DEEP WORK

INTRODUCTION A vaccine is any biologically based preparation intended to establish or to improve immunity to a particular disease or group of diseases. Vaccines have been used for many years in humans, terrestrial livestock, and companion animals against a variety of diseases. One analogy used for vaccines is that of an insurance policy (Komar et al, 2004). A vaccine, if effective, can help prev..

Many of the most widespread and devastating diseases in humans and livestock are caused by viruses and bacteria that enter cells for replication. Being obligate intracellular parasites, viruses have no choice. They must transport their genome to the cytosol or nucleus of infected cells to multiply and generate progeny. Bacteria and eukaryotic parasites do have other options; most of them can rep..

Induction of Regulatory Responses by the MicrobiotaMaintenance of tissue homeostasis is imperative for host survival. This fundamental process relies on a complex and coordinated set of innate and adaptive responses that selects and calibrates responses against self, food, commensals, and pathogens in the most appropriate manner. To this end, specialized populations of cells have to integrate lo..

IntroductionMulticellular organisms exist as meta-organisms comprised of both the macroscopic host and its symbiotic commensal microbiota. With an estimated composition of 100 trillion cells, human symbionts outnumber host cells by at least a factor of 10 and express at least 10-fold more unique genes than their host’s genome (Ley et al., 2006a). These complex communities of microbes that includ..

1. IntroductionInfectious diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites can be categorized into extracellular or intracellular pathogens from an immunopathological perspective. Most encounters with these pathogenic agents lead to an acute infection, followed by the development of clinical signs. These infections are relatively brief, and in a healthy host, following onset of appropr..

1. IntroductionIntracellular pathogens are organisms that are capable of growing and reproducing inside host cells. These pathogens can be divided into facultative intracellular parasites and obligate intracellular parasites [1]. Intracellular microorganisms are very important because they cause many human diseases, resulting in significant morbidity and mortality. Some examples of infectious di..

Abbreviations: SP: Signal peptide, SPase: Signal peptidase, ER: endoplasmic reticulum, LHCGR: Human luteinizing hormone receptor, CADA: Cyclotriazadisulfonamide, hCD4: Human CD4, aa: amino acid, PMF: proton motive force, VSV-G: vesicular stomatitis virus G-protein, MBP: maltose-binding protein, ALP: Alkaline phosphatase, Cel-CD: cellulase catalytic domain, RBP: ribose-binding peptide, GM-CSF: gr..

1. IntroductionInterferons (IFNs) are virus inducible cytokines that share antiviral properties. IFNs are classified into three subfamilies, type I, II and III, on the basis of the cognate receptors they interact with and the subsequent immune responses they initiate. They differ also in genomic structure and the cell sources producing them. In tetrapods, both type I and III families contain mul..

MALThe second adaptor in the TIR-domain-containing adaptor family to be discovered was MAL54,55. MAL is required for signalling by TLR2 and TLR4, serving as a bridge to recruit MyD88 (REFS 54–58). A dominantnegative version, in which the Box 2 proline in MAL was mutated to a histidine, resulted in the inhibition of TLR4 signalling, but not IL-1 signalling55. In addition, a peptide based on the B..

IntroductionProtein secretion is required for numerous aspects of the bacterial life cycle, including organelle biogenesis, nutrient acquisition, and virulence-factor expression. Gram-negative bacteria face a special challenge in this regard, as secreted proteins must cross the periplasm and the outer membrane (OM) in addition to the cytoplasmic or inner membrane (IM). Secretion is defined in th..