An official website of the United States government.
Research Publications from Peer-Reviewed Journals
The Research Publications track research that is published across national and international peer-reviewed journals. The most recent articles are available ahead of print and searchable by Journal Title, Subject, USDA Grant Funding Agencies or FDA Grant Funding Agencies. The research publications are tracked across five subject areas: Bacterial Pathogens, Chemical Contaminants, Natural Toxins, Parasites, and Viruses.
Melting mountainous snowfields are populated by extremophilic microorganisms. An alga causing orange snow above timberline in the High Tatra Mountains (Poland) was characterised using multiple methods examining its ultrastructure, genetics, life cycle, photosynthesis and ecophysiology. Based on light and electron microscopy and ITS2 rDNA, the species was identified as Chloromonas krienitzii (...
Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) often involve a component where the outcomes of student research are broadly relevant to outside stakeholders. We wanted to see if building courses around an environmental justice issue relevant to the local community would impact students’ sense of civic engagement and appreciation of the relevance of scientific research to the community....
Global climate change and the expected increase in temperature are altering the relationship between geography and grapevine (V. vinifera) varietal performance, and the implications of which are yet to be fully understood. We investigated berry phenology and biochemistry of 30 cultivars, 20 red and 10 white, across three seasons (2017–2019) in response to a consistent average temperature...
Majority of the cells in the bacterial populations exposed to lethal concentrations of antibiotics for prolonged duration succumbs to the antibiotics’ sterilizing activity. The remaining cells survive by diverse mechanisms that include reduced permeability of the antibiotics. However, in the cells surviving in the continued presence of lethal concentrations of antibiotics, it is not known whether...
Salmonella enterica is a major causative pathogen of human and animal gastroenteritis. Antibiotic resistant strains have emerged due to the production of extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) posing a major health concern. With the increasing reports on ESBL-producing Enterobacterales that colonize companion animals, we aimed to investigate ESBL dissemination among ESBL-producing Salmonella...
Applying probiotics to improve gut health and growth performance of pigs is considered an effective approach to reduce use of antimicrobial growth promoters in swine production. Understanding the properties of these probiotics is a prerequisite for the selection of probiotic strains for pigs. Host-adapted probiotic strains were suggested to exert probiotic effects by different mechanisms when...
Water utilities treat drinking water by adding phosphate to prevent metal dissolution from water pipe work systems and particularly lead poisoning. Phosphate can be a limiting nutrient for microbial biofilms in DWDS, yet its effects on these microbial consortia are not well understood. This research presents results from phosphate dosing experiments using a real scale chlorinated DWDS, comparing...
Currently, H9N2 avian influenza viruses (H9N2 AIVs) globally circulate in poultry and have acquired some adaptation to mammals. However, it is not clear what the molecular basis is for the variation in receptor-binding features of the H9N2 AIVs. The receptor-binding features of 92 H9N2 AIVs prevalent in China during 1994–2017 were characterized through solid-phase ELISA assay and reverse genetics...
The persistence of college students in STEM majors after their first-year of college is approximately 50%, with underrepresented populations displaying even higher rates of departure. For many undergraduates, their first-year in college is defined by large class sizes, poor access to research faculty, and minimal standing in communities of scholars. Pepperdine University and Whittier College,...
Helicobacter pylori antibiotic resistance is increasing worldwide, emphasizing the urgent need for more rapid resistance detection prior to the administration of H. pylori eradication regimens. Macrolides and fluoroquinolones are widely used to treat H. pylori. In this study, we aimed to compare the diagnostic performance of A) 23SrDNA qPCR (with melting curve analysis) and an in-house developed...
Salmonella are common enteric bacterial pathogens that infect both humans and animals. Intestinal epithelial barrier, formed by a single layer of epithelial cells and apical junctional complex (AJC), plays a crucial role in host defense against enteric pathogens to prevent bacterial translocation. However, the underlying mechanisms of intestinal epithelial barrier dysfunction caused by Salmonella...
Enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) are recognized as one of the leading bacterial causes of infantile diarrhea worldwide. Weaned C57BL/6 mice pretreated with antibiotics were challenged orally with wild-type EPEC or escN mutant (lacking type 3 secretion system) to determine colonization, inflammatory responses and clinical outcomes during infection. Antibiotic disruption of intestinal microbiota...
Background Healthcare delivery changes associated with viral suppression (VS) could contribute to the United States’ “Ending the HIV Epidemic” (EtHE) initiative. This study aims to determine whether Qualified Health Plans (QHPs) purchased by AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs) are associated with VS for low-income people living with HIV (PLWH) across 3 states. Methods A multistate cohort of...
Background The CASCADE trial showed that compared with usual care (UC), offering same-day (SD) antiretroviral therapy (ART) during home-based human immunodeficiency virus testing improved engagement in care and viral suppression 12 months after diagnosis. However, questions remain regarding long-term outcomes and the risk of propagating drug resistance. Methods After completion of the primary...
Lefamulin: A Novel Semisynthetic Pleuromutilin Antibiotic for Community-acquired Bacterial Pneumonia
Community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP) remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Antimicrobial resistance, including in pathogens that cause CABP, continues to spread at an alarming rate. Because of these factors, the development of new antibiotic classes is urgently needed. Lefamulin, previously known as BC-3781, is a semisynthetic pleuromutilin antibiotic that was...
Background Despite national immunization efforts, including universal childhood hepatitis A (HepA) vaccination recommendations in 2006, hepatitis A virus (HAV)–associated outbreaks have increased in the United States. Unvaccinated or previously uninfected persons are susceptible to HAV infection, yet the susceptibility in the US population is not well known. Methods Using National Health and...
Background Horizontal transmission of Toxoplasma gondii occurs primarily via ingestion of environmental oocysts or consumption of undercooked/raw meat containing cyst-stage bradyzoites. The relative importance of these 2 transmission routes remains unclear. Oocyst infection can be distinguished from bradyzoite infection by identification of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies against T. gondii...
ABSTRACT The type II secretion system (T2SS) is a conserved transport pathway responsible for the secretion of a range of virulence factors by many pathogens, including Vibrio cholerae. Disruption of the T2SS genes in V. cholerae results in loss of secretion, changes in cell envelope function, and growth defects. While T2SS mutants are viable, high-throughput genomic analyses have listed these...
Increasing mobile colistin resistance, mediated by the mcr gene family, in Enterobacteriaceae has become a global concern. Among the 10 reported mcr genes, mcr-8 was first identified in Klebsiella pneumoniae, which could cause severe infections with high mortality. Information about the prevalence and genetic context of mcr-8 is still lacking. In this study, we found that mcr-8 was present in 9....
Fluoroquinolones (FQ) are crucial components of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) treatment. Differing levels of resistance are associated with specific mutations within the quinolone-resistance-determining region (QRDR) of gyrA. We sequenced the QRDR from serial isolates of MDR TB patients in the Preserving Effective TB Treatment Study (PETTS) with baseline FQ resistance (FQR) or...
Tetracyclines are widely used in veterinary medicine and food animal production. Campylobacter members are major foodborne pathogens, and their resistance to tetracycline has been widely reported in different countries. To date, Tet(O), a ribosomal protection protein, is the only confirmed Tet resistance determinant in Campylobacter spp. Here, we reported the detection and characterization of a...
A healthy, intact gut microbiota is often resistant to colonization by gastrointestinal pathogens. During periods of dysbiosis, however, organisms such as Clostridioides difficile can thrive. We describe an optimized in vitro colonization resistance assay for C. difficile in stool (CRACS) and demonstrate the utility of this assay by assessing changes in colonization resistance following...
We previously identified a small-molecule inhibitor of capsule biogenesis (designated DU011) and identified its target as MprA, a MarR family transcriptional repressor of multidrug efflux pumps. Unlike other proposed MprA ligands, such as salicylate and 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP), DU011 does not alter Escherichia coli antibiotic resistance and has significantly enhanced inhibition of capsule...
Pretomanid was approved by the U.S. FDA, via the limited population pathway for antibacterial and antifungal drugs, as part of a three-drug regimen with bedaquiline and linezolid for the treatment of extensively drug-resistant and treatment-intolerant or nonresponsive multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. The recommended dose of pretomanid is 200 mg once daily with food. The objective of this work...
Bacterial pathogens are rapidly evolving resistance to all clinically available antibiotics. One part of the solution to this complex issue is to better understand the resistance mechanisms to new and existing antibiotics. Here, we focus on two antibiotics. Teixobactin is a recently discovered promising antibiotic that is claimed to "kill pathogens without detectable resistance" (L. L. Ling, T....
Current guidelines recommend vancomycin and linezolid as first-line agents against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) nosocomial pneumonia. Telavancin is a potential new therapeutic alternative, specifically in monomicrobial MRSA pneumonia. This study compared the efficacies of telavancin versus linezolid in a porcine model of severe MRSA pneumonia. In 18 mechanically ventilated...
Silver gulls carry phylogenetically diverse Escherichia coli, including globally dominant extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC) sequence types and pandemic ExPEC-ST131 clades; however, our large-scale study (504 samples) on silver gulls nesting off the coast of New South Wales identified E. coli ST457 as the most prevalent. A phylogenetic analysis of whole-genome sequences (WGS) of 138 ST457...
Monitoring of Plasmodium falciparum sensitivity to antimalarial drugs in Africa is vital for malaria elimination. However, the commonly used ex vivo/in vitro 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) test gives inconsistent results for several antimalarials, while the alternative ring-stage survival assay (RSA) for artemisinin derivatives has not been widely adopted. Here, we applied an alternative two...
Formamidinium lead iodide (CH(NH2)2PbI3, FAPI) thin films have been deposited on glass substrates at 150 °C using ambient pressure aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition (AACVD). The films have been analysed by a range of techniques including powder X-ray diffraction (pXRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, and UV–Vis–NIR absorption spectroscopy...
by Stéphane Pont, Nathan Fraikin, Yvan Caspar, Laurence Van Melderen, Ina Attrée, François Cretin Bacterial bloodstream infections (BSI) are a major health concern and can cause up to 40% mortality. Pseudomonas aeruginosa BSI is often of nosocomial origin and is associated with a particularly poor prognosis. The mechanism of bacterial persistence in blood is still largely unknown. Here, we...
Author(s): Babar Hussain, Muhammad Jawad Umer, Jumei Li, Yibing Ma, Yawar Abbas, Muhammad Nadeem Ashraf, Nazia Tahir, Aman Ullah, Nirmali Gogoi, Muhammad Farooq A high concentration of toxic heavy metal cadmium (Cd) in the paddy soils and its translocation and subsequent accumulation in the rice grain and the food chain is a global environmental issue. Mechanistic understanding of soil properties...
Assessing antibiotic residues in piglet liver and kidney samples: How to manage the results obtained
Author(s): Carlota Gamboa-Cruz, Sílvia Barros, Ana Sofia Vila Pouca, Jorge Barbosa, Andreia Freitas, Fernando Ramos The use of antibiotics in livestock production has become a common practice. In the EU, the use of antibiotics as growth promoters is forbidden. However, the (mis)use of antibiotics may lead to antimicrobial resistance, which adversely affects humans, animals and the environment....
Author(s): Shu-Chuan Kuo, Yih-Ming Weng In Taiwan, food safety courses are taught to Grade 6 schoolchildren at elementary school. However, no report discussed the relationship and these changes among knowledge, attitudes, and practices concerning food safety in Taiwan before. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the association of food safety education with a combination of knowledge...
Author(s): Jordana Alves Ferreira, Sonia C.N. Queiroz Several pesticides are used in the cultivation of coconut palm, hence evaluation of the residues from these substances must be analyzed in the fruit, to provide and ensure the food safety. Therefore, the development and validation of comprehensive and effective methods becomes crucial, given the complexity of the matrix. Thus, a novel method...
Author(s): Mohit Bansal, Nitin Dhowlaghar, Ramakrishna Nannapaneni, Divya Kode, Sam Chang, Chander S. Sharma, Christopher McDaniel, Aaron Kiess The objective of this study was to determine if the adaptation at planktonic stage to subinhibitory concentrations (SIC) of sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) could modulate the biofilm forming ability of five Listeria monocytogenes strains V7, Scott A, FSL-N1-...
Author(s): Beatriz Ferrer, Lisa M. Prince, Alexey A. Tinkov, Abel Santamaria, Marcelo Farina, João Batista Rocha, Aaron B. Bowman, Michael Aschner Several studies have demonstrated that heavy metals disrupt energy homeostasis. Leptin inhibits food intake and decreases body weight through activation of its receptor in the hypothalamus. The impact of heavy metals on leptin signaling in the...
Author(s): Jeyakumar Balakrishnan, Prakash Ganapathi, Suganya Kannan, Murugan Marudhamuthu, Kathiresan Shanmugam Fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) from marine microalgae have been reported to possess antimicrobial activities against several Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria, but a majority of them needs to be explored. The objective of this study was to investigate the antibacterial...
Author(s): Elżbieta Maćkiw, Dorota Korsak, Joanna Kowalska, Benjamin Felix, Monika Stasiak, Katarzyna Kucharek, Jacek Postupolski The aim of the present study is to investigate the prevalence and genetic diversity of Listeria monocytogenes in various fresh and frozen vegetable products available in Poland. The samples were collected at retail market within the framework of national official...
Author(s): Fan Li, Qinghua Ye, Moutong Chen, Baoqing Zhou, Xinran Xiang, Chufang Wang, Yuting Shang, Jumei Zhang, Rui Pang, Juan Wang, Liang Xue, Shuzhen Cai, Yu Ding, Qingping Wu The abundant information provided by the pan-genome analysis approach reveals the diversity among Listeria monocytogenes serotypes. The objective of this study was to mine novel target genes using pan-genome analysis...
Author(s): Guillaume Legrand Ngolong Ngea, Qiya Yang, William Tchabo, Raffaello Castoria, Xiaoyun Zhang, Hongyin Zhang This research aimed to isolate lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from apple surface and to reveal their potential to inhibit the growth of Penicillium expansum. Besides, their ability to detoxify fruit juices contaminated with mycotoxin patulin, produced by this fungi, was also studied...
Author(s): Chao Zhao, Chao Peng, Pengfei Wang, Sigang Fan, Lulu Yan, Lihua Qiu Cell division cycle 37 (Cdc37) is an important cytoplasmic phosphoprotein, which usually functions as a complex with heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90), to effectively reduce the damage caused by heavy metals, such as cadmium (Cd), in aquatic animals. The high toxicity of Cd in aquatic systems generally has a deleterious...
Author(s): Xingyuan Li, Ting Geng, Wenjie Shen, Jingru Zhang, Yongzhang Zhou Cadmium (Cd) is a highly toxic heavy metal that occurs widely in the environment and poses extensive threats to human health, animals, and plants. This study aims to identify and apportion multi-source and multi-phase Cd pollution from natural and anthropogenic inputs using ensemble models that include random forest (RF...
Author(s): Ann Abraham, Leanne J. Flewelling, Kathleen R. El Said, William Odom, Stephen P. Geiger, April A. Granholm, Jennifer T. Jackson, Dean Bodager Brevetoxins were confirmed in urine specimens from patients diagnosed with neurotoxic shellfish poisoning (NSP) after consumption of gastropods that were recreationally harvested from an area previously affected by a Karenia brevis bloom. Several...
Coxiellosis or Q fever is an important global occupational zoonotic disease caused by one of the most contagious bacterial pathogens‐ Coxiella burnetii, which ranks one among the 13 global priority zoonoses. The detection of C. burnetii infection is exhibiting an increasing trend in high‐ risk personnel around the globe. It has increasingly been detected from foods of animal origin (including...
Furan, a significant food contaminant, was found in many cooked foods. In most cooked foods, furan has been found to be coexisted with some alkylated derivatives such as 2‐methylfuran. 2‐methylfuran was found to be potent hepatotoxins. Little toxicological data is available for 2‐methylfuran. The objective of this study was to investigate metabolite changes in the liver samples from mice fed with...
Production and world consumption of spices are constantly increasing. Although the antimicrobial properties of some spices are well documented, their use in the agri‐food industry is also responsible for microbial contamination and spoilage. Bacterial spores introduced by spices can withstand different preparation processes, particularly thermal treatments, leading to food alterations during...
Tomato is a climacteric fruit susceptible to rapid softening and ripening after harvest. In this study, the changes of physicochemical characters, cell wall degrading enzymes, cell wall compositions and ethylene production of ‘Hisar Arun’ and ‘BSS‐488’ tomato fruits were investigated under the influence of salicylic acid treatment. Salicylic acid treatment effectively delayed firmness decline and...
Gastrointestinal bacteria that harbor antibiotic resistance genes (ARG) become enriched with antibiotic use. Livestock manure application to cropland for soil fertility presents a concern that ARG and bacteria may proliferate and be transported in the environment. In the United States, manure applications typically occur during autumn with slow mineralization until spring planting season. A...
High concentrations of heavy metal (HM) ions impact agronomic staple crop production in acid soils (pH ≤ 5) due to their cytotoxic, genotoxic, and mutagenic effects. Among cytotoxic ions, the trivalent aluminum cation (Al3+) formed by solubilization of aluminum (Al) into acid soils, is one of the most abundant and toxic elements under acidic conditions. In recent years, several studies have...
Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (S. Typhi) is the causative agent of typhoid fever, a disease that kills an estimated 200,000 people annually. Previously, we discovered an antimicrobial pathway dependent on Rab32 and BLOC-3 (BRAM) that is critical to kill S. Typhi in murine macrophages. The BLOC-3 complex is comprised of the two sub-units HPS1 and HPS4 and exhibits guanine-nucleotide exchange...