Scholars@Duke
Jennifer Lodge

Jennifer Lodge

Vice President for Research and Innovation
Duke University
jennifer.lodge@duke.edu
PO Box 90037, 119 Allen Bldg, Durham, NC 27708
PO Box 90037, 119 Allen Bldg, Durham, NC 27708

Selected Publications

Immunological correlates of protection mediated by a whole organism, Cryptococcus neoformans, vaccine deficient in chitosan.

Journal Article mBio · August 14, 2024 UNLABELLED: The global burden of infections due to the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus is substantial in persons with low CD4+ T-cell counts. Previously, we deleted three chitin deacetylase genes from Cryptococcus neoformans to create a chitosan-deficient, ... Full text Link to item Cite

Immune evasion by Cryptococcus gattii in vaccinated mice coinfected with C. neoformans.

Journal Article Front Immunol · 2024 Cryptococcus neoformans and C. gattii, the etiologic agents of cryptococcosis, cause over 100,000 deaths worldwide every year, yet no cryptococcal vaccine has progressed to clinical trials. In preclinical studies, mice vaccinated with an attenuated strain ... Full text Link to item Cite

Measuring Stress Phenotypes in Cryptococcus neoformans.

Journal Article Methods Mol Biol · 2024 Cryptococcus neoformans is an opportunistic human fungal pathogen capable of surviving in a wide range of environments and hosts. It has been developed as a model organism to study fungal pathogenesis due to its fully sequenced haploid genome and optimized ... Full text Link to item Cite

Chitosan-Deficient Cryptococcus as Whole-Cell Vaccines.

Journal Article Methods Mol Biol · 2024 Creating a safe and effective vaccine against infection by the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans is an appealing option that complements the discovery of new small molecule antifungals. Recent animal studies have yielded promising results for a varie ... Full text Link to item Cite

Fluorescence and Biochemical Assessment of the Chitin and Chitosan Content of Cryptococcus.

Journal Article Methods Mol Biol · 2024 The cell wall of the fungal pathogens Cryptococcus neoformans and C. gattii is critical for cell wall integrity and signaling external threats to the cell, allowing it to adapt and grow in a variety of changing environments. Chitin is a polysaccharide foun ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cell wall composition in Cryptococcus neoformans is media dependent and alters host response, inducing protective immunity.

Journal Article Front Fungal Biol · 2023 INTRODUCTION: Cryptococcus neoformans is a basidiomycete fungus that can cause meningoencephalitis, especially in immunocompromised patients. Cryptococcus grows in many different media, although little attention has been paid to the role of growth conditio ... Full text Link to item Cite

Harnessing the Immune Response to Fungal Pathogens for Vaccine Development.

Journal Article Annu Rev Microbiol · September 8, 2022 Invasive fungal infections are emerging diseases that kill over 1.5 million people per year worldwide. With the increase of immunocompromised populations, the incidence of invasive fungal infections is expected to continue to rise. Vaccines for viral and b ... Full text Link to item Cite

Membrane Integrity Contributes to Resistance of Cryptococcus neoformans to the Cell Wall Inhibitor Caspofungin.

Journal Article mSphere · August 31, 2022 The fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans causes up to 278 000 infections each year globally, resulting in up to 180,000 deaths annually, mostly impacting immunocompromised people. Therapeutic options for C. neoformans infections are very limited. Caspof ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cryptococcus neoformans Cda1 and Cda2 coordinate deacetylation of chitin during infection to control fungal virulence

Journal Article The Cell Surface · December 1, 2021 Chitosan, a deacetylated form of chitin, is required for the virulence of Cryptococcus neoformans. There are three chitin deacetylase genes (CDA) that are essential for chitosan production, and deletion of all three genes results in the absence of chitosan ... Full text Cite

Cryptococcus neoformans Chitin Synthase 3 Plays a Critical Role in Dampening Host Inflammatory Responses.

Journal Article mBio · February 18, 2020 Cryptococcus neoformans infections are significant causes of morbidity and mortality among AIDS patients and the third most common invasive fungal infection in organ transplant recipients. One of the main interfaces between the fungus and the host is the f ... Full text Link to item Cite

Melanin deposition in two Cryptococcus species depends on cell-wall composition and flexibility.

Journal Article J Biol Chem · February 14, 2020 Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii are two species complexes in the large fungal genus Cryptococcus and are responsible for potentially lethal disseminated infections. These two complexes share several phenotypic traits, such as production of ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Aminoalkylindole BML-190 Negatively Regulates Chitosan Synthesis via the Cyclic AMP/Protein Kinase A1 Pathway in Cryptococcus neoformans.

Journal Article mBio · December 17, 2019 Cryptococcus neoformans can cause fatal meningoencephalitis in patients with AIDS or other immunocompromising conditions. Current antifungals are suboptimal to treat this disease; therefore, novel targets and new therapies are needed. Previously, we have s ... Full text Link to item Cite

Chitosan Biosynthesis and Virulence in the Human Fungal Pathogen Cryptococcus gattii.

Journal Article mSphere · October 9, 2019 Cryptococcus gattii R265 is a hypervirulent fungal strain responsible for the recent outbreak of cryptococcosis in Vancouver Island of British Columbia in Canada. It differs significantly from Cryptococcus neoformans in its natural environment, its preferr ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Monothiol Glutaredoxin Grx4 Regulates Iron Homeostasis and Virulence in Cryptococcus neoformans.

Journal Article mBio · December 4, 2018 The acquisition of iron and the maintenance of iron homeostasis are important aspects of virulence for the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans In this study, we characterized the role of the monothiol glutaredoxin Grx4 in iron homeostasis and virulen ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cryptococcus neoformans Cda1 and Its Chitin Deacetylase Activity Are Required for Fungal Pathogenesis.

Journal Article mBio · November 20, 2018 Chitin is an essential component of the cell wall of Cryptococcus neoformans conferring structural rigidity and integrity under diverse environmental conditions. Chitin deacetylase genes encode the enyzmes (chitin deacetylases [Cdas]) that deacetylate chit ... Full text Link to item Cite

Vaccination with Recombinant Cryptococcus Proteins in Glucan Particles Protects Mice against Cryptococcosis in a Manner Dependent upon Mouse Strain and Cryptococcal Species.

Journal Article mBio · November 28, 2017 Development of a vaccine to protect against cryptococcosis is a priority given the enormous global burden of disease in at-risk individuals. Using glucan particles (GPs) as a delivery system, we previously demonstrated that mice vaccinated with crude Crypt ... Full text Link to item Cite

A fluorogenic C. neoformans reporter strain with a robust expression of m-cherry expressed from a safe haven site in the genome.

Journal Article Fungal Genet Biol · November 2017 C. neoformans is an encapsulated fungal pathogen with defined asexual and sexual life cycles. Due to the availability of genetic and molecular tools for its manipulation, it has become a model organism for studies of fungal pathogens, even though it lacks ... Full text Link to item Cite

Intracellular Action of a Secreted Peptide Required for Fungal Virulence.

Journal Article Cell Host Microbe · June 8, 2016 Quorum sensing (QS) is a bacterial communication mechanism in which secreted signaling molecules impact population function and gene expression. QS-like phenomena have been reported in eukaryotes with largely unknown contributing molecules, functions, and ... Full text Link to item Cite

Induction of Protective Immunity to Cryptococcal Infection in Mice by a Heat-Killed, Chitosan-Deficient Strain of Cryptococcus neoformans.

Journal Article mBio · May 10, 2016 UNLABELLED: Cryptococcus neoformans is a major opportunistic fungal pathogen that causes fatal meningoencephalitis in immunocompromised individuals and is responsible for a large proportion of AIDS-related deaths. The fungal cell wall is an essential organ ... Full text Link to item Cite

Protection against Experimental Cryptococcosis following Vaccination with Glucan Particles Containing Cryptococcus Alkaline Extracts.

Journal Article mBio · December 22, 2015 UNLABELLED: A vaccine capable of protecting at-risk persons against infections due to Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii could reduce the substantial global burden of human cryptococcosis. Vaccine development has been hampered though, by lack ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cross talk between the cell wall integrity and cyclic AMP/protein kinase A pathways in Cryptococcus neoformans.

Journal Article mBio · August 12, 2014 UNLABELLED: Cryptococcus neoformans is a fungal pathogen of immunocompromised people that causes fatal meningitis. The fungal cell wall is essential to viability and pathogenesis of C. neoformans, and biosynthesis and repair of the wall is primarily contro ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cryptococcus at work: gene expression during human infection.

Journal Article mBio · April 22, 2014 Meningitis is a frequent manifestation of infection due to Cryptococcus neoformans and a major cause of increased morbidity in patients with AIDS. Numerous in vitro gene expression and genetic studies of the fungus have predicted a myriad of genes, pathway ... Full text Link to item Cite

Analysis of the genome and transcriptome of Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii reveals complex RNA expression and microevolution leading to virulence attenuation.

Journal Article PLoS Genet · April 2014 Cryptococcus neoformans is a pathogenic basidiomycetous yeast responsible for more than 600,000 deaths each year. It occurs as two serotypes (A and D) representing two varieties (i.e. grubii and neoformans, respectively). Here, we sequenced the genome and ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Sulphiredoxin plays peroxiredoxin-dependent and -independent roles via the HOG signalling pathway in Cryptococcus neoformans and contributes to fungal virulence.

Journal Article Mol Microbiol · November 2013 Mechanisms of oxidative stress resistance are crucial virulence factors for survival and proliferation of fungal pathogens within the human host. In this study we have identified and functionally characterized the role of sulphiredoxin, Srx1, in oxidative ... Full text Link to item Cite

Global transcriptome profile of Cryptococcus neoformans during exposure to hydrogen peroxide induced oxidative stress.

Journal Article PLoS One · 2013 The ability of the opportunistic fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans to resist oxidative stress is one of its most important virulence related traits. To cope with the deleterious effect of cellular damage caused by the oxidative burst inside the macro ... Full text Link to item Cite

Role of Cryptococcus neoformans Rho1 GTPases in the PKC1 signaling pathway in response to thermal stress.

Journal Article Eukaryot Cell · January 2013 To initiate and establish infection in mammals, the opportunistic fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans must survive and thrive upon subjection to host temperature. Primary maintenance of cell integrity is controlled through the protein kinase C1 (PKC1) ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cryptococcus neoformans phosphoinositide-dependent kinase 1 (PDK1) ortholog is required for stress tolerance and survival in murine phagocytes.

Journal Article Eukaryot Cell · January 2013 Cryptococcus neoformans PKH2-01 and PKH2-02 are orthologous to mammalian PDK1 kinase genes. Although orthologs of these kinases have been extensively studied in S. cerevisiae, little is known about their function in pathogenic fungi. In this study, we show ... Full text Link to item Cite

Multiple gene deletion in Cryptococcus neoformans using the Cre-lox system.

Chapter · 2012 Reverse genetics is commonly used to identify and characterize genes involved in a variety of cellular processes. There is a limited set of positive selectable markers available for use in making gene deletions or other genetic manipulations in Cryptococcu ... Full text Link to item Cite

Galactose-Inducible promoters in Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii.

Chapter · 2012 Inducible promoters are invaluable tools for modulating gene expression (turning transcription on or off) and have been a key approach for ascertaining gene essentiality in Cryptococcus neoformans. Galactose-inducible promoters have been successfully used ... Full text Link to item Cite

A glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor is required for membrane localization but dispensable for cell wall association of chitin deacetylase 2 in Cryptococcus neoformans.

Journal Article mBio · 2012 UNLABELLED: Cell wall proteins (CWPs) mediate important cellular processes in fungi, including adhesion, invasion, biofilm formation, and flocculation. The current model of fungal cell wall organization includes a major class of CWPs covalently bound to β- ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cell wall chitosan is necessary for virulence in the opportunistic pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans.

Journal Article Eukaryot Cell · September 2011 Cryptococcus neoformans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that causes meningoencephalitis. Its cell wall is composed of glucans, proteins, chitin, and chitosan. Multiple genetic approaches have defined a chitosan-deficient syndrome that includes slow gro ... Full text Link to item Cite

Isocitrate dehydrogenase is important for nitrosative stress resistance in Cryptococcus neoformans, but oxidative stress resistance is not dependent on glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase.

Journal Article Eukaryot Cell · June 2010 The opportunistic intracellular fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans depends on many antioxidant and denitrosylating proteins and pathways for virulence in the immunocompromised host. These include the glutathione and thioredoxin pathways, thiol peroxid ... Full text Link to item Cite

KRE genes are required for beta-1,6-glucan synthesis, maintenance of capsule architecture and cell wall protein anchoring in Cryptococcus neoformans.

Journal Article Mol Microbiol · April 2010 The polysaccharide beta-1,6-glucan is a major component of the cell wall of Cryptococcus neoformans, but its function has not been investigated in this fungal pathogen. We have identified and characterized seven genes, belonging to the KRE family, which ar ... Full text Link to item Cite

Going green in Cryptococcus neoformans: the recycling of a selectable drug marker.

Journal Article Fungal Genet Biol · March 2010 Cryptococcus neoformans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that primarily affects immunocompromised individuals. Reverse genetics is commonly used to identify and characterize genes involved in a variety of cellular processes. In C. neoformans there is a ... Full text Link to item Cite

Chitinases are essential for sexual development but not vegetative growth in Cryptococcus neoformans.

Journal Article Eukaryot Cell · November 2009 Cryptococcus neoformans is an opportunistic pathogen that mainly infects immunocompromised individuals. The fungal cell wall of C. neoformans is an excellent target for antifungal therapies since it is an essential organelle that provides cell structure an ... Full text Link to item Cite

Surfactant protein D increases phagocytosis of hypocapsular Cryptococcus neoformans by murine macrophages and enhances fungal survival.

Journal Article Infect Immun · July 2009 Cryptococcus neoformans is a facultative intracellular opportunistic pathogen and the leading cause of fungal meningitis in humans. In the absence of a protective cellular immune response, the inhalation of C. neoformans cells or spores results in pulmonar ... Full text Link to item Cite

Three galactose inducible promoters for use in C. neoformans var. grubii.

Journal Article Fungal Genet Biol · January 2009 Cryptococcus neoformans is the causative agent of cryptococcal meningoencephalitis, most frequently occurring in immunocompromised individuals. There are three varieties of C. neoformans, var. grubii, var. neoformans, and var. gatti. Worldwide var. grubii ... Full text Link to item Cite

PKC1 is essential for protection against both oxidative and nitrosative stresses, cell integrity, and normal manifestation of virulence factors in the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans.

Journal Article Eukaryot Cell · October 2008 Cell wall integrity is crucial for fungal growth, survival, and pathogenesis. Responses to environmental stresses are mediated by the highly conserved Pkc1 protein and its downstream components. In this study, we demonstrate that both oxidative and nitrosa ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cryptococcus neoformans, a fungus under stress.

Journal Article Curr Opin Microbiol · August 2007 Cryptococcus neoformans is a human fungal pathogen that survives exposure to stresses during growth in the human host, including oxidative and nitrosative stress, high temperature, hypoxia, and nutrient deprivation. There have been many genes implicated in ... Full text Link to item Cite

Chitosan, the deacetylated form of chitin, is necessary for cell wall integrity in Cryptococcus neoformans.

Journal Article Eukaryot Cell · May 2007 Cryptococcus neoformans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that causes cryptococcal meningoencephalitis, particularly in immunocompromised patients. The fungal cell wall is an excellent target for antifungal therapies as it is an essential organelle that ... Full text Link to item Cite

Improvements to gene deletion in the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans: absence of Ku proteins increases homologous recombination, and co-transformation of independent DNA molecules allows rapid complementation of deletion phenotypes.

Journal Article Fungal Genet Biol · August 2006 Cryptococcus neoformans is a pathogenic fungus that is relatively amenable to molecular genetic analysis, including gene deletion. However, rates of homologous recombination can be low, so obtaining specific gene deletion transformants is challenging. We h ... Full text Link to item Cite

Posttranslational, translational, and transcriptional responses to nitric oxide stress in Cryptococcus neoformans: implications for virulence.

Journal Article Eukaryot Cell · March 2006 The ability of the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans to evade the mammalian innate immune response and cause disease is partially due to its ability to respond to and survive nitrosative stress. In this study, we use proteomic and genomic approaches ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cryptococcus neoformans gene involved in mammalian pathogenesis identified by a Caenorhabditis elegans progeny-based approach.

Journal Article Infect Immun · December 2005 Caenorhabditis elegans can serve as a substitute host for the study of microbial pathogenesis. We found that mutations in genes of the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans involved in mammalian virulence allow C. elegans to produce greater numbers of pr ... Full text Link to item Cite

A chitin synthase and its regulator protein are critical for chitosan production and growth of the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans.

Journal Article Eukaryot Cell · November 2005 Chitin is an essential component of the cell wall of many fungi. Chitin also can be enzymatically deacetylated to chitosan, a more flexible and soluble polymer. Cryptococcus neoformans is a fungal pathogen that causes cryptococcal meningoencephalitis, part ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cell wall integrity is dependent on the PKC1 signal transduction pathway in Cryptococcus neoformans.

Journal Article Mol Microbiol · October 2005 Cell wall biogenesis and integrity are crucial for fungal growth, pathogenesis and survival, and are attractive targets for antifungal therapy. In this study, we identify, delete and analyse mutant strains for 10 genes involved in the PKC1 signal transduct ... Full text Link to item Cite

Two glutathione peroxidases in the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans are expressed in the presence of specific substrates.

Journal Article Microbiology (Reading) · August 2005 Glutathione peroxidases catalyse the reduction of peroxides by reduced glutathione. To determine if these enzymes are important for resistance to oxidative stress and evasion of the innate immune system by the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans, two g ... Full text Link to item Cite

Function of the thioredoxin proteins in Cryptococcus neoformans during stress or virulence and regulation by putative transcriptional modulators.

Journal Article Mol Microbiol · August 2005 The thioredoxin system, consisting of thioredoxin, thioredoxin reductase and NADPH, is known to protect cells against oxidative stress. This disulphide reducing system is present in Cryptococcus neoformans and consists of two small, dithiol thioredoxin pro ... Full text Link to item Cite

The genome of the basidiomycetous yeast and human pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans.

Journal Article Science · February 25, 2005 Cryptococcus neoformans is a basidiomycetous yeast ubiquitous in the environment, a model for fungal pathogenesis, and an opportunistic human pathogen of global importance. We have sequenced its approximately 20-megabase genome, which contains approximatel ... Full text Link to item Cite

Thioredoxin reductase is essential for viability in the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans.

Journal Article Eukaryot Cell · February 2005 Thioredoxin reductase (TRR1) is an important component of the thioredoxin oxidative stress resistance pathway. Here we show that it is induced during oxidative and nitrosative stress and is preferentially localized to the mitochondria in Cryptococcus neofo ... Full text Link to item Cite

Distinct stress responses of two functional laccases in Cryptococcus neoformans are revealed in the absence of the thiol-specific antioxidant Tsa1.

Journal Article Eukaryot Cell · January 2005 Laccases are thought to be important to the virulence of many fungal pathogens by producing melanin, a presumed oxygen radical scavenger. A laccase in Cryptococcus neoformans has been shown to synthesize melanin and contributes to the virulence and the sur ... Full text Link to item Cite

Gene prediction and verification in a compact genome with numerous small introns.

Journal Article Genome Res · November 2004 The genomes of clusters of related eukaryotes are now being sequenced at an increasing rate, creating a need for accurate, low-cost annotation of exon-intron structures. In this paper, we demonstrate that reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT ... Full text Link to item Cite

Thiol peroxidase is critical for virulence and resistance to nitric oxide and peroxide in the fungal pathogen, Cryptococcus neoformans.

Journal Article Mol Microbiol · March 2004 Cryptococcus neoformans is a fungal pathogen most commonly causing meningitis in immunocompromised patients. Current therapies are inadequate, and novel antifungal targets are needed. We have identified by proteomics two thiol peroxidases that are differen ... Full text Link to item Cite

Sequence length required for homologous recombination in Cryptococcus neoformans.

Journal Article Fungal Genet Biol · February 2003 Cryptococcosis is a major threat to immunocompromised individuals. Isolates of Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii and var. neoformans are responsible for most of the infections in the United States and Europe. In depth analysis of the virulence phenotype ... Full text Link to item Cite

Identification of virulence mutants of the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans using signature-tagged mutagenesis.

Journal Article Genetics · March 2001 Cryptococcus neoformans var. neoformans is an important opportunistic fungal pathogen of patients whose immune system has been compromised due to viral infection, antineoplastic chemotherapy, or tissue transplantation. As many as 13% of all AIDS patients s ... Full text Link to item Cite

Development of positive selectable markers for the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans.

Journal Article Clin Diagn Lab Immunol · January 2000 Cryptococcus neoformans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that causes meningitis in approximately 10% of patients with AIDS. New selectable markers which confer resistance to G418 or phleomycin when transformed into C. neoformans were made. A hygromycin- ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Cryptococcus neoformans genome sequencing project.

Journal Article Mycopathologia · 1999 Cryptococcus neoformans is a basidiomycete that can cause life-threatening meningoencephalitis in patients with and without impaired immune function. Cryptococcosis is usually an opportunistic infection in patients with compromised immunity as a consequenc ... Full text Link to item Cite

Genetic and biochemical studies establish that the fungicidal effect of a fully depeptidized inhibitor of Cryptococcus neoformans myristoyl-CoA:protein N-myristoyltransferase (Nmt) is Nmt-dependent.

Journal Article J Biol Chem · May 15, 1998 Cryptococcus neoformans is a fungal pathogen that causes chronic meningitis in 10% of patients with AIDS. Genetic and biochemical studies were conducted to determine whether myristoyl-CoA:protein N-myristoyltransferase (Nmt) is a target for development of ... Full text Link to item Cite

Novel biologically active nonpeptidic inhibitors of myristoylCoA:protein N-myristoyltransferase.

Journal Article J Med Chem · March 12, 1998 A new class of biologically active nonpeptidic inhibitors of Candida albicans NMT has been synthesized starting from the octapeptide ALYASKLS-NH2 (2). The synthetic strategy entailed the preparation of novel protected Ser-Lys mimics 9 and 12 from (S)- or ( ... Full text Link to item Cite

Transgenic plants expressing potato virus X ORF2 protein (p24) are resistant to tobacco mosaic virus and Ob tobamoviruses.

Journal Article J Virol · January 1998 The p24 protein, one of the three proteins implicated in local movement of potato virus X (PVX), was expressed in transgenic tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum Xanthi D8 NN). Plants with the highest level of p24 accumulation exhibited a stunted and slightly ... Full text Link to item Cite

Design and synthesis of novel imidazole-substituted dipeptide amides as potent and selective inhibitors of Candida albicans myristoylCoA:protein N-myristoyltransferase and identification of related tripeptide inhibitors with mechanism-based antifungal activity.

Journal Article J Med Chem · August 1, 1997 A new class of antifungal agents has been discovered which exert their activity by blockade of myristoylCoA: protein N-myristoyltransferase (NMT; EC 2.1.3.97). Genetic experiments have established that NMT is needed to maintain the viability of Candida alb ... Full text Link to item Cite

N-myristoylation of Arf proteins in Candida albicans: an in vivo assay for evaluating antifungal inhibitors of myristoyl-CoA: protein N-myristoyltransferase.

Journal Article Microbiology (Reading) · February 1997 Myristoyl-CoA: protein N-myristoyltransferase (Nmt) catalyses the covalent attachment of myristate to the N-terminal glycine of a small subset of cellular proteins produced during vegetative growth of Candida albicans. nmt447D is a mutant NMT allele encodi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Targeted gene replacement demonstrates that myristoyl-CoA: protein N-myristoyltransferase is essential for viability of Cryptococcus neoformans.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · December 6, 1994 Cryptococcus neoformans is a major cause of systemic fungal infection in immunocompromised patients. Myristoyl-CoA:protein N-myristoyltransferase (Nmt) catalyzes the transfer of myristate (C14:0) from myristoyl-CoA to the N-terminal glycine of a subset of ... Full text Link to item Cite

Comparison of myristoyl-CoA:protein N-myristoyltransferases from three pathogenic fungi: Cryptococcus neoformans, Histoplasma capsulatum, and Candida albicans.

Journal Article J Biol Chem · January 28, 1994 Myristoyl-CoA:protein N-myristoyltransferase (Nmt) transfers myristate from CoA to the N-terminal Gly residue of cellular proteins in an ordered reaction mechanism that first involves binding of myristoyl-CoA to the apoenzyme. The gene encoding Saccharomyc ... Link to item Cite

Broad-spectrum virus resistance in transgenic plants expressing pokeweed antiviral protein.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · August 1, 1993 Exogenous application of pokeweed antiviral protein (PAP), a ribosome-inhibiting protein found in the cell walls of Phytolacca americana (pokeweed), protects heterologous plants from viral infection. A cDNA clone for PAP was isolated and introduced into to ... Full text Link to item Cite

4-oxatetradecanoic acid is fungicidal for Cryptococcus neoformans and inhibits replication of human immunodeficiency virus I.

Journal Article J Biol Chem · August 25, 1992 Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans are major causes of systemic fungal infections, particularly in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Metabolic labeling studies revealed that these organisms synthesize a small number of N-myristoyl ... Link to item Cite

Tn5 insertion specificity is not influenced by IS50 end sequences in target DNA.

Journal Article Mol Gen Genet · August 1991 The bacterial transposon Tn5 inserts into dozens of sites in a gene, some of which are used preferentially (hotspots). Features of certain sites and precedents provided by several other transposons had suggested that sequences in target DNA corresponding t ... Full text Link to item Cite

The second amino acid of alfalfa mosaic virus coat protein is critical for coat protein-mediated protection.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · March 15, 1991 Transgenic plants expressing the coat protein (CP) of alfalfa mosaic virus (AIMV) are resistant to infection by AIMV. A mutation was introduced into the second amino acid of the cDNA for the CP of AIMV. Three different transgenic tobacco lines expressing t ... Full text Link to item Cite

Mutations that affect Tn5 insertion into pBR322: importance of local DNA supercoiling.

Journal Article J Bacteriol · October 1990 The major hot spot of transposon Tn5 insertion in plasmid pBR322 (hot spot I) is in the promoter for the tetracycline resistance gene (tet). We made a series of pBR322 derivatives with mutations in and around this promoter and assayed their effects on inse ... Full text Link to item Cite

Formation of supercoiling domains in plasmid pBR322.

Journal Article J Bacteriol · April 1989 Twin domains of positive and negative supercoiling are thought to form in DNA molecules whenever free rotation of a transcription complex around the DNA helix is impeded. Evidence for these domains has come from findings with Escherichia coli strains that ... Full text Link to item Cite

Transposon Tn5 target specificity: preference for insertion at G/C pairs.

Journal Article Genetics · November 1988 The procaryotic transposon Tn5 inserts into many different sites within a single gene, but some sites (hotspots) are targeted repeatedly. Hotspots are not closely related in sequence, but most have G/C pairs at the ends of the nine base pairs duplicated by ... Full text Link to item Cite

Expression of polyoma early gene products in E. coli.

Journal Article Nucleic Acids Res · January 25, 1985 The three products of the early region of polyoma virus have been cloned for expression in E. coli using the Tac promoter. Although the identical promoter and ribosome binding site are used in each final construction, the observed level of protein expressi ... Full text Link to item Cite