196 research outputs found
Acanthamoeba Encephalitis in Patient with Systemic Lupus, India
We report a fatal case of encephalitis caused by Acanthamoeba in a 24-year-old woman from India with systemic lupus erythematosus. Diagnosis was made by identification of amebas in brain sections by immunofluorescence analysis and confirmed by demonstrating Acanthamoeba mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene DNA in brain tissue sections
Disseminated Microsporidiosis in an Immunosuppressed Patient
We report a case of disseminated microsporidiosis in a patient with multiple myeloma who had received an allogeneic stem cell transplant requiring substantial immunosuppression. The causative organism was identified as Tubulinosema acridophagus, confirming this genus of microsporidia as a novel human pathogen
Genomic survey of the non-cultivatable opportunistic human pathogen, Enterocytozoon bieneusi
© 2009 The Authors. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS Pathogens 5 (2009): e1000261, doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1000261.Enterocytozoon bieneusi is the most common microsporidian associated with human disease, particularly in the immunocompromised population. In the setting of HIV infection, it is associated with diarrhea and wasting syndrome. Like all microsporidia, E. bieneusi is an obligate, intracellular parasite, but unlike others, it is in direct contact with the host cell cytoplasm. Studies of E. bieneusi have been greatly limited due to the absence of genomic data and lack of a robust cultivation system. Here, we present the first large-scale genomic dataset for E. bieneusi. Approximately 3.86 Mb of unique sequence was generated by paired end Sanger sequencing, representing about 64% of the estimated 6 Mb genome. A total of 3,804 genes were identified in E. bieneusi, of which 1,702 encode proteins with assigned functions. Of these, 653 are homologs of Encephalitozoon cuniculi proteins. Only one E. bieneusi protein with assigned function had no E. cuniculi homolog. The shared proteins were, in general, evenly distributed among the functional categories, with the exception of a dearth of genes encoding proteins associated with pathways for fatty acid and core carbon metabolism. Short intergenic regions, high gene density, and shortened protein-coding sequences were observed in the E. bieneusi genome, all traits consistent with genomic compaction. Our findings suggest that E. bieneusi is a likely model for extreme genome reduction and host dependence.This research was supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants R21 AI064118 (DEA) and R21 AI52792 (ST). HGM was supported in part by NIH contracts HHSN266200400041C and HHSN2662004037C (Bioinformatics Resource Centers) and by the G. Unger Vetlesen Foundation
Clinical metagenomic identification of Balamuthia mandrillaris encephalitis and assembly of the draft genome: the continuing case for reference genome sequencing
Coexistence of Legionella pneumophila Bacteria and Free-Living Amoebae in Lakes Serving as a Cooling System of a Power Plant
Expansion of the molecular and morphological diversity of Acanthamoebidae (Centramoebida, Amoebozoa) and identification of a novel life cycle type within the group
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