About the Authors

Guoku Hu

Affiliation Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska, United States of America

Ai-Yu Gong

Affiliation Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska, United States of America

Amanda L. Roth

Affiliation Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska, United States of America

Bing Q. Huang

Affiliation Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota, United States of America

Honorine D. Ward

Affiliation Division of Geographic Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

Guan Zhu

Affiliation Department of Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America

Nicholas F. LaRusso

Affiliation Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota, United States of America

Nancy D. Hanson

Affiliation Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska, United States of America

Xian-Ming Chen

xianmingchen@creighton.edu

Affiliation Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: GH AYG ALR NDH XMC. Performed the experiments: GH AYG ALR BQH. Analyzed the data: GH AYG ALR NDH XMC. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: HDW GZ NFL. Wrote the paper: GH XMC.