Volume 4 Issue 9, September 2019

Metagenomic screening of gut microbiomes led to the discovery of a new enzymatic process for the removal of group A antigens on red blood cells, providing new hope for the development of universal blood.

Duffy-binding protein (DBP) is the leading vaccine candidate for Plasmodium vivax malaria. Two studies express and characterise the first human monoclonal antibodies against DBP, induced by natural infection and vaccination, showing they have in vitro functional activity but target different conserved epitopes.

The vast majority of fungi reproduce sexually and use secreted pheromones to signal to each other. A study now shows that these signalling molecules in the fungal plant pathogen Fusarium oxysporum activate a density-dependent autocrine signal that controls asexual spore germination.

This Perspective discusses the emergence and connectedness of antimicrobial resistance across One Health and Global Health levels, as well as potential strategies for mitigating the burden of such resistance in human and environmental health.

Fusarium oxysporum is capable of autocrine signalling—that is, the same cell can express both a- and α-factor pheromones and both cognate receptors—which impacts spore germination.

Mobile tet(X3) and tet(X4) genes are identified on conjugative plasmids in Enterobacteriaceae and Acinetobacter isolated from humans, meat for consumption and animals that confer resistance to tetracyclines, including tigecycline, eravacycline and omadacycline.

Plasmid-encoded tet(X) genes from Escherichia coli in China confer high-level tigecycline resistance.

Using a multi-omics approach, together with imaging analyses, the authors characterize the two intracellular bacterial symbionts of Trichoplax, one of the simplest animals.

Functional metagenomic screening identified a pair of enzymes from the gut bacterium Flavonifractor plautii that can efficiently convert A antigen to the H antigen of universal O type blood.

The structures of two neutralizing human monoclonal antibodies against Plasmodium vivax Duffy-binding protein (DBP) isolated from an individual with naturally acquired immunity, bound to DBP, reveal how such antibodies prevent parasite entry into reticulocytes.

The structure of a neutralizing human monoclonal antibody isolated from an individual immunized in a Plasmodium vivax Duffy binding protein vaccine clinical trial, in complex with its target, elucidates the mechanism by which parasite invasion of immature red blood cells is inhibited.

Statistical mapping techniques provide insights into the current geographical spread of the mosquito-borne dengue virus infection and predict changes in the areas that will be environmentally suitable to the virus for the years 2020, 2050 and 2080.

A mouse mutagenesis screen identifies CYRI (FAM49B) as a host protection factor against Salmonella infection. CYRI negatively regulates RAC1 signalling to interfere with bacterial entry and dissemination.

The interferon-inducible RNA-binding protein N4BP1 binds to and degrades HIV-1 mRNAs, thus inhibiting viral degradation and promoting viral latency. However, metacaspase-mediated degradation of N4BP1 following activation of CD4⁺ T cells facilitates HIV-1 latency reversal.

V. cholerae uses its DNA-uptake pili to bind to chitinous surfaces. These filaments also mediate auto-aggregation and, given strain-to-strain variability in PilA (the major pilin subunit), enable discrimination between cells carrying different PilA subunits.

The sialic acid-binding Ig-like lectin 1 (Siglec-1, also known as CD169) plays a more prominent role than the C-type lectin dendritic cell-specific intercellular adhesion molecule-3-Grabbing non-integrin in mediating Ebola virus entry into activated dendritic cells, and anti-Siglec-1 monoclonal antibodies can antagonize this process.

The gut microbiota member Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron can utilize various complex N-glycans, including those from immunoglobulins, via a complex and diverse set of enzymes encoded by multiple non-adjacent loci.

Systematic deletion analysis of Fusarium graminearum G-protein-coupled receptor genes leads to the identification of five genes that are significantly upregulated during wheat infection and required for virulence.

The use of a statistical prediction model to estimate the determinants of parasite load and host response dynamics in humans infected with the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum identifies cathepsin G and matrix metallopeptidase 9 as host factors that can inhibit parasite invasion into red blood cells.