Phagocytosis is a key mechanism of innate immunity, and promotion of phagosome maturation may represent a therapeutic target to enhance antibacterial host response. Phagosome maturation is favored by the timely and coordinated intervention of lipids and may be altered in infections. Here we used apoptotic body-like liposomes (ABL) to selectively deliver bioactive lipids to innate cells, and the...

objective: the brucella melitensis virb operon, encoding a type iv secretion system (t4ss), is required for intracellular replication and persistent infection in the mouse model. the product of the second gene of the virb operon, virb2, is predicted to be localized at the bacterial surface, where they could potentially interact with host cells. studies to date have focused on characterization o...

Sm14 is a 14-kDa vaccine candidate antigen from Schistosoma mansoni that seems to be involved in cytoplasmic trafficking of fatty acids. Although schistosomes have a high requirement for lipids, they are not able to synthesize fatty acids and sterols de novo. Thus, they must acquire host lipids. In order to determine whether Sm14 is present in different stages of the life cycle of the parasite,...

If you believe the fluid mosaic model of membrane structure, all the important jobs of the cell membrane, such as nutrient uptake, ion transport and transduction of hormonal signals, are attributable to membrane proteins rather than to the lipid bilayer in which they sit. But if all the membrane lipids do is to form a permeability barrier, you might expect them to have quite uniform structures....

In multicellular organisms, cells communicate with each other via extracellular molecules such as nucleotides, lipids, short peptides, or proteins. These molecules are released in the extracellular space to bind to receptors on other cells, thus modifying intracellular signaling in the recipient cells. In addition to these single molecules, cells also release in their extracellular environment ...

The sphingosine and diacylglycerol kinases form a superfamily of structurally related lipid signaling kinases. One of the striking features of these kinases is that although they are clearly involved in agonist-mediated signaling, this signaling is accomplished with only a moderate (and sometimes no) increase in the enzymatic activity of the enzymes. Here, we summarize findings that indicate th...

We isolated forms of enveloped vaccinia virus from infected HeLa cells to obtain membranes for the analysis of lipids of the cis-Golgi network and trans-Golgi network. The intracellular mature virus obtains its envelope by wrapping itself in the membranes of the cis-Golgi network. A fraction of these virions then acquires a second envelope by enwrapping trans-Golgi network membranes to form the...

One of the main challenges of gene therapy remains the increase of gene delivery into eukaryotic cells. We tested whether intracellular DNA release, an essential step for gene transfer, could be facilitated by using reducible cationic DNA-delivery vectors. For this purpose, plasmid DNA was complexed with cationic lipids bearing a disulphide bond. This reduction-sensitive linker is expected to b...

Chlamydiae are obligate intracellular pathogens that must coordinate the acquisition of host cell-derived biosynthetic constituents essential for bacterial survival. Purified chlamydiae contain several lipids that are typically found in eukaryotes, implying the translocation of host cell lipids to the chlamydial vacuole. Acquisition and incorporation of sphingomyelin occurs subsequent to transp...

Nocardia brasiliensis is a Gram-positive facultative intracellular bacterium frequently isolated from human actinomycetoma. However, the pathogenesis of this infection remains unknown. Here, we used a model of bacterial delipidation with benzine to investigate the role of N. brasiliensis cell wall-associated lipids in experimental actinomycetoma. Delipidation of N. brasiliensis with benzine res...