Hemocyte differentiation to the megacyte lineage enhances mosquito immunity against .

Activation of signaling in by silencing , a suppressor of this pathway, enhances local release of hemocyte-derived microvesicles (HdMv), promoting activation of the mosquito complement-like system, which eliminates ookinetes. We uncovered the mechanism of this immune enhancement. silencing triggers a -mediated differentiation of granulocytes to the megacyte lineage, a new subpopulation of giant cells, resulting in a dramatic increase in the proportion of circulating megacytes.

Neutralisation Hierarchy of SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern Using Standardised, Quantitative Neutralisation Assays Reveals a Correlation With Disease Severity; Towards Deciphering Protective Antibody Thresholds.

The rise of SARS-CoV-2 variants has made the pursuit to define correlates of protection more troublesome, despite the availability of the World Health Organisation (WHO) International Standard for anti-SARS-CoV-2 Immunoglobulin sera, a key reagent used to standardise laboratory findings into an international unitage. Using pseudotyped virus, we examine the capacity of convalescent sera, from a well-defined cohort of healthcare workers (HCW) and Patients infected during the first wave from a national critical care centre in the UK to neutralise B.1.

Mosquito cellular immunity at single-cell resolution.

Hemocytes limit the capacity of mosquitoes to transmit human pathogens. Here we profile the transcriptomes of 8506 hemocytes of and mosquito vectors. Our data reveal the functional diversity of hemocytes, with different subtypes of granulocytes expressing distinct and evolutionarily conserved subsets of effector genes.

Seq-Well: A Sample-Efficient, Portable Picowell Platform for Massively Parallel Single-Cell RNA Sequencing.

Seq-Well is a low-cost picowell platform that can be used to simultaneously profile the transcriptomes of thousands of cells from diverse, low input clinical samples. In Seq-Well, uniquely barcoded mRNA capture beads and cells are co-confined in picowells that are sealed using a semipermeable membrane, enabling efficient cell lysis and mRNA capture. The beads are subsequently removed and processed in parallel for sequencing, with each transcript's cell of origin determined via the unique barcodes.

Single-Cell RNA Sequencing with Drop-Seq.

Drop-Seq is a low-cost, high-throughput platform to profile thousands of cells by encapsualting them into individual droplets. Uniquely barcoded mRNA capture microparticles and cells are coconfined through a microfluidic device within the droplets where they undergo cell lysis and RNA hybridiztion. After breaking the droplets and pooling the hybridized particles, reverse transcription, PCR, and sequencing in single reactions allow to generate data from thousands of single-cell transcriptomes while maintaining information on the cellular origin of each transcript.

Three-dimensional structures of pathogenic and saprophytic Leptospira species revealed by cryo-electron tomography.

Leptospira interrogans is the primary causative agent of the most widespread zoonotic disease, leptospirosis. An in-depth structural characterization of L. interrogans is needed to understand its biology and pathogenesis.

Chemoreceptors and flagellar motors are subterminally located in close proximity at the two cell poles in spirochetes.

Green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusions, immunofluorescence microscopy, and cryo-electron tomography revealed that the chemoreceptors of the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi form long, thin arrays near both cell poles. These arrays are in close proximity to the flagellar motors. This information provides a basis for further understanding motility, chemotaxis, and protein localization in spirochetes.