Donna Huber, Author at Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases

A Target Site Mutation Associated With Diamide Insecticide Resistance in the Diamondback Moth Plutella xylostella (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae) is Widespread in South Georgia and Florida Populations

Donna Huber on November 26, 2021

Laboratory colonies of diamondback moth (DBM) larvae were established from larvae collected from four sites in Georgia and Florida where diamide, specifically chlorantraniliprole, insecticide resistance was recently documented. Based on dose-response experiments, these colonies exhibited 109- to 4,298-fold resistance to chlorantraniliprole, compared to a commercially available susceptible control colony. Colonies exhibited 50- to 107-fold resistance …

Identifying bracovirus and ichnovirus genes involved in virion morphogenesis

Donna Huber on November 25, 2021

Bracoviruses (BVs) and ichnoviruses (IVs) evolved from different endogenized viruses but through convergence have been coopted by parasitoids in the families Braconidae and Ichneumonidae for similar functions in parasitizing hosts. Experimentally studying the role of endogenized viral genes in virion morphogenesis remains a key challenge in the study of BVs and IVs. Here we summarize …

Trainee Spotlight: Benjamin Phipps

Donna Huber on November 16, 2021

Benjamin Phipps is an NIH T32 trainee in Michael Strand's laboratory. Originally from Woodland, California, Benjamin earned his bachelor’s degrees in Spanish and biology and a minor in chemistry from the University of North Texas in May 2019. While at UNT, he studied the influence of mixed vehicle emissions on regulation of the renin-angiotensin system with …

Diagnostic Characteristics of Lactate Dehydrogenase on a Multiplex Assay for Malaria Detection Including the Zoonotic Parasite Plasmodium knowlesi

Donna Huber on November 15, 2021

Plasmodium lactate dehydrogenase (pLDH) is a common target in malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs). These commercial antibody capture assays target either Plasmodium falciparum-specific pLDH (PfLDH), P. vivax-specific pLDH (PvLDH), or a conserved epitope in all human malaria pLDH (PanLDH). However, there are no assays specifically targeting P. ovale, P. malariae or zoonotic parasites such as …

Diagnostics to support elimination of lymphatic filariasis-Development of two target product profiles

Donna Huber on November 15, 2021

As lymphatic filariasis (LF) programs move closer to established targets for validation elimination of LF as a public health problem, diagnostic tools capable of supporting the needs of the programs are critical for success. Known limitations of existing diagnostic tools make it challenging to have confidence that program endpoints have been achieved. In 2019, the …

Long-read assembly and comparative evidence-based reanalysis of Cryptosporidium genome sequences reveals expanded transporter repertoire and duplication of entire chromosome ends including subtelomeric regions

Donna Huber on November 11, 2021

Cryptosporidiosis is a leading cause of waterborne diarrheal disease globally and an important contributor to mortality in infants and the immunosuppressed. Despite its importance, the Cryptosporidium community has only had access to a good, but incomplete, Cryptosporidium parvum IOWA reference genome sequence. Incomplete reference sequences hamper annotation, experimental design and interpretation. We have generated a new C. parvum IOWA genome assembly …

Evolutionary genomics of APSE: a tailed phage that lysogenically converts the bacterium Hamiltonella defensa into a heritable protective symbiont of aphids

Donna Huber on November 10, 2021

Background: Most phages infect free-living bacteria but a few have been identified that infect heritable symbionts of insects or other eukaryotes. Heritable symbionts are usually specialized and isolated from other bacteria with little known about the origins of associated phages. Hamiltonella defensa is a heritable bacterial symbiont of aphids that is usually infected by a tailed, …

The transcriptome of Balamuthia mandrillaris trophozoites for structure-guided drug design

Donna Huber on November 4, 2021

Balamuthia mandrillaris, a pathogenic free-living amoeba, causes cutaneous skin lesions as well as granulomatous amoebic encephalitis, a 'brain-eating' disease. As with the other known pathogenic free-living amoebas (Naegleria fowleri and Acanthamoeba species), drug discovery efforts to combat Balamuthia infections of the central nervous system are sparse; few targets have been validated or characterized at the …

The Histidine Ammonia Lyase of Trypanosoma cruzi Is Involved in Acidocalcisome Alkalinization and Is Essential for Survival under Starvation Conditions

Donna Huber on November 2, 2021

Trypanosoma cruzi, the agent of Chagas disease, accumulates polyphosphate (polyP) and Ca2+ inside acidocalcisomes. The alkalinization of this organelle stimulates polyP hydrolysis and Ca2+ release. Here, we report that histidine ammonia lyase (HAL), an enzyme that catalyzes histidine deamination with production of ammonia (NH3) and urocanate, is responsible for acidocalcisome alkalinization. Histidine addition to live parasites expressing …

Expeditious recruitment of circulating memory CD8 T cells to the liver facilitates control of malaria

Donna Huber on November 2, 2021

Circulating memory CD8 T cell trafficking and protective capacity during liver-stage malaria infection remains undefined. We find that effector memory CD8 T cells (Tem) infiltrate the liver within 6 hours after malarial or bacterial infections and mediate pathogen clearance. Tem recruitment coincides with rapid transcriptional upregulation of inflammatory genes in Plasmodium-infected livers. Recruitment requires CD8 …

Author: Donna Huber