The impact of episporic modification of Lichtheimia corymbifera on virulence and interaction with phagocytes.

Fungal infections caused by the ancient lineage Mucorales are emerging and increasingly reported in humans. Comprehensive surveys on promising attributes from a multitude of possible virulence factors are limited and so far, focused on Mucor and Rhizopus. This study addresses a systematic approach to monitor phagocytosis after physical and enzymatic modification of the outer spore wall of Lichtheimia corymbifera, one of the major causative agents of mucormycosis. Episporic modifications were performed and their consequences on phagocytosis, intracellular survival and virulence by murine alveolar macrophages and in an invertebrate infection model were elucidated. While depletion of lipids did not affect the phagocytosis of both strains, delipidation led to attenuation of LCA strain but appears to be dispensable for infection with LCV strain in the settings used in this study. Combined glucano-proteolytic treatment was necessary to achieve a significant decrease of virulence of the LCV strain in Galleria mellonella during maintenance of the full potential for spore germination as shown by a novel automated germination assay. Proteolytic and glucanolytic treatments largely increased phagocytosis compared to alive resting and swollen spores. Whilst resting spores barely (1-2%) fuse to lysosomes after invagination in to phagosomes, spore trypsinization led to a 10-fold increase of phagolysosomal fusion as measured by intracellular acidification. This is the first report of a polyphasic measurement of the consequences of episporic modification of a mucormycotic pathogen in spore germination, spore surface ultrastructure, phagocytosis, stimulation of Toll-like receptors (TLRs), phagolysosomal fusion and intracellular acidification, apoptosis, generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and virulence.

Imidazopyridines as Potent KDM5 Demethylase Inhibitors Promoting Reprogramming Efficiency of Human iPSCs.

Pioneering human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-based pre-clinical studies have raised safety concerns and pinpointed the need for safer and more efficient approaches to generate and maintain patient-specific iPSCs. One approach is searching for compounds that influence pluripotent stem cell reprogramming using functional screens of known drugs. Our high-throughput screening of drug-like hits showed that imidazopyridines-analogs of zolpidem, a sedative-hypnotic drug-are able to improve reprogramming efficiency and facilitate reprogramming of resistant human primary fibroblasts. The lead compound (O4I3) showed a remarkable OCT4 induction, which at least in part is due to the inhibition of H3K4 demethylase (KDM5, also known as JARID1). Experiments demonstrated that KDM5A, but not its homolog KDM5B, serves as a reprogramming barrier by interfering with the enrichment of H3K4Me3 at the OCT4 promoter. Thus our results introduce a new class of KDM5 chemical inhibitors and provide further insight into the pluripotency-related properties of KDM5 family members.