Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Eva Maria Kalbhenn, Markus Kranzler, Agnieszka Gacek-Matthews, Gregor Grass, Timo D. Stark, Elrike Frenzel, Monika Ehling-Schulz
Summary: Bacillus cereus causes emetic type foodborne disease through production of the small peptide toxin cereulide. The CesNRPS multienzyme machinery, encoding Ces nonribosomal peptide synthetase, is located on a plasmid designated pCER270. Chromosomal transcriptional factors CodY and AbrB control ces transcription. In addition, a plasmid-encoded transcription factor PagRBc, homologous to PagR in Bacillus anthracis, also plays an important role in the regulation of cereulide synthesis.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Yanchun Wang, Shuli Sang, Xin Zhang, Haoxia Tao, Qing Guan, Chunjie Liu
Summary: Researchers have developed a new method to edit the genome of Bacillus anthracis using the AsCas12f1 nuclease from Acidibacillus sulfuroxidans. The method shows high efficiency and is capable of large-fragment deletion. The length of the homologous arms of the donor DNA is closely related to the editing efficiency. A two-plasmid system was also constructed for potential multi-gene modification.
FRONTIERS IN BIOENGINEERING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Ileana D. Corsi, Soumita Dutta, Ambro van Hoof, Theresa M. Koehler
Summary: The study investigates the role of the sRNAs XrrA and XrrB encoded by the virulence plasmid pXO1 of Bacillus anthracis in regulating gene expression associated with branched-chain amino acid metabolism, proteolysis, and transmembrane transport. The sRNAs are highly stable primary transcripts whose expression is dependent upon the master virulence regulator AtxA. XrrA appears to have a greater regulatory effect compared to XrrB, with both sRNAs showing potential functional overlap. In a mouse model for systemic anthrax, the lungs and livers of animals infected with xrrA-null mutants exhibited a slight reduction in bacterial burden, suggesting a role for XrrA in B. anthracis pathogenesis.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Microbiology
Samantha Forrest, Sarah Ton, Samantha L. Sholes, Sarah Harrison, Roger D. Plaut, Kathleen Verratti, Michael Wittekind, Elham Ettehadieh, Bryan Necciai, Shanmuga Sozhamannan, Sarah L. Grady
Summary: Bacteriophages, specifically gamma and AP50c, have been found to infect Bacillus anthracis strains with high specificity, making them valuable in bacterial detection assays. To understand the emergence of phage resistance and improve the reliability of these assays, it is crucial to identify the receptors used for attachment and entry. Genetic approaches have identified sap as the receptor for AP50c, and GamR for gamma, while a similar phage, Wip1, also uses sap as a receptor. Additionally, the receptor binding proteins (RBPs) encoded by these phages have been identified, but further investigation is needed to confirm their protein-protein interactions. This study provides genetic evidence supporting the interaction between sap and the RBPs of AP50c and Wip1, shedding light on the attachment and entry strategies employed by B. anthracis phages and facilitating the development of future detection methods.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Chih-Yuan Chiang, Douglas J. Lane, Yefen Zou, Tim Hoffman, Jianfeng Pan, Janice Hampton, Jillian Maginnis, Bishnu P. Nayak, Ugo D'Oro, Nicholas Valiante, Andrew T. Miller, Michael Cooke, Tom Wu, Sina Bavari, Rekha G. Panchal
Summary: This study investigated the potential of Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists as immunomodulators for anthrax treatment. Two TLR ligands, Pam(3)CSK(4) and DA-98-WW07, were found to provide protection against B. anthracis infection in mice. DA-98-WW07 also showed enhanced protection when used in combination with ciprofloxacin.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Medicinal
Mikhail Martchenko Shilman, Gloria Bartolo, Saleem Alameh, Johnny W. Peterson, William S. Lawrence, Jennifer E. Peel, Satheesh K. Sivasubramani, David W. C. Beasley, Christopher K. Cote, Samandra T. Demons, Stephanie A. Halasahoris, Lynda L. Miller, Christopher P. Klimko, Jennifer L. Shoe, David P. Fetterer, Ryan McComb, Chi-Lee C. Ho, Kenneth A. Bradley, Stella Hartmann, Luisa W. Cheng, Marina Chugunova, Chiu-Yen Kao, Jennifer K. Tran, Aram Derbedrossian, Leeor Zilbermintz, Emiene Amali-Adekwu, Anastasia Levitin, Joel West
Summary: The study shows that the antimalarial drug amodiaquine has efficacy in treating anthrax by prolonging survival in infected animals and having an additional macrophage-directed antibacterial mechanism.
ACS INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Renee Kapteijn, Shraddha Shitut, Dennis Aschmann, Le Zhang, Marit de Beer, Deniz Daviran, Rona Roverts, Anat Akiva, Gilles P. van Wezel, Alexander Kros, Dennis Claessen
Summary: A new endocytosis-like process has been discovered in cell wall-deficient bacteria, allowing them to engulf DNA and other extracellular materials. This process differs from the traditional mechanisms of horizontal gene transfer and requires energy. The findings suggest a possible mechanism for early life forms to acquire essential resources before the development of the bacterial cell wall.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Jan Lenz, Frederik Fuest, Jan Henrik Finke, Heike Bunjes, Arno Kwade, Michael Juhnke
Summary: In this study, 3D tomographic laser-induced fluorescence imaging (3D Tomo-LIF) was used to analyze the disintegration and dispersion of tablets. The results showed that fluid velocity has a strong impact on the disintegration and dispersion process, and the use of different disintegrants leads to different disintegration times. This method provides an in-depth understanding of the functional behavior of tablets and has improved biorelevance.
Article
Veterinary Sciences
Dogan Akca, Fatih Buyuk, Emre Karakaya, Mustafa Reha Coskun, Elif Celik, Mitat Sahin, Ozgur Celebi, Salih Otlu, Aliye Gulmez Saglam, Eray Buyuk, Seda Durhan, Izzet Burcin Saticioglu, Secil Abay, Tuba Kayman, Fuat Aydin
Summary: This study aimed to characterize Bacillus anthracis isolates recovered from various hosts and environments in Turkey and confirmed all isolates, including the Sterne vaccine strain, as positive for PA and Cap genes. Additionally, they were classified as Type 6 in the 16S rRNA type, which has been reported as the predominant type for B. anthracis isolates.
TURKISH JOURNAL OF VETERINARY & ANIMAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Anastasia Tomatsidou, Maria Krunic, Dominique Missiakas
Summary: TagA1 and TagA2 are crucial glycosyltransferases in the synthesis of SCWP in Bacillus anthracis, and their depletion leads to loss of cell morphology and inability to synthesize SCWP.
JOURNAL OF BACTERIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biology
Ganesh K. Maurya, Hari S. Misra
Summary: The cisII and cisMP elements in Deinococcus radiodurans contain both origin of replication and parS-like functions, and the secondary genome replicons (chrII and MP) are maintained independent of chrI and play important roles in the radioresistance of the bacterium.
LIFE SCIENCE ALLIANCE
(2021)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Maria Carla Martini, Francesca Berini, Luka Ausec, Carmine Casciello, Carolina Vacca, Mariano Pistorio, Antonio Lagares, Ines Mandic-Mulec, Flavia Marinelli, Maria Florencia Del Papa
Summary: In this study, a novel LMCO named Lac80 from Ochrobactrum sp. BF15 was identified and heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli, allowing for further purification and activity evaluation. Lac80 showed lower activity on 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS), pyrocatechol, pyrogallol and vanillic acid, and higher activity on 2,6-dimethoxyphenol among thirteen typical laccase substrates tested. This research highlights the potential use of bacterial laccases in industrial applications and the importance of environmental plasmids as sources of novel enzyme-encoding genes for biotechnological processes.
FOOD TECHNOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Sayan Ghosh, Nadezda Stepicheva, Meysam Yazdankhah, Peng Shang, Alan M. Watson, Stacey Hose, Haitao Liu, Joseph Weiss, J. Samuel Zigler, Mallika Valapala, Simon C. Watkins, Debasish Sinha
CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR LIFE SCIENCES
(2020)
Article
Hematology
Oluwabukola T. Gbotosho, Maria G. Kapetanaki, Mark Ross, Samit Ghosh, Frances Weidert, Grant C. Bullock, Simon Watkins, Solomon F. Ofori-Acquah, Gregory J. Kato
EXPERIMENTAL HEMATOLOGY
(2020)
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Xichen Zhang, Renee Fisher, Wen Hou, Donna Shields, Michael W. Epperly, Hong Wang, Liang Wei, Brian J. Leibowitz, Jian Yu, Laura M. Alexander, Jan-Peter Van Pijkeren, Simon Watkins, Peter Wipf, Joel S. Greenberger
Article
Cell Biology
Jie Han, Leslie A. Goldstein, Wen Hou, Simon C. Watkins, Hannah Rabinowich
Summary: The study reveals that the non-apoptotic activity of endosomal CASP9 promotes the retrograde transport of IGF2R and is involved in endosomal sorting and lysosomal biogenesis. CASP9 deficiency leads to missorting of proteins, accumulation of late endosomes, and disruption of protein degradation. The findings suggest a novel cell survival function for CASP9 at the endosomal membrane.
Article
Biology
Wenting Xie, Binxuan Jiao, Qing Bai, Vladimir A. Ilin, Ming Sun, Charles E. Burton, Dmytro Kolodieznyi, Michael J. Calderon, Donna B. Stolz, Patricia L. Opresko, Claudette M. St Croix, Simon Watkins, Bennett Van Houten, Marcel P. Bruchez, Edward A. Burton
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Stephen D. Carter, Cheri M. Hampton, Robert Langlois, Roberto Melero, Zachary J. Farino, Michael J. Calderon, Wen Li, Callen T. Wallace, Ngoc Han Tran, Robert A. Grassucci, Stephanie E. Siegmund, Joshua Pemberton, Travis J. Morgenstern, Leanna Eisenman, Jenny Aguilar, Nili L. Greenberg, Elana S. Levy, Edward Yi, William G. Mitchell, William J. Rice, Christoph Wigge, Jyotsna Pilli, Emily W. George, Despoina Aslanoglou, Maite Courel, Robin J. Freyberg, Jonathan A. Javitch, Zachary P. Wills, Estela Area-Gomez, Sruti Shiva, Francesca Bartolini, Allen Volchuk, Sandra A. Murray, Meir Aridor, Kenneth N. Fish, Peter Walter, Tamas Balla, Deborah Fass, Sharon G. Wolf, Simon C. Watkins, Jose Maria Carazo, Grant J. Jensen, Joachim Frank, Zachary Freyberg
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Dianne Pham, Upamanyu Basu, Ivanna Pohorilets, Claudette M. St Croix, Simon C. Watkins, Kazunori Koide
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2020)
Article
Cell Biology
Sachin Surve, Simon C. Watkins, Alexander Sorkin
Summary: The study demonstrated that endogenous KRAS and NRAS are predominantly localized to the plasma membrane and do not colocalize with endosomal EGFR upon EGF stimulation. It was suggested that a small pool of surface EGFRs sustain signaling within the RAS-ERK1/2 pathway.
JOURNAL OF CELL BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Cell Biology
Mireia Perez Verdaguer, Tian Zhang, Joao A. Paulo, Steven Gygi, Simon C. Watkins, Hiroaki Sakurai, Alexander Sorkin
Summary: This study dissects the mechanisms of p38-induced endocytosis of EGFR using a pH-sensitive model, proposing a unifying model of crosstalk between multiple endocytosis pathways. The research reveals that p38-dependent EGFR endocytosis is essential for the interaction with the sigma 2 subunit of clathrin adaptor AP2, and is additive to CME induced by cytokines but constrained to internalizing ligand-free EGFRs due to Grb2 recruitment by ligand-activated EGFRs.
JOURNAL OF CELL BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Cell Biology
Jonathan Barroso-Gonzalez, Laura Garcia-Exposito, Pablo Galaviz, Michelle Lee Lynskey, Joshua A. M. Allen, SongMy Hoang, Simon C. Watkins, Hilda A. Pickett, Roderick J. O'Sullivan
Summary: Alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) is a telomere-elongation mechanism observed in 15% of cancer subtypes. Disruption of the MutSa DNA mismatch repair complex leads to striking telomere hyperextension in ALT cells. MutSa is specifically recruited to telomeres in ALT cells by associating with the PCNA subunit of the replisome, counteracting the role of BLM helicase in stabilizing hyper-extended telomeres and maintaining the survival of MutSa-deficient ALT cancer cells.
Article
Oncology
Samuel D. Zwernik, Beau H. Adams, Daniel A. Raymond, Catherine M. Warner, Amin B. Kassam, Richard A. Rovin, Parvez Akhtar
Summary: Recent studies have shown that Zika virus can enter human glioblastoma cells through the AXL receptor, leading to productive infection, while inhibition of the AXL receptor can significantly weaken virus entry. Knocking out the AXL gene in GBM cells completely eliminates Zika virus infection, inhibits viral replication, and reduces apoptosis. Introducing the AXL receptor into non-expressing cell lines makes the cells susceptible to Zika virus infection.
MOLECULAR THERAPY-ONCOLYTICS
(2021)
Article
Immunology
Clifford Guy, Diana M. Mitrea, Po-Chien Chou, Jamshid Temirov, Kate M. Vignali, Xueyan Liu, Hui Zhang, Richard Kriwacki, Marcel P. Bruchez, Simon C. Watkins, Creg J. Workman, Dario A. A. Vignali
Summary: This study reveals that the inhibitory receptor LAG3 interferes with TCR signaling and T cell activation by lowering the pH at the immune synapse, providing insights into the mechanism of action of LAG3 in inhibiting T cell function.
Article
Microbiology
Jacqueline D. Corry, Gwenddolen Kettenburg, Amit A. Upadhyay, Megan Wallace, Michelle M. Marti, Elizabeth R. Wonderlich, Stephanie J. Bissel, Kyndal Goss, Timothy J. Sturgeon, Simon C. Watkins, Douglas S. Reed, Steven E. Bosinger, Simon M. Barratt-Boyes
Summary: This study used a novel model of lethal avian influenza in nonhuman primates to investigate the mechanism of severe pneumonia caused by the virus. The researchers found that a potent innate immune response, including high-level production of interferons and inflammatory factors, drives severe disease by recruiting inflammatory cells and leading to the release of neutrophil extracellular traps. They also observed a specific form of cell death known as pyroptosis during lethal influenza. These findings shed light on the mechanisms driving severe influenza and could be targeted for therapeutic interventions to prevent acute lung injury in patients with severe influenza.
Article
Oncology
Huda I. Atiya, Leonard Frisbie, Ester Goldfeld, Taylor Orellana, Nicole Donnellan, Francesmary Modugno, Michael Calderon, Simon Watkins, Rugang Zhang, Esther Elishaev, Thing Rinda Soong, Anda Vlad, Lan Coffman
Summary: This study reveals that a subset of endometriosis-derived mesenchymal stem cells (enMSCs), characterized by loss of CD10 expression, support the growth of ovarian clear cell carcinoma (OCCC) through iron donation. This iron donation is essential for cancer growth and also confers sensitivity to ferroptosis-inducing therapy.
Article
Hematology
Lillian Tran, Bowen Xie, Edwyn Assaf, Ricardo Ferrari, Iraklis I. Pipinos, George P. Casale, Roberto Ivan Mota Alvidrez, Simon Watkins, Ulka Sachdev
Summary: This study found that genes related to ferroptosis are differentially expressed in skeletal muscle affected by PAD. Targeting ferroptosis may be a new therapeutic strategy to reduce PAD myopathy.
ARTERIOSCLEROSIS THROMBOSIS AND VASCULAR BIOLOGY
(2023)