Invariant natural killer T cells act as an extravascular cytotoxic barrier for joint-invading Lyme Borrelia.

CXCR6-GFP(+) cells, which encompass 70% invariant natural killer T cells (iNKT cells), have been found primarily patrolling inside blood vessels in the liver. Although the iNKT cells fail to interact with live pathogens, they do respond to bacterial glycolipids presented by CD1d on liver macrophage that have caught the microbe. In contrast, in this study using dual laser multichannel spinning-disk intravital microscopy of joints, the CXCR6-GFP, which also made up 60-70% iNKT cells, were not found in the vasculature but rather closely apposed to and surrounding the outside of blood vessels, and to a lesser extent throughout the extravascular space.

Construction and characterization of a Borrelia burgdorferi strain with conditional expression of the essential telomere resolvase, ResT.

Borrelia species are unique in the bacterial world in possessing segmented genomes which sometimes contain over 20 genetic elements. Most elements are linear and contain covalently closed hairpin ends requiring a specialized process, telomere resolution, for their generation. Hairpin telomere resolution is mediated by the telomere resolvase, ResT.

HrpA, an RNA helicase involved in RNA processing, is required for mouse infectivity and tick transmission of the Lyme disease spirochete.

The Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi must differentially express genes and proteins in order to survive in and transit between its tick vector and vertebrate reservoir. The putative DEAH-box RNA helicase, HrpA, has been recently identified as an addition to the spirochete's global regulatory machinery; using proteomic methods, we demonstrated that HrpA modulates the expression of at least 180 proteins. Although most bacteria encode an HrpA helicase, RNA helicase activity has never been demonstrated for HrpAs and the literature contains little information on the contribution of this protein to bacterial physiology or pathogenicity.

Vascular binding of a pathogen under shear force through mechanistically distinct sequential interactions with host macromolecules.

Systemic dissemination of microbial pathogens permits microbes to spread from the initial site of infection to secondary target tissues and is responsible for most mortality due to bacterial infections. Dissemination is a critical stage of disease progression by the Lyme spirochaete, Borrelia burgdorferi. However, many mechanistic features of the process are not yet understood.

HrpA, a DEAH-box RNA helicase, is involved in global gene regulation in the Lyme disease spirochete.

Spirochetes causing Lyme borreliosis are obligate parasites that can only be found in a tick vector or a vertebrate host. The ability to survive in these two disparate environments requires up and downregulation of specific genes by regulatory circuits that remain largely obscure. In this work on the Lyme spirochete, B.

Studies on alkaline serine protease produced by Bacillus clausii GMBE 22.

An alkali tolerant Bacillus strain having extracellular serine alkaline protease activity was newly isolated from compost and identified as Bacillus clausii GMBE 22. An alkaline protease (AP22) was 4.66-fold purified in 51.

Preliminary phenotypic characterization of newly isolated halophilic microorganisms by footprinting: a rapid metabolome analysis.

The emerging need for rapid screening and identification methods for microbiological purposes necessitates the combined uses of high-tech instruments. In this work, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry was used to visualize the relation of ten newly isolated moderately halophilic microorganisms, to Halomonas salina DSMZ 5,928 and Halomonas halophila DSMZ 4,770. The method was based on the global analysis of the metabolites in culture media and is termed as metabolic footprinting.