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Topic Review
TFEB-Induced Autophagy's Regulation during Mtb Infection and Starvation
Through the promotion of phagolysosome formation, autophagy has emerged as a crucial mechanism to eradicate intracellular Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). A cell-autonomous host defense mechanism called lysosome biogenesis and autophagy transports cytoplasmic cargos and bacterial phagosomes to lysosomes for destruction during infection. Similar occurrences occurred in stressful or starvation circumstances and led to autophagy, which is harmful to the cell. It is interesting to note that under both hunger and infection states, the transcription factor EB (TFEB) acts as a master regulator of lysosomal activities and autophagy. 
  • 726
  • 18 Dec 2023
Topic Review
SidE Family Proteins in Pathogenesis of Legionella pneumophila
Legionella pneumophila is the causative agent of Legionnaires’ disease, causing fever and lung infection, with a death rate up to 15% in severe cases. In the process of infection, Legionella pneumophila secretes over 330 effectors into host cell via the Dot/Icm type IV secretion system to modulate multiple host cellular physiological processes, thereby changing the environment of the host cell and promoting the growth and propagation of the bacterium. Among these effector proteins, SidE family proteins from Legionella pneumophila catalyze a non-canonical ubiquitination reaction, which combines mono-ADP-ribosylation and phosphodiesterase activities together to attach ubiquitin onto substrates. Meanwhile, the activity of SidE family proteins is also under multiple modulations by other effectors.
  • 725
  • 26 May 2023
Topic Review
Endophytic Streptomyces
Endophytic microorganisms especially endophytic actinobacteria are considered and recognized as a potential source for the discovery of bioactive compounds. 
  • 722
  • 28 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Rhizoctonia solani
Mycoviruses, or fungal viruses, are prevalent in all significant fungal kingdoms and genera. These low-virulence viruses can be used as biocontrol agents to manage fungal diseases. These viruses are divided into 19 officially recognized families and 1 unclassified genus. Mycoviruses alter sexual reproduction, pigmentation, and development. Spores and fungal hypha spread mycoviruses. Isometric particles mostly encapsulate dsRNA mycoviruses. The widespread plant-pathogenic fungus Rhizoctonia solani, which has caused a rice sheath blight, has hosted many viruses with different morphologies. It causes significant crop diseases that adversely affect agriculture and the economy. Rice sheath blight threatens the 40% of the global population that relies on rice for food and nutrition. Mycoviruses control rice sheath blight. Hypovirulence associated mycoviruses are needed to control R. solani since no cultivars are resistant. Mycoviruses are usually cryptic, but they can benefit the host fungus. Phytopathologists may use hypovirulent viruses as biological control agents. New tools are being developed based on host genome studies to overcome the intellectual challenge of comprehending the interactions between viruses and fungi and the practical challenge of influencing these interactions to develop biocontrol agents against significant plant pathogens.
  • 720
  • 23 Oct 2023
Topic Review
Non-Aflatoxigenic Aspergillus flavus Control Aflatoxins
Aflatoxins (AFs) are carcinogenic compounds causing liver cancer in humans and animals. Several methodologies have been developed to control AF contamination, yet; they are usually expensive and unfriendly to the environment. Consequently, interest in biocontrol agents has increased, as they are convenient, advanced, and friendly to the environment. Using non-aflatoxigenic strains of A. flavus (AF−) as biocontrol agents is the most promising method to control AFs’ contamination in cereal crops. 
  • 716
  • 23 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Essential Factors for a Healthy Microbiome
Discoveries of the purpose and potential of microbial interactions with humans have broad implications for understanding of metabolism, immunity, the host–microbe genetic interactions. Bioavailability and bioaccessibility of phytonutrients in foods not only enrich microbial diversity in the lower human gastrointestinal tract (GIT) but also direct the functioning of the metagenome of the microbiota. Thus, healthy choices must include foods that contain nutrients that satisfy both the needs of humans and their microbes. Physical activity interventions at a moderate level of intensity have shown positive effects on metabolism and the microbiome, while intense training (>70% VO2max) reduces diversity in the short term. The microbiome of elite endurance athletes is a robust producer of short-chain fatty acids. A lifestyle lacking activity is associated with the development of chronic disease, and experimental conditions simulating weightlessness in humans demonstrate loss of muscle mass occurring in conjunction with a decline in gut short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production and the microbes that produce them.
  • 716
  • 19 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Bacteriophages and Their Interactions with Bacterial Hosts
Bacteriophages (or phages) are viruses that specifically infect and kill bacteria at the end of the phage infection cycle, causing bacterial cell death and lysis.
  • 716
  • 14 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Host Small GTPases in Apicomplexan Parasite Infection
The Apicomplexa are obligate intracellular parasites responsible for several important human diseases. These protozoan organisms have evolved several strategies to modify the host cell environment to create a favorable niche for their survival. The host cytoskeleton is widely manipulated during all phases of apicomplexan intracellular infection. Moreover, the localization and organization of host organelles are altered in order to scavenge nutrients from the host. Small GTPases are a class of proteins widely involved in intracellular pathways governing different processes, from cytoskeletal and organelle organization to gene transcription and intracellular trafficking. These proteins are already known to be involved in infection by several intracellular pathogens, including viruses, bacteria and protozoan parasites.
  • 715
  • 15 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Antifungal and Anticancer Activity of Amphidinium spp.
Dinoflagellates make up the second largest marine group of marine unicellular eukaryotes in the world ocean and comprise both heterotrophic and autotrophic species, encompassing a wide genetic and chemical diversity. They produce a plethora of secondary metabolites that can be toxic to other species and are mainly used against predators and competing species. Dinoflagellates are indeed often responsible for harmful algal bloom, where their toxic secondary metabolites can accumulate along the food chain, leading to significant damages to the ecosystem and human health. Secondary metabolites from dinoflagellates have been widely investigated for potential biomedical applications and have revealed multiple antimicrobial, antifungal, and anticancer properties. Species from the genus Amphidinium seem to be particularly interesting for the production of medically relevant compounds.
  • 712
  • 29 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Insects for Sustainable Aquaculture
One of the greatest challenges to achieving a sustainable aquaculture is finding alternatives to fishmeal as a primary protein source in aquafeeds. Insects represent one of the most promising alternatives being explored and produced as replacements for this ingredient.
  • 711
  • 23 May 2023
Topic Review
Lyme Borreliosis
The diagnosis of Lyme borreliosis is based on two-tier testing using an ELISA and Western blot. About 5–10% of patients report persistent symptoms of unknown etiology after treatment, resulting in substantial difficulties in further diagnostic workup.
  • 706
  • 22 May 2023
Topic Review
Bacteria–Cancer Interface
Epidemiological evidence reveal a very close association of malignancies with chronic inflammation as a result of persistent bacterial infection. Recently, more studies have provided experimental evidence for an etiological role of bacterial factors disposing infected tissue towards carcinoma. When healthy cells accumulate genomic insults resulting in DNA damage, they may sustain proliferative signalling, resist apoptotic signals, evade growth suppressors, enable replicative immortality, and induce angiogenesis, thus boosting active invasion and metastasis.
  • 704
  • 26 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Antibacterial Dendrimers Research Need Improvements
Antimicrobial resistance, based on the built-in abilities of bacteria to nullify the activity of current antibiotics, leaves a growing number of bacterial infections untreatable. The development of novel agents able to interact with the external layers of bacteria, causing irreparable damage, without the need to interact with processes or substances vital for the bacterium but subjected to mutation, is a recent approach to address this issue. In this contest, natural cationic antimicrobial peptides (CAMPs), able to kill bacteria by non-specific detrimental interaction with the negative bacterial membranes, have inspired the syntesis of cationic polymers which proved to be promising solutions. Only recently, also dendrimers were considered suitable macromolecules for the preparation of more advanced cationic biomimetic nanoparticles, able to harmonize the typical properties of dendrimers, including nanosize, mono-dispersion, long-term stability, high functionality, and the non-specific mechanism of action of CAMPs. As reviewed in an article available on Nanomaterials at https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/10/10/2022/htm#, different types of cationic dendrimers which showed considerable antibacterial effects have been synthetized and studied in the last decade, but only few structures, such as PAMAM and peptides-based ones have been extensively investigated. Moreover, despite the very promising results deriving from the evaluations of the different cationic dendrimers, these devices require further studies and more rationalized investigations. In this new entry, we have reviewed the cationic dendrimers and their antibacterial effects, which until now have only been minimally studied. In addition, we have allowed ourselves to express our considerations on how the case studies reported in the last decade regarding the different types of cationic dendrimers should be improved.
  • 701
  • 19 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Aurora A Kinase
Aurora kinase A also known as serine/threonine-protein kinase 6 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the AURKA gene. Aurora A is a member of a family of mitotic serine/threonine kinases. It is implicated with important processes during mitosis and meiosis whose proper function is integral for healthy cell proliferation. Aurora A is activated by one or more phosphorylations and its activity peaks during the G2 phase to M phase transition in the cell cycle.
  • 701
  • 07 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Strategies for Facilitating Quick Antibacterial Responses
The emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a pressing public health concern, highlighting the need for alternative approaches to control bacterial infections. Promising approaches include the development of therapeutic vaccines and the utilization of innate immune activation techniques, which may prove useful in conjunction with antibiotics, as well as other antibacterial modalities. However, innate activation should be fast and self- or actively- contained to prevent detrimental consequences. TLR (Toll-like receptor) ligand adjuvants are effective at rapidly activating, within minutes to hours, the innate immune system by inducing cytokine production and other signaling molecules that bolster the host’s immune response. Neutrophils serve as the first line of defense against invading pathogens by capturing and destroying them through various mechanisms, such as phagocytosis, intracellular degradation, and the formation of NETs (Neutrophil Extracellular Traps). Nutritional immunity is another host defense mechanism that limits the availability of essential metals, such as iron, from invading bacterial pathogens. Thus, iron starvation has been proposed as a potential antibacterial strategy. 
  • 699
  • 14 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Metal-Based Drugs for Lung Microbiome in COPD
The concept of the lung microbiome has been radically altered with the understanding that the human lung hosts a complex ecosystem comprised of bacteria, fungi, and viruses, which actively participate in maintaining respiratory health by contributing to immune modulation, pathogen displacement, and metabolic contributions. The composition of the respiratory microbiome is transient and determined by continuous microbial immigration (through microaspiration, inhalation, and direct mucosal spread), elimination (by the immune system and mucociliary clearance), and replication. The notion of a healthy lung microbiome refers to a state in which a multitude of beneficial microorganisms coexist in harmony, promoting an immune environment that is neither too reactive nor too lax, providing robustness against invading pathogens, and supporting the crucial function of the lungs. 
  • 699
  • 17 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Gut Microbiota in Multiple Sclerosis Patients
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS), in which autoreactive immune cells attack the myelin sheaths of the neurons. Many scientific studies reveal a significant connection between human intestinal microbiota, eating habits, and the development of chronic-degenerative diseases; therefore, alterations in the composition and function of the microbiota may be accompanied by different chronic inflammatory mechanisms.
  • 698
  • 27 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Sanitizing Hatching Eggs with Essential Oils
Increased meat and egg production leads to concomitant changes in poultry practices, including the indiscriminate use of formaldehyde to sanitize hatching eggs. Although this sanitizer aids in the increase in poultry production, its toxic potential for man and for avian embryos represents an obstacle to its long-term use.
  • 697
  • 24 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Gut Microbiota and Bipolar Disorder
The gut microbiota is the set of microorganisms that colonize the gastrointestinal tract of living creatures, establishing a bidirectional symbiotic relationship that is essential for maintaining homeostasis, for their growth and digestive processes.
  • 695
  • 18 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Cryptococcus neoformans/C. gattii Complex
The epidemiology of the Cryptococcus species complex (SC) is well known and briefly summarized below. Among these species, most clinical isolates are C. neoformans; C. gattii has been isolated in the U.S., mostly in the Pacific Northwest area.
  • 694
  • 29 May 2023
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