Analysis of Retinol Binding Protein 4 and Gene Variation in Non-Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) may be associated with variants and is characterized by the accumulation of visual cycle-byproduct lipofuscin. Reducing retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4), a retinol transporter protein, may reduce lipofuscin production. This study aims to assess the associations between plasma RBP4, the variation, and AMD severity.

Experimental evolution of a fungal pathogen into a gut symbiont.

Gut microbes live in symbiosis with their hosts, but how mutualistic animal-microbe interactions emerge is not understood. By adaptively evolving the opportunistic fungal pathogen in the mouse gastrointestinal tract, we selected strains that not only had lost their main virulence program but also protected their new hosts against a variety of systemic infections. This protection was independent of adaptive immunity, arose as early as a single day postpriming, was dependent on increased innate cytokine responses, and was thus reminiscent of "trained immunity.

Advantages of meta-total RNA sequencing (MeTRS) over shotgun metagenomics and amplicon-based sequencing in the profiling of complex microbial communities.

Sequencing-based microbiome profiling aims at detecting and quantifying individual members of a microbial community in a culture-independent manner. While amplicon-based sequencing (ABS) of bacterial or fungal ribosomal DNA is the most widely used technology due to its low cost, it suffers from PCR amplification biases that hinder accurate representation of microbial population structures. Shotgun metagenomics (SMG) conversely allows unbiased microbiome profiling but requires high sequencing depth.

The Transcriptional Response of to Weak Organic Acids, Carbon Source, and Inactivation Unveils a Role for in Mediating the Fungistatic Effect of Acetic Acid.

is a resident fungus of the human intestinal microflora. Commonly isolated at low abundance in healthy people, outcompetes local microbiota during candidiasis episodes. Under normal conditions, members of the human gastrointestinal (GI) microbiota were shown to keep colonization under control.

β-glucan Exposure on the Fungal Cell Wall Tightly Correlates with Competitive Fitness of Species in the Mouse Gastrointestinal Tract.

is responsible for ~400,000 systemic fungal infections annually, with an associated mortality rate of 46-75%. The human gastrointestinal (GI) tract represents the largest natural reservoir of species and is a major source of systemic fungal infections. However, the factors that control GI colonization by species are not completely understood.

Crosstalk between sugarcane and a plant-growth promoting Burkholderia species.

Bacterial species in the plant-beneficial-environmental clade of Burkholderia represent a substantial component of rhizosphere microbes in many plant species. To better understand the molecular mechanisms of the interaction, we combined functional studies with high-resolution dual transcriptome analysis of sugarcane and root-associated diazotrophic Burkholderia strain Q208. We show that Burkholderia Q208 forms a biofilm at the root surface and suppresses the virulence factors that typically trigger immune response in plants.

Predicting peptide binding affinities to MHC molecules using a modified semi-empirical scoring function.

The Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) plays an important role in the human immune system. The MHC is involved in the antigen presentation system assisting T cells to identify foreign or pathogenic proteins. However, an MHC molecule binding a self-peptide may incorrectly trigger an immune response and cause an autoimmune disease, such as multiple sclerosis.

Predicting peptide binding to Major Histocompatibility Complex molecules.

The Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) constitutes an important part of the human immune system. During infection, pathogenic proteins are processed into peptide fragments by the antigen processing machinery. These peptides bind to MHC molecules and the MHC-peptide complex is then transported to the cell membrane where it elicits an immune response via T-cell binding.

A comparative location database (CompLDB): map integration within and between species.

We have adapted the Location Database (LDB) map-integration strategy of Morton et al. [Ann Hum Genet 56:223-232] (1992) as above to create an integrated map for each of several species for which fully annotated genome sequences are not yet available (sheep, cattle, pig, wallaby), using all types of partial maps for that species, including cytogenetic, linkage, somatic-cell hybrid, and radiation hybrid maps. An integrated map provides not only predictions of the kilobase location of every locus, but also predicts locations (in cM) and cytogenetic band locations for every locus.