Publications by authors named "Kevin Munoz Navarrete"
Kingella kingae, an emerging pediatric pathogen, secretes the pore-forming toxin RtxA, which has been implicated in the development of various invasive infections. RtxA is synthesized as a protoxin (proRtxA), which gains its biological activity by fatty acylation of two lysine residues (K558 and K689) by the acyltransferase RtxC. The low acylation level of RtxA at K558 (2-23%) suggests that the complete acylation at K689 is crucial for toxin activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Some bacteria can make mammals sick by infecting their lungs, and one type causes a bad cough called whooping cough.
- Scientists studied a protein called BopN in a bacteria that causes this cough, finding it helps control how the bacteria injects harmful proteins into the cells it infects.
- They discovered that BopN acts like a gatekeeper, deciding if and when the bacteria can release these proteins based on the environment around it, helping the bacteria avoid being attacked by the body's defense system.
Risk-taking is a fundamental aspect of life spanning diverse contexts. Despite many tests being readily available, the behavioral assessment of risk propensity in recreational contexts, where decisions are not necessarily motivated by monetary gains or losses, is not well represented. As the tower building task (TBT) shares features of recreational activities, we evaluated whether it could assess risk-taking in this type of scenario.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF