Publications by authors named "Ashley L Waring"

Organisms are commonly infected by a diverse array of pathogens and mount functionally distinct responses to each of these varied immune challenges. Host immune responses are characterized by the induction of gene expression, however, the extent to which expression changes are shared among responses to distinct pathogens is largely unknown. To examine this, we performed meta-analysis of gene expression data collected from following infection with a wide array of pathogens.

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Article Synopsis
  • Hosts need to distinguish between pathogens and their own tissues for effective immune responses and to avoid damaging their own cells through self-tolerance.
  • The study identifies a mutant strain that shows an autoimmune response against its own fat body, linked to two specific genetic mutations: one affecting protein glycosylation and another leading to early activation of immune cells.
  • The findings suggest that the glycan signals on extracellular matrix proteins indicate self-tissue, and when those signals are absent, immune cells attack, hinting at a simple self-recognition system that might be present in various animal species.
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Individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and otherwise nonstraight and/or non-cisgender (LGBTQ+) have often not felt welcome or represented in the biology community. Additionally, biology can present unique challenges for LGBTQ+ students because of the relationship between certain biology topics and their LGBTQ+ identities. Currently, there is no centralized set of guidelines to make biology learning environments more inclusive for LGBTQ+ individuals.

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Hymenopteran parasitoid wasps are a diverse collection of species that infect arthropod hosts and use factors found in their venoms to manipulate host immune responses, physiology, and behaviour. Whole parasitoid venoms have been profiled using proteomic approaches, and here we present a bioinformatic characterization of the venom protein content from Ganaspis sp. 1, a parasitoid that infects flies of the genus Drosophila.

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