Inferring gene regulatory networks (GRNs) from gene expression is a crucial task for understanding functional relationships. Gene expression data (transcriptomics) provide a snapshot of gene activity, encoding information about gene regulatory relationships. However, gene regulation is a dynamic process, modulating across time and with different cell types. Temporal GRN inference methods aim to capture these […]
Association between Gestational Weight Gain on Obstetric-Perinatal Outcomes Among Women With Pre-pregnancy Overweight or Obesity in a Peruvian Public Hospital
Objective To evaluate the association between excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) and obstetric and perinatal outcomes among women with pre-pregnancy excess weight attending a public hospital in Lima, Peru. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study using routinely collected institutional records from Hospital Maria Auxiliadora. Women with singleton pregnancies and pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) […]
HLA-DRB1*15:01 drives sex- and age-dependent microglial activation and neuroimmune signaling
Introduction: The major histocompatibility complex class II (MHC-II) pathway is central to adaptive immunity and immune tolerance, and age-related erosion of these mechanisms is increasingly recognized as a driver of chronic neuroinflammation. The HLA-DRB1*15:01 allele, the strongest genetic risk factor for multiple sclerosis in Caucasians, has been implicated in shaping pathogenic CD4 T-cell responses and […]
Cyclic tri-adenylate signalling by a Panoptes anti-phage guard system with a CARF-TM effector
Cyclic nucleotide second messengers are used in all domains of life to amplify viral infection signals and activate cellular defences. In prokaryotes, CBASS (cyclic nucleotide based antiphage signalling system) and type III CRISPR-Cas systems generate a range of cyclic nucleotides which bind and allosterically activate effector proteins to mount an anti-viral response. Viruses have evolved […]
Back-illumination Phase Imaging Enables Nanoscale Drift Stabilization in Non-transparent Biological Tissues
High-resolution optical microscopy enables nanoscale investigation of molecular structures but is challenged by sample drift during long acquisitions, particularly in thick biological tissues where transillumination is unpractical. Precise stabilization at the nanoscale is critical for high-resolution imaging techniques like localization microscopy and single particle tracking. Here we introduce a method combining homogenized differential phase contrast […]
Mistakes matter, age doesn’t: task outcome modulates implicit motor adaptation similarly in young and older adults
Despite several age-related processes impacting motor performance, older adults often retain the ability to implicitly adapt to sensory prediction errors. Here, we leverage the fact that implicit adaptation is not attenuated by aging to study the impact of aging on responses to motor errors. In other domains, such as reinforcement learning, aging has been shown […]
EBEx: an Ensemble-Based Explainable Framework for Gene Calling in Heterogeneous Diseases
Complex and clinically heterogeneous diseases pose significant challenges for gene prioritisation and patient stratification, as relevant genes often show weak or context-specific signals and transcriptomic datasets are limited in size. These limitations hinder the discovery of robust molecular signatures using traditional case-control approaches and motivate computational pipelines capable of capturing molecular diversity. Here, we present […]
Interactions between inbreeding, fitness and the bacterial microbiome in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes
Laboratory and field populations of insects can experience a decline in fitness and loss of genetic diversity due to inbreeding depression and genetic drift, respectively. Matings among related individuals and small population size may also influence insect host microbiomes with consequences for fitness. In the dengue vector mosquito, Aedes aegypti, the bacterial microbiome is largely […]
Identification of targetable epitope surfaces from the high resolution structure of the superantigen Staphylococcal Enterotoxin L
Emetic exotoxins secreted by Staphylococcus species (Staphylococcal enterotoxins, SEs) are a major cause of food poisoning cases worldwide and many are additionally classified as superantigens – able to potently activate T cells in an antigen independent manner. Fewer than half of the gene products of the known SE genes have been extensively characterized. The gene […]
Blautia wexlerae Transforms Dietary Fatty Acids to Activate Enteroendocrine Signaling and Improve Metabolic Health in Mice and Humans
Metabolites produced by the human gut microbiome influence host metabolic health, but how this occurs remains incompletely defined. Here, we report that a common human gut commensal, Blautia wexlerae, converts dietary fats into bioactive metabolites that induce gut hormone production to affect glucose metabolism and suppress appetite. We found that colonization with Blautia wexlerae correlated […]
A potential role for acyl-phosphate in the coordination of phospholipid and lipopolysaccharide synthesis in Escherichia coli
The envelope of Gram-negative bacteria like Escherichia coli is multilayered with two membranes sandwiching a peptidoglycan cell wall. The inner membrane is a typical phospholipid bilayer whereas the outer membrane is asymmetric with phospholipids in the inner leaflet and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the outer leaflet. We recently discovered that inactivation of the conserved peptidoglycan synthesis […]
Improving the production and virulence of entomopathogenic fungi for biological control using insect-derived in vitro culture medium
The environment in which a fungus grows can directly influence their development, transmission, and pathogenic potential. This environment encompasses factors like nutrient availability, biotic and abiotic stressors, as well as host-derived chemical cues. In fungal pathogens, where conidia act as the infectious agents, the environment impacts the quantity and quality of these spores, thereby affecting […]