Latest Articles
Editor's Pick Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyFrom People to Panthera: Natural SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Tigers and Lions at the Bronx ZooThe human-animal-environment interface of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an important aspect of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that requires robust One Health-based investigations. Despite this, few reports describe natural infections in animals or directly link them to human infections using genomic data. In the present study, we describe the first cases of natural SARS-CoV-2 infection...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologySensing Host Arginine Is Essential for Leishmania Parasites’ Intracellular DevelopmentIn this study, we report that the ability of the human pathogen Leishmania to sense and monitor the lack of arginine in the phagolysosome of the host macrophage is essential for disease development. Phagolysosomes of macrophages are the niche where Leishmania resides and causes human leishmaniasis. During infection, the arginine concentration in the phagolysosome decreases as part of the host innate immune response. An...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyTargeting Methionine Synthase in a Fungal Pathogen Causes a Metabolic Imbalance That Impacts Cell Energetics, Growth, and VirulenceFungal pathogens are responsible for millions of life-threatening infections on an annual basis worldwide. The current repertoire of antifungal drugs is very limited and, worryingly, resistance has emerged and already become a serious threat to our capacity to treat fungal diseases. The first step to develop new drugs is often to identify molecular targets in the pathogen whose inhibition during infection can prevent its growth. However...
Editor's Pick Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyHigher-Order Interactions Dampen Pairwise Competition in the Zebrafish Gut MicrobiomeUnderstanding the rules governing the composition of the diverse microbial communities that reside in the vertebrate gut environment will enhance our ability to manipulate such communities for therapeutic ends. Synthetic microbial communities, assembled from specific combinations of microbial species in germfree animals, allow investigation of the fundamental question of whether multispecies community composition can be predicted solely...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyRsr1 Palmitoylation and GTPase Activity Status Differentially Coordinate Nuclear, Septin, and Vacuole Dynamics in Candida albicansUnderstanding how single eukaryotic cells self-organize to replicate and migrate is relevant to health and disease. In the fungal pathogen, Candida albicans, the small GTPase, Rsr1, guides the directional growth of hyphae that invade human tissue during life-threatening infections. Rsr1 is a Ras-like GTPase and a homolog of the conserved Rap1 subfamily, which directs...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyInvertases in Phytophthora infestans Localize to Haustoria and Are Programmed for Infection-Specific ExpressionOomycetes cause hundreds of diseases in economically and environmentally significant plants. How these microbes acquire host nutrients is not well understood. Many oomycetes insert specialized hyphae called haustoria into plant cells, but unlike their fungal counterparts, a role in nutrition has remained unproven. The discovery that Phytophthora invertases localize to haustoria provides the first strong evidence that these...
Letter to the EditorPandemic Legion History More Complex than Previously Thought
Observation | Host-Microbe BiologyRIPK3-Dependent Recruitment of Low-Inflammatory Myeloid Cells Does Not Protect from Systemic Salmonella InfectionMacrophages employ multiple strategies to limit pathogen infection. For example, macrophages may undergo regulated cell death, including RIPK3-dependent necroptosis, as a means of combatting intracellular bacterial pathogens. However, bacteria have evolved mechanisms to evade or exploit immune responses. Salmonella is an intracellular pathogen that avoids and manipulates immune detection within macrophages. We examined the...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologySurvival Strategies of Pathogenic Candida Species in Human Blood Show Independent and Specific AdaptationsTo ensure their survival, pathogens have to adapt immediately to new environments in their hosts, for example, during the transition from the gut to the bloodstream. Here, we investigated the basis of this adaptation in a group of fungal species which are among the most common causes of hospital-acquired infections, the Candida species. On the basis of a human whole-blood infection model, we studied which genes and processes...
