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Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection is initiated by the inhalation and implantation of bacteria in the lung alveoli, where they are phagocytosed by macrophages. Even a single bacterium may be sufficient to initiate infection. Thereafter, the clinical outc ...
The abusive use of antimicrobial drugs during the last eighty years has favoured the natural selection of resistant pathogens able to neutralise drugs efficiently. Nowadays, antimicrobial resistance contributes to millions of deaths yearly, threatens the e ...
Bacteria often colonize their environment in the form of surface attached multicellular communities called biofilms. Biofilms grow from surface-attached cells that undergo division while self-embedding in a viscoelastic matrix. Biofilms grow at the surface ...
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are host-encoded antibiotics that combat invading microbes. These short immune effectors are conserved in plants, animals, and fungi. Early work showed that AMPs killed bacteria in generalist fashions in vitro: i.e. AMPs that ...
Cell-based drug carriers present an interesting approach to improve the targeted delivery of therapeutic drugs in vivo. Specifically, bacterial cells possess interesting properties such as motility and sensing that allow some strains to selectively target ...
ExbBD is part of a cytoplasmic membrane molecular motor driven by the proton-motive force. It belongs to the larger family of motors involved in nutriment import across the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria (ExbBD), flagellar rotation (MotAB) or lat ...
Infections typically begin with pathogens adhering to host cells. For bacteria, this adhesion can occur through specific ligand-binding domains. We identify a 20-kDa peptide-binding domain (PBD) in a 1.5-MDa RTX adhesin of a Gram-negative marine bacterium ...
Resistance to last-resort carbapenem antibiotics is an increasing threat to human health, as it critically limits therapeutic options. Metallo-beta-lactamases (MBLs) are the largest family of carbapenemases, enzymes that inactivate these drugs. Among MBLs, ...
Bacterial communities attached to surfaces under fluid flow represent a widespread lifestyle of the microbial world. Through shear stress generation and molecular transport regulation, hydrodynamics conveys effects that are very different by nature but str ...
Biofilm formation is generally recognized as a bacterial defense mechanism against environmental threats, including antibiotics, bacteriophages, and leukocytes of the human immune system. Here, we show that for the human pathogen Vibrio cholerae, biofilm f ...