Acinetobacter baumannii is an opportunistic nosocomial pathogen, which is an important cause of pneumonia and bacteremia in patients in intensive care units (1). Increased resistance to all commercial antimicrobial agents, including colistin, in clinical isolates of A. baumannii has been reported (7, 12). An important factor for the development of multiresistance is the acquisition of genetic e...

RNA interference (RNAi) occurs naturally in plant and animal cells as a means for modulating gene expression. This process has been experimentally manipulated to achieve targeted gene silencing in cells, tissues, and animals, using a variety of vector systems. Here, we tested the hypothesis that vectors based on feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) could be used for coexpression of reporter cons...

Escherichia coli is generally considered as a commensal inhabitant of gastrointestinal tract of humans and animals. The aim of this study was to gain insight on the distribution of phylotypes and presence of genes encoding integrons, extended β-lactamases and resistance to other antimicrobials in the commensal E. coli isolates from healthy adults in Chandigarh, India. PCR and DNA sequencing wer...

We report evidence of interspecies gene transfer between the important virulence factor genes sfbI and gfbA. Because the identified group G streptococcus gfbA types possess DNA cassettes that can be identified in a number of group A streptococcus strains, it appears that homologous recombination is occurring between these species.

Class 2 integrons (Tn7) were found in all randomly selected epidemic (n = 27) and preepidemic (n = 13) strains of multiresistant Shigella sonnei biotype g. A class 1 integron was also found in two epidemic strains. Gene cassettes within these integrons account for resistance to commonly used therapeutic agents.

An Escherichia coli strain, isolated from wild reindeer in a remote mountain area, contained a class 1 integron with two unusual features: a group II intron and a cassette with homology to a superintegron cassette. Alignments indicate that attC sites of gene cassettes may be insertion sites for introns.

The genetic structure and evolution of a novel exchangeable meningococcal genomic island was defined for the important human pathogen Neisseria meningitidis. In 125 meningococcal strains tested, one of three unrelated nucleotide sequences, designated exl (exchangeable locus), was found between a gene required for heme utilization, hemO, and col, encoding a putative Escherichia coli collagenase ...

Multiple gene silencing is being required to target and tangle metabolic pathways in eukaryotes and researchers have to develop a subtle method for construction of RNA interference (RNAi) cassettes. Although, several vectors have been developed due to different screening and cloning strategies but still some potential limitations remain to be dissolved. Here, we worked out a simple cloning stra...