Jodi F Hedges

Loading metrics Open Access Peer-reviewed Short Reports Short Reports offer exciting novel biological findings that may trigger new research directions. See Journal Information » Citation: Crowley DE, Falvo CA, Benson E, Hedges J, Jutila M, Ezzatpour S, et al. (2024) Bats generate lower affinity but higher diversity antibody responses than those of mice, but pathogen-binding capacity increases if protein is restricted in their diet. PLoS Biol 22(9): e3002800.

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is increasingly prevalent in individuals in health care settings and in the community. C. difficile is a gram positive, anaerobic bacteria that forms spores resistant to common disinfectants. Upon infection, C. difficile spores germinate, divide and produce damaging toxins resulting in intestinal inflammation. While inflammatory mediators are known to affect disease severity, the role of type I IFN signaling in CDI has not been characterized.

Human and mouse TLR4/MD2 molecules respond differently to specific types of LPS. Their response to normally acylated LPS is similar, but they respond differently to hypoacylated LPS found on specific gram-negative bacteria. The LPS of Coxiella burnetii is hypoacylated, heavily glycosylated and is known to cause a minimal response by human cells. We hypothesized that mice expressing human TLR4/MD2 (hTLR4/MD2) molecules would respond differently to C. burnetii infection compared to wild type mice.