BACKGROUND Phambili, the Merck (MRK)-Adenovirus Type 5 (Ad5) HIV-1 gag/pol/nef subtype B vaccine study, conducted in South Africa, suspended enrollment and vaccination when companion study, Step, was found non-efficacious. Although the vaccine did not prevent HIV-1 infection or lower viral-load setpoint, immune responses recognized clades B and C HIV-1 subtypes. We investigated predictors of th...

The major group of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) strains that comprise the current global pandemic have diversified during their worldwide spread into at least 10 distinct subtypes, or clades. Subtype C predominates in sub-Saharan Africa and is responsible for the majority of worldwide HIV-1 infections, subtype B predominates in North America and Europe, and subtype E is prevalent...

Partial 16S ribosomal DNAs (rDNAs) were PCR amplified and sequenced from Frankia strains living in root nodules of plants belonging to the families Elaeagnaceae and Rhamnaceae, including Colletia hystrix, Elaeagnus angustifolia, an unidentified Elaeagnus sp., Talguenea quinquenervia, and Trevoa trinervis. Nearly full-length 16S rDNAs were sequenced from strains of Frankia living in nodules of C...

BACKGROUND Birds frequently visit the outdoor serving areas of restaurants to feed on scraps of food and leftovers. Although this feeding association between humans and birds is widespread and could have significant effects, both positive and negative, for all taxa involved, the authors know of no published studies that have investigated restaurant bird communities. To lay the foundation for fu...

Recent molecular phylogenetic investigations of the red algal genus Mastocarpus from the northeast Pacific resolved numerous cryptic species. Although species were clearly defined through genetic analyses, the correct names to apply to the species remained unclear due to both morphological variability within species and morphological similarity between species. To determine the appropriate name...

Symbiodinium necroappetens sp. nov. (Dinophyceae): an opportunist ‘zooxanthella’ found in bleached and diseased tissues of Caribbean reef corals Todd C. LaJeunesse, Sung Yeon Lee, Diego L. Gil-Agudelo, Nancy Knowlton & Hae Jin Jeong a Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park PA, USA b School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul Nat...

Alpha-dystroglycan (alpha-DG) has been identified as a major receptor for lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) and Lassa virus, two Old World arenaviruses. The situation with New World arenaviruses is less clear: previous studies demonstrated that Oliveros virus also exhibited high-affinity binding to alpha-DG but that Guanarito virus did not. To extend these initial studies, several addit...

A comprehensive set of recombinant proteins and peptides of the proteome of HIV-1 clade C was prepared and purified and used to measure IgG, IgG-subclass, IgA and IgM responses in HIV-infected patients from Sub-Saharan Africa, where clade C is predominant. As a comparison group, HIV-infected patients from Europe were tested. African and European patients showed an almost identical antibody reac...

Traditionally, Capoeta populations from the southern Caspian Sea basin have been considered as Capoeta capoeta gracilis. Study on the phylogenetic relationship of Capoeta species using mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequences show that Capoeta population from the southern Caspian Sea basin is distinct species and receive well support (posterior probability of 100%). Based on the tree topologie...