Microbiology, Virology & Host Pathogen Interaction
PKAc is not required for the preerythrocytic stages of Plasmodium bergheiThe mutant salivary gland sporozoites lacking PKAc are able to glide, invade hepatocytes, and mature into hepatic merozoites, which release successfully from the merosome, however, fail to initiate blood stage infection when inoculated into mice.
Constitutive STAT5 activation regulates Paneth and Paneth-like cells to control Clostridium difficile colitisSTAT5 controls the intestinal epithelial stem cell niche by regulating Wnt/β-catenin signaling, and lack of active pYSTAT5 induces Clostridium difficile infection. STAT5 may be a transcription factor that restricts niche cell differentiation.
BZLF1 interacts with chromatin remodelers promoting escape from latent infections with EBVHow herpesviruses escape from their latent states is enigmatic, but BZLF1, an important transcription factor of EBV, recruits cellular chromatin remodelers to viral DNA to overcome its epigenetic repression and initiate viral transcription.
A dual role for SAMHD1 in regulating HBV cccDNA and RT-dependent particle genesisOur study highlights a dual role for SAMHD1 in regulating hepatitis B virus cccDNA levels and reverse transcriptase–dependent particle genesis.
Functional inhibition of acid sphingomyelinase disrupts infection by intracellular bacterial pathogensMany intracellular pathogens hijack cholesterol. Inhibiting acid sphingomyelinase alters cholesterol traffic to target different intracellular bacteria, signifying a host-directed approach for treating infectious disease.
Viperin controls chikungunya virus–specific pathogenic T cell IFNγ Th1 stimulation in miceThis study shows that Viperin controls the microenvironment pro-inflammatory response and CD4 T cell–mediated pathogenesis during anti-chikungunya virus immune response in mice.
Rab1b and ARF5 are novel RNA-binding proteins involved in FMDV IRES–driven RNA localizationIntegration of proteomic data with functional and imaging analysis revealed that Rab1b and ARF5, two ER-Golgi members, are RNA-binding proteins that colocalize with picornavirus IRES-RNA reporters in human cells.
Mechanistic aspects of maltotriose-conjugate translocation to the Gram-negative bacteria cytoplasmA maltotriose-conjugate can deliver molecules into the cytoplasmic space of Gram-negative bacteria by parasitizing the maltose uptake pathway.
Dimerization and auto-processing induce caspase-11 protease activation within the non-canonical inflammasomeThis study provides a detailed molecular mechanism for caspase-11 activation within the non-canonical inflammasome, giving new insight into host defence against cytosolic bacterial infection.
Identification of Plasmodium GAPDH epitopes for generation of antibodies that inhibit malaria infectionThis study reports on the identification of two Plasmodium GAPDH epitope peptides that are responsible for sporozoite–Kupffer cell interaction and act as antigens against malaria infection.