An experimental murine model was used to verify the viability and pathogenicity of coccoid Helicobacter pylori. For this purpose, 27 BALB/c mice were inoculated intragastrically with 1 ml broth culture (10(8)organisms/ml) of a coccoid H. pylori clinical isolate. The animals were divided into two groups. Nine were infected on a one-time basis (GA1) and 18 were infected on two consecutive days (G...

Dischidia major is an epiphyte with pitcher leaves that serve as nests for ants. We investigated this ant-plant symbiosis in two sites southeastern Thailand, Rayong and Trat, using a morphological molecular approach. In our study sites, D. was colonized by one monomorphic ant species of genus Philidris. The inner surface the had black green lining composed intermingled coccoid cells filaments a...

Gram-positive bacteria contain different types of secretion systems for the transport of proteins into or across the cytoplasmic membrane. Recent studies on subcellular localization of specific components of these secretion systems and their substrates have shown that they can be present at various locations in the cell. The translocons of the general Sec secretion system in the rod-shaped bact...

Very little is known about the culturability and viability of mycobacteria following their phagocytosis by macrophages. We therefore studied populations of the avirulent 'Academia' strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated from murine peritoneal macrophage lysates several days post-infection in vivo. The resulting bacterial suspensions contained a range of morphological types including rods...

Helicobacter pylori causes chronic gastritis punctuated with fluctuating episodes of acute distress that can lead to peptic ulcer disease. Several factors produced by the bacterium have been shown to initiate the inflammatory response, but mechanisms potentially involved in the down-regulation of inflammation have not been described. We show that nitric oxide (NO) released from synthetic NO gen...

Symbiosis is an important driving force in metazoan evolution and the study of ancient lineages can provide an insight into the influence of symbiotic associations on morphological and physiological adaptations. In the 'living fossil' Nautilus, bacterial associations are found in the highly specialized pericardial appendage. This organ is responsible for most of the excretory processes (ultrafi...

Twelve strains of psychrophilic bacteria were isolated from cyanobacterial mat samples collected from various water bodies in the McMurdo Dry Valley region of Antarctica. All the isolates were Gram-negative, non-motile, coccoid, psychrophilic, halotolerant bacteria and had C(16 : 1)omega7c, C(17 : 1)omega8c and C(18 : 1)omega9c as the major fatty acids, ubiquinone-8 as the respiratory quinone a...

In order to maintain shape and withstand intracellular pressure, most bacteria are surrounded by a cell wall that consists mainly of the cross-linked polymer peptidoglycan (PG). The importance of PG for the maintenance of bacterial cell shape is underscored by the fact that, for various bacteria, several mutations affecting PG synthesis are associated with cell shape defects. In recent years, t...

Gilbert G.G. Donders Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Katao/ieke Universteit Leuven, Belgium aginal bacterial flora can be studied by microscopy of fresh vaginal fluid or of a fixed, stained smear. Classifying the flora by microscopy of fresh smears of vaginal fluid allows the pathplogy to be approached in a way other than by application of Nugent et al.’s criteria for Gram-stained spec...

A 2-year-old male Pekingese dog was referred to Shiraz University’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital for anorexia and depression. The case had no history of surgery. Physical examination revealed no abnormalities except mild depression and fever. Small, coccoid, epicellular bacteria were detected on erythrocytes by microscopic examination of the Giemsa-stained blood smears. Abnormalities noted in t...