Current Research in Microbial Sciences最新文献

{"title":"Novel peptide inhibitor for the Chikungunya virus nsP2 protease: Identification and characterization","authors":"Mohammadamin Mastalipour ,&nbsp;Ian Gering ,&nbsp;Mônika Aparecida Coronado ,&nbsp;Jorge Enrique Hernández González ,&nbsp;Dieter Willbold ,&nbsp;Raphael Josef Eberle","doi":"10.1016/j.crmicr.2025.100376","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.crmicr.2025.100376","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an emerging pathogen affecting populations worldwide, with rapidly increasing infection rates. CHIKV, an arbovirus of the alphavirus genus, is predominantly found in tropical regions and transmitted by <em>Aedes</em> mosquitoes. Climate change has accelerated the global spread of these vectors, leading to outbreaks in non-tropical regions, including parts of Europe. The absence of antiviral therapies and the potential for co-infections with other viruses make CHIKV a significant public health concern. CHIKV replication relies on nsP2 cysteine protease activity to cleave its viral polyprotein into functional nonstructural and structural proteins. Targeting the nsP2 protease represents a promising strategy for antiviral therapy development. In this study, phage display was used to screen a library of peptides for potential binders of the target protease. Biophysical and biochemical analyses of the identified peptides assessed their inhibitory potential. Among the six identified peptides (named as P1–P6), four demonstrated inhibitory effects on the nsP2 protease (nsP2^pro). Peptide P1 exhibited the strongest inhibitory effect, with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) of 4.6 ± 1.9 µM, and a low cytotoxicity. The secondary structure analysis through CD spectroscopy and homology modelling revealed that P1 adopts an alpha-helical conformation. Finally, molecular dynamics simulations enabled us to investigate the dynamics of the nsP2^pro active site and molecular docking was employed to predict the orthosteric binding mode of P1, providing insights into protein-peptide interaction. These findings underscore the potential of peptide P1 as a lead compound for further investigation in the context of CHIKV research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34305,"journal":{"name":"Current Research in Microbial Sciences","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100376"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143632171","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Production and characterization of sophorolipid under yeast-mediated submerged fermentation utilizing Agro-industrial waste","authors":"Aishwary Purohit ,&nbsp;Amar Jyoti Das ,&nbsp;Debashish Ghosh","doi":"10.1016/j.crmicr.2024.100334","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.crmicr.2024.100334","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The challenges of pollution and agro-industrial waste management have led to the development of bioconversion techniques to transform these wastes into valuable products. This has increased the focus on the sustainable and cost-efficient production of biosurfactants from agro-industrial waste. Hence, the present study investigates the production of sophorolipid biosurfactants using the yeast strain <em>Rhodotorula mucilaginosa</em> IIPL32 under submerged fermentation, employing sugarcane bagasse hydrolysate—a renewable, low-cost agro-industrial waste as the feedstock. By systematically optimizing strain adaptation, medium composition, and scaling up the process from shake flasks to a bioreactor, a maximum sophorolipid yield of 2.6 ± 0.21 g/L was achieved. Extensive characterization was conducted, encompassing emulsification index (54 %), surface tension reduction, and several chemical analyses (anthrone, iodine, saponification, lipid solubility). Advanced structural elucidation techniques such as Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy were employed for structural confirmation of the extracted biosurfactant. FTIR spectroscopy identified characteristic functional groups, while LC-MS revealed distinct sophorolipid congeners with varying lipid chain lengths and acetylation. NMR spectroscopy corroborated the presence of disaccharide and fatty acid components, indicating the extracted biosurfactant might be sophorolipid. This study underscores the feasibility of utilizing agro-industrial waste for the eco-friendly production of sophorolipid biosurfactants and provides detailed insights into their structural features, highlighting their potential applications across diverse fields such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and environmental remediation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34305,"journal":{"name":"Current Research in Microbial Sciences","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100334"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11743883/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143013101","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Multifaceted virus-like particles: Navigating towards broadly effective influenza A virus vaccines","authors":"Jaffar Ali Muhamad Norizwan,&nbsp;Wen Siang Tan","doi":"10.1016/j.crmicr.2024.100317","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.crmicr.2024.100317","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The threat of influenza A virus (IAV) remains an annual health concern, as almost 500,000 people die each year due to the seasonal flu. Current flu vaccines are highly dependent on embryonated chicken eggs for production, which is time consuming and costly. These vaccines only confer moderate protections in elderly people, and they lack cross-protectivity; thereby requiring annual reformulation to ensure effectiveness against contemporary circulating strains. To address current limitations, new strategies are being sought, with great emphasis given on exploiting IAV's conserved antigens for vaccine development, and by using different vaccine technologies to enhance immunogenicity and expedite vaccine production. Among these technologies, there are growing pre-clinical and clinical studies involving virus-like particles (VLPs), as they are capable to display multiple conserved IAV antigens and augment their immune responses. In this review, we outline recent findings involving broadly effective IAV antigens and strategies to display these antigens on VLPs. Current production systems for IAV VLP vaccines are comprehensively reviewed. Pain-free methods for administration of IAV VLP vaccines through intranasal and transdermal routes, as well as the mechanisms in stimulating immune responses are discussed in detail. The future perspectives of VLPs in IAV vaccine development are discussed, particularly concerning their potentials in overcoming current immunological limitations of IAV vaccines, and their inherent advantages in exploring intranasal vaccination studies. We also propose avenues to expedite VLP vaccine production, as we envision that there will be more clinical trials involving IAV VLP vaccines, leading to commercialization of these vaccines in the near future.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34305,"journal":{"name":"Current Research in Microbial Sciences","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100317"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11665419/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142882670","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Functional genomic analysis of Bacillus cereus BC4 strain for chromium remediation in contaminated soil","authors":"Zhiyi Liu ,&nbsp;Yubing Cai ,&nbsp;Xu Chen ,&nbsp;Yan Cang ,&nbsp;Jialiang Yu ,&nbsp;Muhammad Shaaban ,&nbsp;Yajun Cai ,&nbsp;Qi-an Peng","doi":"10.1016/j.crmicr.2025.100388","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.crmicr.2025.100388","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil provides a habitat for microorganisms that can mitigate metal contamination. This study presents <em>Bacillus cereus</em> BC4 strain, which shows significant potential for metal pollution remediation. This bacterium achieved a 98.6 % reduction in Chromium (VI) concentrations from 300 mg/L to negligible levels under specific conditions (pH 8, 37 °C, and 120 rpm agitation) in LB medium. The complete genome of <em>Bacillus cereus</em> BC4 was sequenced using Oxford Nanopore Technology, revealing a circular chromosome and a plasmid with a total of 5537,675 base pairs and a <em>G</em> + <em>C</em> content of 35.44 %. Fourteen genes critical for Cr metabolism were identified. qRT-PCR demonstrated that under low Cr(VI) stress, two genes, <em>chrA</em> and <em>nitR1</em>, were up-regulated, indicating their role in Cr resistance. The genome revealed gene clusters essential for resilience against various metals, including chromium, arsenic, copper, manganese, and cadmium, as well as for synthesizing secondary metabolites crucial for survival and adaptation. Additionally, genes associated with biopolymer synthesis were identified, emphasizing the organism's diverse genetic capabilities. This genomic study led to the submission of the complete genome to GenBank (CP101135), enhancing the understanding and potential of <em>Bacillus cereus</em> BC4 in chromium remediation and environmental restoration.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34305,"journal":{"name":"Current Research in Microbial Sciences","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100388"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143817542","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Potency of all-D amino acid antimicrobial peptides derived from the bovine rumen microbiome on tuberculous and non-tuberculous mycobacteria","authors":"Céline Boidin-Wichlacz ,&nbsp;Marc Maresca ,&nbsp;Isabelle Correia ,&nbsp;Olivier Lequin ,&nbsp;Vanessa Point ,&nbsp;Magali Casanova ,&nbsp;Alexis Reinbold ,&nbsp;Olga Iranzo ,&nbsp;Sharon A. Huws ,&nbsp;Priscille Brodin ,&nbsp;Linda B. Oyama ,&nbsp;Aurélie Tasiemski ,&nbsp;Stéphane Canaan ,&nbsp;Jean-François Cavalier","doi":"10.1016/j.crmicr.2025.100395","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.crmicr.2025.100395","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Despite the availability of antibiotics, tuberculosis (TB), caused by <em>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</em>, was once again declared the world's leading cause of death from a single infectious agent in 2023. Furthermore, the rising prevalence of drug-resistant strains of <em>M. tuberculosis</em>, coupled with the limitations of existing therapeutics, underscores the urgent need for new antimicrobial agents that act through different mechanisms, thereby providing novel therapeutic options. From this perspective, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) derived from the bovine rumen microbiome have shown promise against many resistant pathogens and may therefore offer a promising alternative against TB. Here, we evaluated the efficacy of AMPs from bovine rumen microbiome, namely the <strong>Lynronne 1, 2</strong> &amp; <strong>3</strong> and <strong>P15s</strong> as well as their <strong>all-D</strong> amino acid enantiomers, against non-tuberculous (<em>M. abscessus, M. marinum</em> and <em>M. smegmatis)</em> and tuberculous (<em>M. bovis</em> BCG, <em>M. tuberculosis</em>) mycobacteria. In particular, their antimycobacterial activity was assessed against extracellularly and intracellularly replicating <em>M. tuberculosis</em> H37Rv pathogenic strain. Their innocuity was further studied by determining their respective cytotoxicity against human cell lines and hemolytic activity on human erythrocytes. Finally, their mechanism of action was investigated by a membrane permeabilization assay and a lipid insertion assay <em>via</em> surface pressure measurement. Although <strong>all-D</strong> enantiomers showed increased cytotoxicity to human cell lines, they still offer a good therapeutic window with improved activity compared to their L-form counterparts, especially <strong>Lynronne 2D<em>_all</em></strong> and <strong>P15sD<em>_all</em></strong> which emerged as the best growth inhibitors of all mycobacteria. Remarkably, the <strong>all-D</strong> enantiomers also demonstrated activity against intramacrophagic replicating <em>M. tuberculosis</em> H37Rv, with very limited toxicity towards human cells and no hemolytic activity at their respective minimum inhibitory concentration. Membrane permeabilization and monolayer lipid insertion assays suggested that these peptides mostly act by insertion into the mycobacterial membrane resulting in a rapid membranolytic effect. These findings highlight the potential of the <strong>all-D</strong> enantiomers of Lynronne peptides, as attractive candidates for the development of new anti-TB drugs. Their effective antibacterial properties combined with low toxicity underscore <strong>Lynronne 2D<em>_all</em></strong> and <strong>P15sD<em>_all</em></strong> as building blocks for the development of promising alternatives to conventional antibiotics in the treatment of mycobacterial infections, particularly against <em>M. tuberculosis</em>.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34305,"journal":{"name":"Current Research in Microbial Sciences","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100395"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143869017","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Antibacterial activity and impact on keratinocyte cell growth of Cutibacterium acnes bacteriophages in a Cutibacterium acnes IA1- colonized keratinocyte model","authors":"Juan C Farfán-Esquivel ,&nbsp;María Victoria Gutiérrez ,&nbsp;Alejandro Ondo-Méndez ,&nbsp;John M González ,&nbsp;Martha J Vives-Flórez","doi":"10.1016/j.crmicr.2025.100356","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.crmicr.2025.100356","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Acne is an inflammatory disease in which microbial disbalance is represented by an augmented population of phylotype IA₁ of <em>Cutibacterium acnes</em>. Various treatments for acne can cause side effects, and it has been reported that <em>C. acnes</em> is resistant to prescribed antibiotics. Phage therapy has been proposed as an alternative treatment for acne, given its species-specificity to kill bacteria, its relative innocuity, and its potential to manage antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Moreover, bacteriophages (phages) may modulate the microbiota and immune responses. Some studies have shown the potential use of phages in the treatment of acne. Nevertheless, the capacity to specifically reduce phylotype IA₁ and the effect of phage treatment on skin cells are poorly understood. We assessed the capacity of phages to clear <em>C. acnes</em> IA₁ and their effects on cell cytotoxicity and growth in HEKa cells<em>- C. acnes</em> IA₁ co-culture. Phylotypes IA₁ and IB had similar effects on HEKa cells, causing cytotoxicity and diminishing cell growth. Nevertheless, IA₁ caused a higher impact on cell doubling time by increasing it 1.8 times more than cell growth control group. Even though there are no phages IA₁-specific, we found phages that have a diminished effect on other phylotypes not related to acne. Phage treatment in general reduced IA₁-caused cytotoxicity, with differences in efficacy among phages. In addition, phage purification was necessary to restore metabolic activity and growth of HEKa. Overall, phage evaluation as a therapeutic alternative should include phage-bacteria interactions and their impact on skin cells because of the differences that each phage can exhibit.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34305,"journal":{"name":"Current Research in Microbial Sciences","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100356"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143241126","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Clostridium tetani bacteraemia in the plague area in France: Two cases","authors":"M.A. Boualam ,&nbsp;A. Bouri ,&nbsp;M. Signoli ,&nbsp;M. Drancourt ,&nbsp;A. Caputo ,&nbsp;E. Terrer ,&nbsp;G. Aboudharam","doi":"10.1016/j.crmicr.2025.100339","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.crmicr.2025.100339","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div><em>Clostridium tetani</em> (<em>C. tetani</em>) bacteraemia is a rare situation, with only four case reports in the literature. Fourteen teeth from the 1590 plague site in Fédons, France, were surface decontaminated before the pulp was cultured under strict anaerobiosis with negative controls. Colonies were identified by mass spectrometry and whole genome sequencing, and <em>C. tetani-</em>specific PCR was performed using DNA extracted from dental pulps, calculus and sediments. <em>C. tetani</em> cultured in two dental pulp specimens from two individuals was firmly identified by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, and whole genome sequencing confirmed toxigenic <em>C. tetani</em>. In the remaining twelve individuals, no such <em>C. tetani</em> was recovered and further detection by PCR and palaeoculturomics of dental calculus and sediments surrounding the teeth in these two individuals remained negative. Toxigenic <em>C. tetani</em> which did not result from mere environmental contamination, caused bacteraemia in two individuals from a modern time plague site in France.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34305,"journal":{"name":"Current Research in Microbial Sciences","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100339"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11786803/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143081363","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Legionella pneumophila subverts the antioxidant defenses of its amoeba host Acanthamoeba castellanii","authors":"Alban Hay ,&nbsp;Willy Aucher ,&nbsp;Romain Pigeault ,&nbsp;Joanne Bertaux ,&nbsp;Alexandre Crépin ,&nbsp;Quentin Blancart Remaury ,&nbsp;Yann Héchard ,&nbsp;Ascel Samba-Louaka ,&nbsp;Romain Villéger","doi":"10.1016/j.crmicr.2024.100338","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.crmicr.2024.100338","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div><em>Legionella pneumophila</em>, the causative agent of Legionnaires' disease, interacts in the environment with free-living amoebae that serve as replicative niches for the bacteria. Among these amoebae, <em>Acanthamoeba castellanii</em> is a natural host in water networks and a model commonly used to study the interaction between <em>L. pneumophila</em> and its host. However, certain crucial aspects of this interaction remain unclear. One such aspect is the role of oxidative stress, with studies focusing on reactive oxygen species (ROS) production by the host and putting less emphasis on the involvement of the host's antioxidant defenses during the infectious process. In this study, we propose to examine the consequences of infection with <em>L. pneumophila</em> wild-type or with an isogenic Δ<em>dotA</em> mutant strain, which is unable to replicate intracellularly, on <em>A. castellanii</em>. For this purpose, we looked at the host ROS levels, host antioxidant defense transcripts, and metabolites linked to the amoeba's antioxidant defenses. It is known that <em>L. pneumophila</em> WT can block the activation of NADPH oxidase as soon as it enters the macrophage and suppress ROS production compared to Δ<em>dotA</em> mutant strain. In addition, it has been shown in macrophages that <em>L. pneumophila</em> WT decreases ROS at 24 h p.i.; here we confirm this result in amoebae and suggest that this decrease could be partly explained by <em>L. pneumophila</em> differentially regulated host antioxidant defense transcripts at 6 h p.i.. We also explored the metabolome of <em>A. castellanii</em> infected or not with <em>L. pneumophila</em>. Among the 617 metabolites identified, four with reduced abundances during infection may be involved in antioxidant responses. This study suggests that <em>L. pneumophila</em> could hijack the host's antioxidant defenses during its replication to maintain a reduced level of ROS.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34305,"journal":{"name":"Current Research in Microbial Sciences","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100338"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11772960/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143060867","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Preventive effect of flavor/fragrance components on SARS-CoV-2 infections","authors":"Hidenobu Senpuku ,&nbsp;Hiroyuki Kato","doi":"10.1016/j.crmicr.2024.100335","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.crmicr.2024.100335","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The SARS-CoV-2 infection has spread to various areas of the world, and the number of infected people, seriously ill people, and deaths have increased in 2020∼2023. It is important to suppress the spread of virus from infected people to non-infected people in order to prevent the disease from becoming more severe. To protect widespread of virus, flavor/fragrances composition was selected as a convenient effective material to protect the inhibition. It was previously investigated whether flavor/fragrances composition inhibit the binding between the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and host angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) in the infection model assay. This binding lead to natural infection of SARS-CoV-2 to tissues. In a previous report, it was found that some Flavor/fragrances compositions strongly inhibited the binding between RBD and ACE2. To clarify whether these flavor/fragrances compositions actually inhibit the infection of SARS-CoV-2, the inhibition assay of infection to VeroE6/TMPRSS2 cells, the inhibition model in vitro, were performed by the treatment of these compositions. Some flavor/fragrances compositions excepting for cinnamyl alcohol, 0.25 %, strongly inhibited the infection of SARS-CoV-2 to VeroE6/TMPRSS2 cells because cinnamyl alcohol could not be completely melted by PBS (pH 7.4) containing 1.5 % Tween 20 and 0.5 % BSA. Among fragrance compounds, cinnamon flavor and cinnamon mint had stronger inhibition effects on the infection effects on SARS-C0V-2 than others. The strategy of using flavor/fragrances compositions such as cinnamon flavor and cinnamon mint may be useful to protect widespread of SARS-CoV-2 in their daily lives.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34305,"journal":{"name":"Current Research in Microbial Sciences","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100335"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11743867/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143013099","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Genomic signatures and host adaptation of H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b: A call for global surveillance and multi-target antiviral strategies","authors":"Guangxu Zhang ,&nbsp;Yuren Shi ,&nbsp;Haoyu Ge,&nbsp;Yuanzhou Wang,&nbsp;Lu Lu,&nbsp;Shibo Jiang,&nbsp;Qian Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.crmicr.2025.100377","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.crmicr.2025.100377","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The recent report of the first fatality associated with infection by influenza virus H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b, identified as genotype D1.1, which is distinct from the B3.13 genotype, has sparked fears of a potential human pandemic. However, the genetic relationships between B3.13 and D1.1, as well as their origins, host adaptability, and antiviral resistance, remain poorly understood. Here we conducted a comprehensive phylogenetic and comparative analysis of H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b across multiple species, in order to identify the molecular characteristics and frequency of resistance mutations in these two genotypes, elucidate their evolutionary trajectories, and assess their implications for public health. Our results demonstrate that B3.13 exhibits mammalian adaptability, while D1.1 retains avian adaptability. Importantly, both genotypes display limited occurrences of human-like signatures, which can help alleviate public anxiety. Additionally, the emergence of the resistance mutations in the clade 2.3.4.4b on the binding sites of antivirals calls for the development of multi-target antiviral strategies to mitigate the risk of resistant strain reassortment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34305,"journal":{"name":"Current Research in Microbial Sciences","volume":"8 ","pages":"Article 100377"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143643069","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}