The capsule polysaccharide locus (cps) is the site of the capsule biosynthesis gene cluster in encapsulated Streptococcus pneumoniae. A set of pneumococcal samples and non-pneumococcal streptococci from Denmark, the Gambia, the Netherlands, Thailand, the UK and the USA were sequenced at the cps locus to elucidate serologically mistyped or non-typable isolates. We identified a novel serotype 33B...

The evolution of multicellularity was one of the key innovations in the history of life on Earth. Virtually all morphological and ecological diversity in macro-organisms builds upon the evolutionary potential associated with multicellularity. We examined the potential for ecological diversity to rapidly arise following transitions to multicellularity. Replicate microcosms containing the yeast S...

Approximately 7000 marine zooplanktonic species have been described so far for the World Ocean; in the South Atlantic the presence of 40% of these has been confirmed, and an additional 20–30% are expected to be recorded in the future. The overall number of described species is very low when compared with other communities, and yet it may not be too far from the final, complete inventory. Very a...

Punctuated antigenic change is believed to be a key element in the evolution of influenza A; clusters of antigenically similar strains predominate worldwide for several years until an antigenically distant mutant emerges and instigates a selective sweep. It is thought that a region of East-Southeast Asia with year-round transmission acts as a source of antigenic diversity for influenza A and se...

the impact of phenolic-contaminated water on microbial community structure was assessed using biolog microarrays techniques. the following biolog plates were used: gen iii plates, new test panel for identification of both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, ecoplates microarray for evaluation of functional diversity of microbial communities and phenotype microarrays (pms) for characteriza...

the early reaction of the plankton communities to environmental changes makes it a useful tool for monitoring the pollution of aquatic environments. lake azili is a small water body, the majority of which is strongly influenced by river ouémé during the floods time. its ecosystem is one of the most important for the country, due to its rich biodiversity, especially that of halieutics. by follow...

landraces are a valuable source of genetic diversity for varietal improvement. despite, iran is the fifth squash and pumpkin producer, but no available information exists about the diversity of summer squash landraces. in order to evaluation of floral and fruit production characteristics among four iranian summer squash and a check cultivar of f1 hybrid ‘asma’, an experiment was conducted in a ...

Many researchers consider the use of different probes for hybridization assays as suitable for studying the genetic diversity of nitrogen fixing bacteria. In this study for asessing genetic diversity among Bradyrhizobium japonicum isolates, two different probes (sucA and topA) chosen from the chromosomal genome of Bradyrhizobium strain USDA 110 were designed, evaluated by DNAMAN software and im...