Background: Staphylococcus aureus is a common pathogen in human that can be the cause of a wide range of infectious diseases including bacteremia, pneumonia, cellulitis, and osteomyelitis and skin and soft tissue infections. The coagulase enzyme is one of the most important virulence factors of this bacterium. The polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) Coa...

To analyze genetic effects on milk production traits, 164 unrelated Italian Jersey cows reared in 15 farms located in Southern Italy were characterized at the growth hormone locus. Using a Polymerase Chain Reaction-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism protocol all three possible genotypes for the Leucine/Valine polymorphism were identified even if in the considered population the number of ...

Camel Trypanosomiasis (Surra) is mainly caused by Trypanosoma evansi strains that express variable surface glycoprotein (VSG) RoTat 1.2. However, in Kenya a second causative strain that does not express RoTat 1.2 VSG (T. evansi type B) has been identified. The prevalence of T. evansi type B largely remains unknown due to inadequate diagnostic assay. This work reports the development of a sensit...

Bovine tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium bovis remains a significant disease of farmed cattle in many countries despite ongoing tuberculosis eradication programs. Molecular typing methods such as restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis and spoligotyping have been used to identify related herd breakdowns in an attempt to identify more precisely the route of infection into cat...

A new repeated DNA from Microtus thomasi, Mth-Alu2.2, was cloned and characterized and is presented here for the first time. Digestion of genomic DNA from M. thomasi with AluI restriction enzyme revealed a 2.2-kb repetitive DNA sequence with a high AT content (69%). This sequence consists of a tandemly repeated nonanucleotide of the consensus sequence CACAATGTA, which constitutes approximately ...

BUG6 is a temperature-sensitive cell division mutant which forms filaments at the nonpermissive temperature. Synthesis of the maltose- and galactose-binding protein-dependent transport systems is also temperature sensitive in BUG6. Using operon and protein fusions of the maltose transport genes to lacZ, we observed that the temperature-sensitive control of the maltose transport system in BUG6 o...

We have examined the chromatin structure around and upstream of the transcriptional start site of the human alpha2(I) collagen (COL1A2) gene. Four strong DNase I-hypersensitive sites (HS2-5) were only detected in fibroblasts, and a weaker one (HS1) was identified in type I collagen-negative cells. Another hypersensitive site potentially involved in COL1A2 silencing was found in intron 1 (HS(In)...

The cereal cyst nematodes Heterodera filipjevi and H. avenae impede wheat production in the Pacific Northwest (PNW). Accurate identification of cyst nematode species and awareness of high population density in affected fields are essential for designing effective control measures. Morphological methods for differentiating these species are laborious. These species were differentiated using poly...

Netosis is a recently described neutrophil function that leads to the release of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) in response to various stimuli. NETs are filaments of decondensed chromatin associated with granular proteins. In addition to their role against microorganisms, NETs have been implicated in autoimmunity, thrombosis, and tissue injury. Access to a standardized source of isolated...