Publications related to Kicking Out Pathogens in Exosomes

Single-cell analysis of the interactions between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and macrophages

Mycobacterium Tuberculosis is a highly effective pathogen infecting nearly a third of the world's population. An M. tuberculosis infection starts when droplets containing bacteria enter an individual's lungs. The first host cells to contact the bacteria ar ...

EPFL2024

Stability of influenza A virus in droplets and aerosols is heightened by the presence of commensal respiratory bacteria

Tamar Kohn, Htet Kyi Wynn, Céline Terrettaz, Aline Laetitia Schaub, Athanasios Nenes, Kalliopi Violaki, Marta Augugliaro, Shannon Christa David, Ghislain Gilles Jean-Michel Motos, Walter Hugentobler, Laura José Costa Henriques, Daniel Scott Nolan

Aerosol transmission remains a major challenge for control of respiratory viruses, particularly those causing recurrent epidemics, like influenza A virus (IAV). These viruses are rarely expelled alone, but instead are embedded in a consortium of microorgan ...

American Society for Microbiology2024

Bacterial diversity dominates variable macrophage responses of tuberculosis patients in Tanzania

Jacques Fellay, Zhi Ming Xu

The Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) comprises nine human-adapted lineages that differ in their geographical distribution. Local adaptation of specific MTBC genotypes to the respective human host population has been invoked in this context. We aim ...

Nature Portfolio2024

Structure-function analysis of the cyclic β-1,2-glucan synthase from Agrobacterium tumefaciens

Henning Paul-Julius Stahlberg, Dongchun Ni

The synthesis of complex sugars is a key aspect of microbial biology. Cyclic beta-1,2-glucan (C beta G) is a circular polysaccharide critical for host interactions of many bacteria, including major pathogens of humans (Brucella) and plants (Agrobacterium). ...

Nature Portfolio2024

Host-derived organic acids enable gut colonization of the honey bee symbiont Snodgrassella alvi

Anders Meibom, Stéphane Laurent Escrig

Diverse bacteria can colonize the animal gut using dietary nutrients or by engaging in microbial crossfeeding interactions. Less is known about the role of host-derived nutrients in enabling gut bacterial colonization. Here we examined metabolic interactio ...

Nature Portfolio2024

Alpha1-antitrypsin improves survival in murine abdominal sepsis model by decreasing inflammation and sequestration of free heme

Florian Maria Wurm

Background Excessive inflammation, hemolysis, and accumulation of labile heme play an essential role in the pathophysiology of multi-organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) in sepsis. Alpha1-antitrypsin (AAT), an acute phase protein with heme binding capacity, i ...

Frontiers Media Sa2024

Dangerous acquaintances: the interplay between type IV pili and the type VI secretion system during Vibrio cholerae's environmental lifestyle

Simon Bernhard Otto

Cholera, caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, has affected humanity throughout history and still impacts millions of people every year. Apart from being a human pathogen, V. cholerae is a common member of the aquatic environment. Due to this natural re ...

EPFL2024

Type I IFNs link skin-associated dysbiotic commensal bacteria to pathogenic inflammation and angiogenesis in rosacea

Jiaqi Chen, Alessio Mylonas, Yichen Wang

Rosacea is a common chronic inflammatory skin disease with a fluctuating course of excessive inflammation and apparent neovascularization. Microbial dysbiosis with a high density of Bacillus oleronius and increased activity of kallikrein 5, which cleaves c ...

AMER SOC CLINICAL INVESTIGATION INC2023

CSF-contacting neurons respond to Streptococcus pneumoniae and promote host survival during central nervous system infection

Laura Desban, Ludovic Pierre Gustave Keiser

The pathogenic bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae) can invade the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and cause meningitis with devastating consequences. Whether and how sensory cells in the central nervous system (CNS) become activated during bacteri ...

CELL PRESS2023

Host-Pathogen Interactions Through the Genomic Lens

Zhi Ming Xu

Hosts and pathogens are involved in a long-standing evolutionary arms race characterized by successive rounds of evolution. Specifically, while hosts evolve resistance against infections, pathogens adapt to re-establish virulence. Since the signatures of t ...

EPFL2023

Functional characterization of Drosophila melanogaster immune effectors

Alexia Laurie Carboni

Drosophila melanogaster, commonly known as the "fruit fly", is a genetically tractable model organism widely used to study biological processes, notably the innate immune system. The advent of novel genome editing technologies, such as the CRISPR-Cas9 syst ...

EPFL2023

Biofilm formation on human immune cells is a multicellular predation strategy of Vibrio cholerae

Alexandre Louis André Persat, Sofya Mikhaleva

Biofilm formation is generally recognized as a bacterial defense mechanism against environmental threats, including antibiotics, bacteriophages, and leukocytes of the human immune system. Here, we show that for the human pathogen Vibrio cholerae, biofilm f ...

CELL PRESS2023

Antimicrobial susceptibility testing with integrated photonic crystal optical tweezers

Nicolas Villa

The abusive use of antimicrobial drugs during the last eighty years has favoured the natural selection of resistant pathogens able to neutralise drugs efficiently. Nowadays, antimicrobial resistance contributes to millions of deaths yearly, threatens the e ...

EPFL2023

Preexisting Heterogeneity of Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase Expression Drives Differential Growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Macrophages

John McKinney, Ophélie Rutschmann, Chiara Toniolo

Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection is initiated by the inhalation and implantation of bacteria in the lung alveoli, where they are phagocytosed by macrophages. Even a single bacterium may be sufficient to initiate infection. Thereafter, the clinical outc ...

AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY2022

Engineering synthetic adhesins for biophysical investigation and rewiring of host-microbe interactions

Xavier Jean-Yves Pierrat

Host attachment is often a critical step in the onset of pathogenesis. To attach to host cells, bacteria have evolved a range of adhesins that bind to specific receptors. Some of these adhesins have been thoroughly characterized using biochemical technique ...

EPFL2022

Type 1 piliated uropathogenic Escherichia coli hijack the host immune response by binding to CD14

Kathrin Tomasek

A key attribute of persistent or recurring bacterial infections is the ability of the pathogen to evade the host's immune response. Many Enterobacteriaceae express type 1 pili, a pre-adapted virulence trait, to invade host epithelial cells and establish pe ...

eLIFE SCIENCES PUBL LTD2022

Cecropins contribute to Drosophila host defense against a subset of fungal and Gram-negative bacterial infection

Bruno Lemaitre, Alexia Laurie Carboni, Mark Austin Hanson

Cecropins are small helical secreted peptides with antimicrobial activity that are widely distributed among insects. Genes encoding Cecropins are strongly induced upon infection, pointing to their role in host defense. In Drosophila, four cecropin genes cl ...

OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC2022

Compartmentalized PGRP expression along the dipteran Bactrocera dorsalis gut forms a zone of protection for symbiotic bacteria

Ping Zhang, Bruno Lemaitre, Yichen Wang

All metazoan guts are subject to opposing pressures wherein the immune system must eliminate pathogens while tolerating the presence of symbiotic microbiota. The Imd pathway is an essential defense against invading pathogens in insect guts, but tolerance m ...

Cell Press2022

How Vibrio cholerae adapts to the environment: from cell shape transitions to antagonistic behavior

Leonardo Filipe Lemos Rocha

The bacterium Vibrio cholerae is the causative agent of the diarrheal disease cholera, which affects millions of people every year. Apart from being a human pathogen, V. cholerae is also a common member of aquatic habitats. Whilst the mechanism that allow ...

EPFL2022

Characterization of Pseudomonas aeruginosa mechanosensing through label-free imaging of type IV pili

Lorenzo Anton-Louis Talà

Bacteria are ubiquitously found in all sorts of environment. They're found in the ocean, soil, or even in our guts or on our skin. Independently of their niche, they can transition from a planktonic state were they freely swim in an aqueous environment to ...

EPFL2022