Complete Homology Research Articles

Construction and Sequencing of Dense Granular14 (GRA14) Gene of Toxoplasma gondii (RH) in Expression Prokaryotic Plasmid PET32a: A Preliminary Study in Vaccine Production

Introduction: Toxoplasma gondii is an obligatory intracellular protozoan parasite, which infects human beings. Since the current antigens used for diagnosis or vaccination are contaminated with non -parasitic material in which the parasite is grown, it is tried to produce recombinant antigens to design vaccines against toxoplasmosis, or make diagnostic kits. Choosing the type of antigen to produce recombinant vaccine or diagnostic kits is considerably important. The dense granule protein 14 (GRA14) gene is one of the excretory-secretary antigens of Toxoplasma which seems to be an appropriate candidate in production of recombinant vaccines and diagnostic kits. The current study aimed to clone GRA14 gene of T. gondii (RH) in a cloning vector for further production of dense granular proteins. Materials and Methods: Genomic DNA was isolated from tachyzoite of parasite by phenol chloroform method and gene fragment was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The PCR products were ligated into restriction enzymes sites of pTG19-T cloning vector. Then transformed into Escherichia coli Top10 strain and screened by IPTG and X-Gal. Then recombinant plasmid confirmed by the colony-PCR and restriction enzyme digestion using SacI and NotI was done followed by sequencing .After isolation of this gene from pTG19-T, it was subcloned into a prokaryotic expression plasmid (pET32a). The pET32a - GRA14 constructs were analyzed by PCR, restriction analysis and sequencing. Results: Evaluation of PCR products by agarose gel electrophoresis and analysis of nucleotide sequencing of 1227 bp gene encoding the protein GRA14, revealed the complete homology with the recorded sequences in the gene bank. After enzyme restriction and electrophoresis a fragment about 1227 bp was separated from pET32a. Conclusions: The result of this study showed that recombinant GRA14 Toxoplasma was constructed successfully and ready for future study which seems like the antigen is a suitable candidate to produce recombinant vaccine and diagnostic kit.

Tubakia subglobosa Causes Leaf Spots on Ring-Cupped Oak Trees in Korea

Ring-cupped oak, Quercus glauca Thunb., is an evergreen broadleaf tree growing up to 15 to 20 m tall. It is native to eastern Asia (China, Japan, Taiwan, and Korea). In Korea, it is distributed in the islands of the southern part of the peninsula, mostly in Jeju Island, South Korea. This species is planted as a windbreak and as an ornamental tree in urban forest areas and its fruit, leaves, and bark have been used in medicine. Small, dark-brownish leaf spots with a tiny yellowish center were observed on ring-cupped oak leaves in Jeju Island from May to July 2015, most extensively at an altitude of 203 to 228 m above sea level (33°28.087′N, 126°29.589′E). Symptoms enlarged with time, becoming distinctive epiphyllous lesions with a necrotic margin. Tiny, brownish, disc-shaped, crustose conidiomata composed of scutella, columella, and conidia (typical of the genus Tubakia), resembling grains of dust, were produced around and over the lesions. From these, a fungus was consistently isolated and cultured on malt extract agar (MEA). Specimens from Jeju Island and their cultures were deposited at the Herbarium of the Korean Forest Research Institute, Seoul, South Korea (HKFRI) and the Korean Collection for Type Cultures, Jeonbuk, South Korea (KCTC), with accession numbers HKRFI4093 and HY4604 (KCTC46432), and HKRFI4094 and HY4702 (KCTC46433). On MEA, fungal cultures formed creamy, cinnamon-colored colonies in the center, with concentric rings of aerial mycelium with a scalloped margin. Scutella on leaves were septate, leaves have radiating, septate hyphae, irregular at margin, usually tufted, brown to dark-brown, 80 to 150 μm in diameter; columellae were parenchymatous, 12 to 18 × 6 to 9 μm in size; conidia were subglobose, hyaline to reddish brown, 10 to 13 × 9 to 11 μm in size. Microconidia were not observed. These macro- and micromorphological traits closely fitted to those of Tubakia subglobosa (Diaporthales), which was described from Japan (Yokoyama and Tubaki 1971). ITS rDNA was PCR-amplied using primers (ITS1F/ITS4) and sequences (612 bp each) of the two fungi were analyzed and compared using BLAST search with sequence data from a Japanese T. subglobosa culture (CBS193.71, KY952636) from CBS-KNAW culture collection, and with sequences from our two isolates of T. subglobosa deposited in GenBank (accession nos. KY934453 and KY934454). Our fungus showed complete sequence homology to these T. subglobosa isolates, confirming its identity as T. subglobosa. In order to carry out the pathogenicity test, fungal spores produced on sterilized ring-cupped oak leaves were wound-inoculated on the main veins of the tree leaves as in Harrington et al. (2012). Small dark-brownish spots, with a yellowish center, matching initial natural symptoms, were produced 13 days after inoculation. Brownish disc-shaped conidiomata were formed on or around the necrotic spots, from which the fungus was reisolated, thus fulfilling Koch’s postulates. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the occurrence of T. subglobosa on Q. glauca in Korea.

Genome-Wide Discovery and Deployment of Insertions and Deletions Markers Provided Greater Insights on Species, Genomes, and Sections Relationships in the Genus Arachis.

Small insertions and deletions (InDels) are the second most prevalent and the most abundant structural variations in plant genomes. In order to deploy these genetic variations for genetic analysis in genus Arachis, we conducted comparative analysis of the draft genome assemblies of both the diploid progenitor species of cultivated tetraploid groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) i.e., Arachis duranensis (A subgenome) and Arachis ipaënsis (B subgenome) and identified 515,223 InDels. These InDels include 269,973 insertions identified in A. ipaënsis against A. duranensis while 245,250 deletions in A. duranensis against A. ipaënsis. The majority of the InDels were of single bp (43.7%) and 2–10 bp (39.9%) while the remaining were >10 bp (16.4%). Phylogenetic analysis using genotyping data for 86 (40.19%) polymorphic markers grouped 96 diverse Arachis accessions into eight clusters mostly by the affinity of their genome. This study also provided evidence for the existence of “K” genome, although distinct from both the “A” and “B” genomes, but more similar to “B” genome. The complete homology between A. monticola and A. hypogaea tetraploid taxa showed a very similar genome composition. The above analysis has provided greater insights into the phylogenetic relationship among accessions, genomes, sub species and sections. These InDel markers are very useful resource for groundnut research community for genetic analysis and breeding applications.

Complete homology over associative rings

We compare two generalizations of Tate homology to the realm of associative rings: stable homology and the J-completion of Tor, also known as complete homology. For finitely generated modules, we show that the two theories agree over Artin algebras and over commutative noetherian rings that are Gorenstein, or local and complete.

Review of recombinant anti-haemophilic porcine sequence factor VIII in adults with acquired haemophilia A.

Acquired haemophilia A (AHA) is a rare, serious bleeding disorder most often encountered in elderly patients. The mainstay of haemostatic management is with bypassing agents (BPAs) including recombinant activated factor VII (rFVIIa) and activated prothrombin complex concentrates (aPCCs). Their major limitation is incomplete efficacy, potential risk for thrombosis and the lack of routine laboratory assays for monitoring treatment response. Plasma-derived porcine FVIII (pd-pFVIII, Hyate C®), first used in the 1950s for the management of congenital haemophilia, has sufficient sequence homology to be haemostatic in humans, but the lack of complete homology facilitates efficacy even in the presence of human allo- and autoantibodies against human FVIII (hFVIII). In a small phase II/III study, recombinant porcine FVIII (rpFVIII, Obizur®, OBI-1, susoctocog alfa) was shown to be safe and effective for the management of bleeding episodes in patients with AHA with anti-porcine FVIII (anti-pFVIII) antibody levels of 20 BU/ml or less. Treatment outcome was judged on clinical response and FVIII levels after an initial fixed dose of 200 IU/kg. The rise in FVIII levels showed considerable inter-individual variability and was significantly influenced by the presence of anti-pFVIII antibodies. Based on the baseline levels of anti-pFVIII antibodies and response to treatment, three potential patient groups were identifiable. In the first group, the absence of cross-reacting antibodies was associated with supra-therapeutic FVIII levels, fewer infusions and lower rpFVIII utilization per treatment episode. The second group had patients with low levels of cross-reacting anti-pFVIII antibodies (0.8-5 BU/ml) with near-normal response to rpFVIII. The last group had higher titres of anti-pFVIII antibody (10-30 BU/ml) associated with lower FVIII levels, more infusions and higher consumption of rpFVIII. We propose a new treatment algorithm for the haemostatic management of AHA that includes the potential first-line clinical use of rpFVIII that takes into account availability of anti-pFVIII antibody results, titre of anti-pFVIII antibodies and severity of bleeding episode.

Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus lytFM encoding an NlpC/P60 endopeptidase is also present in mite-associated bacteria that express LytFM variants.

The bodies and faecal pellets of the house dust mite (HDM), Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, are the source of many allergenic and nonallergenic proteins. One of these, the 14‐kDa bacteriolytic enzyme LytFM, originally isolated from the spent HDM growth medium, may contribute to bacteriolytic activity previously detected by zymography at 14 kDa in the culture supernatants of some bacterial species isolated from surface‐sterilised HDM. Based on previously reported findings of lateral gene transfer between microbes and their eukaryotic hosts, we investigated the presence of lytFM in the genomes of nine Gram‐positive bacteria from surface‐sterilised HDM, and the expression by these isolates of LytFM and its variants LytFM1/LytFM2. The lytFM gene was detected by PCR in the genomes of three of the isolates: Bacillus licheniformis strain 1, B. licheniformis strain 2 and Staphylococcus aureus. Expression of the variant LytFM1 was detected in culture supernatants of these bacteria by mass spectrometry (MS) and ELISA, and the bacterial LytFM proteins were shown by zymography to be able to hydrolyse peptidoglycan. Our previous reports of LytFM homologues in other mite species and their phylogenetic analysis had suggested that they originated from a common mite ancestor. The phylogenetic analysis reported herein and the detection of other D. pteronyssinus proteins by MS in the culture supernatants of the three isolates that secreted LytFM1 further support the hypothesis of lateral gene transfer to the bacterial endosymbionts from their HDM host. The complete sequence homology observed between the genes amplified from the microbes and those in their eukaryotic host indicated that the lateral gene transfer was an event that occurred recently.

Studies on bromadiolone resistance in Rattus rattus populations from Punjab, India

There are several reports on development of resistance to bromadiolone in different species of rodents around the globe, however, there is no such report involving systematic study from India. Hence, present study was carried out to investigate current status of bromadiolone resistance in house rat (Rattus rattus; n=154) collected from different poultry farms (n=8) based on feeding test, blood clotting response (BCR) test and molecular characterization of VKORC1 gene. Based on feeding test and BCR test, 28% rats were suspected to be resistant. Molecular analysis of VKORC1 gene of four suspected to be resistant rats having Prothrombin Time (PT) <70s, International Normalized Ratio (INR) <4.0 and died between 26 and 73days after treatment revealed no single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in nucleotide sequences. None of the sample under study showed complete nucleotide homology with previously reported nucleotide sequences of R. rattus. The sequences of VKORC1 gene under study can thus be considered as the novel sequences. Present investigation on molecular characterization of VKORC1 gene did not reveal any genetic resistance in Rattus rattus population against bromadiolone though rats could be considered resistant based on BCR and feeding tests.

Bioremediation of soil contaminated crude oil by Agaricomycetes

BackgroundOne of the most important environmental problems is the decontamination of petroleum hydrocarbons polluted soil, particularly in the oil-rich country. Bioremediation is the most effective way to remove these pollutants in the soil.Spent mushroom compost has great ability to decompose lignin-like pollution. The purpose of this study was the bioremediation of soil contaminated with crude oil by an Agaricomycetes.MethodsSoil sample amended with spent mushroom compost into 3%, 5% and 10% (w/w) with or without fertilizer. Ecotoxicity germination test was conducted with Lipidium sativa.ResultsThe amplified fragment (18 s rDNA) sequence of this mushroom confirmed that the strain belonged to Pleurotus ostreatus species with complete homology (100% identity). All tests experiment sets were effective at supporting the degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons contaminated soil after three months. Petroleum contaminated soil amended with Spent mushroom compost 10% and fertilizer removed 64.7% of total petroleum hydrocarbons compared control. The germination index (%) in ecotoxicity tests ranged from 60.4 to 93.8%.ConclusionsThis showed that the petroleum hydrocarbons contaminated soil amended with 10% Spent mushroom compost had higher bioremediation ability and reduced soil toxicity in less than three months.

The evolution of function within the Nudix homology clan.

ABSTRACTThe Nudix homology clan encompasses over 80,000 protein domains from all three domains of life, defined by homology to each other. Proteins with a domain from this clan fall into four general functional classes: pyrophosphohydrolases, isopentenyl diphosphate isomerases (IDIs), adenine/guanine mismatch‐specific adenine glycosylases (A/G‐specific adenine glycosylases), and nonenzymatic activities such as protein/protein interaction and transcriptional regulation. The largest group, pyrophosphohydrolases, encompasses more than 100 distinct hydrolase specificities. To understand the evolution of this vast number of activities, we assembled and analyzed experimental and structural data for 205 Nudix proteins collected from the literature. We corrected erroneous functions or provided more appropriate descriptions for 53 annotations described in the Gene Ontology Annotation database in this family, and propose 275 new experimentally‐based annotations. We manually constructed a structure‐guided sequence alignment of 78 Nudix proteins. Using the structural alignment as a seed, we then made an alignment of 347 “select” Nudix homology domains, curated from structurally determined, functionally characterized, or phylogenetically important Nudix domains. Based on our review of Nudix pyrophosphohydrolase structures and specificities, we further analyzed a loop region downstream of the Nudix hydrolase motif previously shown to contact the substrate molecule and possess known functional motifs. This loop region provides a potential structural basis for the functional radiation and evolution of substrate specificity within the hydrolase family. Finally, phylogenetic analyses of the 347 select protein domains and of the complete Nudix homology clan revealed general monophyly with regard to function and a few instances of probable homoplasy. Proteins 2017; 85:775–811. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Plasmodium vivax Cell Traversal Protein for Ookinetes and Sporozoites (PvCelTOS) gene sequence and potential epitopes are highly conserved among isolates from different regions of Brazilian Amazon

The Plasmodium vivax Cell-traversal protein for ookinetes and sporozoites (PvCelTOS) plays an important role in the traversal of host cells. Although essential to PvCelTOS progress as a vaccine candidate, its genetic diversity remains uncharted. Therefore, we investigated the PvCelTOS genetic polymorphism in 119 field isolates from five different regions of Brazilian Amazon (Manaus, Novo Repartimento, Porto Velho, Plácido de Castro and Oiapoque). Moreover, we also evaluated the potential impact of non-synonymous mutations found in the predicted structure and epitopes of PvCelTOS. The field isolates showed high similarity (99.3% of bp) with the reference Sal-1 strain, presenting only four Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNP) at positions 24A, 28A, 109A and 352C. The frequency of synonymous C109A (82%) was higher than all others (p<0.0001). However, the non-synonymous G28A and G352C were observed in 9.2% and 11.7% isolates. The great majority of the isolates (79.8%) revealed complete amino acid sequence homology with Sal-1, 10.9% presented complete homology with Brazil I and two undescribed PvCelTOS sequences were observed in 9.2% field isolates. Concerning the prediction analysis, the N-terminal substitution (Gly10Ser) was predicted to be within a B-cell epitope (PvCelTOS Accession Nos. AB194053.1) and exposed at the protein surface, while the Val118Leu substitution was not a predicted epitope. Therefore, our data suggest that although G28A SNP might interfere in potential B-cell epitopes at PvCelTOS N-terminal region the gene sequence is highly conserved among the isolates from different geographic regions, which is an important feature to be taken into account when evaluating its potential as a vaccine candidate.

Detection of Norovirus in Swab Specimens of Restrooms and Kitchens Collected for Investigation of Suspected Food Poisoning Outbreaks in Tokyo.

During 2015-2016, we examined norovirus (NoV) RNA in swab specimens collected for investigation of suspected food poisoning outbreaks in Tokyo by real-time RT-PCR. Of 1,726 swab samples, 65 (3.8%) were NoV-positive and all positive swab samples were derived from NoV-positive outbreaks. Swab specimens were positive in 41 of 181 (22.7%) NoV outbreaks, while no positive swabs were detected in NoV-negative outbreaks. PCR fragments amplified from 32 swabs were sequenced, and all of them displayed complete homology with sequences from clinical and food samples. Though the results of swabs may be useful for determining the causative agent and infection route in some outbreaks, there was no case in which the results of swabs alone could elucidate the cause of food poisoning. Swabs may be useful in food poisoning investigations, if the results are interpreted in conjunction with epidemiological findings and clinical data. Swab samples are often collected several days after an outbreak, and the influence of disinfection should be taken into consideration. In NoV outbreaks, 55 out of 640 (8.6%) restroom swab specimens were NoV-positive whereas six of 618 (1.0%) were positive among kitchen swab specimens. In the restroom, the toilet bowl (43.6%) showed the highest positive rate and next was the toilet seat (14.5%). Additionally, NoV was detected at various sites in the restroom, including doorknob and floor. Since NoV-positive swab specimens may suggest that sanitation management is not performed properly in the facility, swab results may be utilized as a basis for hygiene guidance.

Serial Food Poisoning Outbreaks Caused by Norovirus-Contaminated Shredded Dried Laver Seaweed Provided at School Lunch, Tokyo, 2017

In February 2017, four food poisoning outbreaks occurred in Tokyo, involving ten schools. Shredded dried laver seaweed processed by a single food manufacturer in December 2016 was provided in common for the school meals that caused all four outbreaks. Of 4,209 persons exposed, 1,193 (28.3%) had symptoms of gastroenteritis. Norovirus (NoV) GII was detected in 207 (78.1%) of 265 cases by real-time RT-PCR. Thirty-one shredded dried laver seaweed samples were examined and seven (22.6%) of them were positive for NoV GII. PCR fragments of NoV ORF1/2 junction region (302 bp) from seven shredded dried laver seaweed samples and 20 clinical samples derived from the four outbreaks were sequenced. All of them displayed complete homology, and the genotype was classified as GII.17. A nearly full-length sequence (7,420 bp) of NoV RNA derived from a case was obtained by next-generation sequencer analysis and phylogenetic analysis indicated that this strain belongs to the same cluster as Hu/GII/JP/2015/GII.P17_GII.17/Kawasaki308. Thus, our investigation elucidated that the causative agent of these four serial food poisoning outbreaks was NoV GII.17 and the infectious source was a single batch of shredded dried laver seaweed. The water activity of the shredded dried laver seaweed was found to be 0.119 to 0.129. It was epidemiologically clarified that NoV does not lose infectivity for about two months even in the dry state. We conclude that a large diffuse outbreak of food poisoning caused by NoV GII.17 contamination of shredded dried laver seaweed had occurred in Tokyo. Our elucidation of the causative agent indicated that the food poisoning outbreaks in multiple areas of Japan, including Tokyo, during January to February 2017 were caused by the same contaminated food.

On the stable homology of modules

In this paper, we study certain properties of the stable homology groups of modules over an associative ring, which were defined by Vogel [12]. We compute the kernel of the natural surjection from stable homology to complete homology, which was itself defined by Triulzi [21]. This computation may be used in order to formulate conditions under which the two theories are isomorphic. Duality considerations reveal a connection between stable homology and the complete cohomology theory defined by Nucinkis [19]. Using this connection, we show that the vanishing of the stable homology functors detects modules of finite flat or injective dimension over Noetherian rings. As another application, we characterize the coherent rings over which stable homology is balanced, in terms of the finiteness of the flat dimension of injective modules.

Highly-Immunogenic Virally-Vectored T-cell Vaccines Cannot Overcome Subversion of the T-cell Response by HCV during Chronic Infection.

An effective therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, as an adjunct to newly developed directly-acting antivirals (DAA), or for the prevention of reinfection, would significantly reduce the global burden of disease associated with chronic HCV infection. A recombinant chimpanzee adenoviral (ChAd3) vector and a modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA), encoding the non-structural proteins of HCV (NSmut), used in a heterologous prime/boost regimen induced multi-specific, high-magnitude, durable HCV-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses in healthy volunteers, and was more immunogenic than a heterologous Ad regimen. We now assess the immunogenicity of this vaccine regimen in HCV infected patients (including patients with a low viral load suppressed with interferon/ribavirin therapy), determine T-cell cross-reactivity to endogenous virus, and compare immunogenicity with that observed previously in both healthy volunteers and in HCV infected patients vaccinated with the heterologous Ad regimen. Vaccination of HCV infected patients with ChAd3-NSmut/MVA-NSmut was well tolerated. Vaccine-induced HCV-specific T-cell responses were detected in 8/12 patients; however, CD4+ T-cell responses were rarely detected, and the overall magnitude of HCV-specific T-cell responses was markedly reduced when compared to vaccinated healthy volunteers. Furthermore, HCV-specific cells had a distinct partially-functional phenotype (lower expression of activation markers, granzyme B, and TNFα production, weaker in vitro proliferation, and higher Tim3 expression, with comparable Tbet and Eomes expression) compared to healthy volunteers. Robust anti-vector T-cells and antibodies were induced, showing that there is no global defect in immunity. The level of viremia at the time of vaccination did not correlate with the magnitude of the vaccine-induced T-cell response. Full-length, next-generation sequencing of the circulating virus demonstrated that T-cells were only induced by vaccination when there was a sequence mismatch between the autologous virus and the vaccine immunogen. However, these T-cells were not cross-reactive with the endogenous viral variant epitopes. Conversely, when there was complete homology between the immunogen and circulating virus at a given epitope T-cells were not induced. T-cell induction following vaccination had no significant impact on HCV viral load. In vitro T-cell culture experiments identified the presence of T-cells at baseline that could be expanded by vaccination; thus, HCV-specific T-cells may have been expanded from pre-existing low-level memory T-cell populations that had been exposed to HCV antigens during natural infection, explaining the partial T-cell dysfunction. In conclusion, vaccination with ChAd3-NSmut and MVA-NSmut prime/boost, a potent vaccine regimen previously optimized in healthy volunteers was unable to reconstitute HCV-specific T-cell immunity in HCV infected patients. This highlights the major challenge of overcoming T-cell exhaustion in the context of persistent antigen exposure.

MRPrimerW: a tool for rapid design of valid high-quality primers for multiple target qPCR experiments.

Design of high-quality primers for multiple target sequences is essential for qPCR experiments, but is challenging due to the need to consider both homology tests on off-target sequences and the same stringent filtering constraints on the primers. Existing web servers for primer design have major drawbacks, including requiring the use of BLAST-like tools for homology tests, lack of support for ranking of primers, TaqMan probes and simultaneous design of primers against multiple targets. Due to the large-scale computational overhead, the few web servers supporting homology tests use heuristic approaches or perform homology tests within a limited scope. Here, we describe the MRPrimerW, which performs complete homology testing, supports batch design of primers for multi-target qPCR experiments, supports design of TaqMan probes and ranks the resulting primers to return the top-1 best primers to the user. To ensure high accuracy, we adopted the core algorithm of a previously reported MapReduce-based method, MRPrimer, but completely redesigned it to allow users to receive query results quickly in a web interface, without requiring a MapReduce cluster or a long computation. MRPrimerW provides primer design services and a complete set of 341 963 135 in silico validated primers covering 99% of human and mouse genes. Free access: http://MRPrimerW.com.

Isolation of digital dermatitis treponemes from cattle hock skin lesions.

Bovine hock lesions present a serious welfare and production issue on dairy farms worldwide. Current theories suggest that trauma is an important factor in the formation of hock lesions, although infection may also play a role in increasing their severity and duration. Digital dermatitis (DD) lesions in dairy cows are strongly associated with specific treponeme bacteria which are opportunistic invaders of other skin regions. Hock lesions were tested to ascertain if they too contained treponemes. Swab and tissue samples were taken from hock lesions from two farms in South West England. Hock lesions were classified into two categories: open lesions, which were often bleeding and ulcerated, or were encrusted; and closed lesions, which were classified as hair loss with no skin breakage. PCR assays and bacterial isolation were used to detect treponemes in hock lesions. All three phylogroups of digital dermatitis treponemes were detectable and isolated from open hock lesions only, with closed lesions showing no evidence of treponeme infection, either by PCR or bacterial culture. When analysed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing, the cultured treponeme DNA showed complete homology or was very similar to that found in foot lesions. Additionally, skin swabs from near the open hock wounds were also positive by PCR assay and isolation for the DD treponemes. Identification of the contribution of these infectious agents will allow for more optimal treatments to be developed that reduce the prevalence and healing times of both hock and DD lesions.

Cloning and characterization of a novel PE_PGRS60 protein (Rv3652) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37 Rv exhibit fibronectin-binding property.

The binding of pathogenic bacteria to extracellular matrix components enhances adhesion and invasion of host cells. The host receptor proteins such as fibronectin (Fn) targeted to pathogenic ligands that have clinical importance. In the present study, we cloned, expressed, purified, and identified a novel Fn-binding protein from PE_PGRS60 (Rv3652) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37 Rv. The protein product of Rv3652 showed optimum binding efficiency to 10 ng Fn at 0.2 µg purified protein of PE_PGRS60 and 20 ng Fn at 0.2 µg concentrations, respectively. PE_PGRS60 protein (primary sequences) of different pathogenic mycobacterium species retrieved from NCBI exhibited complete homology at the 104 residues on multiple sequence alignment. The primary sequence of protein from H37 Rv was further used to predict cleavage signals. The secondary structure prediction method revealed a number of residues responsible for alpha helices formation and percentage of residues participating in the random coils and extended strands. In addition, online prediction tools such as B- and T-cell epitopes showed the surface probability scale and antigenic propensity scale. The current finding opens new opportunity to mycobacterial survival and pathogenesis research of PE-polymorphic GC-rich repetitive sequences (PE-PGRS) family proteins.

Homological stability for completed homology

We prove that the completed homology groups of \(\mathrm {GL}_n(\mathbf {Z})\) in fixed degree stabilize as N goes to infinity. We also prove that the action of Hecke operators on stable cohomology is trivial, in a precisely defined sense.

A metameric origin for the annelid pygidium?

BackgroundSegmented body organizations are widely represented in the animal kingdom. Whether the last common bilaterian ancestor was already segmented is intensely debated. Annelids display broad morphological diversity but many species are among the most homonomous metameric animals. The front end (prostomium) and tail piece (pygidium) of annelids are classically described as non-segmental. However, the pygidium structure and development remain poorly studied.ResultsUsing different methods of microscopy, immunolabelling and a number of molecular markers, we describe the neural and mesodermal structures of the pygidium of Platynereis dumerilii. We establish that the pygidium possesses a complicated nervous system with a nerve ring and a pair of sensory ganglia, a complex intrinsic musculature, a large terminal circular blood sinus and an unusual unpaired torus-shaped coelomic cavity. We also describe some earlier steps of pygidial development and pygidial structure of mature animals after epitokous transformation.ConclusionsWe describe a much more complex organization of the pygidium of P. dumerilii than previously suggested. Many of the characteristics are strikingly similar to those found in the trunk segments, opening the debate on whether the pygidium and trunk segments derive from the same ancestral metameric unit. We analyze these scenarios in the context of two classical theories on the origin of segmentation: the cyclomeric/archicoelomate concept and the colonial theory. Both theories provide possible explanations for the partial or complete homology of trunk segments and pygidium.

Occurrence and molecular identification of Giardia duodenalis from stray cats in Guangzhou, southern China.

The objective of this study was to genetically characterize isolates of Giardia duodenalis and to determine if zoonotic potential of G. duodenalis could be found in stray cats from urban and suburban environments in Guangzhou, China. Among 102 fresh fecal samples of stray cats, 30 samples were collected in Baiyun district (urban) and 72 in Conghua district (suburban). G. duodenalis specimens were examined using light microscopy, then the positive specimens were subjected to PCR amplification and subsequent sequencing at 4 loci such as glutamate dehydrogenase (gdh), triose phosphate isomerase (tpi), β-giardin (bg), and small subunit ribosomal RNA (18S rRNA) genes. The phylogenetic trees were constructed using obtained sequences by MEGA5.2 software. Results show that 9.8% (10/102) feline fecal samples were found to be positive by microscopy, 10% (3/30) in Baiyun district and 9.7% (7/72) in Conghua district. Among the 10 positive samples, 9 were single infection (8 isolates, assemblage A; 1 isolate, assemblage F) and 1 sample was mixed infection with assemblages A and C. Based on tpi, gdh, and bg genes, all sequences of assemblage A showed complete homology with AI except for 1 isolate (CHC83). These findings not only confirmed the occurrence of G. duodenalis in stray cats, but also showed that zoonotic assemblage A was found for the first time in stray cats living in urban and suburban environments in China.