Pseudomonas aeruginosa faces a fitness trade-off between mucosal colonization and antibiotic tolerance during airway infection.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa frequently causes antibiotic-recalcitrant pneumonia, but the mechanisms driving its adaptation during human infections remain unclear. To reveal the selective pressures and adaptation strategies at the mucosal surface, here we investigated P. aeruginosa growth and antibiotic tolerance in tissue-engineered airways by transposon insertion sequencing (Tn-seq).

Pseudomonas aeruginosa type IV pili actively induce mucus contraction to form biofilms in tissue-engineered human airways.

The opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa causes antibiotic-recalcitrant pneumonia by forming biofilms in the respiratory tract. Despite extensive in vitro experimentation, how P. aeruginosa forms biofilms at the airway mucosa is unresolved.

KRAB zinc finger protein ZNF676 controls the transcriptional influence of LTR12-related endogenous retrovirus sequences.

Background: Transposable element-embedded regulatory sequences (TEeRS) and their KRAB-containing zinc finger protein (KZFP) controllers are increasingly recognized as modulators of gene expression. We aim to characterize the contribution of this system to gene regulation in early human development and germ cells.

Results: Here, after studying genes driven by the long terminal repeat (LTR) of endogenous retroviruses, we identify the ape-restricted ZNF676 as the sequence-specific repressor of a subset of contemporary LTR12 integrants responsible for a large fraction of transpochimeric gene transcripts (TcGTs) generated during human early embryogenesis.

Movement-Related Cortical Potentials in Embodied Virtual Mirror Visual Feedback.

Mirror therapy is thought to drive interhemispheric communication, resulting in a balanced activation. We hypothesized that embodied virtual mirror visual feedback (VR-MVF) presented on a computer screen may produce a similar activation. In this proof-of-concept study, we investigated differences in movement-related cortical potentials (MRCPs) in the electroencephalogram (EEG) from different visual feedback of user movements in 1 stroke patient and 13 age-matched adults.

Biofilms deform soft surfaces and disrupt epithelia.

During chronic infections and in microbiota, bacteria predominantly colonize their hosts as multicellular structures called biofilms. A common assumption is that biofilms exclusively interact with their hosts biochemically. However, the contributions of mechanics, while being central to the process of biofilm formation, have been overlooked as a factor influencing host physiology.

Cellular advective-diffusion drives the emergence of bacterial surface colonization patterns and heterogeneity.

Microorganisms navigate and divide on surfaces to form multicellular structures called biofilms, the most widespread survival strategy found in the bacterial world. One common assumption is that cellular components guide the spatial architecture and arrangement of multiple species in a biofilm. However, bacteria must contend with mechanical forces generated through contact with surfaces and under fluid flow, whose contributions to colonization patterns are poorly understood.