In July and September 2007, miners working in Kitaka Cave, Uganda, were diagnosed with Marburg hemorrhagic fever. The likely source of infection in the cave was Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus) based on detection of Marburg virus RNA in 31/611 (5.1%) bats, virus-specific antibody in bat sera, and isolation of genetically diverse virus from bat tissues. The virus isolates were collected nine months apart, demonstrating long-term virus circulation. The bat colony was estimated to be over 100,000 animals using mark and re-capture methods, predicting the presence of over 5,000 virus-infected bats. The genetically diverse virus genome sequences from bats and miners closely matched. These data indicate common Egyptian fruit bats can represent a major natural reservoir and source of Marburg virus with potential for spillover into humans.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1000536 | DOI Listing |
Chem Biodivers
January 2025
Liverpool John Moores University, Centre for Natural Products Discovery, School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, Byrom Street, Liverpool, UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND.
Diospyros discolor Willd., commonly known as Velvet apple or Mabolo, is an underutilized fruit. Traditionally, various parts of D.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
January 2025
Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405.
Transgenic expression of a double-stranded RNA in plants can induce silencing of homologous mRNAs in fungal pathogens. Although such host-induced gene silencing is well documented, the molecular mechanisms by which RNAs can move from the cytoplasm of plant cells across the plasma membrane of both the host cell and fungal cell are poorly understood. Indirect evidence suggests that this RNA transfer may occur at a very early stage of the infection process, prior to breach of the host cell wall, suggesting that silencing RNAs might be secreted onto leaf surfaces.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
January 2025
Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125.
Microbial metabolism is impressively flexible, enabling growth even when available nutrients differ greatly from biomass in redox state. , for example, rearranges its physiology to grow on reduced and oxidized carbon sources through several forms of fermentation and respiration. To understand the limits on and evolutionary consequences of this metabolic flexibility, we developed a coarse-grained mathematical framework coupling redox chemistry with principles of cellular resource allocation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Adv
January 2025
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02453, USA.
Circadian neurons within animal brains orchestrate myriad physiological processes and behaviors, but the contribution of these neurons to the regulation of sleep is not well understood. To address this deficiency, we leveraged single-cell RNA sequencing to generate a comprehensive census of transcriptomic cell types of clock neurons. We focused principally on the enigmatic DN3s, which constitute most fly brain clock neurons and were previously almost completely uncharacterized.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
Danau Girang Field Centre, c/o Sabah Wildlife Department, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
Characterizing the feeding ecology of threatened species is essential to establish appropriate conservation strategies. We focused our study on the proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus), an endangered primate species which is endemic to the island of Borneo. Our survey was conducted in the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary (LKWS), a riverine protected area that is surrounded by oil palm plantations.
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