Article
Microbiology
Jie Zhou, Li Zhang, Yang Zhang, Hui Liu, Kangli Xu, Baohu Zhang, Tianyuan Feng, Shucai Yang
Summary: This study found that 7.9% of GBS strains isolated from the vagina/rectum of pregnant women were CAMP-negative, suggesting that the CAMP test method or primers targeting the cfb gene should not be used as the sole presumptive test for GBS identification.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Immunology
Preeti P. John, Brady C. Baker, Santosh Paudel, Lauren Nassour, Hayden Cagle, Ritwij Kulkarni
Summary: The study found that exposure to moderate glycosuria significantly increased bacterial growth and virulence characteristics in a mouse model of UTI, enhancing bacterial adhesion to human bladder cells, increasing resistance to antimicrobial peptides, and enhancing bacterial hemolytic ability.
JOURNAL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(2021)
Article
Microbiology
Hidehito Matsui, Jumpei Uchiyama, Masaya Ogata, Tadahiro Nasukawa, Iyo Takemura-Uchiyama, Shin-ichiro Kato, Hironobu Murakami, Masato Higashide, Hideaki Hanaki
Summary: This study demonstrates that treatment with a recombinant endolysin specific to Enterococcus faecalis potentially improves the accuracy of prenatal GBS screening test by enriching Group B Streptococcus (GBS) and increasing the GBS-positive ratio. The presence of commensal bacteria such as Enterococcus faecalis in clinical specimens can inhibit GBS growth in selective enrichment culture, leading to false-negative results. The application of originally isolated endolysin in the enrichment culture inhibits unwanted E. faecalis growth, thereby avoiding false-negative results in both experimental settings and tests using vaginal swabs.
MICROBIOLOGY SPECTRUM
(2021)
Article
Biophysics
N. Balasubramanian, P. Pounpandi, G. Varatharaju, V. Shanmugaiah, K. Balakrishnan, M. A. Thirunarayan
Summary: This study isolated 21 clinical samples of Streptococcus agalactiae from patients in different states of India and found that these pathogenic strains carry six virulence genes and can form biofilms.
COLLOIDS AND SURFACES B-BIOINTERFACES
(2023)
Review
Immunology
Marlyd E. E. Mejia, Clare M. M. Robertson, Kathryn A. A. Patras
Summary: Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is a common neonatal pathogen that causes half a million deaths and stillbirths each year. The most common source of fetal or neonatal GBS exposure is the maternal microbiota. Although antibiotics have reduced GBS early-onset neonatal disease, there are unintended consequences such as altered neonatal microbiota and increased risk for other infections.
INFECTION AND IMMUNITY
(2023)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Lucia Bocanova, Michal Psenko, Imrich Barak, Nora Halgasova, Hana Drahovska, Gabriela Bukovska
Summary: The endolysin EN534 has the potential to become an antimicrobial agent for treating Streptococcus agalactiae infections, showing good lytic activity and stability.
JOURNAL OF BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Daiki Tanno, Kyoichi Saito, Kazutaka Ohashi, Masahiro Toyokawa, Yukio Yamadera, Hiroki Shimura
Summary: This study developed a highly sensitive method for screening Group B Streptococcus (GBS), called MALDI detection with analysis of peaks of TOF (MDAPT). The method can detect GBS directly from cultured broth, providing an alternative for GBS screening in pregnant women and contributing to the prevention of severe GBS infectious diseases in neonates.
MICROBIOLOGY SPECTRUM
(2022)
Review
Immunology
Chenglin Miao, Yali Cui, Ziyi Yan, Yongmei Jiang
Summary: The pilus is an extracellular structural part that plays an important role in the adhesion, colonization, and pathogenesis of Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae). It has the potential to be a candidate antigen for protein vaccines.
FRONTIERS IN CELLULAR AND INFECTION MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Fisheries
Tao Zhou, Zhihua Fang, Daniel F. C. Duarte, Stefan A. Fernandes, Ying Lu, Jing Guo, Lang Gui, Liangbiao Chen
Summary: This study investigated the mechanisms of gill damage in tilapia infected with Streptococcus agalactiae. Transcriptomic analysis revealed differentially expressed genes and enriched immune-related gene ontology and pathways. HE staining results showed severe gill damage in tilapia at 9 hours post-infection.
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Agnieszka Sroka-Oleksiak, Wojciech Pabian, Joanna Sobonska, Kamil Drozdz, Tomasz Bogiel, Monika Brzychczy-Wloch
Summary: The aim of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity of group B Streptococcus (GBS) detection using polymerase chain reaction primers and a preincubation step. Vaginal and rectal swabs were collected from 97 pregnant women and subjected to enrichment broth culture-based diagnostics and amplification using specific primers. The preincubation step increased the sensitivity of GBS detection, and additional GBS cases were identified using nucleic acid amplification techniques. The atr gene primers showed the highest number of true positive results compared to other primers.
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Elena Awwad, Mahmoud Srour, Shadi Hasan, Samir Khatib
Summary: This study investigated group B Streptococcus samples recovered from invasive patients in Palestine, identifying serotype III as the major cause of invasive infections. The study also found that highly virulent genes were mainly present in strains isolated from pregnant women. Furthermore, the research revealed the resistance patterns of group B Streptococcus to various antibiotics in the region, as well as the genetic relationship among the isolates.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF INFECTION CONTROL
(2022)
Review
Microbiology
Anna Furuta, Alyssa Brokaw, Gygeria Manuel, Matthew Dacanay, Lauren Marcell, Ravin Seepersaud, Lakshmi Rajagopal, Kristina Adams Waldorf
Summary: Group B streptococci (GBS) are bacteria that can cause serious infections in newborns, leading to significant neurodevelopmental injury and disability.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Fisheries
Zhiqiang Zhang, Jinzhong Niu, Qi Li, Yongxiong Huang, Baijian Jiang, Xing Li, Jichang Jian, Yu Huang
Summary: A protein called CLEC12B was found in Nile tilapia, which is involved in the fish's immune response to bacterial infection. It plays a role in cell adhesion, turnover of glycoproteins, and the innate immune system's reaction to potential invaders.
FISH & SHELLFISH IMMUNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Immunology
Michelle J. Vaz, Sheryl A. Purrier, Maryam Bonakdar, Anna B. Chamby, Adam J. Ratner, Tara M. Randis
Summary: Maternal GBS-specific antibodies protect newborns from early-onset disease, but their impact on GI colonization and late-onset disease is unexplored. Maternal vaccination with a whole-cell GBS vaccine induces production of GBS-specific IgG in dams, which is vertically transmitted to their offspring but does not decrease the duration of GBS intestinal colonization or reduce late-onset mortality. Both perinatal and postnatal murine models of GBS acquisition closely recapitulate the human disease state, demonstrating endogenous production of anti-GBS IgG and vertical transfer of antibodies to offspring. These models provide a platform to study critical host-pathogen interactions that mediate late-onset GBS disease.
INFECTION AND IMMUNITY
(2021)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
T. Bogiel, D. Depka, P. Zalas-Wiecek, M. Rzepka, E. Kruszynska, E. Gospodarek-Komkowska
Summary: This study compared the results of conventional culture investigation, BD Max GBS assay, and standard PCR protocols for detecting GBS carriage among pregnant women. The BD Max GBS assay had the highest percentage of positive results, showing statistically significant differences compared to other methods.
JOURNAL OF HOSPITAL INFECTION
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Brandon J. Kim, Maura A. McDonagh, Liwen Deng, Benjamin D. Gastfriend, Alexandra Schubert-Unkmeir, Kelly S. Doran, Eric V. Shusta
FLUIDS AND BARRIERS OF THE CNS
(2019)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Christopher K. Sue, Scott A. McConnell, Ken Ellis-Guardiola, John M. Muroski, Rachel A. McAllister, Justin Yu, Ana Alvarez, Chungyu Chang, Rachel R. Ogorzalek Loo, Joseph A. Loo, Hung Ton-That, Robert T. Clubb
BIOCONJUGATE CHEMISTRY
(2020)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jason E. Gosschalk, Chungyu Chang, Christopher K. Sue, Sara D. Siegel, Chenggang Wu, Michele D. Kattke, Sung Wook Yi, Robert Damoiseaux, Michael E. Jung, Hung Ton-That, Robert T. Clubb
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2020)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Nicholas A. Ramirez, Asis Das, Hung Ton-That
TRENDS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2020)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Leo M. Endres, Alexandra Schubert-Unkmeir, Brandon J. Kim
JOVE-JOURNAL OF VISUALIZED EXPERIMENTS
(2020)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Kartik Manne, Debasish Chattopadhyay, Vaibhav Agarwal, Anna M. Blom, Baldeep Khare, Srinivas Chakravarthy, Chungyu Chang, Hung Ton-That, Sthanam V. L. Narayana
ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION D-STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY
(2020)
Article
Microbiology
Truc Thanh Luong, Minh Tan Nguyen, Yi-Wei Chen, Chungyu Chang, Ju Huck Lee, Manuel Wittchen, HyLam Ton-That, Melissa Cruz, Danielle A. Garsin, Asis Das, Andreas Tauch, Hung Ton-That
Summary: Controlled RNA degradation is crucial for proper cell biology in bacteria, and the ribonuclease RNase J plays a key role in this process. By studying Corynebacterium diphtheriae, researchers have identified a homolog of RNase J, DIP1463, which affects the expression of multiple factors involved in bacterial cell physiology and virulence. The deletion of RNase J leads to reduced bacterial growth, abnormal cell shape, and attenuation in virulence, highlighting its importance in pathogenesis.
Review
Microbiology
Aadil H. Bhat, Minh Tan Nguyen, Asis Das, Hung Ton-That
Summary: This article summarizes the cell wall anchoring mechanism of surface proteins and pili in Gram-positive bacteria, as well as how sortase enzymes recognize substrates and the role of the cell wall sorting signal in modulating intramembrane signaling.
CURRENT OPINION IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Scott A. McConnell, Rachel A. McAllister, Brendan R. Amer, Brendan J. Mahoney, Christopher K. Sue, Chungyu Chang, Hung Ton-That, Robert T. Clubb
Summary: This research reveals how Gram-positive bacteria assemble pili on their surfaces to adhere to host tissues and promote interactions, with a focus on the specific mechanisms involved in crosslinking pilins by sortase enzymes. The study proposes a latch mechanism in which a conserved loop in SpaA facilitates the crosslinking reaction and stabilizes the isopeptide bond, shedding light on the biogenesis of pili. General features of this structure and mechanism are likely conserved in Gram-positive bacteria.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Chenggang Wu, Yi-Wei Chen, Matthew Scheible, Chungyu Chang, Manuel Wittchen, Ju Huck Lee, Truc T. Luong, Bethany L. Tiner, Andreas Tauch, Asis Das, Hung Ton-That
Summary: Fusobacterium nucleatum utilizes the two-component signal transduction system CarRS and environmental lysine to modulate interspecies interactions, virulence, and nutrient acquisition for survival in the adverse environment of oral biofilms and extraoral sites.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Dentistry, Oral Surgery & Medicine
Abu Amar M. Al Mamun, Chenggang Wu, Chungyu Chang, Belkys C. Sanchez, Asis Das, Hung Ton-That
Summary: The cell wall-anchored glycoprotein GspA plays an important role in biofilm formation and maintaining cell membrane integrity under cation stress in Actinomyces oris.
MOLECULAR ORAL MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Matthew Scheible, Cuong T. Nguyen, Truc Thanh Luong, Ju Huck Lee, Yi-Wei Chen, Chungyu Chang, Manuel Wittchen, Martha I. Camacho, Bethany L. Tiner, Chenggang Wu, Andreas Tauch, Asis Das, Hung Ton-That
Summary: F. nucleatum is an anaerobic bacterium that colonizes various human tissues. This study uncovered a set of genes in F. nucleatum that play important roles in oxidative stress response and immune evasion, and are critical for its virulence and invasion capabilities.
Article
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Sharon Kim, Yasuhiko Bando, Chungyu Chang, Jeonga Kwon, Berta Tarverti, Doohyun Kim, Sung Hee Lee, Hung Ton-That, Reuben Kim, Peter L. Nara, No-Hee Park
Summary: This study successfully induced local infection, including periodontitis and systemic vascular inflammation, by topically applying Pg into the gingival pockets of wild-type mice. Pathohistological changes included Pg colonization, increased gingival pocket depths, gingival inflammation, alveolar bone loss, and increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the serum.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Nicholas A. Ramirez, Chenggang Wu, Chungyu Chang, Sara D. Siegel, Asis Das, Hung Ton-That
Summary: This study reveals the function of SafA protein in Actinomyces oris and identifies SafA as a topological modulator of sortase. Deletion of safA leads to multiple abnormal phenotypes associated with cell surface assembly, and the defects can be rescued by ectopic expression.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Yi-Wei Chen, Martha Camacho, Yimin Chen, Aadil H. Bhat, Chungyu Chang, Emily A. Peluso, Chenggang Wu, Asis Das, Hung Ton-That
Summary: In this study, the genetic determinants and physiological functions of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) production in Fusobacterium nucleatum were investigated. The L-methionine gamma-lyase MegL was found to be the major enzyme responsible for H2S production in F. nucleatum, and it significantly contributed to antibiotic susceptibility and bacterial virulence.