In PLOS Genetics, researchers from the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth present findings from a "dual-seq" transcriptomic analysis of bacterial cultures containing both Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans, including clues to the interactions between these pathogens. In the dual-seq study, the team did RNA sequencing on cultures of P. aeruginosa grown alone, growth with wild type C. albicans strains that make ethanol, or grown with versions of C. albicans missing an ethanol-producing ADH1 gene, and used the transcript data to investigate interactions between the ethanol and activity by PhoB and other phosphatase enzymes in P. aeruginosa. From these and other findings, the authors suggest that "C. albicans-produced ethanol stimulates P. aeruginosa PhoB activity and [antifungal 5-methyl-phenazine-1-carboxylic acid]-mediated antagonism, and that both responses are dependent on local phosphate concentrations."
A team from the Key Laboratory of Medical Virology and Viral Diseases and other centers in China takes a look at the genetic diversity and phylogeny of viruses from the Hantaviridae family, which can cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, for a paper in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. Using genome sequence data for hundreds of Hantaan orthohantavirus strains collected in China, South Korea, Russia, and other sites since the mid-1970s, the researchers retraced the history and evolution of the Hantaan virus (HTNV), identifying 11 HTNV clusters as well as clues to its spread and population sizes in different parts of China over time. "These findings revealed the original and evolutionary features of HTNV, which will help to illustrate hantavirus epidemic trends, thus aiding in disease control and prevention," they write, noting that the genetic results support the notion that HNTV may be held in check with the help of rodent control efforts.
For a paper in PLOS One, investigators at the National Chiao Tung University, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and elsewhere introduce the sudden cardiac death-associated variants annotation database (SVAD) — a collection that houses more than 1,200 variants implicated in inherited forms of cardiac disease. The team notes that roughly one-third of variants included in SVAD so far were classified as pathogenic or likely pathogenic based on guidelines provided by the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics. "The SVAD currently represents the most comprehensive source of information regarding non-ischemic [sudden cardiac death]-associated variants, thereby providing an overview of know genetic information," the authors write, calling the database "a valuable source of integrated information on the spectrum of disease-associated variations, thereby benefiting clinicians and researchers."