Bacterial sphingomyelinases and phospholipases are a heterogeneous group of esterases
which are usually surface associated or secreted by a wide variety of Gram-positive and …

Lipids were long believed to have a structural role in biomembranes and a role in energy
storage utilizing cellular lipid droplets and plasma lipoproteins. Research over the last …

Germination of Clostridium difficile spores is a crucial early requirement for colonization of
the gastrointestinal tract. Likewise, C. difficile cannot cause disease pathologies unless its …

In a previous comparative proteomic study of Bacillus anthracis examining the influence of
the virulence plasmids and of various growth conditions on the composition of the bacterial …

Bacillus cereus (B. cereus) is a pathogen in opportunistic infections. Here we show that
Bacillus cereus sphingomyelinase (Bc-SMase) is a virulence factor for septicemia. Clinical …

The protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii develops within a parasitophorous vacuole (PV)
in mammalian cells, where it scavenges cholesterol. When cholesterol is present in excess …

Phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC) enzymes from Gram-positive
bacteria are secreted virulence factors that aid in downregulating host immunity. These PI …

Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax, relies on multiple virulence factors to
subvert the host immune defense. Using Caenorhabditis elegans as an infection model, we …

The mechanism of phagosome escape by intracellular pathogens is an important step in the
infectious cycle. During the establishment of anthrax, Bacillus anthracis undergoes a …

Nutrient‐dependent germination of Bacillus anthracis spores is stimulated when receptors
located in the inner membrane detect combinations of amino acid and purine nucleoside …