Structure-guided discovery of viral proteins that inhibit host immunity.

Viruses encode proteins that inhibit host defenses, but sifting through the millions of available viral sequences for immune-modulatory proteins has been so far impractical. Here, we develop a process to systematically screen virus-encoded proteins for inhibitors that physically bind host immune proteins. Focusing on Thoeris and CBASS, bacterial defense systems that are the ancestors of eukaryotic Toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) and cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) immunity, we discover seven families of Thoeris and CBASS inhibitors, encompassing thousands of genes widespread in phages.

Genetic Alternatives for Experimental Adaptation to Colistin in Three Lineages.

is characterized by a high adaptive potential, developing resistance in response to antimicrobial pressure. We employed a spatiotemporal evolution model to disclose the pathways of adaptation to colistin, a last-resort polymyxin antimicrobial, among three unrelated lineages. The ATCC-27833 reference strain (), an environmental isolate (), and a clinical isolate with multiple drug resistance () were grown over an increasing 5-step colistin concentration gradient from 0 to 400 mg/L.

virulence: a current view.

is an opportunistic pathogen intrinsically resistant to multiple and broad-spectrum antibiotics. Although the bacterium is considered a low-virulence pathogen, it can cause various severe diseases and contributes significantly to the pathogenesis of multibacterial infections. During the COVID-19 pandemic, has been recognized as one of the most common causative agents of respiratory co-infections and bacteremia in critically ill COVID-19 patients.

Analysis of Isolates from Patients with Cystic Fibrosis Revealed Novel Groups of Filamentous Bacteriophages.

is an opportunistic pathogen that can cause infections in humans, especially in hospital patients with compromised host defence mechanisms, including patients with cystic fibrosis. Filamentous bacteriophages represent a group of single-stranded DNA viruses infecting different bacteria, including and other human and animal pathogens; many of them can replicate when integrated into the bacterial chromosome. Filamentous bacteriophages can contribute to the virulence of and influence the course of the disease.

Clonal diversity, antimicrobial resistance, and genome features among nonfermenting gram-negative bacteria isolated from patients with cystic fibrosis in Russia.

Nonfermenting gram-negative (NFGN) bacteria were isolated from cystic fibrosis (CF) patients and subjected to susceptibility testing and whole-genome sequencing. Among 170 enrolled CF patients, 112 (65.9%) were colonized with at least 1 key NFGN species.