About the Authors

Pan Tao

Affiliation Department of Biology, The Catholic University of America, Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America

Marthandan Mahalingam

Affiliation Department of Biology, The Catholic University of America, Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America

Michelle L. Kirtley

Affiliation Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America

Christina J. van Lier

Affiliation Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America

Jian Sha

Affiliations Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America, Institute of Human Infections and Immunity, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America, Galveston National Laboratory, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America

Linsey A. Yeager

Affiliations Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America, Galveston National Laboratory, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America

Ashok K. Chopra

achopra@utmb.edu (AKC); rao@cua.edu (VBR)

Affiliations Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America, Institute of Human Infections and Immunity, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America, Galveston National Laboratory, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America, Sealy Center for Vaccine Development, The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America

Venigalla B. Rao

achopra@utmb.edu (AKC); rao@cua.edu (VBR)

Affiliation Department of Biology, The Catholic University of America, Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: VBR PT AKC. Performed the experiments: PT MM MLK CJvL JS LAY. Analyzed the data: PT MM MLK CJvL JS LAY AKC VBR. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: PT MM MLK CJvL JS LAY AKC VBR. Wrote the paper: VBR PT AKC.