Editor’s Selections: Gut bacteria and diabetes, tracking the plague with bioluminescence, and benign Baylisascariasis
April 20th, 2012 Editor's Selections 15 CommentsVincent Racaniello selects several notable posts each week from molecular and cellular biology and virology. He unravels viruses at virology blog.
- Mice lacking the gene encoding the innate immune sensor TLR2 exhibit insulin-resistance. The cause is an altered gut microbiome, which allows LPS to enter the blood and trigger inflammation.
- Yersinia pestis was made luminescent by insertion of lux gene and used to track the spread of infection in mice. The approach provides a continuous picture of how infection moves from injection site to target organs.
- A case of Baylisascariasis in a 73-year-old woman challenges the idea that this infection only targets infants and toddlers. It also emphasizes the importance of autopsies in understanding disease.
I’ll be back next Friday with more selections.