Tuberculosis remains one of the deadliest diseases. Emergence of drug-resistant and multidrug-resistant M. tuberculosis strains makes treating tuberculosis increasingly challenging. In order to develop novel intervention strategies, detailed understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind the success of this pathogen is required. Here, we review recent literature to provide a systems level overview of the molecular and cellular components involved in divalent metal homeostasis and their role in regulating the three main virulence strategies of M. tuberculosis: immune modulation, dormancy and phagosomal rupture. We provide a visual and modular overview of these components and their regulation. Our analysis identified a single regulatory cascade for these three virulence strategies that respond to limited availability of divalent metals in the phagosome.
Background
Staphylococcus and Streptococcus species can cause many different diseases, ranging from mild skin infections to life-threatening necrotizing fasciitis. Both genera consist of commensal species that colonize the skin and nose of humans and animals, and of which some can display a pathogenic phenotype.
Results
We compared 235 Staphylococcus and 315 Streptococcus genomes based on their protein domain content. We show the relationships between protein persistence and essentiality by integrating essentiality predictions from two metabolic models and essentiality measurements from six large-scale transposon mutagenesis experiments. We identified clusters of strains within species based on proteins associated to similar biological processes. We built Random Forest classifiers that predicted the zoonotic potential. Furthermore, we identified shared attributes between of Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes that allow them to cause necrotizing fasciitis.
Conclusions
Differences observed in clustering of strains based on functional groups of proteins correlate with phenotypes such as host tropism, capability to infect multiple hosts and drug resistance. Our method provides a solid basis towards large-scale prediction of phenotypes based on genomic information.
The disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have forced many companies in the logistics sector to innovate, or even transform their business and underlying processes. Closing borders, limited supply and manpower, and continuous changes in regulations challenged many logistics firms to innovate. This study analyzes 5098 abstracts of logistics articles using text mining to identify and to quantify the changes in logistics trends and innovations before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and if these trends and innovations were accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Results indicate that (1) resiliency is an ongoing trend in logistics and has shown increasing importance during the COVID-19 pandemic; (2) there appears to be acceleration in digitalization trend in logistics based on emerging focus on blockchain, Internet of Things, data, drones, robots, and unmanned vehicles during COVID-19 pandemic, and (3) there seems to be no evidence of acceleration in sustainability due to COVID-19 despite an observed shift in sustainability trends in terms of bioenergy and biofuel before COVID-19 pandemic to low-carbon, hydrogen and electric vehicles during COVID-19 pandemic. This paper recommends logistics firms, especially Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), to analyze their readiness to adopt digitalization in terms of data, resources, and technology via, e.g., the use of a maturity scan, to contribute to sustainable and resilient logistics and to make sure that they remain competitive and future-proof. Policy makers can provide support to these SMEs by providing information, funding, and template solutions.
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