host-pathogen interactions
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyThree-Dimensional Light Sheet Fluorescence Microscopy of Lungs To Dissect Local Host Immune-Aspergillus fumigatus InteractionsThe use of animal models of infection is essential to advance our understanding of the complex host-pathogen interactions that take place during Aspergillus fumigatus lung infections. As in the case of humans, mice need to suffer an immune imbalance in order to become susceptible to invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA), the most serious infection caused by...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyBinding of Host Cell Surface Protein Disulfide Isomerase by Anaplasma phagocytophilum Asp14 Enables Pathogen InfectionAnaplasma phagocytophilum infects neutrophils to cause granulocytic anaplasmosis, an emerging potentially fatal disease and the second-most common tick-borne illness in the United States. Treatment options are limited, and no vaccine exists. Due to the bacterium’s obligatory intracellular lifestyle, A....
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyAn Oral Inoculation Infant Rabbit Model for Shigella InfectionShigella species are the leading bacterial cause of diarrheal death globally. The pathogen causes bacillary dysentery, a bloody diarrheal disease characterized by damage to the colonic mucosa and is usually spread through the fecal-oral route. Small animal models of shigellosis that rely on the oral route of infection are lacking. Here, we found that orogastric inoculation of infant rabbits with...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyMultiple Alternative Carbon Pathways Combine To Promote Candida albicans Stress Resistance, Immune Interactions, and VirulenceCandida albicans is a fungal pathogen and a significant cause of morbidity and mortality, particularly in people with defects, sometimes minor ones, in innate immunity. The phagocytes of the innate immune system, particularly macrophages and neutrophils, generally restrict this organism to its normal commensal niches, but...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyCARD9 Is Required for Classical Macrophage Activation and the Induction of Protective Immunity against Pulmonary CryptococcosisCryptococcus neoformans is a fungal pathogen that is found throughout the environment and can cause life-threatening infections of the lung and central nervous system in severely immunocompromised individuals. Caspase recruitment domain-containing protein 9 (CARD9) is a critical molecule that is activated after interactions of C-type lectin receptors (CLRs) found on...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyShigella sonnei O-Antigen Inhibits Internalization, Vacuole Escape, and Inflammasome ActivationDiarrheal disease remains the second leading cause of death in children under five. Shigella remains a significant cause of diarrheal disease with two species, S. flexneri and S. sonnei, causing the majority of infections....
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyFunctionally Overlapping Variants Control Tuberculosis Susceptibility in Collaborative Cross MiceThe variable outcome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection observed in natural populations is difficult to model in genetically homogeneous small-animal models. The newly developed Collaborative Cross (CC) represents a reproducible panel of genetically diverse mice that display a broad range of phenotypic responses to infection. We explored the genetic basis of this...
Editor's Pick Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyBacteriophage Adherence to Mucus Mediates Preventive Protection against Pathogenic BacteriaThe mucosal surfaces of animals are habitat for microbes, including viruses. Bacteriophages—viruses that infect bacteria—were shown to be able to bind to mucus. This may result in a symbiotic relationship in which phages find bacterial hosts to infect, protecting the mucus-producing animal from bacterial infections in the process. Here, we studied phage binding on mucus and the effect of mucin on phage-bacterium interactions. The...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyIRG1 and Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase Act Redundantly with Other Interferon-Gamma-Induced Factors To Restrict Intracellular Replication of Legionella pneumophilaLegionella pneumophila is one example among many species of pathogenic bacteria that replicate within mammalian macrophages during infection. The immune signaling factor interferon gamma (IFN-γ) blocks L. pneumophila replication in macrophages and is an essential component of the immune response to...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyDynamic Emergence of Mismatch Repair Deficiency Facilitates Rapid Evolution of Ceftazidime-Avibactam Resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Acute InfectionAntimicrobial resistance in bacteria represents one of the most consequential problems in modern medicine, and its emergence and spread threaten to compromise central advances in the treatment of infectious diseases. Ceftazidime-avibactam (CZA) belongs to a new class of broad-spectrum beta-lactam/beta-lactamase inhibitor combinations designed to treat infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria. Understanding the emergence of...