Patterns of Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteremic dissemination from the lung.

Bacteremia, a leading cause of death, generally arises after bacteria establish infection in a particular tissue and transit to secondary sites. Studying dissemination from primary sites by solely measuring bacterial burdens does not capture the movement of individual clones. By barcoding Klebsiella pneumoniae, a leading cause of bacteremia, we track pathogen dissemination following pneumonia.

Reverse transcriptase inhibitors diminish systemic proinflammatory responses to bacterial pathogens.

Bacterial infections can induce exuberant immune responses that can damage host tissues. Previously, we demonstrated that systemic infection in mice causes tissue damage in the liver. This liver necrosis is associated with the expression of endogenous retroviruses, chromosomally integrated retroviruses that encode a reverse transcriptase.

Temporal and spatial dynamics of central nervous system infection in mice.

is a bacterial pathogen that can cause life-threatening central nervous system (CNS) infections. While mechanisms by which and other pathogens traffic to the brain have been studied, a quantitative understanding of the underlying dynamics of colonization and replication within the brain is still lacking. In this study, we used barcoded to quantify the bottlenecks and dissemination patterns that lead to cerebral infection.

Reverse transcriptase inhibitors prevent liver abscess formation during bloodstream infection.

The presence of bacteria in the bloodstream is associated with severe clinical outcomes. In mice, intravenous inoculation of can lead to the formation of macroscopic abscesses in the liver. Abscesses are regions of severe necrosis and consist of millions of bacteria surrounded by inflammatory immune cells.

Genetic and immune determinants of liver abscess formation.

Systemic infections can yield distinct outcomes in different tissues. In mice, intravenous inoculation of leads to bacterial replication within liver abscesses, while other organs such as the spleen clear the pathogen. Abscesses are macroscopic necrotic regions that comprise the vast majority of the bacterial burden in the animal, yet little is known about the processes underlying their formation.

Innate immune responses yield tissue-specific bottlenecks that scale with pathogen dose.

To cause infection, pathogens must overcome bottlenecks imposed by the host immune system. These bottlenecks restrict the inoculum and largely determine whether pathogen exposure results in disease. Infection bottlenecks therefore quantify the effectiveness of immune barriers.

Biochemical and genetic dissection of the RNA-binding surface of the FinO domain of ProQ.

RNA-binding proteins play important roles in bacterial gene regulation through interactions with both coding and noncoding RNAs. ProQ is a FinO-domain protein that binds a large set of RNAs in , though the details of how ProQ binds these RNAs remain unclear. In this study, we used a combination of in vivo and in vitro binding assays to confirm key structural features of ProQ's FinO domain and explore its mechanism of RNA interactions.

Genetic and immune determinants of liver abscess formation.

Systemic infections can yield distinct outcomes in different tissues. In mice, intravenous inoculation of . leads to bacterial replication within liver abscesses while other organs such as the spleen largely clear the pathogen.

Innate immune responses yield tissue-specific bottlenecks that scale with pathogen dose.

To cause infection, pathogens must overcome bottlenecks imposed by the host immune system. These bottlenecks restrict the inoculum and largely determine whether pathogen exposure results in disease. Infection bottlenecks therefore quantify the effectiveness of immune barriers.