Aims: Myxobacteria are non-pathogenic, saprophytic, soil-dwelling predatory bacteria known for their antimicrobial potential. Many pathogenic bacteria form biofilms to protect themselves from antimicrobial agents and the immune system. This study has investigated the predatory activities of myxobacteria against pathogenic bacteria in biofilms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFibroblast activating protein (FAP) is a cell surface marker of cancer-associated fibroblasts with a distinct pro-tumorigenic role. The present study analyzed the pan-cancer expression; and clinical and mutational profiles of the FAP coding gene. Molecular dynamics simulation (MDS) deciphered the backbone dynamics and energetics of FAP.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Limited data exist for management strategies targeting immunotherapy-related enteritis (irEnteritis). Systemic corticosteroids are commonly used but often are limited by adverse events. Enteric corticosteroids such as budesonide offer an attractive alternative; however, the ileocolonic release of enteric-coated budesonide has limited utility for diffuse enteritis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: Corallococcus species are diverse in the natural environment with 10 new Corallococcus species having been characterized in just the last 5 years. As well as being an abundant myxobacterial genus, they produce several secondary metabolites, including Corallopyronin, Corramycin, Coralmycin, and Corallorazine. We isolated a novel strain Corallococcus spp RDP092CA from soil in South Wales, UK, using Candida albicans as prey bait and characterized its predatory activities against pathogenic bacteria and yeast.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMacrolides are empirically used to treat bacterial community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). , being the major pathogen responsible for bacterial CAP with high mortality rates, express MefA-MsrD efflux pumps to hinder macrolide susceptibility. Despite its importance, the structural features of the efflux-protein complex and its impact on macrolide susceptibility have not yet been elucidated explicitly.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHum Vaccin Immunother
December 2023
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) threat is subsiding through extensive vaccination worldwide. However, the pandemic imposed major disruptions in global immunization programs and has aggravated the risks of vaccine-preventable disease (VPD) outbreaks. Particularly, lower-middle-income regions with minimal vaccine coverage and circulating vaccine-derived viral strains, such as polio, suffered additional burden of accumulated zero-dose children, further making them vulnerable to VPDs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProbiotics Antimicrob Proteins
February 2023
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global concern, and as soon as new antibiotics are introduced, resistance to those agents emerges. Therefore, there is an increased appetite for alternative antimicrobial agents to traditional antibiotics. Here, we used in silico methods to investigate potential antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) from predatory myxobacteria.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Family Med Prim Care
September 2022
Background And Objectives: The prevalence of child sexual abuse (CSA) in India is 18-50% depending on the population studied. To devise strategies for prevention of CSA at the primary care level, we studied the prevalence of CSA amongst college students aged 17-25 years.
Methods: A group of medical students and their friends were sent, an anonymous questionnaire validated by experts via WhatsApp.
Fusobacterium necrophorum causes a range of mild to life threatening infections and there is uncertainty in terms of diagnosis and treatment due to the lack of knowledge on their pathogenic mechanisms. This study characterised genomes of F. necrophorum to compare their virulence factors and investigate potential infection markers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMembers of the predatory Myxococcales (myxobacteria) possess large genomes, undergo multicellular development, and produce diverse secondary metabolites, which are being actively prospected for novel drug discovery. To direct such efforts, it is important to understand the relationships between myxobacterial ecology, evolution, taxonomy, and genomic variation. This study investigated the genomes and pan-genomes of organisms within the Myxococcaceae, including the genera Myxococcus and Corallococcus, the most abundant myxobacteria isolated from soils.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHum Vaccin Immunother
September 2020
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is resulting in millions of infected individuals with several hundred thousands dead throughout the world. Amidst all the havoc, one interesting observation in the present COVID-19 pandemic is the negligible symptoms in the young; particularly children below 10 years of age. We assume the extensive pediatric vaccination with MMR vaccines followed globally could have resulted in innate immune responses, e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite widespread use in human biology, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of bacteria are few and have, to date, focused primarily on pathogens. Myxobacteria are predatory microbes with large patchwork genomes, with individual strains secreting unique cocktails of predatory proteins and metabolites. We investigated whether a GWAS strategy could be applied to myxobacteria to identify genes associated with predation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFspp. are common soil-dwelling organisms which kill and consume prey microbes through the secretion of antimicrobial substances. Two species of have been described previously ( and ).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFsp.strain BUPNP1 can utilize the priority environmental pollutant 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) as its sole source of carbon and energy. In this study, genome and transcriptome sequencing were used to gain mechanistic insights into 4-NP degradation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFis an abundant genus of predatory soil myxobacteria, containing two species, (for which a genome sequence is available) and . To investigate the genomic basis of predation, we genome-sequenced 23 strains. Genomic similarity metrics grouped the sequenced strains into at least nine distinct genomospecies, divided between two major sub-divisions of the genus, encompassing previously described diversity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe ability to DNA fingerprint isolates helped to define the role of wildlife in the persistence of bovine tuberculosis in New Zealand. DNA fingerprinting results currently help to guide wildlife control measures and also aid in tracing the source of infections that result from movement of livestock. During the last 5 years we have developed the ability to distinguish New Zealand (NZ) isolates by comparing the sequences of whole genome sequenced (WGS) samples.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFspp. are ubiquitous, chemoheterotrophic, filamentous gliding bacteria with the ability to prey on other microbes through a "wolf pack" mechanism. The genus currently comprises four known species (, , , and ), which produce antimicrobial secondary metabolites such as siphonazole.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA central question to address in managing wildlife diseases is how much effort and resources are required to reduce infection prevalence to below a requisite threshold? This requires surveillance for infection in at least one species involved in the infection cycle, a process that is often expensive and time-consuming but one which could be enhanced using additional sources of readily-obtainable surveillance data. We demonstrate how surveillance data from ruminant livestock monitored for bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in New Zealand can be employed in spatially-explicit modelling to help predict the probability of freedom from Mycobacterium bovis infection in a sympatric wildlife reservoir species, the brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula). We apply the model to a case study and compare resulting probabilities of freedom when utilizing (1) livestock data only, (2) wildlife data only, and (3) combined livestock-plus-wildlife surveillance data.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMyxobacteria are natural predators of microorganisms and the subjects of concerted efforts to identify novel antimicrobial compounds. Myxobacterial predatory activity seems to require more than just the possession of specific antimicrobial metabolites. Thus a holistic approach to studying predation promises novel insights into antimicrobial action.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe describe the progressive development of New Zealand's national strategy for control of tuberculosis (TB) in its agricultural sector over the last four decades. The strategy is globally unique, reflecting the need for effective and co-ordinated management of TB in a wildlife maintenance host, the brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula), in addition to controlling infection in cattle and farmed deer herds. Since the early 1990s, the strategy has been developed by the Animal Health Board (AHB), formed to empower the farming industry to take the leadership role in funding of TB control, policy development and administration.
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