In this study, we compared Escherichia coli isolates from chickens with avian cellulitis with those from feces of healthy chickens. Cellulitis-derived strains presented phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of greater virulence than did the fecal isolates. Phylogenetic analysis by repetitive extragenic palindromic-PCR showed that, in agreement with their virulence characteristics, the cellul...

The presence of cryptic fliC alleles in the genomes of 120 strains representative of the four Shigella species was investigated. One fragment was obtained by PCR amplification of fliC, with a size varying from 1.2 to 3.2 kbp, depending on the species or serotype. After digestion with endonuclease HhaI, the number of fragments in patterns varied from three to nine, with sizes of between 115 and ...

Genetic diversity and relationships among 63 isolates of Escherichia coli from infants in Finland with septicemia or meningitis were assessed by analyzing electrophoretic variation in 21 enzymes encoded by chromosomal genes. Thirty-nine multilocus genotypes (electrophoretic types) were distinguished, 23 of which formed a closely related, distinctive subset (group 1) of five or six clones repres...

Understanding how neurons acquire specific response properties is a major goal in neuroscience. Recent studies in mouse neocortex have shown that "sister neurons" derived from the same cortical progenitor cell have a greater probability of forming synaptic connections with one another and are biased to respond to similar sensory stimuli. However, it is unknown whether such lineage-based rules c...

In the sea anemone Anthopleura elegantissima contact between non-clonemates often elicits inter-clonal fighting, involving the application of nematocyst-laden fighting tentacles (acrorhagi) and the locomotory retreat of losing polyps. This study confirms that isoclonal aggregations of A. elegantissima display an inducible polymorphism, such that polyps at the inter-clonal boundaries (warriors) ...

The genetic relationships among 1,300 isolates of Escherichia coli representing 16 serotypes associated with enteric disease, including O157:H7 strains recovered from patients with hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic uremic syndrome and O26:H11, O55:H6, O55:H7, O111:H2, and O128:H2 strains, many of which were isolated originally from infants with diarrhea, were estimated from allelic variation am...

Objective(s): Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the most important nosocomial pathogens causing a high rate of mortality among hospitalized patients. Herein, we report the prevalence of antibiotic resistance genes, class 1 integrons, major virulence genes and clonal relationship among multidrug- resistant (MDR) P. aeruginosa, isolated from four referral hospitals in the...