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Many countries are currently in a state of lockdown due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. One key requirement to safely transition out of lockdown is the continuous testing of the population to identify infected subjects. Currently, detection is performed at points of care using quantitative reverse-transcription PCR, thus requiring dedicated professionals and equipment. Here, we developed a protocol based on reverse transcribed loop-mediated isothermal amplification for the detection of SARS-CoV-2. This protocol is applied directly to SARS-CoV-2 nose and throat swabs, with no RNA purification step required. We tested this protocol on over 180 suspected patients, and compared the results to those obtained using the standard method. We further succeeded in applying the protocol to self-collected saliva samples from confirmed cases. Since the proposed protocol can detect SARS-CoV-2 from saliva and provides on-the-spot results, it allows simple and continuous surveillance of the community. Impact statement Humanity is currently experiencing a global pandemic with devastating implications on human health and the economy. Most countries are gradually exiting their lockdown state. We are currently lacking rapid and simple viral detections, especially methods that can be performed in the household. Here, we applied RT-LAMP directly on human clinical swabs and self-collected saliva samples. We adjusted the method to allow simple and rapid viral detection, with no RNA purification steps. By testing our method on over 180 human samples, we determined its sensitivity, and by applying it to other viruses, we determined its specificity. We believe this method has a promising potential to be applied world-wide as a simple and cheap surveillance test for SARS-CoV-2.

Our emerging view of the gut microbiome largely focuses on bacteria, while less is known about other microbial components such as bacteriophages (phages). Though phages are abundant in the gut, very few phages have been isolated from this ecosystem. Here, we report the genomes of 27 phages from the United States and Bangladesh that infect the prevalent human gut bacterium Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron. These phages are mostly distinct from previously sequenced phages with the exception of two, which are crAss-like phages. We compare these isolates to existing human gut metagenomes, revealing similarities to previously inferred phages and additional unexplored phage diversity. Finally, we use host tropisms of these phages to identify alleles of phage structural genes associated with infectivity. This work provides a detailed view of the gut’s “viral dark matter” and a framework for future efforts to further integrate isolation- and sequencing-focused efforts to understand gut-resident phages.

Many countries are currently in a lockdown state due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. One key aspect to transition safely out of lockdown is to continuously test the population for infected subjects. Currently, detection is performed at points of care using quantitative reverse-transcription PCR (RT-qPCR), and requires dedicated professionals and equipment. Here, we developed a protocol based on Reverse Transcribed Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (RT-LAMP) for detection of SARS-CoV-2. This protocol is applied directly on SARS-CoV-2 nose and throat swabs, with no RNA purification step required. We tested this protocol on over 180 suspected patients, and compared its results to the standard method. We further succeeded to apply the protocol on self-sampled saliva from confirmed cases. Since the proposed protocol provides results on-the-spot, and can detect SARS-CoV-2 from saliva, it can allow simple and continuous surveillance of the community.

Increasing evidence indicates that the brain regulates peripheral immunity, yet whether and how the brain represents the state of the immune system remains unclear. Here, we show that the brain's insular cortex (InsCtx) stores immune-related information. Using activity-dependent cell labeling in mice (FosTRAP), we captured neuronal ensembles in the InsCtx that were active under two different inflammatory conditions (dextran sulfate sodium [DSS]-induced colitis and zymosan-induced peritonitis). Chemogenetic reactivation of these neuronal ensembles was sufficient to broadly retrieve the inflammatory state under which these neurons were captured. Thus, we show that the brain can store and retrieve specific immune responses, extending the classical concept of immunological memory to neuronal representations of inflammatory information.

Increasing evidence indicates that the brain regulates peripheral immunity. Yet, it remains unclear whether and how the brain represents the state of the immune system. Here, we show that immune-related information is stored in the brain’s insular cortex (InsCtx). Using activity-dependent cell labeling in mice (FosTRAP), we captured neuronal ensembles in the InsCtx that were active under two different inflammatory conditions (DSS-induced colitis and Zymosan-induced peritonitis). Chemogenetic reactivation of these neuronal ensembles was sufficient to broadly retrieve the inflammatory state under which these neurons were captured. Thus, we show that the brain can encode and initiate specific immune responses, extending the classical concept of immunological memory to neuronal representations of immunity.