Jason Hunt

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that F. tularensis produces an O-antigen capsule that may be the basis of a future vaccine and mass spectrometry, compositional analysis and NMR indicate that the capsule is composed of a polymer of the tetrasaccharide repeat.

TL;DR: Microscopic and quantitative analyses of macrophages infected with mutant bacteria revealed that these macrophage exhibited signs of cell death much earlier than those infected with Schu S4, suggesting that FTT1236, F TT1237, and FTT 1238 are important for polysaccharide biosynthesis and that the Francisella O antigen, capsule, or both are importantfor avoiding the early induction of macphage death and the destruction of the replicative niche.

TL;DR: The studies suggest that the phase-on genotypes of licA and igaB are important for early human nasopharynx colonization, and lex2A showed a trend from phase off to phase on, suggesting a potentially important role in the colonization process.

TL;DR: Overall, biofilm formation appears to be an adaptation for coping with the environmental stresses present in the female genitourinary tract.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors showed that F. tularensis FTT0232c encodes a functional late acyltransferase with specificity similar to that of the Escherichia coli LpxL ortholog.