A series of patients infected with the emerging tick-borne Yezo virus in China: an active surveillance and genomic analysis.

Background: Yezo virus (YEZV) is an emerging tick-borne pathogen, which was initially reported in Japan in 2021. Only one patient had been reported in China so far. We aimed to describe the epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory findings of a series of patients, and to characterise the viral genomes of YEZV.

Skin infectome of patients with a tick bite history.

Introduction: Ticks are the most important obligate blood-feeding vectors of human pathogens. With the advance of high-throughput sequencing, more and more bacterial community and virome in tick has been reported, which seems to pose a great threat to people.

Methods: A total of 14 skin specimens collected from tick-bite patients with mild to severe symptoms were analyzed through meta-transcriptomic sequencings.

Virome and Blood Meal-Associated Host Responses in Naturally Fed on Patients.

The long-lasting co-evolution of ticks with pathogens results in mutual adaptation. Blood-feeding is one of the critical physiological behaviors that have been associated with the tick microbiome; however, most knowledge was gained through the study of laboratory-reared ticks. Here we detached ticks at different stages of blood-feeding from human patients and performed high-throughput transcriptomic analysis on them to identify their virome and genes differentially expressed between flat and fully fed ticks.

Four plasma membrane-localized MGR transporters mediate xylem Mg loading for root-to-shoot Mg translocation in Arabidopsis.

Magnesium (Mg), an essential structural component of chlorophyll, is absorbed from the soil by roots and transported to shoots to support photosynthesis in plants. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying root-to-shoot Mg translocation remain largely unknown. We describe here the identification of four plasma membrane (PM)-localized transporters, named Mg release transporters (MGRs), that are critical for root-to-shoot Mg transport in Arabidopsis.

Cutaneous Immunoprofiles of Three Spotted Fever Group Rickettsia Cases.

Spotted fever group rickettsia (SFGR) can cause mild to fatal illness. The early interaction between the host and rickettsia in skin is largely unknown, and the pathogenesis of severe rickettsiosis remains an important topic. A surveillance of SFGR infection by PCR of blood and skin biopsy specimens followed by sequencing and immunohistochemical (IHC) detection was performed on patients with a recent tick bite between 2013 and 2016.

Borrelia miyamotoi Infections in Humans and Ticks, Northeastern China.

We conducted an investigation of Borrelia miyamotoi infections in humans and ticks in northeastern China. Of 984 patients reporting recent tick bites, 14 (1.4%) were found to be infected with B.

CFTR is essential for sperm fertilizing capacity and is correlated with sperm quality in humans.

Background: Our previous studies have demonstrated the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is important for capacitation and male fertility in mouse and guinea pig spermatozoa. However, the exact function of CFTR on human sperm fertilizing capacity, and correlation with sperm quality has not been established. The present study may shed light on some unexplained male infertility, and on a possible new method for diagnosis of male infertility and strategy for male contraception.

[Expression of protein kinase C alpha in Chinese hamster ovary cells].

Objective: To study the expression of protein kinase C (PKC) alpha subtype in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells.

Methods: The PKC alpha primer pairs were designed based on the GenBank sequence of PKC alpha of a species with the highest homology to Chinese hamster identified using EMBL Data Library Clustalw tool. The sequence coding for PKC alpha, amplified from the CHO cells using RT-PCR, was ligated to the pGEM-T plasmid vector, and the recombinant vector was transformed into E.