The aim of this study was the analysis of the cytokine response in BALB/c mice infected with the highly virulent RH or the weakly virulent Beverley strains of Toxoplasma gondii. Analysis of cytokine messages showed increased expression of IL12, IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha, but not IL4 mRNAs in spleen cells after infection with the T. gondii strains RH and Beverley. High levels of circulating IL12 a...

the pectic enzymes produced in vitro by 8 isolates (5 highly virulent and 3 weakly virulent) of fusarium oxysporum , were detected by spectrophotometry, and characterized by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with substrate-containing gels (zymogram). analysis of the polygalacturonase (pg) isozyme banding patterns (zymogram) identified two distinct phenotypes among the isolates from chickpea (c...

The virulent strains of Haemophilus parasuis are the causative agents of Glässer's disease, which can cause systemic infection and result in polyserositis, meningitis and arthritis. The development of novel, effective vaccines would be beneficial to preventing H. parasuis infections. Here, we report a novel immunogenic protein, glutathione-binding protein A (GbpA), which can elicit a significan...

To rapidly and specifically identify highly virulent influenza virus strains, we prepared an azobenzene-tethered hairpin-type peptide nucleic acid, bisPNA-AZO, which has a complementary sequence against a highly conserved genomic RNA sequence within the ribonucleoprotein complex of the 2009 pandemic influenza A virus, H1N1 subtype. bisPNA-AZO recognizes the conserved virus genome sequence in a ...

We exploited the natural histidine auxotrophy of Francisella species to develop hisD (encodes histidinol dehydrogenase) as a positive selection marker. A shuttle plasmid (pBR103) carrying Escherichia coli hisD and designed for cloning of PCR fragments replicated in both attenuated and highly virulent Francisella strains. During this work, we formulated a simplified defined growth medium for Fra...

A syndrome of community acquired liver abscess caused by highly virulent hypermucoviscous, rmpA positive Klebsiella pneumoniae strains occurs with high incidence in Asia. We here report a case complicated by metastatic infection, to our knowledge, the first one described in Northern Europe. This and other recently reported cases indicate the emergence of this severe syndrome outside of Asia.

Since 2013, highly virulent porcine epidemic diarrhea virus has caused considerable economic losses in the United States. To determine the relation of US strains to those recently causing disease in Germany, we compared genomes and found that the strain from Germany is closely related to variants in the United States.

This study describes the draft genome sequences of four Yersinia enterocolitica strains, originally isolated from ungulate carcasses. These isolates were typed biochemically and two were determined to be highly virulent (biotype 1B). The draft genome sequences had a mean size of 4.77 Mb and a mean G+C content of 47.1%.

Infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa leads to impairment of healing and many deaths in severe burn patients. The phenotypic diversity of P. aeruginosa strains makes it difficult to define a therapeutic strategy. Here we report the genome sequence of a highly virulent strain of P. aeruginosa, VA-134, isolated from a burn patient.