus, Susannah Green Tringe
Short-amplicon 16S rRNA gene sequencing is currently the method of choice for studies investigating microbiomes. However, comparative studies on differences in procedures are scarce. We sequenced human stool samples and mock communities with increasing complexity using a variety of commonly used protocols. Short amplicons targeting different variable regions (V-regions) or ranges thereof (V1-V2, V1-V3
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Antibody Response against SARS-CoV-2 and Seasonal Coronaviruses in Nonhospitalized COVID-19 Patients mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-24 Natalia Ruetalo, Ramona Businger, Karina Althaus, Simon Fink, Felix Ruoff, Michaela Pogoda, Angelika Iftner, Tina Ganzenmüller, Klaus Hamprecht, Bertram Flehmig, Tamam Bakchoul, Markus F. Templin, Michael Schindler, Helene F. Rosenberg
The majority of infections with SARS-CoV-2 are asymptomatic or mild without the necessity of hospitalization. It is of importance to reveal if these patients develop an antibody response against SARS-CoV-2 and to define which antibodies confer virus neutralization. We conducted a comprehensive serological survey of 49 patients with a mild course of disease and quantified neutralizing antibody responses
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An Expanded Gene Catalog of Mouse Gut Metagenomes mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-24 Jiahui Zhu, Huahui Ren, Huanzi Zhong, Xiaoping Li, Yuanqiang Zou, Mo Han, Minli Li, Lise Madsen, Karsten Kristiansen, Liang Xiao, Maria L. Marco
High-quality and comprehensive reference gene catalogs are essential for metagenomic research. The rather low diversity of samples used to construct existing catalogs of the mouse gut metagenome limits the numbers of identified genes in existing catalogs. We therefore established an expanded catalog of genes in the mouse gut metagenome (EMGC) containing >5.8 million genes by integrating 88 newly sequenced
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Streptococcus pneumoniae, S. mitis, and S. oralis Produce a Phosphatidylglycerol-Dependent, ltaS-Independent Glycerophosphate-Linked Glycolipid mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-24 Yahan Wei, Luke R. Joyce, Ashley M. Wall, Ziqiang Guan, Kelli L. Palmer, Craig D. Ellermeier
Lipoteichoic acid (LTA) is a Gram-positive bacterial cell surface polymer that participates in host-microbe interactions. It was previously reported that the major human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae and the closely related oral commensals S. mitis and S. oralis produce type IV LTAs. Herein, using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry-based lipidomic analysis, we found that in addition to type
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Outer Membrane Structural Defects in Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium Affect Neutrophil Chemokinesis but Not Chemotaxis mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-24 Eric J. Leaman, Alvin Aung, Alexie J. Jacques, Bahareh Behkam, Sarah E. F. D'Orazio
Neutrophils, the first line of defense against pathogens, are critical in the host response to acute and chronic infections. In Gram-negative pathogens, the bacterial outer membrane (OM) is a key mediator of pathogen detection; nonetheless, the effects of variations in its molecular structure on the neutrophil migratory response to bacteria remain largely unknown. Here, we developed a quantitative
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The Cytospora chrysosperma Virulence Effector CcCAP1 Mainly Localizes to the Plant Nucleus To Suppress Plant Immune Responses mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-24 Zhu Han, Dianguang Xiong, Zhiye Xu, Tingli Liu, Chengming Tian, Aaron P. Mitchell
Canker disease is caused by the fungus Cytospora chrysosperma and damages a wide range of woody plants, causing major losses to crops and native plants. Plant pathogens secrete virulence-related effectors into host cells during infection to regulate plant immunity and promote colonization. However, the functions of C. chrysosperma effectors remain largely unknown. In this study, we used Agrobacterium
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Tuberculosis under the Influence of COVID-19 Lockdowns: Lessons from Tehran, Iran mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-24 Mansour Kargarpour Kamakoli, Shima Hadifar, Sharareh Khanipour, Ghazaleh Farmanfarmaei, Abolfazl Fateh, Shayan Mostafaei, Seyed Davar Siadat, Farzam Vaziri, Michael J. Imperiale
This study investigates the short-term effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic lockdown on tracing and detection of tuberculosis (TB) patients in Tehran, Iran. Results of this study have demonstrated that due to the significant decrease in the identification of patients with suspected TB during the COVID-19 outbreak in Tehran, it is imperative that patients with suspected TB be
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Light Capture, Skeletal Morphology, and the Biomass of Corals Boring Endoliths mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-24 A. J. Fordyce, T. D. Ainsworth, W. Leggat, Katherine McMahon
There is a growing interest in the endolithic microbial biofilms inhabiting skeletons of living corals because of their contribution to coral reef bioerosion and the reputed benefits they provide to live coral hosts. Here, we sought to identify possible correlations between coral interspecific patterns in skeletal morphology and variability in the biomass of, and chlorophyll concentrations within,
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Transcription Repressor Protein ZBTB25 Associates with HDAC1-Sin3a Complex in Mycobacterium tuberculosis-Infected Macrophages, and Its Inhibition Clears Pathogen by Autophagy mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-24 Aravind Madhavan, K. B. Arun, Akhil Raj Pushparajan, M. Balaji, Ramakrishnan Ajay Kumar, Christina L. Stallings
Downregulation of host gene expression is a key strategy employed by intracellular pathogens for their survival in macrophages and subsequent pathogenesis. In a previous study, we have shown that histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) levels go up in macrophages infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and it hypoacetylates histone H3 at the promoter of IL-12B gene, leading to its downregulation. We now show
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Why Are Viruses Spiked? mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-17 Chongyang Shen, Scott A. Bradford, Michael J. Imperiale
Many viruses, such as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), have a structure consisting of spikes protruding from an underlying spherical surface. Research in biological and colloidal sciences has revealed secrets of why spikes exist on virus surfaces. Specifically, the spikes favor virus attachment on surfaces via receptor-specific interactions
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Genetic Modification of Sodalis Species by DNA Transduction mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-17 Chelsea M. Keller, Christopher G. Kendra, Roberto E. Bruna, David Craft, Mauricio H. Pontes, Barbara J. Campbell
Bacteriophages (phages) are ubiquitous in nature. These viruses play a number of central roles in microbial ecology and evolution by, for instance, promoting horizontal gene transfer (HGT) among bacterial species. The ability of phages to mediate HGT through transduction has been widely exploited as an experimental tool for the genetic study of bacteria. As such, bacteriophage P1 represents a prototypical
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Aspergillus fumigatus Strain-Specific Conidia Lung Persistence Causes an Allergic Broncho-Pulmonary Aspergillosis-Like Disease Phenotype mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-17 Jane T. Jones, Ko-Wei Liu, Xi Wang, Caitlin H. Kowalski, Brandon S. Ross, Kathleen A. M. Mills, Joshua D. Kerkaert, Tobias M. Hohl, Lotus A. Lofgren, Jason E. Stajich, Joshua J. Obar, Robert A. Cramer, Aaron P. Mitchell
Aspergillus fumigatus is a filamentous fungus which can cause multiple diseases in humans. Allergic broncho-pulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) is a disease diagnosed primarily in cystic fibrosis patients caused by a severe allergic response often to long-term A. fumigatus colonization in the lungs. Mice develop an allergic response to repeated inhalation of A. fumigatus spores; however, no strains have
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Genomic Background Governs Opposing Responses to Nalidixic Acid upon Megaplasmid Acquisition in Pseudomonas mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-17 David A. Baltrus, Caitlin Smith, MacKenzie Derrick, Courtney Leligdon, Zoe Rosenthal, Madison Mollico, Andrew Moore, Meara Clark, Katherine McMahon
Horizontal gene transfer is a significant driver of evolutionary dynamics across microbial populations. Although the benefits of the acquisition of new genetic material are often quite clear, experiments across systems have demonstrated that gene transfer events can cause significant phenotypic changes and entail fitness costs in a way that is dependent on the genomic and environmental context. Here
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Engineering a Cysteine-Deficient Functional Candida albicans Cdr1 Molecule Reveals a Conserved Region at the Cytosolic Apex of ABCG Transporters Important for Correct Folding and Trafficking of Cdr1 mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-10 Golnoush Madani, Erwin Lamping, Richard D. Cannon, Aaron P. Mitchell
Pleiotropic drug resistance (PDR) ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters of the ABCG family are eukaryotic membrane proteins that pump an array of compounds across organelle and cell membranes. Overexpression of the archetype fungal PDR transporter Cdr1 is a major cause of azole antifungal drug resistance in Candida albicans, a significant fungal pathogen that can cause life-threatening invasive infections
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Glucan Unmasking Identifies Regulators of Temperature-Induced Translatome Reprogramming in C. neoformans mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-10 Amanda L. M. Bloom, David Goich, Corey M. Knowles, John C. Panepinto, Aaron P. Mitchell
The cell walls of fungi are critical for cellular structure and rigidity but also serve as a major communicator to alert the cell to the changing environment. In response to stresses encountered in human hosts, pathogenic fungi remodel their cell walls. Masking the β-1,3-glucan component of the cell wall is critical to escape detection by innate immune cells. We previously demonstrated that β-1,3-glucan
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Glucose-6-Phosphate Acts as an Extracellular Signal of SagS To Modulate Pseudomonas aeruginosa c-di-GMP Levels, Attachment, and Biofilm Formation mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-10 Soyoung Park, Jozef Dingemans, Madison Gowett, Karin Sauer, Aaron P. Mitchell
In Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the orphan two-component sensor SagS contributes both to transition to biofilm formation and to biofilm cells gaining their heightened tolerance to antimicrobials. However, little is known about the identity of the signals or conditions sensed by SagS to induce the switch to the sessile, drug-tolerant mode of growth. Using a modified Biolog phenotype assay to screen for compounds
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APEX2 Proximity Proteomics Resolves Flagellum Subdomains and Identifies Flagellum Tip-Specific Proteins in Trypanosoma brucei mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-10 Daniel E. Vélez-Ramírez, Michelle M. Shimogawa, Sunayan S. Ray, Andrew Lopez, Shima Rayatpisheh, Gerasimos Langousis, Marcus Gallagher-Jones, Samuel Dean, James A. Wohlschlegel, Kent L. Hill, Margaret Phillips
Trypanosoma brucei is the protozoan parasite responsible for sleeping sickness, a lethal vector-borne disease. T. brucei has a single flagellum (cilium) that plays critical roles in transmission and pathogenesis. An emerging concept is that the flagellum is organized into subdomains, each having specialized composition and function. The overall flagellum proteome has been well studied, but a critical
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Transcription Profiles Associated with Inducible Adhesion in Candida parapsilosis mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-10 Joseph M. Bliss, George A. Tollefson, Abigail Cuevas, Sarah J. Longley, Matthew N. Neale, Alper Uzun, Sunil K. Shaw, Aaron P. Mitchell
Candida parapsilosis has emerged as a frequent cause of invasive candidiasis with increasing evidence of unique biological features relative to C. albicans. As it adapts to conditions within a mammalian host, rapid changes in gene expression are necessary to facilitate colonization and persistence in this environment. Adhesion of the organism to biological surfaces is a key first step in this process
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Identification and Characterization of Novel Antibody Epitopes on the N2 Neuraminidase mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-10 Ericka Kirkpatrick Roubidoux, Meagan McMahon, Juan Manuel Carreño, Christina Capuano, Kaijun Jiang, Viviana Simon, Harm van Bakel, Patrick Wilson, Florian Krammer, Rebecca Ellis Dutch
The influenza virus neuraminidase (NA) is becoming a focus for novel vaccine designs. However, the epitopes of human anti-NA antibodies have been poorly defined. Using a panel of 10 anti-N2 monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) that bind the H3N2 virus A/Switzerland/9715293/2013, we generated five escape mutant viruses. These viruses contained mutations K199E/T, E258K, A272D, and S331N. We found that mutations
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Molecular Evolution of Human Coronavirus 229E in Hong Kong and a Fatal COVID-19 Case Involving Coinfection with a Novel Human Coronavirus 229E Genogroup mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-10 Susanna K. P. Lau, David C. Lung, Emily Y. M. Wong, Kam Leng Aw-Yong, Antonio C. P. Wong, Hayes K. H. Luk, Kenneth S. M. Li, Joshua Fung, Tony T. Y. Chan, James Y. M. Tang, Longchao Zhu, Cyril C. Y. Yip, Sally C. Y. Wong, Rodney A. Lee, Owen T. Y. Tsang, Kwok-Yung Yuen, Patrick C. Y. Woo, Angela L. Rasmussen
Compared to other human coronaviruses, the genetic diversity and evolution of human coronavirus 229E (HCoV-229E) are relatively understudied. We report a fatal case of COVID-19 pneumonia coinfected with HCoV-229E in Hong Kong. Genome sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 and HCoV-229E from a nasopharyngeal sample of the patient showed that the SARS-CoV-2 strain HK13 was most closely related to SARS-CoV-2 type strain
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Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology of an Emerging Panton-Valentine Leukocidin-Positive ST5 Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Clone in Northern Australia mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-10 Sarah L. McGuinness, Deborah C. Holt, Tegan M. Harris, Connor Wright, Rob Baird, Phillip M. Giffard, Asha C. Bowen, Steven Y. C. Tong, Paul D. Fey
Recently, we identified a Staphylococcus aureus sequence type 5 (ST5) clone in northern Australia with discrepant trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (SXT) susceptibility results. We aimed to identify isolates of this clone using Vitek 2 SXT resistance as a proxy and to compare its epidemiology with those of other circulating S. aureus strains. We collated Vitek 2 susceptibility data for S. aureus isolates
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Extensive Genetic Diversity and Widespread Azole Resistance in Greenhouse Populations of Aspergillus fumigatus in Yunnan, China mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-10 Duanyong Zhou, Greg A. Korfanty, Meizi Mo, Ruirui Wang, Xiao Li, Haixia Li, Shuoshuo Li, Jin-Yan Wu, Ke-Qin Zhang, Ying Zhang, Jianping Xu, Aaron P. Mitchell
Aspergillus fumigatus is the main cause of invasive aspergillosis (IA) with a high annual global incidence and mortality rate. Recent studies have indicated an increasing prevalence of azole-resistant A. fumigatus (ARAF) strains, with agricultural use of azole fungicides as a potential contributor. China has an extensive agricultural production system and uses a wide array of fungicides for crop production
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Genomic Diversity of Burkholderia pseudomallei in Ceara, Brazil mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-03 Jay E. Gee, Christopher A. Gulvik, Debora S. C. M. Castelo-Branco, José J. C. Sidrim, Marcos F. G. Rocha, Rossana A. Cordeiro, Raimunda S. N. Brilhante, Tereza J. P. G. Bandeira, Iracema Patrício, Lucas P. Alencar, Ana Karoline da Costa Ribeiro, Mili Sheth, Mark A. Deka, Alex R. Hoffmaster, Dionne Rolim, Katherine McMahon
Burkholderia pseudomallei is a Gram-negative bacterium that causes the sapronotic disease melioidosis. An outbreak in 2003 in the state of Ceara, Brazil, resulted in subsequent surveillance and environmental sampling which led to the recognition of B. pseudomallei as an endemic pathogen in that area. From 2003 to 2015, 24 clinical and 12 environmental isolates were collected across Ceara along with
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Investigation of Heterochromatin Protein 1 Function in the Malaria Parasite Plasmodium falciparum Using a Conditional Domain Deletion and Swapping Approach mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-03 Hai T. N. Bui, Armin Passecker, Nicolas M. B. Brancucci, Till S. Voss, Ira J. Blader
The human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum encodes a single ortholog of heterochromatin protein 1 (PfHP1) that plays a crucial role in the epigenetic regulation of various survival-related processes. PfHP1 is essential for parasite proliferation and the heritable silencing of genes linked to antigenic variation, host cell invasion, and sexual conversion. Here, we employed CRISPR/Cas9-mediated
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The Role of the Histone Methyltransferase PfSET10 in Antigenic Variation by Malaria Parasites: a Cautionary Tale mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-03 Che J. Ngwa, Mackensie R. Gross, Jean-Pierre Musabyimana, Gabriele Pradel, Kirk W. Deitsch, Lars Hviid
The virulence of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum is due in large part to its ability to avoid immune destruction through antigenic variation. This results from changes in expression within the multicopy var gene family that encodes the surface antigen P. falciparum erythrocyte protein one (PfEMP1). Understanding the mechanisms underlying this process has been a high-profile research focus
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Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies in Children and Adults in St. Louis, Missouri, USA mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-03 Brittany K. Smith, Andrew B. Janowski, Jonathan E. Danis, Ian B. Harvey, Haiyan Zhao, Ya-Nan Dai, Christopher W. Farnsworth, Ann M. Gronowski, Stephen Roper, Daved H. Fremont, David Wang, Rebecca Ellis Dutch
Reported coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) case counts likely underestimate the true prevalence because mild or asymptomatic cases often go untested. Here, we use a sero-survey to estimate the seroprevalence of IgG antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in the St. Louis, MO, metropolitan area in a symptom-independent manner. Five hundred three adult and 555
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Effects of Seasonal Anoxia on the Microbial Community Structure in Demosponges in a Marine Lake in Lough Hyne, Ireland mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-03 Astrid Schuster, Brian W. Strehlow, Lisa Eckford-Soper, Rob McAllen, Donald E. Canfield, Steven J. Hallam
Climate change is expanding marine oxygen minimum zones (OMZs), while anthropogenic nutrient input depletes oxygen concentrations locally. The effects of deoxygenation on animals are generally detrimental; however, some sponges (Porifera) exhibit hypoxic and anoxic tolerance through currently unknown mechanisms. Sponges harbor highly specific microbiomes, which can include microbes with anaerobic capabilities
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Comprehensive Bioinformatic Assessments of the Variability of Neisseria gonorrhoeae Vaccine Candidates mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-03 Benjamin I. Baarda, Ryszard A. Zielke, Alaina K. Holm, Aleksandra E. Sikora, Drusilla L. Burns
A protective vaccine is the only viable way to stop the spread of gonorrhea in the face of rising antibiotic resistance. However, the notorious phase and antigenic variation of Neisseria gonorrhoeae surface proteins remains one of the challenges in vaccine development. To facilitate vaccine advancement efforts, we carried out comprehensive bioinformatic analyses of sequence variation by comparing 34
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Pharmacokinetics and Efficacy of a Potential Smallpox Therapeutic, Brincidofovir, in a Lethal Monkeypox Virus Animal Model mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-03 Christina L. Hutson, Ashley V. Kondas, Mathew R. Mauldin, Jeffrey B. Doty, Irma M. Grossi, Clint N. Morgan, Sharon Dietz Ostergaard, Christine M. Hughes, Yoshinori Nakazawa, Chantal Kling, Brock E. Martin, James A. Ellison, Darin D. Carroll, Nadia F. Gallardo-Romero, Victoria A. Olson, John Schoggins
Smallpox, caused by Variola virus (VARV), was eradicated in 1980; however, VARV bioterrorist threats still exist, necessitating readily available therapeutics. Current preparedness activities recognize the importance of oral antivirals and recommend therapeutics with different mechanisms of action. Monkeypox virus (MPXV) is closely related to VARV, causing a highly similar clinical human disease, and
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A Secreted NlpC/P60 Endopeptidase from Photobacterium damselae subsp. piscicida Cleaves the Peptidoglycan of Potentially Competing Bacteria mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-03 Johnny Lisboa, Cassilda Pereira, Aline Rifflet, Juan Ayala, Mateus S. Terceti, Alba V. Barca, Inês Rodrigues, Pedro José Barbosa Pereira, Carlos R. Osorio, Francisco García-del Portillo, Ivo Gomperts Boneca, Ana do Vale, Nuno M. S. dos Santos, Ana Cristina Gales
Peptidoglycan (PG) is a major component of the bacterial cell wall, forming a mesh-like structure enwrapping the bacteria that is essential for maintaining structural integrity and providing support for anchoring other components of the cell envelope. PG biogenesis is highly dynamic and requires multiple enzymes, including several hydrolases that cleave glycosidic or amide bonds in the PG. This work
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PhenoGMM: Gaussian Mixture Modeling of Cytometry Data Quantifies Changes in Microbial Community Structure mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-02-03 Peter Rubbens, Ruben Props, Frederiek-Maarten Kerckhof, Nico Boon, Willem Waegeman, Katherine McMahon
Microbial flow cytometry can rapidly characterize the status of microbial communities. Upon measurement, large amounts of quantitative single-cell data are generated, which need to be analyzed appropriately. Cytometric fingerprinting approaches are often used for this purpose. Traditional approaches either require a manual annotation of regions of interest, do not fully consider the multivariate characteristics
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Targeted Conservative Cointegrate Formation Mediated by IS26 Family Members Requires Sequence Identity at the Reacting End mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-01-27 Christopher J. Harmer, Ruth M. Hall, Craig D. Ellermeier
IS26 forms cointegrates using two distinct routes, a copy-in mechanism involving one insertion sequence (IS) and a target and a targeted conservative mechanism involving two ISs in different DNA molecules. In this study, the ability of IS26 and some close relatives, IS1006, IS1008, and a natural hybrid, IS1006/IS1008, which are found predominantly in Acinetobacter spp., to interact was examined. IS1006/1008
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Predominance of Atopobium vaginae at Midtrimester: a Potential Indicator of Preterm Birth Risk in a Nigerian Cohort mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-01-27 Nkechi Martina Odogwu, Jun Chen, Chinedum Amara Onebunne, Patricio Jeraldo, Lu Yang, Stephen Johnson, Funmilola A. Ayeni, Marina R. S. Walther-Antonio, Oladapo O. Olayemi, Nicholas Chia, Akinyinka O. Omigbodun, Susannah Green Tringe
Preterm birth (PTB) is the largest contributor to infant death in sub-Saharan Africa and globally. With a global estimate of 773,600, Nigeria has the third highest rate of PTB worldwide. There have been a number of microbiome profiling studies to identify vaginal microbiomes suggestive of preterm and healthy birth outcome. However, studies on the pregnancy vaginal microbiome in Africa are sparse with
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Shielding Effect of Escherichia coli O-Antigen Polysaccharide on J5-Induced Cross-Reactive Antibodies mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-01-27 Pascal Rainard, Maryline Repérant-Ferter, Christophe Gitton, Pierre Germon, Drusilla L. Burns
Escherichia coli is the leading cause of severe mastitis in dairy farms. As E. coli mastitis is refractory to the hygienic control measures adapted to contagious mastitis, efficient vaccines are in demand. Existing mastitis vaccines, based on the use of killed rough E. coli J5 as the antigen, aim at inducing phagocytosis by neutrophils. We assessed the binding of J5-induced antibodies to isogenic rough
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Staphylococcal Enterotoxin C Subtypes Are Differentially Associated with Human Infections and Immunobiological Activities mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-01-27 Olivia N. Chuang-Smith, Patrick M. Schlievert, Sarah E. F. D’Orazio
Staphylococcus aureus causes significant infections, responsible for toxic shock syndrome (TSS), hemorrhagic pneumonia, and many other infections. S. aureus secretes virulence factors, which include superantigens such as staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs). We examined differences in immunobiological activities and disease associations among the four human SEC subtypes. We sequenced the sec gene from
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New Insights and Enhanced Human Norovirus Cultivation in Human Intestinal Enteroids mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-01-27 Khalil Ettayebi, Victoria R. Tenge, Nicolas W. Cortes-Penfield, Sue E. Crawford, Frederick H. Neill, Xi-Lei Zeng, Xiaomin Yu, B. Vijayalakshmi Ayyar, Douglas Burrin, Sasirekha Ramani, Robert L. Atmar, Mary K. Estes, Sarah Marie McDonald Esstman
Human noroviruses (HuNoVs) are the leading cause of epidemic and sporadic acute gastroenteritis worldwide. We previously demonstrated human intestinal stem cell-derived enteroids (HIEs) support cultivation of several HuNoV strains. However, HIEs did not support virus replication from every HuNoV-positive stool sample, which led us to test and optimize new medium conditions, identify characteristics
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Complete Genome Sequencing of Acinetobacter baumannii AC1633 and Acinetobacter nosocomialis AC1530 Unveils a Large Multidrug-Resistant Plasmid Encoding the NDM-1 and OXA-58 Carbapenemases mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-01-27 Ahmed Ghazi Alattraqchi, Farahiyah Mohd Rani, Nor Iza A. Rahman, Salwani Ismail, David W. Cleary, Stuart C. Clarke, Chew Chieng Yeo, Patricia A. Bradford
Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter spp. are considered priority drug-resistant human-pathogenic bacteria. The genomes of two carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter spp. clinical isolates obtained from the same tertiary hospital in Terengganu, Malaysia, namely, A. baumannii AC1633 and A. nosocomialis AC1530, were sequenced. Both isolates were found to harbor the carbapenemase genes blaNDM-1 and blaOXA-58
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Ceftolozane/Tazobactam Resistance and Mechanisms in Carbapenem-Nonsusceptible Pseudomonas aeruginosa mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-01-27 Jocelyn Qi-Min Teo, Jie Chong Lim, Cheng Yee Tang, Shannon Jing-Yi Lee, Si Hui Tan, James Heng-Chiak Sim, Rick Twee-Hee Ong, Andrea Lay-Hoon Kwa, Patricia A. Bradford
This study established the in vitro activity of ceftolozane/tazobactam (C/T) and its genotypic resistance mechanisms by whole-genome sequencing (WGS) in 195 carbapenem-nonsusceptible Pseudomonas aeruginosa (CNSPA) clinical isolates recovered from Singapore between 2009 and 2020. C/T susceptibility rates were low, at 37.9%. Cross-resistance to ceftazidime/avibactam was observed, although susceptibility
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Single-Molecule Dynamics at a Bacterial Replication Fork after Nutritional Downshift or Chemically Induced Block in Replication mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-01-27 Rogelio Hernández-Tamayo, Hannah Schmitz, Peter L. Graumann, Grant R. Bowman
Replication forks must respond to changes in nutrient conditions, especially in bacterial cells. By investigating the single-molecule dynamics of replicative helicase DnaC, DNA primase DnaG, and lagging-strand polymerase DnaE in the model bacterium Bacillus subtilis, we show that proteins react differently to stress conditions in response to transient replication blocks due to DNA damage, to inhibition
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Acquisition of Host Cytosolic Protein by Toxoplasma gondii Bradyzoites mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-01-27 Geetha Kannan, Pariyamon Thaprawat, Tracey L. Schultz, Vern B. Carruthers, William J. Sullivan
Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan parasite that persists in the central nervous system as intracellular chronic-stage bradyzoites that are encapsulated by a thick cyst wall. While the cyst wall separates bradyzoites from the host cytosol, it has been posited that small solutes can traverse the cyst wall to sustain bradyzoites. Recently, it was found that host cytosolic macromolecules can cross the parasitophorous
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The Fifth International Neonatal and Maternal Immunization Symposium (INMIS 2019): Securing Protection for the Next Generation mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-01-27 Manish Sadarangani, Tobias Kollmann, Gordean Bjornson, Paul Heath, Ed Clarke, Arnaud Marchant, Ofer Levy, Elke Leuridan, Rolando Ulloa-Gutierrez, Clare L. Cutland, Beate Kampmann, Surasith Chaithongwongwatthana, Ener Dinleyici, Pierre van Damme, Flor M. Munoz, Marcela F. Pasetti
Despite significant progress in reaching some milestones of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, neonatal and early infant morbidity and mortality remain high, and maternal health remains suboptimal in many countries. Novel and improved preventative strategies with the potential to benefit pregnant women and their infants are needed, with maternal and neonatal immunization representing
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mSphere of Influence: Apoptotic Mimicry and Virus Entry mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-01-27 Melinda A. Brindley
Melinda A. Brindley works in the field of virology with specific interests in understanding how viruses enter cells. In this mSphere of Influence article, she reflects on how the paper “Vaccinia virus uses macropinocytosis and apoptotic mimicry to enter host cells” by J. Mercer and A. Helenius (Science 320:531–535, 2008, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1155164) made an impact on her by expanding our
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Absence of KpsM (Slr0977) Impairs the Secretion of Extracellular Polymeric Substances (EPS) and Impacts Carbon Fluxes in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-01-27 Marina Santos, Sara B. Pereira, Carlos Flores, Catarina Príncipe, Narciso Couto, Esther Karunakaran, Sara M. Cravo, Paulo Oliveira, Paula Tamagnini, Yonghua Li-Beisson
Many cyanobacteria produce extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), composed mainly of heteropolysaccharides, that play a variety of physiological roles, being crucial for cell protection, motility, and biofilm formation. However, due to their complexity, the EPS biosynthetic pathways as well as their assembly and export mechanisms are still far from being fully understood. Here, we show that the
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Interplay of Antibody and Cytokine Production Reveals CXCL13 as a Potential Novel Biomarker of Lethal SARS-CoV-2 Infection mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-01-20 Alexander M. Horspool, Theodore Kieffer, Brynnan P. Russ, Megan A. DeJong, M. Allison Wolf, Jacqueline M. Karakiozis, Brice J. Hickey, Paolo Fagone, Danyel H. Tacker, Justin R. Bevere, Ivan Martinez, Mariette Barbier, Peter L. Perrotta, F. Heath Damron, Helene F. Rosenberg
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is impacting the global population. This study was designed to assess the interplay of antibodies with the cytokine response in SARS-CoV-2 patients. We demonstrate that significant levels of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody to receptor binding domain (RBD), nucleocapsid, and spike S1 subunit of SARS-CoV-2 develop over the first 10 to 20 days of infection. The majority of patients produced
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DeORFanizing Candida albicans Genes using Coexpression mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-01-20 Teresa R. O’Meara, Matthew J. O’Meara, Aaron P. Mitchell
Functional characterization of open reading frames in nonmodel organisms, such as the common opportunistic fungal pathogen Candida albicans, can be labor-intensive. To meet this challenge, we built a comprehensive and unbiased coexpression network for C. albicans, which we call CalCEN, from data collected from 853 RNA sequencing runs from 18 large-scale studies deposited in the NCBI Sequence Read Archive
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Phenotypic and Genotypic Adaptations in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms following Long-Term Exposure to an Alginate Oligomer Therapy mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-01-20 Juliette L. Oakley, Rebecca Weiser, Lydia C. Powell, Julian Forton, Eshwar Mahenthiralingam, Philip D. Rye, Katja E. Hill, David W. Thomas, Manon F. Pritchard, Patricia A. Bradford
Chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa lung infections in cystic fibrosis (CF) evolve to generate environmentally adapted biofilm communities, leading to increased patient morbidity and mortality. OligoG CF-5/20, a low-molecular-weight inhaled alginate oligomer therapy, is currently in phase IIb/III clinical trials in CF patients. Experimental evolution of P. aeruginosa in response to OligoG CF-5/20 was assessed
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Convergent Evolution of a Promiscuous 3-Hydroxypropionyl-CoA Dehydratase/Crotonyl-CoA Hydratase in Crenarchaeota and Thaumarchaeota mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-01-20 Li Liu, Philip C. Brown, Martin Könneke, Harald Huber, Simone König, Ivan A. Berg, Hideyuki Tamaki
The autotrophic 3-hydroxypropionate/4-hydroxybutyrate (HP/HB) cycle functions in thermoacidophilic, (micro)aerobic, hydrogen-oxidizing Crenarchaeota of the order Sulfolobales as well as in mesophilic, aerobic, ammonia-oxidizing Thaumarchaeota. Notably, the HP/HB cycle evolved independently in these two archaeal lineages, and crenarchaeal and thaumarchaeal versions differ regarding their enzyme properties
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Decreased Ecological Resistance of the Gut Microbiota in Response to Clindamycin Challenge in Mice Colonized with the Fungus Candida albicans mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-01-20 Laura Markey, Antonia Pugliese, Theresa Tian, Farrah Roy, Kyongbum Lee, Carol A. Kumamoto, Aaron P. Mitchell
The mammalian gut microbiota is a complex community of microorganisms which typically exhibits remarkable stability. As the gut microbiota has been shown to affect many aspects of host health, the molecular keys to developing and maintaining a “healthy” gut microbiota are highly sought after. Yet, the qualities that define a microbiota as healthy remain elusive. We used the ability to resist change
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mSphere of Influence: No More Excuses--Addressing Race, Racism, and Socioeconomic Issues in the Science Classroom and Laboratory mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-01-20 Pascale S. Guiton
Pascale Guiton works in the field of parasitology at a primarily undergraduate institution. In this mSphere of Influence article, she reflects on her difficulties as a faculty of color to discuss socioscientific issues in her classrooms. T. D. Sadler’s article “Situating socio-scientific issues in classrooms as a means of achieving goals of science education” (in T. Sadler, ed., Socio-Scientific Issues
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Uncovering the Harms of Treating Clostridioides difficile Colonization mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-01-13 Christopher R. Polage, Nicholas A. Turner
Patients with toxin-negative Clostridioides difficile-positive diarrhea are often treated with oral vancomycin with the assumption that treatment is more beneficial than harmful. However, this hypothesis has never been formally tested, and recent studies suggest that most such patients recover quickly without treatment and can be colonized rather than infected. Fishbein et al. conducted a prospective
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Genes Influencing Phage Host Range in Staphylococcus aureus on a Species-Wide Scale mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-01-13 Abraham G. Moller, Kyle Winston, Shiyu Ji, Junting Wang, Michelle N. Hargita Davis, Claudia R. Solís-Lemus, Timothy D. Read, Paul Dunman
Staphylococcus aureus is a human pathogen that causes serious diseases, ranging from skin infections to septic shock. Bacteriophages (phages) are both natural killers of S. aureus, offering therapeutic possibilities, and important vectors of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in the species. Here, we used high-throughput approaches to understand the genetic basis of strain-to-strain variation in sensitivity
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Soil Health Management Enhances Microbial Nitrogen Cycling Capacity and Activity mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-01-13 Jialin Hu, Virginia L. Jin, Julie Y. M. Konkel, Sean M. Schaeffer, Liesel G. Schneider, Jennifer M. DeBruyn, Katherine McMahon
Soil microbial transformations of nitrogen (N) can be affected by soil health management practices. Here, we report in situ seasonal dynamics of the population size (gene copy abundances) and functional activity (transcript copy abundances) of five bacterial genes involved in soil N cycling (ammonia-oxidizing bacteria [AOB] amoA, nifH, nirK, nirS, and nosZ) in a long-term continuous cotton production
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A Novel N4-Like Bacteriophage Isolated from a Wastewater Source in South India with Activity against Several Multidrug-Resistant Clinical Pseudomonas aeruginosa Isolates mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-01-13 Nitasha D. Menon, Megha S. Kumar, T. G. Satheesh Babu, Sucharita Bose, Gayathri Vijayakumar, Manasi Baswe, Meghna Chatterjee, Jovita Rowena D’Silva, Kavya Shetty, Jayalekshmi Haripriyan, Anil Kumar, Samitha Nair, Priyanka Somanath, Bipin G. Nair, Victor Nizet, Geetha B. Kumar, Paul Dunman
Multidrug-resistant community-acquired infections caused by the opportunistic human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa are increasingly reported in India and other locations globally. Since this organism is ubiquitous in the environment, samples such as sewage and wastewater are rich reservoirs of P. aeruginosa bacteriophages. In this study, we report the isolation and characterization of a novel P. aeruginosa
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Specific Norovirus Interaction with Lewis x and Lewis a on Human Intestinal Inflammatory Mucosa during Refractory Inflammatory Bowel Disease mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-01-13 Georges Tarris, Alexis de Rougemont, Marie Estienney, Maeva Charkaoui, Thomas Mouillot, Bernard Bonnotte, Christophe Michiels, Laurent Martin, Gaël Belliot, Michael J. Imperiale
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), is related to immunological and microbial factors, with the possible implication of enteric viruses. We characterized the interaction between human noroviruses (HuNoVs) and blood group antigens in refractory CD and UC using HuNoV virus-like particles (VLPs) and histological tissues. Immunohistochemistry
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OXA-181-Like Carbapenemases in Klebsiella pneumoniae ST14, ST15, ST23, ST48, and ST231 from Septicemic Neonates: Coexistence with NDM-5, Resistome, Transmissibility, and Genome Diversity mSphere (IF 4.282) Pub Date : 2021-01-13 Sharmi Naha, Kirsty Sands, Subhankar Mukherjee, Bijan Saha, Shanta Dutta, Sulagna Basu, Patricia A. Bradford
Studies on the epidemiology and genomes of isolates harboring OXA-48-like genes in septicemic neonates are rare. Here, isolates producing these carbapenemases which emerged and persisted in an Indian neonatal unit were characterized in terms of their resistome, transmissibility, and genome diversity. Antibiotic susceptibility and whole-genome sequencing were carried out. The sequence types, resistome