Publications by authors named "Shebin Zhang"

Plasmid-mediated conjugation is a common mechanism for most bacteria to transfer antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). The conjugative transfer of ARGs is emerging as a major threat to human beings. Although several transfer-related factors are known to regulate this process, small RNAs (sRNAs)-based regulatory roles remain to be clarified.

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In recent years, polymyxin has been used as a last-resort therapy for carbapenem-resistant bacterial infections. The emergence of heteroresistance (HR) to polymyxin hampers the efficacy of polymyxin treatment by amplifying resistant subpopulation. However, the mechanisms behind polymyxin HR remain unclear.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study explored how bacteria and plasmids develop resistance to antibiotics, specifically under varying amounts of the antibiotic meropenem.
  • Researchers created a baseline bacterial strain with a specific plasmid and tested how it evolved when exposed to different levels of antibiotic pressure.
  • Findings showed that bacterial clones increased their resistance (MIC) either by lowering outer membrane protein expression or by increasing plasmid copy numbers due to specific mutations.
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As an important virulence phenotype of , the regulation mechanism of biofilm by non-coding RNA and quorum sensing system has not been clarified. Here, by transcriptome sequencing and RT-PCR analysis, we found CsrB, a non-coding RNA of the carbon storage regulation system, was positively regulated by the LuxR protein SdiA. Furthermore, β-galactosidase reporter assays showed that SdiA enhanced promoter transcriptional activity of .

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Small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) regulate multiple physiological functions in bacteria, and sRNA PrrH can regulate iron homeostasis and virulence. However, the function of PrrH in Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) bloodstream infection (BSI) is largely unknown.

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Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic and nosocomial pathogen of humans with hundreds of its virulence factors regulated by quorum sensing (QS) system. Small noncoding RNAs (sRNAs) are also key regulators of bacterial virulence. However, the QS regulatory sRNAs (Qrrs) that have been characterized in P.

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The acid tolerance mechanism is important for to resist acidic conditions encountered in mammalian host digestive tract environment. Here, we explored how the LuxR protein SdiA influenced acid tolerance ability in the context of the glutamate- and glutamine-dependent acid resistance system (AR2). First, using a growth and acid shock assay under different acid stresses, we demonstrated that the deletion of in λ or led to impaired growth under the acidic environment of pH 3-6, which was restored by complementary expression of SdiA.

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Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia causing high morbidity and mortality. While changing of the cellular calcium homeostasis plays a critical role in AF, the L-type calcium channel α1c protein has suggested as an important regulator of reentrant spiral dynamics and is a major component of AF-related electrical remodeling. Our computational modeling predicted that miRNA-223 may regulate the CACNA1C gene which encodes the cardiac L-type calcium channel α1c subunit.

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