Publications by authors named "Burchmore R"
Article Synopsis
- Amphotericin B (AmB) is a strong antifungal and antiparasitic drug that kills leishmanial parasites by disrupting their cell membranes, making it important to study its effects on parasites like Leishmania orientalis to understand potential drug resistance.
- This study involved exposing a specific Leishmania orientalis strain to AmB and analyzing genetic changes through sequencing methods, focusing on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and gene expression changes.
- The results indicated no significant chromosomal alterations post-treatment, but a higher incidence of SNPs in the control group, along with the downregulation of key genes, suggesting complex regulatory mechanisms might contribute to AmB resistance in this strain.
Article Synopsis
- Secretory trafficking in plant cells relies on SNARE proteins, with SYP132 being crucial for plant development and immune responses, working alongside other syntaxins SYP121 and SYP122.
- SYP132 plays a key role in transporting proteins like the H+-ATPase AHA1 and aquaporin PIP2;1, and it affects the secretion of defense-related proteins PR1, PR2, and PR5 when plants encounter pathogens.
- Research using advanced mass spectrometry has revealed that SYP132 not only supports basic secretion in Arabidopsis leaves but also enhances the plant's defense mechanisms against bacterial infections.
Article Synopsis
- The gut microbiota significantly impacts human health, with changes linked to various diseases, but the specific cellular mechanisms behind these effects are not fully understood.
- This study investigated how metabolites derived from the gut microbiome, such as butyrate and l-tryptophan, affect the intestinal barrier and immune responses at a cellular level.
- Results showed that most metabolites enhance gut barrier function, though butyrate increased cell death while helping maintain barrier integrity, highlighting the complex role of microbiome metabolites in host health and disease.
Article Synopsis
- This feasibility study examined collecting and analyzing tear proteins from preterm infants to understand the potential links to retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and to find possible prognostic markers.
- Using Schirmer's test and mass spectrometry, researchers collected tear samples from 12 infants scheduled for ROP screening, identifying 701 proteins, including key markers associated with ROP risk.
- The findings suggest that tear sampling is practical, indicating a need for a larger study to explore its role in identifying ROP and improving understanding of retinal development.
Certain factors hinder the commercialization of biodesulfurization process, including low substrate-specificity of the currently reported desulfurizing bacteria and restricted mass transfer of organic-sulfur compounds in biphasic systems. These obstacles must be addressed to clean organic-sulfur rich petro-fuels that pose serious environmental and health challenges. In current study, a dibenzothiophene desulfurizing strain, Gordonia rubripertincta W3S5 (source: oil contaminated soil) was systematically evaluated for its potential to remove sulfur from individual compounds and mixture of organic-sulfur compounds.
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- * In African trypanosomes, a specific process called targeted recombination helps them evade host immunity by activating one out of many silent variant genes, with unclear mechanisms behind it.
- * The enzyme RAD51 interacts with RNA-DNA hybrids and is crucial for repairing DNA breaks, with mutations in RAD51 affecting the abundance of these hybrids and disrupting the repair related to immune evasion strategies.
Article Synopsis
- Mitochondrial DNAs (mtDNAs) are important for studying evolutionary relationships and species identification, particularly in eukaryotes, while kinetoplast DNAs (kDNAs) in kinetoplastids have a complex structure, comprising maxicircles and minicircles.
- This study focused on the kDNAs of a newly examined species, Leishmania orientalis strain PCM2, utilizing hybrid genome sequencing to analyze and reconstruct its kDNA sequences.
- The research discovered high similarity between L. orientalis maxicircle and another strain, L. enriettii, and identified multiple classes of minicircles, providing genetic insights that may assist in diagnosis and understanding the parasite's genetics in Thailand.
Article Synopsis
- Dilated cardiomyopathy (iDCM) is a significant disease affecting both dogs and humans, being the second leading cause of heart failure in dogs and can lead to sudden cardiac death.
- This study compared the plasma metabolome of 12 dogs with iDCM to 8 healthy dogs, utilizing advanced mass-spectrometry techniques to identify 272 metabolites.
- Findings revealed notable changes in metabolite concentrations (like amino acids and lipids) associated with iDCM, paving the way for better understanding and monitoring of this condition in the future.
Article Synopsis
- * Research on the African trypanosome, a unique single-cell eukaryotic parasite, identified 602 potential proteins that interact with RNA-DNA hybrids, revealing both shared and unique functions compared to mammals.
- * Certain factors, like helicases and RAD51 paralogues, are crucial for maintaining RNA-DNA hybrid levels and DNA damage repair in T. brucei, influencing its ability to evade the host's immune response.
Article Synopsis
- * AR-Vs activate androgenic signaling independently and resist existing therapies, highlighting the need for new treatment strategies targeting their function.
- * The study identifies DNA-PKcs as a crucial element in regulating AR-V activity and suggests that targeting this protein may effectively reduce AR-V signaling in advanced PC, offering a promising therapeutic avenue for resistant cases.
Article Synopsis
- * A study analyzed serum protein levels in 32 dogs infected with B. rossi (18 with uncomplicated cases and 14 with complicated cases) compared to 20 healthy dogs, identifying 78 proteins with varying abundances across the groups.
- * The research highlighted key differences in processes like haemostasis, immunity, lipid metabolism, and inflammation, suggesting potential biomarkers for assessing the severity of babesiosis and paving the way for new treatment strategies.
There has been little information about the proteome of bovine faeces or about the contribution to the faecal proteome of proteins from the host, the feed or the intestinal microbiome. Here, the bovine faecal proteome and the origin of its component proteins was assessed, while also determining the effect of treating barley, the major carbohydrate in the feed, with either ammonia (ATB) or sodium propionate (PTB) preservative. Healthy continental crossbreed steers were allocated to two groups and fed on either of the barley-based diets.
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- African Animal Trypanosomiasis (AAT) is a deadly disease affecting livestock in Sub-Saharan Africa, caused mainly by specific parasites, and presents limited treatment options that are becoming less effective due to resistance.
- Researchers have identified key adenosine transporters in two of the parasites, which could help in developing effective treatments that work against all three species causing AAT.
- Their findings suggest that certain nucleoside analogs can be effective against the parasites, indicating a potential pathway for creating viable chemotherapy options for AAT.
Article Synopsis
- - This study focuses on the mitochondrial DNA, or kinetoplast DNA (kDNA), of Leishmania martiniquensis, a species prevalent in Thailand, which is linked to drug resistance and survival in these parasites.
- - Researchers extracted and reconstructed the complete maxicircle (19,008 bp) and identified 214 classes of minicircles from the L. martiniquensis strain PCM3 using advanced whole-genome sequencing techniques.
- - The findings reveal close structural similarities between the maxicircle of L. martiniquensis and other Leishmania species, while phylogenetic analysis shows distinct evolution among the minicircles, paving the way for improved diagnostic and monitoring tools for this parasite.
This study examines whether maternal low ω6:ω3 ratio diet and offspring SW supplementation can improve offspring immunity and performance by elucidating the effects on piglet serum proteome. A total of 16 sows were given either a standard (CR, 13:1) or low ω6:ω3 ratio diet (LR, 4:1) during pregnancy and lactation and their male weaned piglets were supplemented with SW powder (4 g/kg, SW) or not (CT) in a 21-day post-weaning (PW) diet. Four PW piglet groups were then identified based on dam and piglet treatment, namely CRCT, CRSW, LRCT, and LRSW (n = 10 each).
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- The study investigates how a long-term low ω6:ω3 dietary ratio in sows, along with seaweed supplementation in their offspring, affects the intestinal health and growth of piglets by analyzing the proteins in their ileum.
- Sows were divided into two diet groups: a control group with a high ω6:ω3 ratio and a treatment group with a low ratio, while piglets were further divided based on their seaweed supplementation.
- Results revealed that the low ω6:ω3 diet positively impacted protein synthesis and cell growth in the piglets, while seaweed improved gut development and reduced inflammation but affected fat absorption differently depending on the maternal diet.
Article Synopsis
- Amphotericin B is increasingly used to treat leishmaniasis; researchers studied 14 Leishmania mexicana lines and one L. infantum line for resistance to this drug and nystatin.
- Resistance correlated with changes in sterols, notably a switch from the wild-type sterol ergosta-5,7,24-trienol to other intermediates, due to mutations in specific genes related to sterol biosynthesis.
- Some resistant lines displayed altered virulence, with a few showing increased virulence despite their resistance to Amphotericin B, highlighting potential risks in clinical treatment.
Article Synopsis
- Chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy (CCC) is a serious form of Chagas disease, significantly impacting health in Latin America and lacking approved treatments.
- This study explored the metabolic changes in heart tissue from patients with end-stage heart failure due to CCC, using advanced metabolomic profiling techniques.
- Findings revealed energy deficits and oxidative stress in CCC-affected heart tissue, suggesting a link to chronic inflammation and indicating a need for further research to develop new treatment options.
Article Synopsis
- The study focuses on the genomic analysis of a neglected strain in Thailand, presenting a new bioinformatic workflow that combines de novo assembly and reference-based methods to generate high-quality genomic drafts from Illumina sequencing data.
- Using this integrated approach, researchers produced a genomic draft of isolate PCM2, revealing important characteristics such as 3367 contigs and 8887 predicted genes, along with significant integrity and coverage compared to an existing reference genome.
- The findings suggest that the proposed workflow is effective in generating a valuable genome for further analysis, which could aid in identifying strain-specific markers and virulence genes for drug and vaccine development.
The study of transporters is highly challenging, as they cannot be isolated or studied in suspension, requiring a cellular or vesicular system, and, when mediated by more than one carrier, difficult to interpret. Nucleoside analogues are important drug candidates, and all protozoan pathogens express multiple equilibrative nucleoside transporter (ENT) genes. We have therefore developed a system for the routine expression of nucleoside transporters, using CRISPR/cas9 to delete both copies of all three nucleoside transporters from (ΔNT1.
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- * Analyzed different fungal species, revealing 34 distinct proteins, with a significant reaction to the fungus A. alternata, including several novel immunogens.
- * Suggested that these findings could lead to more effective diagnostic tools for fungal allergies in Zimbabwe, with further validation needed for the potential allergens in larger patient groups.
Article Synopsis
- Autochthonous leishmaniasis, caused by protozoan parasites, is reported in both immunocompromised and immunocompetent patients in southern Thailand, yet knowledge on its genetics is limited, especially compared to northern isolates.
- Researchers sequenced and analyzed the genomes of two southern isolates (PCM2 and PCM3) alongside other species, finding notable differences in genome size and protein variations that suggest distinct strains.
- The study highlights six protein groups linked to virulence and drug resistance, emphasizing the importance of ongoing genetic monitoring of these parasites in Thailand and surrounding areas.
Article Synopsis
- - The study investigates bovine faecal composition, focusing on the bovine faecal proteome, and finds that in-gel sample preparation (IGSP) leads to better protein identification than filter-aided sample preparation (FASP).
- - IGSP effectively removes high molecular weight glycoproteins, improving the analysis process by allowing for more peptides and greater protein coverage when using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).
- - Understanding faecal proteins could enhance knowledge of how animals respond to changes in diet, disease, and drug treatment, and the IGSP method could be useful in various studies where large molecules might complicate sample preparation.
Article Synopsis
- - This study explored how a low dietary ω6:ω3 fatty acids (FAs) ratio affects the protein profile in the plasma of sows during gestation and lactation, comparing a control group to a low ratio group.
- - High-resolution mass spectrometry identified 379 proteins, with 4 showing significant differences between the two dietary treatments during gestation, and others indicating changes related to lipoproteins and stress responses by the end of lactation.
- - Findings suggest that a lower ω6:ω3 FAs ratio enhances the cellular defense against stressors in sows, particularly oxidative stress, by modifying proteins associated with protective mechanisms during critical reproductive phases.
Article Synopsis
- Microbes influence interactions between the gut and brain through the production of neurotransmitters and immunomodulators, affecting overall health.
- Researchers used mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) to analyze the molecular changes in the brains and guts of different groups of mice (germ-free, antibiotic-treated, and control).
- They discovered significant changes in certain small molecules in the brains of germ-free mice, while antibiotic treatment did not lead to noticeable changes, highlighting MSI's potential for studying the microbiome-gut-brain communication.