Moreover, cadmium exposure promoted increased macrophage glycolytic function with enhanced extracellular acidification rate, glycolytic metabolites, and lactate excretion. These observations suggest that cadmium mediates the persistence of classically activated lung macrophages to exacerbate lung injury.Sphingosine has been shown to prevent and eliminate bacterial infections of the respiratory tract, but it is unknown whether sphingosine can be also employed to prevent viral infections. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed whether sphingosine regulates the infection of cultured and freshly isolated ex vivo human epithelial cells with pseudoviral particles expressing SARS-CoV-2 spike (pp-VSV-SARS-CoV-2 spike) that served as a bona fide system mimicking SARS-CoV-2 infection. We demonstrate that exogenously applied sphingosine suspended in 0.9% NaCl prevents cellular infection with pp-SARS-CoV-2 spike. Pretreatment of cultured Vero epithelial cells or freshly isolated human nasal epithelial cells with low concentrations of sphingosine prevented adhesion of and infection with pp-VSV-SARS-CoV-2 spike. Mechanistically, we demonstrate that sphingosine binds to ACE2, the cellular receptor of SARS-CoV-2, and prevents the interaction of the receptor-binding domain of the viral spike protein with ACE2. Etanercept molecular weight These data indicate that sphingosine prevents at least some viral infections by interfering with the interaction of the virus with its receptor. Our data also suggest that further preclinical and finally clinical examination of sphingosine is warranted for potential use as a prophylactic or early treatment for coronavirus disease-19.Precise genetic manipulation of specific cell types or tissues to pinpoint gene function requirement is a critical step in studies aimed at unraveling the intricacies of organismal physiology. Drosophila researchers heavily rely on the UAS/Gal4/Gal80 system for tissue-specific manipulations; however, it is often unclear whether the reported Gal4 expression patterns are indeed specific to the tissue of interest such that experimental results are not confounded by secondary sites of Gal4 expression. Here, we surveyed the expression patterns of commonly used Gal4 drivers in adult Drosophila female tissues under optimal conditions and found that multiple drivers have unreported secondary sites of expression beyond their published cell type/tissue expression pattern. These results underscore the importance of thoroughly characterizing Gal4 tools as part of a rigorous experimental design that avoids potential misinterpretation of results as we strive for understanding how the function of a specific gene/pathway in one tissue contributes to whole-body physiology.The wels catfish (Silurus glanis) is one of the largest freshwater fish species in the world. This top predator plays a key role in ecosystem stability, and represents an iconic trophy-fish for recreational fishermen. S. glanis is also a highly valued species for its high-quality boneless flesh, and has been cultivated for over 100 years in Eastern and Central Europe. The interest in rearing S. glanis continues to grow; the aquaculture production of this species has almost doubled during the last decade. However, despite its high ecological, cultural and economic importance, the available genomic resources for S. glanis are very limited. To fulfill this gap we report a de novo assembly and annotation of the whole genome sequence of a female S. glanis The linked-read based technology with 10X Genomics Chromium chemistry and Supernova assembler produced a highly continuous draft genome of S. glanis ∼0.8Gb assembly (scaffold N50 = 3.2 Mb; longest individual scaffold = 13.9 Mb; BUSCO completeness = 84.2%), which included 313.3 Mb of putative repeated sequences. In total, 21,316 protein-coding genes were predicted, of which 96% were annotated functionally from either sequence homology or protein signature searches. The highly continuous genome assembly will be an invaluable resource for aquaculture genomics, genetics, conservation, and breeding research of S. glanis.There is an urgent need to repurpose drugs against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Recent computational-experimental screenings have identified several existing drugs that could serve as effective inhibitors of the virus' main protease, Mpro, which is involved in gene expression and replication. Among these, ebselen (2-phenyl-1,2-benzoselenazol-3-one) appears to be particularly promising. Here, we examine, at a molecular level, the potential of ebselen to decrease Mpro activity. We find that it exhibits a distinct affinity for the catalytic region. Our results reveal a higher-affinity, previously unknown binding site localized between the II and III domains of the protein. A detailed strain analysis indicates that, on such a site, ebselen exerts a pronounced allosteric effect that regulates catalytic site access through surface-loop interactions, thereby inducing a reconfiguration of water hotspots. Together, these findings highlight the promise of ebselen as a repurposed drug against SARS-CoV-2.Recent reports suggest that 10 to 30% of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS- CoV-2) infected patients are asymptomatic and that viral shedding may occur before symptom onset. Therefore, there is an urgent need to increase diagnostic testing capabilities to prevent disease spread. We developed P-BEST, a method for Pooling-Based Efficient SARS-CoV-2 Testing, which identifies all positive subjects within a set of samples using a single round of testing. Each sample is assigned into multiple pools using a combinatorial pooling strategy based on compressed sensing. We pooled sets of 384 samples into 48 pools, providing both an eightfold increase in testing efficiency and an eightfold reduction in test costs, while identifying up to five positive carriers. We then used P-BEST to screen 1115 health care workers using 144 tests. P- BEST provides an efficient and easy-to-implement solution for increasing testing capacity that can be easily integrated into diagnostic laboratories.