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A member of the importin-β protein family, transportin 1, binds to influenza A virus matrix protein M1 and promotes its removal from the viral ribonucleoproteins (vRNPs), enabling disassembly of vRNP bundles, vRNP interaction with importin-α/β and entry into the nucleus.
Classically, peptidoglycan (PG) synthesis was thought to be mediated solely by class A penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) and related enzymes, a view changed by the identification of RodA as a PG polymerase. Now FtsW is also shown to polymerize PG, in a process that requires complex formation with a partner class B PBP.
Genome sequencing of fractionated T-, B- and natural killer cells from patients with chronic active Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) infection sheds light on the nature of the EBV-infected progenitor and suggests a link between intragenic EBV deletions and EBV-associated neoplastic proliferations.
Měnglà virus (MLAV) is a phylogenetically distinct bat filovirus, whose genome shares 32–54% nucleotide sequence identity with known filoviruses. MLAV glycoprotein-typed pseudo-types can transduce cell lines derived from humans, monkeys, dogs, hamsters and bats.
The development of mobile CRISPR interference (CRISPRi), a modular dCas9-based system that facilitates blocking of gene expression and is easily transferred via conjugation, enables genetic investigations in non-model bacteria.
The non-structural protein NSs of the severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus interacts with ABIN2 and promotes formation and signalling of the TPL2–ABIN2–p105 kinase complex to induce expression of the immune-suppressive cytokine IL-10 and enhance viral pathogenesis.
The structure of enterovirus 71 in complex with its receptor SCARB2 provides insights into the mechanism of viral uncoating within the endo/lysosome compartment and identifies few conserved key residues within the binding footprint that might facilitate the design of receptor mimic therapeutics.
Thaumarchaeota isolates are capable of utilizing urea and cyanate for nitrification in vitro. Here, the authors show that this occurs in situ and that Thaumarchaeota are able to use urea and cyanate as an energy and nitrogen source in the marine environment.
A bacterial strain that requires the neurotransmitter GABA for growth was identified and used to isolate GABA-producing bacteria, including Bacteroides spp., from human stool samples; the relative abundance of Bacteroides was negatively correlated with an altered GABA-mediated response in a depression patient cohort.
Comparison of Ustilago maydis and Sporisorium reilianum, two smut fungi that parasitize maize, reveals that their Tin2 effectors target different protein kinase paralogues and activity of an ancestral allele indicates Tin2 neofunctionalization in U. maydis.
The discovery of an alternative squalene epoxidase (AltSQE) belonging to the fatty acid hydroxylase superfamily in the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum and other eukaryotic lineages solves the mystery of the existence of a steroid biosynthesis pathway in eukaryotes that lack the canonical flavoprotein SQE.
The interferon-inducible short isoform of human nuclear receptor coactivator 7 (NCOA7) inhibits influenza virus entry into the cytoplasm by interacting with and stimulating the activity of the vacuolar H+-ATPase, which leads to inhibition of viral and endosomal membrane fusion.
One of the most potently neutralizing flavivirus-specific monoclonal antibodies ever isolated, WNV-86, targets an epitope in E domain II of the West Nile virus (WNV), preferentially recognizes mature virions lacking an uncleaved form of the prM chaperone protein and protects mice from lethal WNV challenge when administered two days after infection.
The ribonucleotide reductase large subunit of the Epstein–Barr virus, BORF2, inhibits the DNA cytosine deaminase activity of the host restriction factor APOBEC3B and sequesters it in perinuclear and cytoplasmic bodies, thus preserving viral genome integrity during lytic reactivation.
Following cleavage by ADAM10, the vaccinia virus epidermal growth factor homologue, VGF, promotes infected cell motility at the leading edge of infection and spread of the virus.
Chlamydia trachomatis DUB1 uses a single catalytic centre to carry out dual lysine deubiquitinase and acetyltransferase activity. Deubiquitination is required for Golgi fragmentation during bacterial infection.
Shotgun metagenomes recovered from a thermal gradient at a coal-seam fire site identified distinct microbial communities with smaller genomes and cell sizes and altered metabolic genes in higher-temperature soils.
Although essential to restrict systemic replication, the small interfering RNA pathway fails to efficiently silence dengue virus in the midgut of Aedes aegypti in the absence of ectopic expression of the double-stranded RNA-binding protein Loqs2.
In a rodent malaria model, antibodies against the CSP protein that coats sporozoites lead to Plasmodium yoelii killing in the skin in a process that involves stripping off the CSP coat, rendering parasites susceptible to pore-forming-like proteins.