We have analyzed a locus on the annotated Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS1 genome that showed homology to the staphylococcal agr quorum-sensing system and designated it lam for Lactobacillus agr-like module. Production of the lamBDCA transcript was shown to be growth phase dependent. Analysis of a response regulator-defective mutant (Delta)lamA) in an adherence assay showed that lam regulates adhe...

The transfer of novel genetic material into the genomes of bacterial viruses (phages) has been widely documented in several host-phage systems. Bacterial genes are incorporated into the phage genome and, if retained, subsequently evolve within them. The expression of these phage genes can subvert or bolster bacterial processes, including altering bacterial pathogenicity. The phage phiCDHM1 infe...

In this study, we investigated the rate of colonization of skin of children with atopic dermatitis (AD) by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and characterized the isolates. Active skin lesions in pediatric AD patients were cultured with Rodac Staph (Komed, Korea). S. aureus isolates were examined for drug susceptibilities, analyzed for the eta, etb, tst, and pvl genes, and type...

V(D)J rearrangements occur within loci of TCR and BCR genes, thus generating the diversity of the AgR repertoire. In addition, interlocus V(D)J rearrangements occur, giving rise to so-called "trans-rearrangements." Such trans-rearrangements increase the diversity of the immune receptor repertoire and can be expressed as functional chimeric TCR proteins on the surface of T cells. Although chimer...

b. Nominative object: AGR P AGR ' s s 6 5 5 5 5 Spec AGR V NP PP s There 3PL are people at the door < LF movement c. Accusative object: AGR P AGR P AGR ' s o o 6 5 5 5 5 5 Spec Spec AGR V NP o John reads a book < LF movement In (1a), the "functional" head AGR enters into a double agreement relation s(ubject) with its specifier: the 0-features of the specifier are copied onto the head, and a Cas...

conclusions there were diverse phenotypic changes among vancomycin-non-susceptible s. aureus isolates. this may be due to the variety of related regulatory systems. the diversity of phenotypic expression may result in its misidentification in routine laboratory checks. materials and methods a total of 130 methicillin-resistant s. aureus (mrsa) isolates were studied, including 49 vssa, 28 hvisa,...

BACKGROUND Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (SP) is the major pathogenic species of dogs involved in a wide variety of skin and soft tissue infections. The accessory gene regulator (agr) locus of Staphylococcus aureus has been extensively studied, and it influences the expression of many virulence genes. It encodes a two-component signal transduction system that leads to down-regulation of surfa...

RNAIII, the effector of the agr quorum-sensing system, plays a key role in virulence gene regulation in Staphylococcus aureus, but how RNAIII transcriptionally regulates its downstream genes is not completely understood. Here, we show that RNAIII stabilizes mgrA mRNA, thereby increasing the production of MgrA, a global transcriptional regulator that affects the expression of many genes. The mgr...

The agr quorum-sensing system of Staphylococcus aureus modulates the expression of virulence factors in response to autoinducing peptides (AIPs). Recent studies have suggested a role for the agr system in S. aureus biofilm development, as agr mutants exhibit a high propensity to form biofilms, and cells dispersing from a biofilm have been observed displaying an active agr system. Here, we repor...

In contrast to developed countries, only limited data on the prevalence, resistance and clonal structure of Staphylococcus aureus are available for African countries. Since S. aureus carriage is a risk factor for postoperative wound infection, patients who had been hospitalized in surgical wards in a Nigerian University Teaching Hospital were screened for S. aureus carriage. All S. aureus isola...