Publications related to Detection and Strain Typing of Ancient Mycobacterium leprae from a Medieval Leprosy Hospital

Resolving bacterial cell biology: from replisome dynamics to cell wall synthesis

Bacteria are ubiquitous single cellular organisms. Compared to eukaryotic cells, bacteria have two unique characteristics: the membrane-less nucleoid and the cell wall built of peptidoglycan (PG). In most bacteria, a single circular chromosome is compacted ...

EPFL2024

Single-cell analysis of the interactions between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and macrophages

Ophélie Rutschmann

Mycobacterium Tuberculosis is a highly effective pathogen infecting nearly a third of the world's population. An M. tuberculosis infection starts when droplets containing bacteria enter an individual's lungs. The first host cells to contact the bacteria ar ...

EPFL2024

Back-to-Africa introductions of Mycobacterium tuberculosis as the main cause of tuberculosis in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Jacques Fellay, Zhi Ming Xu

In settings with high tuberculosis (TB) endemicity, distinct genotypes of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) often differ in prevalence. However, the factors leading to these differences remain poorly understood. Here we studied the MTBC populat ...

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE2023

Investigating the composition and recruitment of the mycobacterial ImuA'-ImuB-DnaE2 mutasome

John McKinney, Neeraj Dhar, Zela Alexandria-Mae Martin

A DNA damage-inducible mutagenic gene cassette has been implicated in the emergence of drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis during anti-tuberculosis (TB) chemotherapy. However, the molecular composition and operation of the encoded 'mycobacterial ...

Elife Sciences Publ Ltd2023

Development and validation of a multiplex real-time qPCR assay using GMP-grade reagents for leprosy diagnosis

Stewart Cole, Charlotte Avanzi, Thyago Leal Calvo

Author summaryLeprosy is a chronic dermato-neurological disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae, an obligate intracellular bacterium. Diagnosis of leprosy often relies on skin examinations for clinical signs, bacilli staining from skin smears and invasive s ...

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE2022

Fluorescent D-Amino Acids for Super-resolution Microscopy of the Bacterial Cell Wall

Suliana Manley, Luc Reymond, Ophélie Rutschmann, Willi Leopold Stepp, Juliette Griffie, Chen Zhang, Jiangtao Qiao, Faustine Ambroisine Charline Ryckebusch

Fluorescent D-amino acids (FDAAs) have previ-ously been developed to enable in situ highlighting of locations of bacterial cell wall growth. Most bacterial cells lie at the edge of the diffraction limit of visible light; thus, resolving the precise details ...

2022

Preexisting Heterogeneity of Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase Expression Drives Differential Growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Macrophages

John McKinney, Ophélie Rutschmann, Chiara Toniolo

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 ...

AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY2022

Carbon nanotube uptake in cyanobacteria for near-infrared imaging and enhanced bioelectricity generation in living photovoltaics

Ardemis Anoush Boghossian, Alice Judith Gillen, Alessandra Antonucci, Vitalijs Zubkovs, Melania Reggente, Benjamin Paul Johanès Gabriel Lambert, Mohammed Mouhib, Nils Schürgers, Charlotte Elisabeth Marie Roullier

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) have unique optoelectronic properties that make them suitable for applications ranging from phototherapy to imaging and sensing, but their uptake has mainly been explored in eukaryotic cells. Here the authors explore ...

2022

Mycobacterium leprae diversity and population dynamics in medieval Europe from novel ancient genomes

Stewart Cole, Charlotte Avanzi, Philippe Busso

Background Hansen's disease (leprosy), widespread in medieval Europe, is today mainly prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions with around 200,000 new cases reported annually. Despite its long history and appearance in historical records, its origins ...

BMC2021

A new paradigm for leprosy diagnosis based on host gene expression

Stewart Cole, Andrej Benjak, Charlotte Avanzi, Philippe Busso, Thyago Leal Calvo

Author summary ...

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE2021