Flavobacterium heparinum (now Pedobacter heparinus) is a Gram-negative soil bacterium which can produce yellow pigments. It synthesizes five enzymes that degrade glycosoaminoglycan molecules. The study of this unique bacterium has been limited by the absence of a genetic manipulation system. In this paper, the construction of a conjugation/integration plasmid system and a broad-host-range plasm...

background: dna immunization with plasmid dna encoding bacterial, viral, parasitic and tumor antigens has been reported to trigger protective immunity. objective: to evaluate the use of a dna immunization strategy for protection against anthrax, a plasmid was constructed. methods: the partialsequence of protective antigen of bacillus anthracis, amino acids 175-764, as a potent immunogenic targe...

objective: il18 is a cytokine that plays an important role in the t-cell-helper type 1 (th1) response and hence, plasmid-encoded il18 is considered as a potent genetic adjuvant for dna vaccine studies. in this study, a bicistronic eukaryotic plasmid capable of secreting a more stable mouse il18 (fused with fcγ2a fragment) was constructed and expression of this chimer cytokine was also assessed....

Rotavirus nonstructural glycoprotein NSP4 can induce diarrhea in newborn mice. It has been suggested that NSP4 may be a key determinant for rotavirus pathogenesis and a target for vaccine development. In order to study the biological and morphological role of NSP4 a large amount of the purified protein and antibody against it are required. Simian rotavirus SA11 was propagated in BSCl cell,...

We report the construction of two novel Escherichia coli strains (DH1lacdapD and DH1lacP2dapD) that facilitate the antibiotic-free selection and stable maintenance of recombinant plasmids in complex media. They contain the essential chromosomal gene, dapD, under the control of the lac operator/promoter. Unless supplemented with IPTG (which induces expression of dapD) or DAP, these cells lyse. H...

Replicating plasmid shuttle vectors are key tools for efficient genetic and metabolic engineering applications, allowing the development of sustainable bioprocesses using non-model organisms with unique capabilities. To date, very limited manipulation has been achieved in thermophilic acetogen, Moorella thermoacetica, partly due to lack suitable vectors. However, M. thermoacetica considerable p...

The construction and partial characterization of recombinant bacterial plasmids carrying DNA sequences that hybridize with rat skeletal muscle actin and a myosin light chain mRNA is described. DNA of one clone hybridizes specifically with the muscle-specific alpha-actin mRNA. Three plasmid clones contain DNA inserts that hybridize with muscle as well as with nonmuscle actin mRNA. A fifth plasmi...

The influenza virus is a respiratory pathogen with a negative-sense, segmented RNA genome. Construction of recombinant influenza viruses in the laboratory was reported starting in the 1980s. Within a short period of time, pioneer researchers had devised methods that made it possible to construct influenza viral vectors from cDNA plasmid systems. Herein, we discuss the evolution of influenza vir...