Background and Aims: Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is responsible for several significant human viral diseases, with severity ranging from subclinical to fatal infection. Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV2) infections are more commonly seen in association with the genitalia and surrounding areas, and can be transmitted to newborns during childbirth. Generalized infections in newborns are also predo...

Pseudomonas sp. 61-3 accumulates a blend of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) [P(3HB)] homopolymer and a random copolymer, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyalkanoate) [P(3HB-co-3HA)], consisting of 3HA units of 4-12 carbon atoms. Pseudomonas sp. 61-3 possesses two types of PHA synthases, PHB synthase (PhbC) and PHA synthases (PhaC1 and PhaC2), encoded by the phb and pha loci, respectively. The P(94 mol...

The response of human myeloid leukemia cells to various sources of colony-stimulating activity (CSA) and media conditioned by phytohemagglutinin-stimulated mononuclear cells (PHA-LCM) was investigated in liquid and colony culture. PHA-LCM, placenta-conditioned medium, GCT cell line-conditioned medium, leukocyte-conditioned medium, and partially purified CSA for human and murine cells were teste...

To examine anti-tumor immunity in uremic patients undergoing regular hemodialysis, we designed this study using in vitro mononuclear cell (MNC) cultures, with human leukemic U937 cells as the target. MNC were collected and cultured from uremic subjects and age- and gender-matched healthy controls. Conditioned media from the cultures (MNC-CM) were collected after stimulation with various concent...

The research described in this present study was part of a larger effort focused on developing a dual substrate, dual fermentation process to produce Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA). The focus of this study was developing and optimizing a strategy for feeding a mixture of SCFAs (simulated ARF) and maximizing PHA production in a cost-effective way. Three different feeding strategies were examined in ...

The expression of phaseolin and phytohemagglutinin (PHA) in the developing cotyledons of a normal (Greensleeves) and a PHA-deficient (Pinto 111) cultivar of Phaseolus vulgaris was investigated. Phaseolin mRNA translational activity and abundance were present at similar levels in both cultivars. In contrast, PHA mRNA translational activity and abundance in Pinto 111 were less than 1% of the leve...

Assays were performed that measured both the rate and extent (or total capacity) of transfer RNA methylases in extracts of lymphocytes cultured in the presence and absence of phytohemagglutinin (PHA). The tRNA methylases of human peripheral blood lymphocytes undergoing blastogenesis in culture with PHA had a fiveto sixfold increase in rate and a threeto sevenfold increase in extent of methylati...

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are microbial polyesters produced by various microorganisms. Many of these bacteria when fed with suitable carbon sources can produce PHAs up to about 30 wt% of the cell dry weight (CDW) and a few such as Ralstonia eutropha can accumulate PHAs up to almost 90 wt% of the CDW. In cyanobacteria (blue-green algae), the PHA content is usually about 5 wt% of the CDW. In t...

Human overpopulation combined with the current lifestyle urges the rational, efficient and sustainable use of natural resources to produce environmentally friendly plastic materials such as polyhydroxyalkanoic acids (PHA), whose production/degradation cycle reduces undesirable wastes and emissions. In this issue Sabirova et al. (15) presents results of paramount importance: a PHA hyper-producer...

Pseudomonas oleovorans is capable of producing poly(3-hydroxyalkanoates) (PHAs) as intracellular storage material. To analyze the possible involvement of phaD in medium-chain-length (MCL) PHA biosynthesis, we generated a phaD knockout mutant by homologous recombination. Upon disruption of the phaD gene, MCL PHA polymer accumulation was decreased. The PHA granule size was reduced, and the number...