Viroscope™: a universal solution for plant virus and viroid diagnostics using HTS and cloud-based analysis.

Border biosecurity and food supply face significant global challenges due to the increasing threat of plant viruses, exacerbated by international plant trade. While high-throughput sequencing (HTS) -based virus diagnosis offers promising applications, challenges in data analysis and implementation have limited widespread adoption. Viroscope™ addresses these limitations through an advanced cloud service that leverages HTS for high-certainty virus and viroid identification.

A Quorum Sensing-Regulated Protein Binds Cell Wall Components and Enhances Lysozyme Resistance in Streptococcus pyogenes.

The Rgg2/3 quorum sensing (QS) system is conserved among all sequenced isolates of group A (GAS; ). The molecular architecture of the system consists of a transcriptional activator (Rgg2) and a transcriptional repressor (Rgg3) under the control of autoinducing peptide pheromones (SHP2 and SHP3). Activation of the Rgg2/3 pathway leads to increases in biofilm formation and resistance to the bactericidal effects of the host factor lysozyme.

Isolation and Characterization of Phenanthrene Degrading Bacteria from Diesel Fuel-Contaminated Antarctic Soils.

Antarctica is an attractive target for human exploration and scientific investigation, however the negative effects of human activity on this continent are long lasting and can have serious consequences on the native ecosystem. Various areas of Antarctica have been contaminated with diesel fuel, which contains harmful compounds such as heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Bioremediation of PAHs by the activity of microorganisms is an ecological, economical, and safe decontamination approach.

Bacteria Colonizing the Ocular Surface in Eyes With Boston Type 1 Keratoprosthesis: Analysis of Biofilm-Forming Capability and Vancomycin Tolerance.

Purpose: To analyze the bacterial microbiota colonizing the ocular surface of patients with Boston type 1 keratoprostheses (K-Pros) for antibacterial resistance patterns and capacity to form biofilms.

Methods: Twenty-seven eyes with a Boston type 1 K-Pro and 16 fellow control eyes from 26 patients were enrolled. The surface of the K-Pro optic and/or the inferior conjunctival fornix was swabbed and plated separately on culture media.

Induction of a quorum sensing pathway by environmental signals enhances group A streptococcal resistance to lysozyme.

The human-restricted pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes (Group A Streptococcus, GAS) is responsible for wide-ranging pathologies at numerous sites in the body but has the proclivity to proliferate in individuals asymptomatically. The ability to survive in diverse tissues is undoubtedly benefited by sensory pathways that recognize environmental cues corresponding to stress and nutrient availability and thereby trigger adaptive responses. We investigated the impact that environmental signals contribute to cell-to-cell chemical communication [quorum sensing (QS)] by monitoring activity of the Rgg2/Rgg3 and SHP-pheromone system in GAS.

Identification of Quorum-Sensing Inhibitors Disrupting Signaling between Rgg and Short Hydrophobic Peptides in Streptococci.

Unlabelled: Bacteria coordinate a variety of social behaviors, important for both environmental and pathogenic bacteria, through a process of intercellular chemical signaling known as quorum sensing (QS). As microbial resistance to antibiotics grows more common, a critical need has emerged to develop novel anti-infective therapies, such as an ability to attenuate bacterial pathogens by means of QS interference. Rgg quorum-sensing pathways, widespread in the phylum Firmicutes, employ cytoplasmic pheromone receptors (Rgg transcription factors) that directly bind and elicit gene expression responses to imported peptide signals.

Quorum sensing in group A Streptococcus.

Quorum sensing (QS) is a widespread phenomenon in the microbial world that has important implications in the coordination of population-wide responses in several bacterial pathogens. In Group A Streptococcus (GAS), many questions surrounding QS systems remain to be solved pertaining to their function and their contribution to the GAS lifestyle in the host. The QS systems of GAS described to date can be categorized into four groups: regulator gene of glucosyltransferase (Rgg), Sil, lantibiotic systems, and LuxS/AI-2.

Multiple length peptide-pheromone variants produced by Streptococcus pyogenes directly bind Rgg proteins to confer transcriptional regulation.

Streptococcus pyogenes, a human-restricted pathogen, accounts for substantial mortality related to infections worldwide. Recent studies indicate that streptococci produce and respond to several secreted peptide signaling molecules (pheromones), including those known as short hydrophobic peptides (SHPs), to regulate gene expression by a quorum-sensing mechanism. Upon transport into the bacterial cell, pheromones bind to and modulate activity of receptor proteins belonging to the Rgg family of transcription factors.