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Infectious Diseases and Developmental Biology: COVID-19 and Beyond
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Infectious Diseases and Developmental Biology: COVID-19 and Beyond

A special issue of Journal of Developmental Biology (ISSN 2221-3759).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 September 2022) | Viewed by 21996

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Rwik Sen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Active Motif, Inc., Carlsbad, CA 92008, USA
Interests: epigenetics; transcription; histone modifications; DNA repair; vertebrate developmental biology; bioinformatics
Dr. Carmen Ledesma-Feliciano

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Scientific Affairs Manager, PharmaJet, 400 Corporate Circle, Unit N, Golden, CO 80401, USA
Interests: veterinary medicine; virology (including SARS-CoV-2); immunology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Navneet Dogra

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Urology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
Interests: genetics and genomics; drug discovery; SARS-CoV-2 genomics; bioengineering

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Development is governed by multifactorial regulation much of which is yet to be fully understood. One crucial factor with detrimental effects on development is infection. On the basis of the nature of infectious disease, a wide spectrum of phenotypes is seen in the development of the individual or their progeny. However, the mechanisms by which infection disrupts development are not well defined. To this end, a concerted effort encompassing basic science, translational and clinical research, drug discovery, and bioinformatics analyses of large omics datasets is required. Human, animal, and microbial studies that include the generation and analysis of transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and epigenomics datasets are required. This will not only help us to understand the intricate nuances connecting infectious diseases with developmental biology, but also uncover new molecules and pathways that can serve as biomarkers and therapeutic targets to ameliorate adverse conditions. This research is particularly relevant in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has an extremely large variation in terms of the detrimental effects in various populations and various stages of development. The research will help understand why individuals with certain developmental defects or impairments in specific developmental pathways have a higher risk of COVID-19 infection.

Development-focused studies on every class infectious disease will help prepare us for future pandemics. Hence, we encourage scientists from diverse backgrounds (basic science, translational and clinical research, systems biology, drug discovery, bioinformatics), working on developmental biology and infectious diseases, as well as convergent disciplines, to contribute original research or comprehensive review articles to this Special Issue.

Dr. Rwik Sen
Dr. Carmen Ledesma-Feliciano
Dr. Navneet Dogra
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Developmental Biology is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Developmental biology
  • Signaling pathway
  • Progenitor/stem cells
  • Infectious disease
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Bioinformatics
  • Clinical trials
  • Drug discovery
  • Vesicle intake
  • Vesicle secretion
  • Exosomal pathways
  • Patient care
  • Gestational stage
  • Immunology
  • Immune response

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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10 pages, 3132 KiB  
Article
Infrequent Placental and Fetal Involvement in SARS-CoV-2 Infection: Pathology Data from a Large Medical Center
by Jeffrey Thomas, Yu Sun and Larisa Debelenko
J. Dev. Biol. 2021, 9(4), 45; https://doi.org/10.3390/jdb9040045 - 16 Oct 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3987
Abstract
In order to determine the frequency of SARS-CoV-2 placental and fetal involvements, we analyzed placentas of 197 women positive for infection at delivery and fetal tissues in cases of pregnancy loss in women positive by SARS-CoV-2 PCR (N = 2) and COVID-19 [...] Read more.
In order to determine the frequency of SARS-CoV-2 placental and fetal involvements, we analyzed placentas of 197 women positive for infection at delivery and fetal tissues in cases of pregnancy loss in women positive by SARS-CoV-2 PCR (N = 2) and COVID-19 serology (N = 4), using in situ hybridization (ISH), immunohistochemistry (IHC) and, in selected cases, RT-PCR of tissue homogenates. The virus was identified in situ, accompanied by intervillositis, in 2 of 197 placentas (1.02%). In three more cases, SARS-CoV-2 was detected by tissue PCR without in situ localization and placental inflammation. There were no maternal mortality or association of placental infection with the clinical severity of COVID-19. All tested neonates born to SARS-CoV-2-positive women (N = 172) were negative for the virus. There were three pregnancy losses among 197 infected women and in two cases available fetal tissues were negative for SARS-CoV-2. In one of four fetal autopsies performed in women with positive COVID-19 serology, the mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) could be inferred based on positive SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid IHC in fetal pulmonary endothelium. Placental involvement by SARS-CoV-2 is rare, but may be underestimated due to its transient nature. MTCT is even rarer, supporting the protective role of placenta in SARS-CoV-2 infection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Infectious Diseases and Developmental Biology: COVID-19 and Beyond)
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15 pages, 5624 KiB  
Article
Molecular Pathology Demonstration of SARS-CoV-2 in Cytotrophoblast from Placental Tissue with Chronic Histiocytic Intervillositis, Trophoblast Necrosis and COVID-19
by David A. Schwartz, Mattia Bugatti, Amerigo Santoro and Fabio Facchetti
J. Dev. Biol. 2021, 9(3), 33; https://doi.org/10.3390/jdb9030033 - 25 Aug 2021
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 5304
Abstract
A subset of placentas from pregnant women having the SARS-CoV-2 infection have been found to be infected with the coronavirus using molecular pathology methods including immunohistochemistry and RNA in situ hybridization. These infected placentas can demonstrate several unusual findings which occur together—chronic histiocytic [...] Read more.
A subset of placentas from pregnant women having the SARS-CoV-2 infection have been found to be infected with the coronavirus using molecular pathology methods including immunohistochemistry and RNA in situ hybridization. These infected placentas can demonstrate several unusual findings which occur together—chronic histiocytic intervillositis, trophoblast necrosis and positive staining of the syncytiotrophoblast for SARS-CoV-2. They frequently also have increased fibrin deposition, which can be massive in some cases. Syncytiotrophoblast is the most frequent fetal-derived cell type to be positive for SARS-CoV-2. It has recently been shown that in a small number of infected placentas, villous stromal macrophages, termed Hofbauer cells, and villous capillary endothelial cells can also stain positive for SARS-CoV-2. This report describes a placenta from a pregnant woman with SARS-CoV-2 that had chronic histiocytic intervillositis, trophoblast necrosis, increased fibrin deposition and positive staining of the syncytiotrophoblast for SARS-CoV-2. In addition, molecular pathology testing including RNAscope and immunohistochemistry for SARS-CoV-2 and double-staining immunohistochemistry using antibodies to E-cadherin and GATA3 revealed that cytotrophoblast cells stained intensely for SARS-CoV-2. All of the cytotrophoblast cells that demonstrated positive staining for SARS-CoV-2 were in direct physical contact with overlying syncytiotrophoblast that also stained positive for the virus. The pattern of cytotrophoblast staining for SARS-CoV-2 was patchy, and there were chorionic villi having diffuse positive staining of the syncytiotrophoblast for SARS-CoV-2, but without staining of cytotrophoblast. This first detailed description of cytotrophoblast involvement by SARS-CoV-2 adds another fetal cell type from infected placentas that demonstrate viral staining. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Infectious Diseases and Developmental Biology: COVID-19 and Beyond)
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Review

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28 pages, 1967 KiB  
Review
The Development of SARS-CoV-2 Variants: The Gene Makes the Disease
by Raquel Perez-Gomez
J. Dev. Biol. 2021, 9(4), 58; https://doi.org/10.3390/jdb9040058 - 15 Dec 2021
Cited by 28 | Viewed by 5743
Abstract
A novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) emerged towards the end of 2019 that caused a severe respiratory disease in humans called COVID-19. It led to a pandemic with a high rate of morbidity and mortality that is ongoing and threatening humankind. Most of the mutations [...] Read more.
A novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) emerged towards the end of 2019 that caused a severe respiratory disease in humans called COVID-19. It led to a pandemic with a high rate of morbidity and mortality that is ongoing and threatening humankind. Most of the mutations occurring in SARS-CoV-2 are synonymous or deleterious, but a few of them produce improved viral functions. The first known mutation associated with higher transmissibility, D614G, was detected in early 2020. Since then, the virus has evolved; new mutations have occurred, and many variants have been described. Depending on the genes affected and the location of the mutations, they could provide altered infectivity, transmissibility, or immune escape. To date, mutations that cause variations in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein have been among the most studied because of the protein’s role in the initial virus–cell contact and because it is the most variable region in the virus genome. Some concerning mutations associated with an impact on viral fitness have been described in the Spike protein, such as D614G, N501Y, E484K, K417N/T, L452R, and P681R, among others. To understand the impact of the infectivity and antigenicity of the virus, the mutation landscape of SARS-CoV-2 has been under constant global scrutiny. The virus variants are defined according to their origin, their genetic profile (some characteristic mutations prevalent in the lineage), and the severity of the disease they produce, which determines the level of concern. If they increase fitness, new variants can outcompete others in the population. The Alpha variant was more transmissible than previous versions and quickly spread globally. The Beta and Gamma variants accumulated mutations that partially escape the immune defenses and affect the effectiveness of vaccines. Nowadays, the Delta variant, identified around March 2021, has spread and displaced the other variants, becoming the most concerning of all lineages that have emerged. The Delta variant has a particular genetic profile, bearing unique mutations, such as T478K in the spike protein and M203R in the nucleocapsid. This review summarizes the current knowledge of the different mutations that have appeared in SARS-CoV-2, mainly on the spike protein. It analyzes their impact on the protein function and, subsequently, on the level of concern of different variants and their importance in the ongoing pandemic. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Infectious Diseases and Developmental Biology: COVID-19 and Beyond)
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19 pages, 1864 KiB  
Review
Developmental Aspects of SARS-CoV-2, Potential Role of Exosomes and Their Impact on the Human Transcriptome
by Navneet Dogra, Carmen Ledesma-Feliciano and Rwik Sen
J. Dev. Biol. 2021, 9(4), 54; https://doi.org/10.3390/jdb9040054 - 29 Nov 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 5312
Abstract
With over 4.8 million deaths within 2 years, time is of the essence in combating COVID-19. The infection now shows devastating impacts on the younger population, who were not previously predicted to be vulnerable, such as in the older population. COVID-19-related complications have [...] Read more.
With over 4.8 million deaths within 2 years, time is of the essence in combating COVID-19. The infection now shows devastating impacts on the younger population, who were not previously predicted to be vulnerable, such as in the older population. COVID-19-related complications have been reported in neonates whose mothers were infected with SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy, and in children who get infected. Hence, a deeper understanding of the pathophysiology of COVID-19 during various developmental stages and placental transmission is essential. Although a connection has not yet been established between exosomal trafficking and the placental transmission of COVID-19, reports indicate that SARS-CoV-2 components may be trafficked between cells through exosomes. As the infection spreads, the transcriptome of cells is drastically perturbed, e.g., through the severe upregulation of several immune-related genes. Consequently, a major outcome of COVID-19 is an elevated immune response and the detection of viral RNA transcripts in host tissue. In this direction, this review focuses on SARS-CoV-2 virology, its in utero transmission from infected pregnant mothers to fetuses, SARS-CoV-2 and exosomal cellular trafficking, transcriptomic impacts, and RNA-mediated therapeutics against COVID-19. Future research will establish stronger connections between the above processes to develop diagnostic and therapeutic solutions towards COVID-19 and similar viral outbreaks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Infectious Diseases and Developmental Biology: COVID-19 and Beyond)
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