Biology & Life Sciences

Bridging Communities: Co- and Polymicrobial Infections

Published March 23, 2017 Curated Collections

Humans are colonized by an array of microbial communities and many diseases are caused by polymicrobial exposures that have exacerbated symptoms when combined with a second pathogen. PLOS Pathogens presents Research Articles that directly tackle how overlapping infections, and the immune responses they stimulate, might interact in novel ways. Selected articles display unique research approaches, a diversity of systems, and have made substantive mechanistic advances. In addition to the scientific importance, research on polymicrobial infections and disease will bridge scientific communities, breaking down walls that preclude free exchange of ideas and expedite discovery of new principles. In a call for submissions, we look forward to the surprising and important insights such efforts will yield.

Image Credit: the3cats, pixabay.com, adapted by PLOS

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Editorial

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the3cats, pixabay.com, adapted by PLOS

PLOS Pathogens Development of Complex Models to Study Co- and Polymicrobial Infections and Diseases
September 8, 2016 Glenn Rall, Laura Knoll

Blog Posts

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Matar et al. (2015)

Speaking of Medicine PLOS Pathogens Continues Bridging Communities through Polymicrobial Research | Speaking of Medicine
March 23, 2017 PLOS Pathogens
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Chen AI, et al. (2014)

Speaking of Medicine PLOS Pathogens Bridges Communities with Polymicrobial Research
September 8, 2016 PLOS Pathogens

Research Articles

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10.1371/journal.ppat.1005572

PLOS Pathogens Influenza Virus Affects Intestinal Microbiota and Secondary Salmonella Infection in the Gut through Type I Interferons
May 5, 2016 Elisa Deriu, Gayle M. Boxx, Xuesong He, Calvin Pan, Sammy David Benavidez, Lujia Cen, Nora Rozengurt, Wenyuan Shi, Genhong Cheng
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10.1371/journal.ppat.1005469

PLOS Pathogens In Vivo Molecular Dissection of the Effects of HIV-1 in Active Tuberculosis
March 17, 2016 Lucy C. K. Bell, Gabriele Pollara, Mellissa Pascoe, Gillian S. Tomlinson, Rannakoe J. Lehloenya, Jennifer Roe, Richard Meldau, Robert F. Miller, Alan Ramsay, Benjamin M. Chain, Keertan Dheda, Mahdad Noursadeghi
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10.1371/journal.ppat.1005129

PLOS Pathogens Candida albicans Inhibits Pseudomonas aeruginosa Virulence through Suppression of Pyochelin and Pyoverdine Biosynthesis
August 27, 2015 Eduardo Lopez-Medina, Di Fan, Laura A. Coughlin, Evi X. Ho, Iain L. Lamont, Cornelia Reimmann, Lora V. Hooper, Andrew Y. Koh
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10.1371/journal.ppat.1004994

PLOS Pathogens IFNγ and IL-12 Restrict Th2 Responses during Helminth/Plasmodium Co-Infection and Promote IFNγ from Th2 Cells
July 6, 2015 Stephanie M. Coomes, Victoria S. Pelly, Yashaswini Kannan, Isobel S. Okoye, Stephanie Czieso, Lewis J. Entwistle, Jimena Perez-Lloret, Nikolay Nikolov, Alexandre J. Potocnik, Judit Biró, Jean Langhorne, Mark S. Wilson
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10.1371/journal.ppat.1004858

PLOS Pathogens Gammaherpesvirus Co-infection with Malaria Suppresses Anti-parasitic Humoral Immunity
May 21, 2015 Caline G. Matar, Neil R. Anthony, Brigid M. O’Flaherty, Nathan T. Jacobs, Lalita Priyamvada, Christian R. Engwerda, Samuel H. Speck, Tracey J. Lamb
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10.1371/journal.ppat.1004616

PLOS Pathogens Chronic Filarial Infection Provides Protection against Bacterial Sepsis by Functionally Reprogramming Macrophages
January 22, 2015 Fabian Gondorf, Afiat Berbudi, Benedikt C. Buerfent, Jesuthas Ajendra, Dominique Bloemker, Sabine Specht, David Schmidt, Anna-Lena Neumann, Laura E. Layland, Achim Hoerauf, Marc P. Hübner
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10.1371/journal.ppat.1004567

PLOS Pathogens HSV-2-Driven Increase in the Expression of α₄β₇ Correlates with Increased Susceptibility to Vaginal SHIV_SF162P3 Infection
December 18, 2014 Diana Goode, Rosaline Truong, Guillermo Villegas, Giulia Calenda, Natalia Guerra-Perez, Michael Piatak, Jeffrey D. Lifson, James Blanchard, Agegnehu Gettie, Melissa Robbiani, Elena Martinelli
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10.1371/journal.ppat.1004480

PLOS Pathogens Candida albicans Ethanol Stimulates Pseudomonas aeruginosa WspR-Controlled Biofilm Formation as Part of a Cyclic Relationship Involving Phenazines
October 23, 2014 Annie I. Chen, Emily F. Dolben, Chinweike Okegbe, Colleen E. Harty, Yuriy Golub, Sandy Thao, Dae Gon Ha, Sven D. Willger, George A. O'Toole, Caroline S. Harwood, Lars E. P. Dietrich, Deborah A. Hogan
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10.1371/journal.ppat.1004262

PLOS Pathogens The Semen Microbiome and Its Relationship with Local Immunology and Viral Load in HIV Infection
July 24, 2014 Cindy M. Liu, Brendan J. W. Osborne, Bruce A. Hungate, Kamnoosh Shahabi, Sanja Huibner, Richard Lester, Michael G. Dwan, Colin Kovacs, Tania L. Contente-Cuomo, Erika Benko, Maliha Aziz, Lance B. Price, Rupert Kaul
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10.1371/journal.ppat.1004170

PLOS Pathogens A Multifactorial Role for P. falciparum Malaria in Endemic Burkitt’s Lymphoma Pathogenesis
May 29, 2014 Charles Torgbor, Peter Awuah, Kirk Deitsch, Parisa Kalantari, Karen A. Duca, David A. Thorley-Lawson
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10.1371/journal.ppat.1003843

PLOS Pathogens Recovery of an Antiviral Antibody Response following Attrition Caused by Unrelated Infection
January 2, 2014 Dorothy H. L. Ng, John J. Skehel, Jean Langhorne, George Kassiotis
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10.1371/journal.ppat.1002815

PLOS Pathogens A New Zebrafish Model of Oro-Intestinal Pathogen Colonization Reveals a Key Role for Adhesion in Protection by Probiotic Bacteria
July 26, 2012 Olaya Rendueles, Lionel Ferrières, Maxence Frétaud, Evelyne Bégaud, Philippe Herbomel, Jean-Pierre Levraud, Jean-Marc Ghigo
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10.1371/journal.ppat.1002735

PLOS Pathogens Synergistic Parasite-Pathogen Interactions Mediated by Host Immunity Can Drive the Collapse of Honeybee Colonies
June 14, 2012 Francesco Nazzi, Sam P. Brown, Desiderato Annoscia, Fabio Del Piccolo, Gennaro Di Prisco, Paola Varricchio, Giorgio Della Vedova, Federica Cattonaro, Emilio Caprio, Francesco Pennacchio
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10.1371/journal.ppat.1002273

PLOS Pathogens Exhausted CD8 T Cells Downregulate the IL-18 Receptor and Become Unresponsive to Inflammatory Cytokines and Bacterial Co-infections
September 29, 2011 Jennifer T. Ingram, John S. Yi, Allan J. Zajac
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10.1371/journal.ppat.1001049

PLOS Pathogens The Synthetic Bacterial Lipopeptide Pam3CSK4 Modulates Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection Independent of TLR Activation
August 19, 2010 D. Tien Nguyen, Lot de Witte, Martin Ludlow, Selma Yüksel, Karl-Heinz Wiesmüller, Teunis B. H. Geijtenbeek, Albert D. M. E. Osterhaus, Rik L. de Swart
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10.1371/journal.ppat.1000184

PLOS Pathogens Discerning the Complexity of Community Interactions Using a Drosophila Model of Polymicrobial Infections
October 24, 2008 Christopher D. Sibley, Kangmin Duan, Carrie Fischer, Michael D. Parkins, Douglas G. Storey, Harvey R. Rabin, Michael G. Surette

Call for Papers

PLOS Pathogens welcomes submissions of research on co- and polymicrobial infection and disease.

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PLOS Pathogens Bridges Communities

Authors of the “Bridging Communities: Co- and Polymicrobial Infections” Collection share the benefits, challenges, & lessons learned from bridging scientific communities

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Interested in Submitting?

Please submit a full manuscript or presubmission inquiry directly to the journal office. There is no deadline for submission. We are looking forward to receiving your work.

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