Autophagy is a fundamental and highly conserved eukaryotic process, responsible for
maintaining cellular homeostasis and releasing nutrients during times of starvation. An …

Cholesterol is a multifunctional lipid that plays important metabolic and structural roles in the
eukaryotic cell. Despite having diverse lifestyles, the obligate intracellular bacterial …

In patients with chronic kidney and end-stage renal diseases, the major risk factor for
progression of arterial calcification is the presence of existing (baseline) calcification. Here …

Effective intracellular communication between cellular organelles occurs at dedicated
membrane contact sites (MCSs). Tether proteins are responsible for the establishment of …

Macrophages are professional phagocytes at the front line of immune defenses against
foreign bodies and microbial pathogens. Various bacteria, which are responsible for deadly …

Lipid droplets (LDs) are cytosolic lipid storage organelles that are important for cellular lipid
metabolism, energy homeostasis, cell signaling, and inflammation. Several bacterial, viral …

Obligate intracellular pathogens occupy one of two niches–free in the host cell cytoplasm or
confined in a membrane-bound vacuole. Pathogens occupying membrane-bound vacuoles …

Upon host cell infection, the obligate intracellular bacterium Coxiella burnetii resides and
multiplies within the C oxiella–C ontaining V acuole (CCV). The nascent CCV progresses …

Q fever (coxiellosis), caused by Coxiella burnetii, is an emerging or re-emerging zoonotic
disease of public health significance and with worldwide distribution. As a causal agent of …

Host membranes are inherently critical for niche homeostasis of vacuolar pathogens. Thus,
intracellular bacteria frequently encode the capacity to regulate host lipogenesis as well as …