Publications by authors named "Sherry Mou"

Melioidosis is caused by , an opportunistic Gram-negative pathogen that inhabits soil and water in tropical and subtropical regions. infections often occur following contact with contaminated water or soil or by inhalation of contaminated dust and water droplets. There is limited knowledge about how is able to survive in harsh environmental conditions and compete with the microbes that inhabit these niches.

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In the United States in 2021, an outbreak of 4 cases of Burkholderia pseudomallei, the etiologic agent of melioidosis and a Tier One Select Agent (potential for deliberate misuse and subsequent harm), resulted in 2 deaths. The causative strain, B. pseudomallei ATS2021, was unintentionally imported into the United States in an aromatherapy spray manufactured in India.

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is one of the several biothreat agents for which a licensed vaccine is needed. To ensure vaccine protection is achieved across a range of virulent strains, we assembled and characterized a panel of isolates to be utilized as challenge strains. A promising tularemia vaccine candidate is rLVS Δ/ (rLVS), in which the vector is the LVS strain with a deletion in the gene and which additionally expresses a fusion protein comprising immunodominant epitopes of proteins IglA, IglB, and IglC.

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The microbial pathogens and are unrelated bacteria, yet both are the etiologic agents of naturally occurring diseases in animals and humans and are classified as Tier 1 potential biothreat agents. is the gram-negative bacterial agent of melioidosis, a major cause of sepsis and mortality globally in endemic tropical and subtropical regions. is the gram-positive spore-forming bacterium that causes anthrax.

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Burkholderia pseudomallei, the causative agent of melioidosis, is classified by the CDC as a tier 1 select agent, and work involving it must be performed in a biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) laboratory. Three BSL-2 surrogate strains derived from B. pseudomallei 1026b, a virulent clinical isolate, have been removed from the CDC select agent list.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Type IV pili are crucial for adhesion, movement, and biofilm formation in various Gram-negative bacteria, including a specific bacterium (the causative agent of melioidosis) with eight associated loci (TFP1 to TFP8).
  • - This study focuses on the uncharacterized TFP8 gene, revealing its role in twitching motility and adhesion to human alveolar cells through experiments with genetic deletion and complementation.
  • - Findings indicate that the TFP8 gene is only expressed during specific stages of biofilm development, highlighting its importance in motility, adhesion, and potentially increasing the virulence of the bacterium.
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Burkholderia pseudomallei is an opportunistic pathogen that is responsible for the disease melioidosis in humans and animals. The microbe is a tier 1 select agent because it is highly infectious by the aerosol route, it is inherently resistant to multiple antibiotics, and no licensed vaccine currently exists. Naturally acquired infections result from contact with contaminated soil or water sources in regions of endemicity.

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Melioidosis is an emerging disease that is caused by the facultative intracellular pathogen . It is intrinsically resistant to many antibiotics and host risk factors play a major role in susceptibility to infection. Currently, there is no human or animal vaccine against melioidosis.

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Low molecular mass penicillin binding proteins (LMM PBP) are bacterial enzymes involved in the final steps of peptidoglycan biosynthesis. In Escherichia coli, most LMM PBP exhibit dd-carboxypeptidase activity, are not essential for growth in routine laboratory media, and contributions to virulent phenotypes remain largely unknown. The Francisella tularensis Schu S4 genome harbors the dacD gene (FTT_1029), which encodes a LMM PBP with homology to PBP6b of E.

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Article Synopsis
  • Francisella tularensis is a dangerous bacterium that causes tularemia and poses a biowarfare threat due to its low infectious dose and ability to infect multiple mammals, including humans.
  • Researchers studied a ciprofloxacin-resistant mutant of this bacterium to understand its genetic changes and characteristics that contribute to antibiotic resistance.
  • Key findings include a mutation in the kdsD gene, crucial for lipopolysaccharide production, leading to growth defects and reduced virulence, highlighting kdsD as a potential target for new treatments against tularemia.
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Francisella tularensis subspecies tularensis is a highly virulent intracellular bacterial pathogen, causing the disease tularemia. However, a safe and effective vaccine for routine application against F. tularensis has not yet been developed.

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Francisella tularensis is a highly infectious bacterium that causes the potentially lethal disease tularemia. This extremely virulent bacterium is able to replicate in the cytosolic compartments of infected macrophages. To invade macrophages and to cope with their intracellular environment, Francisella requires multiple virulence factors, which are still being identified.

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Article Synopsis
  • * The ΔtatA mutant exhibited altered cell shape, a less effective biofilm adhesion, and partial disruption of surface antigens, showcasing significant differences from the wild-type strain.
  • * In animal models, the mutant showed weakened virulence in bubonic and aerosol pneumonic infections, while results were less distinct for intranasal challenges, highlighting the crucial role of the Tat pathway in certain infection types.
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Growing evidence suggests that the plasmid repertoire of Yersinia pestis is not restricted to the three classical virulence plasmids. The Java 9 strain of Y. pestis is a biovar Orientalis isolate obtained from a rat in Indonesia.

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At the genomic level, Yersinia pestis and Yersinia pseudotuberculosis are nearly identical but cause very different diseases. Y. pestis is the etiologic agent of plague; whereas Y.

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To gain insights into the origin and genome evolution of the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis, we have sequenced the deep-rooted strain Angola, a virulent Pestoides isolate. Its ancient nature makes this atypical isolate of particular importance in understanding the evolution of plague pathogenicity. Its chromosome features a unique genetic make-up intermediate between modern Y.

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