Unlabelled: Triggering the amoebal phagocytosis process is a sine qua non condition for most giant viruses to initiate their replication cycle and consequently to promote their progeny formation. It is well known that the amoebal phagocytosis process requires the recognition of particles of >500 nm, and most amoebal giant viruses meet this requirement, such as mimivirus, pandoravirus, pithovirus, and mollivirus. However, in the context of the discovery of amoebal giant viruses in the last decade, Marseillevirus marseillevirus (MsV) has drawn our attention, because despite its ability to successfully replicate in Acanthamoeba, remarkably it does not fulfill the >500-nm condition, since it presents an ∼250-nm icosahedrally shaped capsid.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Escherichia coli is believed to participate in the etiology of Crohn's disease (CD) and possibly of ulcerative colitis (UC), due at least in part to the observed rise in the number of these bacteria in the gut microbiota of CD and UC patients. Nevertheless, it is not fully understood whether this quantitative variation occurs equally throughout the mucosal and luminal spaces of the gut. To assess this question, stools and mucosa biopsies from distinct intestinal sites were cultured aiming at determining their E.
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