The never-ending battle between lactic acid bacteria and their phages.

Over the past few decades, the interest in lactic acid bacteria (LAB) has been steadily growing. This is mainly due to their industrial use, their health benefits as probiotic bacteria and their ecological importance in host-related microbiota. Phage infection represents a significant risk for the production and industrial use of LAB.

Longitudinal Study of Phages in a Canadian Cheese Factory.

The presence of virulent phages is closely monitored during cheese manufacturing, as these bacterial viruses can significantly slow down the milk fermentation process and lead to low-quality cheeses. From 2001 to 2020, whey samples from cheddar cheese production in a Canadian factory were monitored for the presence of virulent phages capable of infecting proprietary strains of Lactococcus cremoris and Lactococcus lactis used in starter cultures. Phages were successfully isolated from 932 whey samples using standard plaque assays and several industrial strains as hosts.

Phenotyping Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain in Male and Female Adolescents: Psychosocial Profiles, Somatosensory Profiles and Pain Modulatory Profiles.

Purpose: A major limitation in treatment outcomes for chronic pain is the heterogeneity of the population. Therefore, a personalized approach to the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with chronic pain conditions is needed. The objective of the study was to subgroup pediatric patients with chronic MSK pain that will be phenotypically different from each other based on their psychosocial profile, somatosensory function, and pain modulation.

Unique-region phosphorylation targets LynA for rapid degradation, tuning its expression and signaling in myeloid cells.

The activity of Src-family kinases (SFKs), which phosphorylate immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motifs (ITAMs), is a critical factor regulating myeloid-cell activation. We reported previously that the SFK LynA is uniquely susceptible to rapid ubiquitin-mediated degradation in macrophages, functioning as a rheostat regulating signaling (Freedman et al., 2015).

Selective Inhibition of by a Dithiazoline in Mixed Infections with .

The Gram-negative human pathogen has progressively developed resistance to antibiotic monotherapies, and recent failures of dual-drug therapy have heightened concerns that strains resistant to all available antibiotics will begin circulating globally. Targeting bacterial cell wall assembly has historically been effective at treating infections with , but as the effectiveness of β-lactams (including cephalosporins) is challenged by increasing resistance, research has expanded into compounds that target the numerous other enzymes with roles in peptidoglycan metabolism. One example is the dithiazoline compound JNJ-853346 (DTZ), which inhibits the activity of an serine protease l,d-carboxypeptidase (LdcA).

Targeted mutagenesis of intergenic regions in the Neisseria gonorrhoeae gonococcal genetic island reveals multiple regulatory mechanisms controlling type IV secretion.

Gonococci secrete chromosomal DNA into the extracellular environment using a type IV secretion system (T4SS). The secreted DNA acts in natural transformation and initiates biofilm development. Although the DNA and its effects are detectable, structural components of the T4SS are present at very low levels, suggestive of uncharacterized regulatory control.