The taxonomic position of two lactic-acid-producing bacterial strains, isolated from wheat sourdough in South Korea, was studied using a polyphasic approach. Phylogenetic analysis on the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequences and biochemical and physiological characteristics indicated these two strains to be members of the genus Lactobacillus. They had high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (98.5 %) ...

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) is a leading cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer worldwide. The replication and viral polyprotein maturation of HCV crucially depends on the cleavage of the polyprotein precursor into 10 viral proteins. The NS3-4A serine protease cleaves the nonstructural region of the polyprotein at four out of five junctions, thus is a promising target for the development of antiviral ...

BACKGROUND Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis is the etiologic agent of caseous lymphadenitis, a common disease in small ruminant populations throughout the world and responsible for a significant economic impact for producers. CASE PRESENTATION To our knowledge, this is the first characterization of C. pseudotuberculosis from caseous lymphadenitis lesions in Black Alentejano pig (Sus scrofa ...

A Gram-positive-staining, rod-shaped, facultatively oligotrophic bacterial strain, designated MB18(T), was isolated from a water sample collected from the River Mahananda at Siliguri (26° 44' 23.20' N, 88° 25' 22.89' E), West-Bengal, India. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, the closest relative of this strain was Brevibacterium epidermidis NCDO 2286(T) (96 % similarity). The DN...

A group of moderately halophilic bacteria able to degrade aromatic organic compounds contaminating hypersaline habitats in southern Spain have been isolated and characterized. The taxonomic position of these strains was determined using phenotypic, phylogenetic and genotypic methods. The G + C content of their DNA ranged from 61.0 to 62.9 mol%. DNA-DNA hybridization studies showed that they con...

Background. Two non-tuberculous mycobacterial strains, UM_3 and UM_11, were isolated from the trunk wash of captive elephants in Malaysia. As they appeared to be identical phenotypes, they were investigated further by conventional and whole genome sequence-based methods of strain differentiation. Methods. Multiphasic investigations on the isolates included species identification with hsp65 PCR-...

To evaluate the usefulness of phenotypic and genotypic analyses for the epidemiologic typing of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), we characterized 64 epidemic MRSA isolates and 10 sporadic methicillin-susceptible S. aureus isolates from a university hospital and 18 MRSA isolates from hospitals in different geographical areas. Chromosomal DNA macrorestriction analysis with SstI...

A Gram-positive, short, rod-shaped, cream-coloured actinobacterium, designated MSL-04(T), was isolated from a soil sample collected from an agricultural field on Bigeum Island (Republic of Korea) and was subjected to polyphasic characterization to unravel its taxonomic position. The optimum growth temperature and pH were 28-30 degrees C and pH 7.2-7.4. Chemotaxonomic characteristics such as B2b...

The distribution of Clostridium botulinum serotypes A, B, E, and F in Finnish trout farms was examined. A total of 333 samples were tested with a neurotoxin-specific PCR assay. C. botulinum type E was found in 68% of the farm sediment samples, in 15% of the fish intestinal samples, and in 5% of the fish skin samples. No other serotypes were found. The spore counts determined by the most-probabl...

A novel Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, non-motile, yellow-pigmented and rod-shaped bacterium, designated strain WB5(T), was isolated from the intestinal tract of an abalone, Haliotis discus hannai, collected from the northern coast of Jeju in Korea. The isolate grew optimally at 30 °C, at pH 7 and in the presence of 0.5 % (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicat...