Staphylococcus aureus is a common cause of intramammary infections, which frequently become chronic, associated with the ability of the bacteria to produce biofilm. Here, we report a relationship between the ability to produce chronic bovine mastitis and biofilm formation. We have classified bovine mastitis S. aureus isolates into three groups based on the presence of particular genetic element...

Mutant phoR cells show a clonal variation phenotype with respect to bacterial alkaline phosphatase (BAP) synthesis. BAP clonal variation is characterized by an alternation between a Bap+ and Bap- phenotype. The switching is regulated by the phoM operon and the presence of glucose; the pho-510 mutant form of the phoM operon abolishes both BAP clonal variation and the effect of glucose (B.L. Wann...

Bap (biofilm-associated protein) is a 254-kDa staphylococcal surface protein implicated in formation of biofilms by staphylococci isolated from chronic mastitis infections. The presence of potential EF-hand motifs in the amino acid sequence of Bap prompted us to investigate the effect of calcium on the multicellular behavior of Bap-expressing staphylococci. We found that addition of millimolar ...

The adherence of Staphylococcus aureus to soluble proteins and extracellular-matrix components of the host is one of the key steps in the pathogenesis of staphylococcal infections. S. aureus presents a family of adhesins called MSCRAMMs (microbial surface components recognizing adhesive matrix molecules) that specifically recognize host matrix components. We examined the influence of biofilm-as...

BACKGROUND Acinetobacter baumannii is commonly resistant to nearly all antibiotics due to presence of antibiotic resistance genes and biofilm formation. In this study we determined the presence of certain antibiotic-resistance genes associated with biofilm production and the influence of low iron concentration on expression of the biofilm-associated protein gene (bap) in development of biofilm ...

Lentiviral vectors are among the promising viral based-vectors in gene therapy applications, but the efficiency of their targeting needs to be improved. (Strept)avidin-biotin adaptor system is a novel approach to modify the lentiviral envelope for better targeting properties. Herein, we describe utilization of this adaptor system by designing a candidate envelope protein-bearing biotin acceptor...

A process of phase variation is described that affects the expression of Bap (biofilm-associated protein) in Staphylococcus aureus. Upon subculture of the Bap-positive S. aureus strain V329 on Congo red agar, spontaneous smooth biofilm-negative colonies appeared at a low frequency (5 x 10(-4)). Northern blot analysis of these variants with a bap-specific gene probe showed that transcription of ...

Cholera enterotoxin (CT) is produced by Vibrio cholerae and excreted into the culture medium as an extracellular protein. CT consists of one A polypeptide and five B polypeptides associated by noncovalent bonds, and CT-B interacts with CT-A primarily via the A2 domain. Treatment of CT with trypsin cleaves CT-A into A1 and A2 fragments that are linked by a disulfide bond. CT-B binds to gangliosi...

B-cell receptor-associated protein (BAP) family plays important roles in the ER homeostasis and stress responses of eukaryotic cells [1]. We reported the analysis of plant BAP-like (PBL) genes and the encoded proteins of higher land plants [2]. The origin and functional divergence of these genes among all eukaryotes, however, are poorly studied, which impedes our understanding of the functional...

Switch/sucrose non-fermentable (SWI/SNF) chromatin remodeling complexes are mutated in many human cancers. In this article, we make use of a Drosophila genetic model for epithelial tumor formation to explore the tumor suppressive role of SWI/SNF complex proteins. Members of the BAP complex exhibit tumor suppressor activity in tissue overexpressing the Yorkie (Yki) proto-oncogene, but not in tis...