Publications by authors named "Li-Feng Du"

Emerging tick-borne orthonairovirus infections pose a growing global concern, with limited understanding of the viral ovarian tumor-like cysteine proteases (vOTUs) encoded by novel orthonairoviruses. These vOTUs, a group of deubiquinylases (DUBs), disrupt the innate immune response. Yezo virus (YEZV), a recently discovered pathogenic orthonairovirus, was first reported in Japan in 2021.

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  • The emergence of Rickettsia barbariae, a tick-borne disease, has raised global concern since it was first detected in humans in Italy in 2008 and later in northwestern China.
  • Researchers isolated the bacteria for the first time from tick eggs in China and sequenced its whole genome, giving it a modified name according to international standards.
  • The genome analysis showed that this strain is closely related to other harmful rickettsiae, revealing its potential to be pathogenic and underscoring the need for better monitoring of tick-borne diseases in humans.
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Spotted fever group rickettsiae (SFGR) are obligate intracellular bacteria that cause spotted fever. The limitations of gene manipulation pose great challenges to studying the infection mechanisms of Rickettsia. By combining bioorthogonal metabolism and click chemistry, we developed a method to label R.

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Spillovers of viruses from animals to humans occur more frequently under warmer conditions, particularly arboviruses. The invasive tick species Haemaphysalis longicornis, the Asian longhorned tick, poses a significant public health threat due to its global expansion and its potential to carry a wide range of pathogens. We analyzed meta-transcriptomic data from 3595 adult H.

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  • * Researchers obtained the genome from metagenomic sequencing of an infected goat in China, revealing it has the smallest genome of its genus and indicating lower pathogenicity compared to similar species.
  • * The study found a high infection rate of 79.3% in goats and noted significant genetic diversity, providing foundational insights for future studies and potential prevention strategies against this pathogen.
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  • Haemaphysalis longicornis, a type of tick, is becoming a concern because it's spreading and may carry diseases.
  • Researchers studied 136 groups of these ticks and found 508 different RNA viruses, with 22 that no one had seen before.
  • The study showed that the genetic differences in the ticks are linked to their environment, which helps us understand how viruses might spread from ticks to animals and people.
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  • Soft ticks from the Argasidae family act as ectoparasites and are known to spread zoonotic diseases, but there’s limited knowledge about their subgenus in China, primarily focusing on occurrence data and single case reports.
  • This study characterizes this tick subgenus through detailed mitochondrial sequencing and morphological analysis of adult specimens from Ningxia Hui Autonomous Regions in North China, aiming to fill knowledge gaps.
  • The research produced a complete mitogenome of 14,479 bp, identified 37 genes, and showcased morphological features that differentiate these ticks, providing essential data for accurate species identification in the future.
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  • A type of tick from the Ixodidae family is mostly found in North Asia and can spread germs that make both people and animals sick.
  • Researchers studied this tick by analyzing samples and found many different germs it carries, including bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens.
  • The study suggests that this tick can threaten public health and farming, and more attention is needed to track its spread, especially since it might be found in more places than we realize.
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Ticks are obligatory hematophagous arachnids, serving as vectors for a wide array of pathogens that can be transmitted to humans or animals. The ability of tick-borne pathogens to maintain within natural reservoirs is intricately influenced by the attractiveness of ticks to their animal hosts, including humans. However, the complex dynamics of tick behavior and host-seeking strategies remain understudied.

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There has been increasing global concern about the spillover transmission of pangolin-associated microbes. To assess the risk of these microbes for emergence as human pathogens, we integrated data from multiple sources to describe the distribution and spectrum of microbes harbored by pangolins. Wild and trafficked pangolins have been mainly recorded in Asia and Africa, while captive pangolins have been reported in European and North American countries.

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  • Anaplasma capra is a new tickborne bacteria identified in 2015 in China, impacting both humans and a variety of animals globally.
  • Researchers sequenced the genomes of two A. capra strains from infected goats, finding that this species has the smallest genome in its genus.
  • The study revealed high prevalence in goats, with the strains showing genetic similarities to those previously found in Asia and highlighting the genetic diversity of A. capra.
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The seasonal human coronaviruses (HCoVs) have zoonotic origins, repeated infections, and global transmission. The objectives of this study are to elaborate the epidemiological and evolutionary characteristics of HCoVs from patients with acute respiratory illness. We conducted a multicenter surveillance at 36 sentinel hospitals of Beijing Metropolis, China, during 2016-2019.

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  • A tick-borne protozoan poses a significant veterinary health threat to livestock and wildlife, with a limited number of genome sequences available until now.
  • Researchers at Cheeloo College of Medicine sequenced the whole genome of a new strain, named str. Cheeloo, derived from infected goats, revealing it has the smallest genome size and fewer gene variations compared to other known species.
  • The findings indicate a high infection rate (81.5%) in goats, highlighting str. Cheeloo's significance in the understanding and control of theileriosis, which has resulted in considerable economic losses in animal husbandry.
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Background: The impact of host skin microbiome on horizontal transmission of tick-borne pathogens , and of pathogen associated transstadial and transovarial changes in tick microbiome are largely unknown, but are important to control increasingly emerging tick-borne diseases worldwide.

Methods: Focusing on a rickettsiosis pathogen, Rickettsia raoultii, we used R. raoultii-positive and R.

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The increasing prevalence and expanding distribution of tick-borne viruses globally have raised health concerns, but the full repertoire of the tick virome has not been assessed. We sequenced the meta-transcriptomes of 31 different tick species in the Ixodidae and Argasidae families from across mainland China, and identified 724 RNA viruses with distinctive virome compositions among genera. A total of 1,801 assembled and complete or nearly complete viral genomes revealed an extensive diversity of genome architectures of tick-associated viruses, highlighting ticks as a reservoir of RNA viruses.

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Rickettsiae are obligate intracellular bacteria that can cause life-threatening illnesses. There is an ongoing debate as to whether established infections by one species preclude the maintenance of the second species in ticks. Here, we identified two species in inoculum from Haemaphysalis montgomeryi ticks and subsequently obtained pure isolates of each species by plaque selection.

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  • Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is an RNA virus that primarily causes severe respiratory illness in children under two, as well as affecting infants and the elderly globally.
  • RSV circulates only among humans but was first isolated from chimpanzees; while it can infect some lab animals, it doesn’t naturally spread in them.
  • Research discovered that Malayan pangolins have RSV strains closely related to human strains, indicating the possibility of human-to-wildlife transmission of the virus.
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