Latest Articles
Research Article | Therapeutics and PreventionA Bispecific Antibody That Simultaneously Recognizes the V2- and V3-Glycan Epitopes of the HIV-1 Envelope Glycoprotein Is Broader and More Potent than Its Parental AntibodiesBroadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) can prevent a new HIV-1 infection and can at least temporarily suppress an established infection. However, antibody-resistant viruses rapidly emerge in infected persons treated with any single bNAb. Several bispecific antibodies have been developed to increase the breadth of these antibodies, but typically only one arm of these bispecific constructs binds the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein trimer (...
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 BiologyQuantitative Framework for Model Evaluation in Microbiology Research Using Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Cystic Fibrosis Infection as a Test CaseLaboratory models have become a cornerstone of modern microbiology. However, the accuracy of even the most commonly used models has never been evaluated. Here, we propose a quantitative framework based on gene expression data to evaluate model performance and apply it to models of Pseudomonas aeruginosa cystic fibrosis lung infection. We discovered that these models...
Research Article | Ecological and Evolutionary ScienceA New Family of DNA Viruses Causing Disease in Crustaceans from Diverse Aquatic BiomesRecent genomic and metagenomic studies have led to a dramatic expansion of the known diversity of nucleocytoplasmic large DNA viruses (NCLDVs) of eukaryotes, which include giant viruses of protists and important pathogens of vertebrates, such as poxviruses. However, the characterization of viruses from nonmodel hosts still lags behind. We sequenced the complete genomes of three viruses infecting crustaceans, the Caribbean spiny lobster...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyCpG Frequency in the 5′ Third of the env Gene Determines Sensitivity of Primary HIV-1 Strains to the Zinc-Finger Antiviral ProteinEvasion of the zinc-finger antiviral protein (ZAP) may drive CpG dinucleotide suppression in HIV-1 and many other viral pathogens but the viral determinants of ZAP sensitivity are poorly defined. Here, we examined CpG suppression and ZAP sensitivity in a large number of primate lentiviruses and demonstrate that their genomic frequency of CpGs varies substantially and does not correlate with ZAP sensitivity. We further show that the...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyCell-to-Cell Variation in Defective Virus Expression and Effects on Host Responses during Influenza Virus InfectionDefective influenza virus particles generated during viral replication carry incomplete viral genomes and can interfere with the replication of competent viruses. These defective genomes are thought to modulate the disease severity and pathogenicity of an influenza virus infection. Different defective viral genomes also introduce another source of variation across a heterogeneous cell population. Evaluating the impact of defective virus...
Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyUnique Microbial Catabolic Pathway for the Human Core
N-Glycan Constituent Fucosyl-α-1,6-N-Acetylglucosamine-AsparagineThe gastrointestinal tract accommodates more than 1014 microorganisms that have an enormous impact on human health. The mechanisms enabling commensal bacteria and administered probiotics to colonize the gut remain largely unknown. The ability to utilize host-derived carbon and energy resources available at the mucosal surfaces may provide these bacteria with a competitive advantage in the gut. Here, we have identified in the...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyThe Tip of the VgrG Spike Is Essential to Functional Type VI Secretion System Assembly in Acinetobacter baumanniiDespite the clinical relevance of A. baumannii, little is known about its fundamental biology. Here, we show that a single amino acid mutation in VgrG, a critical T6SS structural protein, abrogates T6SS function. Given that this mutation was found in a clinical isolate, we propose that the T6SS of A....
Letter to the Editor | Host-Microbe BiologyA Complex Scenario of Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs Induced Prostaglandin E2 Production and Gut Microbiota Alteration in Clostridium difficile-Infected Mice
Editor's Pick Research Article | Ecological and Evolutionary ScienceA Genus Definition for Bacteria and Archaea Based on a Standard Genome Relatedness IndexIn recent decades, the taxonomy of Bacteria and Archaea, and therefore genus designation, has been largely based on the use of a single ribosomal gene, the 16S rRNA gene, as a taxonomic marker. We propose an approach to delineate genera that excludes the direct use of the 16S rRNA gene and focuses on a standard genome relatedness index, the average nucleotide identity. Our findings are of importance to the microbiology...