Published in PLoS pathogens
Sexual reproduction, mutation, and reassortment of nuclei increase genotypic diversity in rust fungi. Sexual reproduction is inherent to rust fungi, coupled with their coevolved plant hosts in native pathosystems. Rust fungi are hypothesised to exchange nuclei by somatic hybridisation with an outcome of increased genotypic diversity, independent of...
Published in PLoS pathogens
Quorum sensing (QS) is widely employed by bacterial cells to control gene expression in a cell density-dependent manner. A previous study revealed that anthranilic acid from Ralstonia solanacearum plays a vital role in regulating the physiology and pathogenicity of R. solanacearum. We reported here that anthranilic acid controls the important biolo...
Published in PLoS pathogens
Tuberculosis (TB), one of the deadliest threats to human health, is mainly caused by 2 highly related and human-adapted bacteria broadly known as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium africanum. Whereas M. tuberculosis is widely spread, M. africanum is restricted to West Africa, where it remains a significant cause of tuberculosis. Although ...
Published in PLoS Pathogens
Published in PLoS Pathogens
It is urgent to develop new antifungal strategies to address the problem of Candida auris infection and drug resistance. Previous studies have revealed that antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) based on natural products, such as hypocrellin A (HA), is a promising method in clinical applications. However, equivalent studies of aPDT on antifunga...
Published in PLoS Pathogens
Lyme disease is the most common tick-transmitted disease in the northern hemisphere and is caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi and related Borrelia species. The constellation of symptoms attributable to this malady results from B . burgdorferi dissemination throughout the body via the circulatory system, to invade a variety of tissue type...
Published in PLoS Pathogens
Foamy viruses are the oldest known retroviruses and have been mostly described to be nonpathogenic in their natural animal hosts. Simian foamy viruses (SFVs) can be transmitted to humans, in whom they establish persistent infection, as have the simian viruses that led to the emergence of two major human pathogens, human immunodeficiency virus type ...
Published in PLoS Pathogens
Lassa virus (LASV) is known to cause lethal hemorrhagic fever, Lassa fever, and is classified into Risk Group-4 agents, which need to be handled in biosafety level-4 (BSL-4) due to their high pathogenicity. LASV is also known to cause hearing loss in patients. Hearing loss caused by LASV infection has a huge impact on patients’ quality of life and ...
Published in PLoS Pathogens
Type 3 secretion systems (T3SS) are injection machines required for virulence of various bacteria. A translocon/pore complex is formed at the tip of the injection needle, which is required for translocation of effector proteins across the host cell membrane. To date, little information is available on the composition, structure, and regulation of t...
Published in PLoS Pathogens
Self-replicating alphasatellites are frequently associated with plant ssDNA viruses. Their origin and costs versus benefits for helper virus replication, antiviral defense evasion and transmission by insect vectors are poorly understood. Here we describe identification in Africa and in depth molecular and biological characterization of a newly emer...
