Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) cause hemorrhagic colitis (HC) and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) in humans. Outbreaks are linked to bovine food sources. STEC O157:H7 has been responsible for the most severe outbreaks worldwide. However, non-O157 serotypes have emerged as important enteric pathogens in several countries. The main virulence factor of STEC is the production of Shig...

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Recent evidence suggests that interference competition between bacteria shapes the distribution of the opportunistic pathogen Staphylococcus aureus in the lower nasal airway of humans, either by preventing colonization or by driving displacement. This competition within the nasal microbial community would add to known host factors that affect colonization. We tested the role of toxin-mediated i...

Alkaline phosphatase activity (APA) has been proposed as a proxy to determine phosphorus (P) stress in marine phytoplankton. Phytoplankton typically meet P requirements by incorporating dissolved inorganic P (DIP), but can use reservoirs of dissolved organic P (DOP) by expressing alkaline phosphatase (AP). Enzyme-labeled fluorescence (ELF) was used to determine group-specific APA within 4 phyto...

Blooms of cyanobacteria are frequent in Brazilian water reservoirs used for drinking water. The warning the presence potential toxin-producing is typically based on time-consuming microscopy, rather than specific molecular detection toxic genes cyanobacteria. In this study, we developed a quantitative PCR assay producing neurotoxin saxitoxin (STX). targets sxtA gene sxt cluster. Potential and d...

A mathematical model is proposed to study the role of distributed delay on plankton ecosystem in the presence of a toxic producing phytoplankton. The model includes three state variables, namely, nutrient concentration, phytoplankton biomass, and zooplankton biomass. The release of toxic substance by phytoplankton species reduces the growth of zooplankton and this plays an important role in pla...