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Pathogenic Microbiology Commons™

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Virulence

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Full-Text Articles in Pathogenic Microbiology

Acinetobacter Baumannii - The Perfect Pathogen, Jesse Guzik, Myrna Rezcallah, Alexcia Zeller, Kaite Mattson Apr 2023

Acinetobacter Baumannii - The Perfect Pathogen, Jesse Guzik, Myrna Rezcallah, Alexcia Zeller, Kaite Mattson

Research and Scholarship Symposium Posters

Acinetobacter was discovered in 1911 by Martinus Beijerinck. Acinetobacter baumannii didn't receive its scientific name until 1986. A. baumannii is now commonly referred to as "Iraqibacter" due to a rise in infections among US military personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. After the Iraq War began in 2003, the frequency of cases began to rise, especially among patients in intensive care units. Patients using ventilators, catheters, have postoperative wounds, stay in the hospital for an extended period of time, or are immunocompromised are at a considerably higher risk of getting A. baumannii. Because of its large number of virulence …

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Resolving The Repression Pathway Of Virulence Gene Hila In Salmonella, Alexandra King, Lon Chubiz Phd, Brenda Pratte, Lauren Daugherty Jun 2022

Resolving The Repression Pathway Of Virulence Gene Hila In Salmonella, Alexandra King, Lon Chubiz Phd, Brenda Pratte, Lauren Daugherty

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Salmonella is a relatively abundant, virulent species of bacteria that is most known for spreading gastrointestinal diseases through food. These illnesses result in approximately 1.35 million infections, including over 25,000 hospitalizations each year, in the U.S. alone (CDC.gov). As antibiotic resistance becomes an increasingly urgent public health problem, the importance of developing alternative treatment methods is only becoming more crucial. One of the genes responsible for this virulence is known as hilA. HilA is the main transcriptional regulator of Salmonella Pathogenicity Island-1 gene (UniProt). SPI-1 plays an important role in the invasion of Salmonella into epithelial cells. The proteins encoded …

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Mara Repression Of Virulence Gene Hila In Salmonella, Alexandra King, Lauren Daugherty, Lon Chubiz Phd Sep 2021

Mara Repression Of Virulence Gene Hila In Salmonella, Alexandra King, Lauren Daugherty, Lon Chubiz Phd

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Salmonella is a bacteria most commonly known for causing the eponymous food-related illness. Due to their rapid reproduction rate and their ability to be propogated and maintained in a lab setting, they are commonly used in lab studies so that we can better understand how Salmonella causes disease in organisms that are more difficult to study. One area of interest is analyzing how Salmonella controls expression of the mechanisms that actually cause disease, called virulence traits, in response to the environment. In this study, antibiotic stress was used to analyze virulence gene expression. MarA is a gene that regulates ampicillin …

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A Comparison Of Oral And Intravenous Mouse Models Of Listeriosis, Michelle G. Pitts, Sarah E. F. D'Orazio Mar 2018

A Comparison Of Oral And Intravenous Mouse Models Of Listeriosis, Michelle G. Pitts, Sarah E. F. D'Orazio

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

Listeria monocytogenes is one of several enteric microbes that is acquired orally, invades the gastric mucosa, and then disseminates to peripheral tissues to cause systemic disease in humans. Intravenous (i.v.) inoculation of mice with L. monocytogenes has been the most widely-used small animal model of listeriosis over the past few decades. The infection is highly reproducible and has been invaluable in deciphering mechanisms of adaptive immunity in vivo, particularly CD8+ T cell responses to intracellular pathogens. However, the i.v. model completely bypasses the gut phase of the infection. Recent advances in generating both humanized mice and murinized bacteria, as well …

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Non-Capsular Virulence Factors Of Cryptococcus Neoformans, Kirk Nickish Apr 2017

Non-Capsular Virulence Factors Of Cryptococcus Neoformans, Kirk Nickish

Senior Honors Theses

Cryptococcus neoformans is an emerging pathogen that kills hundreds of thousands every year, especially in underdeveloped areas with little access to modern medical care. New treatments for the disease are needed to shorten treatment and decrease the side effects and costs associated with the drugs currently in use. Many C. neoformans genes have been identified that are necessary for full virulence in the host. Cir1, a regulatory protein associated with iron regulation, and Zip1, a surface zinc transporter, are both necessary for full virulence in the host. Anti-fungals targeted at these proteins or the proteins produced by other genes discussed …

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Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Ampr Transcriptional Regulatory Network, Deepak Balasubramanian Mar 2013

Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Ampr Transcriptional Regulatory Network, Deepak Balasubramanian

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In Enterobacteriaceae, the transcriptional regulator AmpR, a member of the LysR family, regulates the expression of a chromosomal β-lactamase AmpC. The regulatory repertoire of AmpR is broader in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an opportunistic pathogen responsible for numerous acute and chronic infections including cystic fibrosis. Previous studies showed that in addition to regulating ampC, P. aeruginosa AmpR regulates the sigma factor AlgT/U and production of some quorum sensing (QS)-regulated virulence factors. In order to better understand the ampR regulon, the transcriptional profiles generated using DNA microarrays and RNA-Seq of the prototypic P. aeruginosa PAO1 strain with its isogenic ampR deletion …

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