Microbiology, Virology & Host Pathogen Interaction
- Human IFITM3 restricts chikungunya virus and Mayaro virus infection and is susceptible to virus-mediated counteraction
Endogenous and heterologpusly expressed human IFITM3 restricts early and late replication steps of chikungunya and Mayaro virus infection and is downregulated at the protein level in infected cells.
- Cell-autonomous Toxoplasma killing program requires Irgm2 but not its microbe vacuolar localization
Irgm2 controls Toxoplasma killing via selective recruitment of Gbp1 and Irgb6 to Toxoplasma parasitophorous vacuoles, whereas its vacuolar localization is dispensable for parasite killing.
- Cell-free expression of the outer membrane protein OprF of Pseudomonas aeruginosa for vaccine purposes
Production of recombinant proteoliposomes containing OprF from P. aeruginosa promotes the active open conformation of the porin exposing native epitopes. These OprF proteoliposomes were used as vaccines to protect mice against a P. aeruginosa acute pulmonary infection model.
- Crystal structure of inhibitor-bound human MSPL that can activate high pathogenic avian influenza
The structure of extracellular domain of MSPL and inhibitor complex helps to understand the TTSP functions, including TMPRSS2, and provides the insights of the infection of influenza and SARS-CoV.
- DGCR8 deficiency impairs macrophage growth and unleashes the interferon response to mycobacteria
Lack of miRNA biosynthesis in DGCR8-deficient macrophages did not block macrophage differentiation but caused overshooting type I IFN responses to mycobacterial glycolipids.
- Phylo-geo-network and haplogroup analysis of 611 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) genomes from India
Evolution of SARS-CoV-2 in India across 51 haplogroups based on 152 parsimony informative sites revealed B6 and B1 (Pangolin) and A2a (Covidex) as the most prevalent lineage and clade, respectively.
- SARS-CoV-2 infection induces protective immunity and limits transmission in Syrian hamsters
Using an aged Syrian hamster model, which develops severe morbidity upon SARS-CoV-2 infection including death, we demonstrated that the immunity induced by a natural infection not only protects hamsters from reinfection but also significantly limits transmission via close contact.
- Profiling of immune dysfunction in COVID-19 patients allows early prediction of disease progression
Deep immune profiling of COVID-19 patients with different disease severity reveals populations associated with severe disease and can be used to predict disease severity early on.
- Sustained Helicobacter pylori infection accelerates gastric dysplasia in a mouse model
Hp infection was found to alter metaplasia and accelerate dysplasia in mice. Thus, Hp can promote gastric preneoplastic progression, in addition to its known role in initiating chronic inflammation.
- Inhibiting the reproduction of SARS-CoV-2 through perturbations in human lung cell metabolic network
Using genomic and structural information from SARS-CoV-2, we created a biomass function capturing its amino and nucleic acid requirements and incorporated this into a metabolic model of the human lung cell to predict metabolic perturbations that inhibit virus reproduction.