About the Authors

Danielle N. McKeithen

Roles Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft

Affiliations Department Microbiology, Biochemistry, and, Immunology, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States of America, Department of Biology, Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, GA, United States of America

Yusuf O. Omosun

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department Microbiology, Biochemistry, and, Immunology, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States of America

Khamia Ryans

Roles Data curation, Investigation

Affiliations Department Microbiology, Biochemistry, and, Immunology, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States of America, Department of Biology, Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, GA, United States of America

Jing Mu

Roles Investigation, Methodology

Affiliation Center for Molecular and Translational Medicine, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, United States of America

Zhonglin Xie

Roles Investigation, Methodology

Affiliation Center for Molecular and Translational Medicine, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, United States of America

Tankya Simoneaux

Roles Investigation

Affiliation Department Microbiology, Biochemistry, and, Immunology, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States of America

Uriel Blas-machado

Roles Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Georgia, Atlanta, United States of America

Francis O. Eko

Roles Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department Microbiology, Biochemistry, and, Immunology, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States of America

Carolyn M. Black

Roles Writing – review & editing

Affiliation National Center for Emerging Zoonotic and Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, GA, United States of America

Joseph U. Igietseme

Roles Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Department Microbiology, Biochemistry, and, Immunology, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States of America, National Center for Emerging Zoonotic and Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, GA, United States of America

Qing He

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

qhe@msm.edu

Affiliation Department Microbiology, Biochemistry, and, Immunology, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.