Microbiology & Immunology
Recent Submissions
-
The natural sesquiterpene lactones arglabin, grosheimin, agracin, parthenolide, and estafiatin inhibit T cell receptor (TCR) activation
(2018-02)Inhibition of the T cell receptor (TCR) pathway represents an effective strategy for the treatment of T cell-mediated inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. To identify natural compounds that could inhibit inflammatory T ... -
Persistent infections support maintenance of a coronavirus in a population of Australian bats (Myotis macropus)
(2017-07)Understanding viral transmission dynamics within populations of reservoir hosts can facilitate greater knowledge of the spillover of emerging infectious diseases. While bat-borne viruses are of concern to public health, ... -
Microbial Functional Gene Diversity Predicts Groundwater Contamination and Ecosystem Functioning
(2018-02)Contamination from anthropogenic activities has significantly impacted Earth\'s biosphere. However, knowledge about how environmental contamination affects the biodiversity of groundwater microbiomes and ecosystem functioning ... -
Cigarette smoking is associated with an altered vaginal tract metabolomic profile
(2018-01)Cigarette smoking has been associated with both the diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis (BV) and a vaginal microbiota lacking protective Lactobacillus spp. As the mechanism linking smoking with vaginal microbiota and BV is ... -
Recently identified bee viruses and their impact on bee pollinators
(2018-02)Bees are agriculturally and ecologically important plant pollinators. Recent high annual losses of honey bee colonies, and reduced populations of native and wild bees in some geographic locations, may impact the availability ... -
Principles and Patterns of Bat Movements: From Aerodynamics to Ecology
(2017-09)Movement ecology as an integrative discipline has advanced associated fields because it presents not only a conceptual framework for understanding movement principles but also helps formulate predictions about the consequences ... -
H/D exchange mass spectrometry and statistical coupling analysis reveal a role for allostery in a ferredoxin-dependent bifurcating transhydrogenase catalytic cycle
(2018-01)Recent investigations into ferredoxin-dependent transhydrogenases, a class of enzymes responsible for electron transport, have highlighted the biological importance of flavin-based electron bifurcation (FBEB). FBEB generates ... -
Requirement and Synergistic Contribution of Platelet-Activating Factor Acetylhydrolase Sse and Streptolysin S to Inhibition of Neutrophil Recruitment and Systemic Infection by Hypervirulent emm3 Group A Streptococcus in Subcutaneous Infection of Mice
(2017-09)Hypervirulent group A streptococcus (GAS) can inhibit neutrophil recruitment and cause systemic infection in a mouse model of skin infection. The purpose of this study was to determine whether platelet-activating factor ... -
Contact and contagion: Probability of transmission given contact varies with demographic state in bighorn sheep
(2017-05)Understanding both contact and probability of transmission given contact are key to managing wildlife disease. However, wildlife disease research tends to focus on contact heterogeneity, in part because the probability of ... -
Null expectations for disease dynamics in shrinking habitat: dilution or amplification?
(2017-06)As biodiversity declines with anthropogenic land-use change, it is increasingly important to understand how changing biodiversity affects infectious disease risk. The dilution effect hypothesis, which points to decreases ... -
Microclimates Might Limit Indirect Spillover of the Bat Borne Zoonotic Hendra Virus
(2017-01)Infectious diseases are transmitted when susceptible hosts are exposed to pathogen particles that can replicate within them. Among factors that limit transmission, the environment is particularly important for indirectly ... -
Multiple mortality events in bats: a global review
(2016-07)Despite conservation concerns for many species of bats, factors causing mortality in bats have not been reviewed since 1970. Here, we review and qualitatively describe trends in the occurrence and apparent causes of multiple ... -
Conditions affecting the timing and magnitude of Hendra virus shedding across pteropodid bat populations in Australia
(2017-09)Understanding infection dynamics in animal hosts is fundamental to managing spillover and emergence of zoonotic infections. Hendra virus is endemic in Australian pteropodid bat populations and can be lethal to horses and ... -
Age-specific infectious period shapes dynamics of pneumonia in bighorn sheep
(2017-09)Superspreading, the phenomenon where a small proportion of individuals contribute disproportionately to new infections, has profound effects on disease dynamics. Superspreading can arise through variation in contacts, ... -
The impact of hive type on the behavior and health of honey bee colonies (Apis mellifera) in Kenya
(2017-09)There has been a long-standing interest in developing approaches to maximize honey production by Kenyan beekeepers. Since honey bees in Kenya are passively managed, the main decision beekeepers make is which hive type to ... -
Evidence for strain-specific immunity to pneumonia in bighorn sheep
(2017-01)Transmission of pathogens commonly carried by domestic sheep and goats poses a serious threat to bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) populations. All-age pneumonia die-offs usually ensue, followed by asymptomatic carriage of ... -
Transmission or Within-Host Dynamics Driving Pulses of Zoonotic Viruses in Reservoir-Host Populations
(2016-08)Progress in combatting zoonoses that emerge from wildlife is often constrained by limited knowledge of the biology of pathogens within reservoir hosts. We focus on the host-pathogen dynamics of four emerging viruses ... -
Virus and dsRNA-triggered transcriptional responses reveal key components of honey bee antiviral defense
(2017-07)Recent high annual losses of honey bee colonies are associated with many factors, including RNA virus infections. Honey bee antiviral responses include RNA interference and immune pathway activation, but their relative ... -
Multi-level Omics Analysis Provides Insight to the Ignicoccus hospitalis-Nanoarchaeum equitans Association
(2017-09)BACKGROUND Studies of interspecies interactions are inherently difficult due to the complex mechanisms which enable these relationships. A model system for studying interspecies interactions is the marine hyperthermophiles ... -
The Interfaces of Genetic Conflict Are Hot Spots for Innovation
(2017-01)RNA-guided Cas9 endonucleases protect bacteria from viral infection and have been creatively repurposed as programmable molecular scalpels for surgical manipulation of DNA. Now, two papers in Cell (Pawluk et al. and Rauch ...
RSS 1.0