Publications by authors named "L M Sharkey"
The genus Nocardia comprises over 130 species of soil-dwelling actinomycetes, many of which are opportunistic pathogens. Beyond their pathogenicity, Nocardia exhibits significant biosynthetic potential, producing an array of diverse antimicrobial secondary metabolites. This review highlights notable examples of these compounds and explores modern approaches to unlocking their untapped biosynthetic potential.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPEG10 is a retroelement-derived Mart-family gene that is necessary for placentation and has been implicated in neurological disease. PEG10 resembles both retrotransposon and retroviral proteins and forms virus-like particles (VLPs) that can be purified using iodixanol ultracentrifugation. It is hypothesized that formation of VLPs is crucial to the biological roles of PEG10 in reproduction and neurological health.
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- The human genome contains sequences from foreign elements, including retrovirus-like proteins, and the study explores how these proteins influence the behavior of UBQLN2, a factor involved in neurodegenerative diseases.
- Two specific retrovirus-like proteins, RTL8 and PEG10, work together to modulate the function of UBQLN2, enabling it to interact with PEG10 and play a role in stress granules during stress conditions.
- The research highlights how PEG10 affects the assembly and disassembly of stress granules and the presence of virus-like particles within them, revealing a novel connection between cellular protein management and retroviral elements.
Multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens like vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VREfm) are a critical threat to human health. Daptomycin is a last-resort antibiotic for VREfm infections with a novel mode of action, but for which resistance has been widely reported but is unexplained. Here we show that rifaximin, an unrelated antibiotic used prophylactically to prevent hepatic encephalopathy in patients with liver disease, causes cross-resistance to daptomycin in VREfm.
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- A six-year-old spayed female Siberian Husky presented with cervical pain, ataxia, respiratory changes, and significant weight loss, leading to a battery of diagnostic tests.
- Findings indicated serious health issues, including spinal myelopathy and signs suggestive of metastatic carcinoma, prompting humane euthanasia and further investigation through necropsy.
- The necropsy revealed multiple tumors consistent with cholangiocellular carcinoma, highlighting challenges in prior diagnostics and an unusual presentation with cervical pain likely linked to spinal metastasis.