Publications by authors named "Mikiko Konda"
Article Synopsis
- Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) involves harmful inflammation and scarring of bile ducts and has been linked to certain gut bacteria, particularly Klebsiella pneumoniae and Enterococcus gallinarum, found abundantly in PSC patients' fecal samples.* -
- Research shows that carriers of these bacteria experience more severe disease and inflammation, validated through experiments in mice where PSC-related Kp worsens liver injury.* -
- A developed lytic phage cocktail effectively targets and reduces Kp levels, improving liver health in affected mice, suggesting this treatment could be a promising strategy for managing PSC.*
The BTBR TItpr3/J (BTBR/J) strain is one of the most valid models of idiopathic autism, serving as a potent forward genetics tool to dissect the complexity of autism. We found that a sister strain with an intact corpus callosum, BTBR TF/ArtRbrc (BTBR/R), showed more prominent autism core symptoms but moderate ultrasonic communication/normal hippocampus-dependent memory, which may mimic autism in the high functioning spectrum. Intriguingly, disturbed epigenetic silencing mechanism leads to hyperactive endogenous retrovirus (ERV), a mobile genetic element of ancient retroviral infection, which increases de novo copy number variation (CNV) formation in the two BTBR strains.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImmune dysregulation plays a key role in the pathogenesis of autism. Changes occurring at the systemic level, from brain inflammation to disturbed innate/adaptive immune in the periphery, are frequently observed in patients with autism; however, the intrinsic mechanisms behind them remain elusive. We hypothesize a common etiology may lie in progenitors of different types underlying widespread immune dysregulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Validation and standardization of methodologies for microbial community measurements by high-throughput sequencing are needed to support human microbiome research and its industrialization. This study set out to establish standards-based solutions to improve the accuracy and reproducibility of metagenomics-based microbiome profiling of human fecal samples.
Results: In the first phase, we performed a head-to-head comparison of a wide range of protocols for DNA extraction and sequencing library construction using defined mock communities, to identify performant protocols and pinpoint sources of inaccuracy in quantification.