Background/introduction Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a major nosocomial pathogen that particularly threatens immunocompromised patients who are prone to develop infections that are less and less responsive to regular treatments. Moreover, MRSA can cause abscesses that are difficult to treat. Because of its capability to induce a rise of temperature at a very precise loc...

The remarkable structural diversity of glycans in nature, and their roles in cellular processes, host-pathogen interactions, biological diversity and speciation can be explained by evolutionary processes.

an isolate of fusarium moniliforme, a pathogen of winter wild oat (avena ludoviciana), was obtained from tehran province, iran, in 1994. a host range test performed on wheat, barley, maize, rye, millet, crested wheatgrass, faba bean, red bean, green bean, sunflower, soybean, oilseed rape, cotton, safflower, cucumber, water melon, berseem clover, and sainfoin, resulted in no symptom induction by...

Pathogens and parasites can be strong agents of selection and often exhibit genetic specificity for individual host strains. Here we use a simple host–pathogen model to explore the consequences of host–pathogen specificity for selection on pathogen infectiousness and lethality. Pathogens that can transmit themselves more readily from host to host should have a clear reproductive advantage, as s...

Vector-borne disease transmission is a common dissemination mode used by many pathogens to spread in a host population. Similar to directly transmitted diseases, the within-host interaction of a vector-borne pathogen and a host's immune system influences the pathogen's transmission potential between hosts via vectors. Yet there are few theoretical studies on virulence-transmission trade-offs an...