Growth phase influences virulence in Candidozyma auris systemic infection models | mSphere Despite its growing medical importance, there is limited understanding of Candidozyma auris pathogenesis, due in part to limitations of existing laboratory models of infection. To develop a more compl...

Growth phase influences virulence in Candidozyma auris systemic infection models journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... @teresaomeara.bsky.social These results will be instrumental in the future development of standardized animal models to study C. auris pathogenesis.

RNA splicing patterns contribute to burst size variation among HIV-1-infected Jurkat cell clones | Journal of Virology Many models of HIV-1 infection rely on the assumption that actively infected cells release similar amounts of virus, despite recent reports that suggest shedding differs drastically among infected cells. In this study, the expression phenotypes of hundreds of integrant clones were analyzed to identify factors contributing to burst size variation. In agreement with previous reports, virus release spanned over four orders of magnitude within the infected pool. Both proviral expression levels and variation in splicing contributed to these burst size differences. While cell-intrinsic factors appeared to be the primary contributors to heterogeneous shedding patterns, viral point mutations were also observed and, in at least one case, contributed to particle release levels. Together, these findings demonstrate that expression variation among proviruses is both large and multifaceted and suggest that clone-specific differences in HIV-1 expression properties may contribute to unpredicted responses to treatment interventions.

RNA splicing patterns contribute journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... @telesnitsky.bsky.social Expression variation among proviruses is large & multifaceted & suggest that clone-specific differences in HIV-1 expression properties may contribute to unpredicted responses to treatment interventions.

Venous Tone is a Critical Determinant of Venous Valve Closure in the Mouse Venous diseases commonly involve venous wall and/or valve dysfunction. Chronic venous dilation, a characteristic of varicose veins, can progress to the point where venous valve (VV) leaflets are pulled sufficiently apart that they no longer prevent ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC... @kingrasa1.bsky.social Results have important implications for the causes and possible treatment of VV incompetence in pathological states such as venous varicosity and chronic venous insufficiency.

Multi-omics analysis reveals important role for microbial-derived metabolites from Botryllus schlosseri in metal interactions | mSystems Given the importance of marine invertebrates and their microbial communities in marine ecosystems, we sought to characterize the largely unknown microbial associates, metal sequestration, and metaboli...

Multi-omics analysis reveals important role for microbial-derived journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... @balunaslab.bsky.social Bridges knowledge gap of host-microbiome-environ. interactions/establishes foundation for continuing research on ecological effects of trace metals in these biological systems.

www.annualreviews.org/docserver/fu... @teresaomeara.bsky.social Review highlights the critical role of stress adaptation in pathogenicity and potential avenues for further research and therapeutic intervention.

Reconstructing EBV reactivation and DNA damage response kinetics in morphologic pseudotime Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) lytic infection contributes to virus-associated cancers and autoimmunity and depends on viral subversion of host DNA damage responses (DDR). Here, we use high-content screenin...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... This work demonstrates a powerful technique to recover host-virus dynamics from static timepoints and will support future high-throughput single-cell virology applications.

Multi-omics analysis reveals important role for microbial-derived metabolites from Botryllus schlosseri in metal interactions | mSystems Given the importance of marine invertebrates and their microbial communities in marine ecosystems, we sought to characterize the largely unknown microbial associates, metal sequestration, and metaboli...

Multi-omics analysis reveals important role for microbial-derived metabolites from B schlosseri in metal interactions journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... @balunaslab.bsky.social Insights into B. schlosseri’s biological and chemical interactions with microorganisms and their environment.

Multiplexed PCR to measure in situ growth rates of uropathogenic E. coli during experimental urinary tract infection | Applied and Environmental Microbiology Accurately measuring bacterial growth rates in the host, which plays a crucial role in determining the success of pathogens in establishing infections, poses significant challenges. To address this, b...

Multiplexed PCR to measure in situ growth rates of uropathogenic E. coli during experimental UTI journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... @proteusqueen.bsky.social This study provides a cost-effective/efficient alternative to WGS for studying bacterial replication dynamics during infection.

Multiplexed PCR to measure in situ growth rates of uropathogenic E. coli during experimental urinary tract infection | Applied and Environmental Microbiology Accurately measuring bacterial growth rates in the host, which plays a crucial role in determining the success of pathogens in establishing infections, poses significant challenges. To address this, b...

Multiplexed PCR to measure in situ growth rates of uropathogenic E. coli during exp. UTI journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... @proteusqueen.bsky.social Cost-effective/efficient alt. for studying bacterial replication during infection, offering new info re pathogen behavior/host-microbe interactions.

Adhesin Als4112 promotes Candida auris skin colonization through interactions with keratinocytes and extracellular matrix proteins Candida auris is a fungal pathogen notorious for persistent skin colonization and transmission in healthcare settings. Here, we show that a C. auris conserved adhesin, Als4112, is required for skin co...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC... @teresaomeara.bsky.social Study highlights the critical role of Als4112 in C. auris colonization and virulence, and explores potential strategies to reduce the pathogen’s adherence to abiotic surfaces and thus its spread in healthcare settings.

@bmoore-beth.bsky.social We are delighted to announce that Dr. Teresa O'Meara ‪was awarded the Henry Russel award at U-M. Our highest honor for an early-mid career faculty member for her outstanding research and teaching! @teresaomeara.bsky.social ‬ @umichmicroimmuno.bsky.social

Temporal gating of nuclear import: How Merkel cell polyomavirus exploits the cell cycle for nuclear entry Author summary Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) causes a rare but deadly form of skin cancer called Merkel cell carcinoma. However, many aspects of its infectious life cycle are unclear, including how...

Checkout this article I found at PLOS: dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour... @drsprggs.bsky.social Highlights a key difference btw MCPyV & other polyomaviruses that will improve our understanding of its pathogenesis & aid in the development of targeted therapeutic strategies vs MCPyV-associated malignancies.

Nephrotoxicity of Intravenous Ganciclovir in Pediatric... : The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal ion. Methods: We identified children undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation in the Pediatric Health Information System database and tracked them for 1 year following transplantation. The pri...

journals.lww.com/pidj/fulltex... @jason-weinberg.bsky.social Ganciclovir should be used with caution and close monitoring. Approaches to mitigate the risks of nephrotoxicity should be investigated.

IRE1α promotes phagosomal calcium flux to enhance macrophage fungicidal activity The mammalian endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress sensor inositol-requiring enzyme 1α (IRE1α) is essential for cellular homeostasis and plays key roles …

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @teresaomeara.bsky.social @drbadbug.bsky.social Overall, our findings illustrate non-canonical IRE1α activation during infection and a function for IRE1α in supporting organelle contact sites to safeguard against rapidly growing microbes.

Deep homology and design of proteasome chaperone proteins in Candida auris A central tenet of biology is that protein structure mediates the sequence-function relationship. Recently, there has been excitement about the promise of advances in protein structure modeling to gen...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC... @teresaomeara.bsky.social Study prospectively designed de novo chaperones and demonstrate that artificial proteins can rescue complex biological processes in the context of the whole cell.

Macropinosomes are a site of HIV-1 entry into primary CD4+ T cells | PNAS HIV-1 has been observed to enter target cells at both the plasma membrane and endosomes. However, which pathways mediate its entry into primary CD4...

Macropinosomes are a site of HIV-1 entry into primary CD4+ T cells | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... @kingrasa1.bsky.social Altogether, this study identifies macropinocytosis as one pathway for HIV-1 entry into primary CD4+ T cells.

IRE1α promotes phagosomal calcium flux to enhance macrophage fungicidal activity The mammalian endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress sensor inositol-requiring enzyme 1α (IRE1α) is essential for cellular homeostasis and plays key roles …

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @drbadbug.bsky.social @teresaomeara.bsky.social Findings illustrate non-canonical IRE1α activation during infection and a function for IRE1α in supporting organelle contact sites to safeguard against rapidly growing microbes.

Acinetobacter Baumannii Secreted Protease CpaA Inhibits Factor XII-Mediated Bradykinin Generation and Neutrophil Activation | Circulation Research BACKGROUND: FXII (coagulation factor XII) is best known for its roles in the contact and kallikrein-kinin pathways. FXII is converted to its active enzyme (FXIIa [activated factor XII]) by PKa (plasma...

www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/... @drbadbug.bsky.social A role for FXII in responding to bac. infection & suggests that by inhibiting the contact & KKSs & impairing neutrophil activation, CpaA may blunt the innate immune response/help prevent the elimination of A baumannii from the human host.

IRE1α promotes phagosomal calcium flux to enhance macrophage fungicidal activity The mammalian endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress sensor inositol-requiring enzyme 1α (IRE1α) is essential for cellular homeostasis and plays key roles …

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @drbadbug.bsky.social @teresaomeara.bsky.social Overall, our findings illustrate non-canonical IRE1α activation during infection and a function for IRE1α in supporting organelle contact sites to safeguard against rapidly growing microbes.

Metabolic adaptability and nutrient scavenging in Toxoplasma gondii: insights from ingestion pathway-deficient mutants | mSphere Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular pathogen that infects virtually any nucleated cell in most warm-blooded animals. Infections are asymptomatic in most cases, but people with weakened immu...

Metabolic adaptability and nutrient scavenging in Toxoplasma gondii: insights from ingestion pathway-deficient mutants MSphere journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... @verncarruthers.bsky.social This work advances our understanding of the metabolic adaptability of Toxoplasma.

HIV-1 single-transcription start-site mutants display complementary replication functions that are restored by reversion | Journal of Virology HIV-1 generates two RNAs during its replication that differ by only two nucleotides in length. Despite this very minor difference, the RNAs perform different and complementary replication functions. W...

HIV-1 single-transcription start-site mutants display complementary replication functions restored by reversion journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.... @telesnitsky.bsky.social When mutants that expressed only one RNA were forced to revert, they regained functions associated with the second RNA.

Metabolic adaptability and nutrient scavenging in Toxoplasma gondii: insights from ingestion pathway-deficient mutants | mSphere Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular pathogen that infects virtually any nucleated cell in most warm-blooded animals. Infections are asymptomatic in most cases, but people with weakened immu...

Metabolic adaptability/nutrient scavenging in T gondii: insights from ingestion pathway-deficient mutants Msphere journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... @verncarruthers.bsky.social This work advances our understanding of the metabolic adaptability of Toxoplasma.

Lung CD4+ resident memory T cells use airway secretory cells to stimulate and regulate onset of allergic airway neutrophilic disease Neutrophilic asthma is a vexing disease, but mechanistic and therapeutic advancements will require better models of allergy-induced airway neutrophili…

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @anukulshenoy.bsky.social Using our model of neutrophilic asthma, we identify lung epithelial-CD4+ TRM cell crosstalk as a key rheostat of allergic airway neutrophilia.

JCI Insight - CD103+ dendritic cell–fibroblast crosstalk via TLR9, TDO2, and AHR signaling drives lung fibrogenesis insight.jci.org/articles/vie... @bmoore-beth.bsky.social For the first time to our knowledge, evidence that AHR exon 2 floxed mice retain the capacity for ncAHR signaling.

Toxoplasma gondii PROP1 is critical for autophagy and parasite viability during chronic infection | mSphere It is estimated that up to a third of the human population is chronically infected with Toxoplasma gondii; however, little is known about how this parasite persists long term within its hosts. Autopha...

Toxoplasma gondii PROP1 is critical for autophagy and parasite viability during chronic infection MSphere journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.... @verncarruthers.bsky.social Results reveal a critical role for TgPROP1 in autophagy and underscore the importance of this pathway in parasite persistence.

A membrane lipid signature unravels the dynamic landscape of group 1 innate lymphoid cells across the health-disease continuum In an era where established lines between cell identities are blurred by intra-lineage plasticity, distinguishing stable from transitional states is c…

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @verncarruthers.bsky.social The detection of AsGM1 prior to Eomes expression, and its persistence in known transitional states, positions AsGM1 as a pivotal marker for tracing NK-to-ILC1 transitions, transcending ambiguity inherent to the NK-to-ILC1 continuum.

Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis | EMGS Journal | Wiley Online Library Styrene has been shown to induce lung tumors in mice, but not in rats. The current study investigated the potential role of genotoxicity as an initial key event in the mode of action for styrene-indu....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... @jason-weinberg.bsky.social Mutagenicity is not considered a plausible initial key event in the mode of action for styrene-induced mouse lung tumors as these data support that styrene is not an in vivo mutagen.

HIV-1 single-transcription start-site mutants display complementary replication functions that are restored by reversion - PubMed HIV-1 transcription initiates at two positions, generating RNAs with either ^cap1G or ^cap3G 5' ends. The replication fates of these RNAs differ, with viral particles encapsidating...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40035516/ @telesnitsky.bsky.social Despite this very minor difference, the RNAs perform different and complementary replication functions. When mutants that expressed only one RNA were forced to revert, they regained functions associated with the second RNA.

Epidermal ZBP1 stabilizes mitochondrial Z-DNA to drive UV-induced IFN signaling in autoimmune photosensitivity - PubMed Photosensitivity is observed in numerous autoimmune diseases and drives poor quality of life and disease flares. Elevated epidermal type I interferon (IFN) production primes for photosensitivity and e...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40053607/ @drbadbug.bsky.social Results highlight Z-DNA and ZBP1 as critical mediators for UVB-induced inflammation and uncover how type I IFNs prime for cutaneous inflammation in photosensitivity.