The recent European Union ban on the prophylactic use of in-feed antibiotics has escalated the search for alternatives for use within the poultry industry. When evaluating the efficacy of potential antibiotic alternatives on bird health and productivity, it is important to analyze the competence of the immune cells in the gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT), because it is routinely involved i...

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae X2180, the strain most commonly used for genetic studies on yeasts, was treated with the mutagen ethyl methanesulfonate, and mutants defective in the synthesis of cell wall mannan were isolated. The initial selection of mutants was made on the basis of their failure to agglutinate with antiserum that was specific for the mannotetraose side chain of the mannan,...

Precipitins to mannan and cytoplasmic antigens of three Candida species were determined in an unselected series of 289 non-pregnant women. Precipitins were present in 20% of sera of women with vaginal candidiasis, in 23% of women harbouring yeasts in the vagina without clinical signs of infection, and in 21% of women harbouring yeasts in sites other than the vagina. Of the 47 patients who react...

We have obtained evidence for two structurally and antigenically different Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell wall mannans. One, which occurs widely and is found in S. cerevisiae strain 238C, is already known to be a neutral mannan which yields mannose, mannobiose, mannotriose, and mannotetraose on acetolysis of the (1 --> 6)-linked backbone. The other, which was found in S. cerevisiae brewer's stra...

The induction of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and the production of PGE(2) in response to pathogen-associated molecular patterns decorated with mannose moieties were studied in human monocytes and monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM). Saccharomyces cerevisiae mannan was a robust agonist, suggesting the involvement of the mannose receptor (MR). MR expression increased along the macrophage differentiat...