Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play key roles in sensing wide array of microbial signatures and induction of innate immunity. TLR2 in fish resembles higher eukaryotes by sensing peptidoglycan (PGN) and lipoteichoic acid (LTA) of bacterial cell wall and zymosan of yeasts. However, in fish TLR2, no study yet describes the ligand binding motifs in the leucine rich repeat regions (LRRs) of the extracel...

The ability to perform off-road autonomous navigation at any time of day or night is a requirement for some unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) programs. Because there are times when it is desirable for military UGVs to operate without emitting strong, detectable electromagnetic signals, a passive only terrain perception mode of operation is also often a requirement. Thermal infrared (TIR) cameras ca...

Both Plant and Animal Immune Receptors Can Carry a TIR Domain Mammals, in addition to their adaptive immune system based on somatic evolution of antibodies, carry an innate immune system based on both cell surface and intracellular immune receptors (1). In animals ranging from insects tomammals, Toll-like receptors (TLRs), with extracellular leucine-rich repeats (LRRs) and an intracellular Toll...

Ligand binding to Toll-like receptors (TLRs) results in dimerization of their cytosolic Toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) domains and recruitment of post-receptor signal transducers into a complex signalosome. TLR activation leads to the production of transcription factors and pro-inflammatory molecules and the activation of phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3K) in a process that requires the multi...

Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) translocates effector proteins into mammalian cells to promote reorganization of the cytoskeleton into filamentous actin pedestals. One effector, Tir, is a transmembrane receptor for the bacterial surface adhesin intimin, and intimin binding by the extracellular domain of Tir is required for actin assembly. The cytoplasmic NH2 terminus of Tir interacts w...

The Stingray Nebula, a.k.a. Hen3-1357, appeared for the first time in 1990 when bright nebular lines and radio emission that had not been observed before were unexpectedly discovered. In ensuing years, nebula faded precipitously. We report changes shape large decreases its emission-line fluxes based on well-calibrated images obtained by Hubble Space Telescope 1996 2016. Hen3-1357 is now a "reco...

M any pathogenic bacteria modulate the host actin assembly machinery to promote infection and spread. Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157:H7 is a food-borne pathogen that causes severe diarrhea that can be accompanied by hemolytic uremic syndrome with potentially fatal consequences. Pathogenesis of EHEC and a closely-related pathogen, enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), is associated wi...

To establish an intimate interaction with the host epithelial cell surface, enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) produces Tir, a bacterial protein that upon translocation and insertion into the epithelial cell membrane constitutes the receptor for intimin. The tir gene is encoded by the locus for enterocyte effacement (LEE), where it is flanked upstream by orf19 and downstream by the cesT a...