staphylococcus aureus produces a particular morphological variant called small colony variant (scv) which is responsible for persistent subclinical infections in predisposed individuals and is usually resistant to aminoglycosides and cell wall active antibiotics. infections by scv of s. aureus are an upcoming problem due to difficulty in laboratory diagnosis and resistance to antimicrobial chem...

biosurfactants are surface-active compounds produced by microorganisms. in this study, we collected 60 inguinal area and ear canal samples from cows, sheep, and goats (each, 10 animals) and screened for biosurfactant-producing bacteria. we also determined the genera of culturing strains. fifty six hemolytic bacterial strains (27, 22 and 7, from cows, sheep and goats, respectively) were isolated...

The orphan nuclear receptor, estrogen receptor-related receptor α (ERRα) is expressed in osteoblasts and osteoclasts (OCs) and has been proposed to be a modulator of estrogen signaling. To determine the role of ERRα in OC biology, we knocked down ERRα activity by transient transfection of an siRNA directed against ERRα in the RAW264.7 monocyte-macrophage cell line that differentiates into OCs i...

Chloride ion efflux is an early event occurring after exposure of neutrophilic polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) in suspension to several agonists, including cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF) and granulocyte/macrophage-colony stimulating factor (Shimizu, Y., R.H. Daniels, M.A. Elmore, M.J. Finnen, M.E. Hill, and J.M. Lackie. 1993. Biochem. Pharmacol. 9:1743-1751). We have stu...

The developmentally regulated GTP-binding protein-2 (DRG2) is a novel subclass of GTP-binding proteins. Many functional characteristics of osteoclasts (OC) are associated with small GTPases. We hypothesized that DRG2 affects bone mass via modulating OC activity. Using DRG2 transgenic mice, we investigated the role of DRG2 in bone remodeling. DRG2 overexpression caused a decrease in bone mass an...

Sinorhizobium meliloti growing on soft agar can exhibit an unusual surface spreading behaviour that differs from other bacterial surface motilities. Bacteria in the colony secrete an exopolysaccharide-rich mucoid fluid that expands outward on the surface, carrying within it a suspension of actively dividing cells. The moving slime disperses the cells in complex and dynamic patterns indicative o...