Immune defenses in the urinary tract.

Recent advances in preclinical modeling of urinary tract infections (UTIs) have enabled the identification of key facets of the host response that influence pathogen clearance and tissue damage. Here, we review new insights into the functions of neutrophils, macrophages, and antimicrobial peptides in innate control of uropathogens and in mammalian infection-related tissue injury and repair. We also discuss novel functions for renal epithelial cells in innate antimicrobial defense.

BB0562 is a nutritional virulence determinant with lipase activity important for Borrelia burgdorferi infection and survival in fatty acid deficient environments.

The Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi relies on uptake of essential nutrients from its host environments for survival and infection. Therefore, nutrient acquisition mechanisms constitute key virulence properties of the pathogen, yet these mechanisms remain largely unknown. In vivo expression technology applied to B.

The Borrelia burgdorferi infection critical BBK13 protein forms large oligomers in the spirochete membrane.

Borrelia burgdorferi is the causative agent of Lyme disease, the leading tick-borne illness in the United States. However, due to, in part, to the significant number of proteins of unknown function encoded across the complex fragmented genome, the molecular mechanisms of B. burgdorferi infection remain largely undefined.

Is Critical for Spirochete Population Expansion in the Skin during Early Infection.

Lyme disease is caused by the spirochete and is transmitted via the bite of an infected tick. enters the skin, disseminates via the bloodstream, and infects various distal tissues, leading to inflammatory sequelae, such as Lyme arthritis and Lyme carditis. linear plasmid 36 (lp36) is critical for mammalian infectivity; however, the full complement of genes on lp36 that contribute to this process remains unknown.