PURPOSE Nonsyndromic autosomal recessive optic atrophy (arOA) is extremely rare and its existence was disputed until a locus, optic atrophy 6 (OPA6), was mapped to 8q. Recently, a second locus, OPA7, was found on 11q in several families from North Africa, with one presumably ancestral mutation of transmembrane protein 126A (TMEM126A). Here we report an independently ascertained large consanguin...

We have previously described (L. M. Vaughan, P. R. Smith, and T. J. Foster, Infect. Immun. 61:2172-2181, 1993) the construction of a kanamycin-resistant aromatic-dependent mutant of Aeromonas salmonicida, the causative agent of furunculosis, and its use as a live vaccine. Here we describe the construction of an unmarked aroA deletion mutant and examine the nature and magnitude of immune respons...

Listeria monocytogenes can be used to deliver protein antigens or DNA and mRNA encoding such antigens directly into the cytosol of host cells because of its intracellular lifestyle. In this study, we compare the in vivo efficiencies of activation of antigen-specific CD8 and CD4 T cells when the antigen is secreted by L. monocytogenes or when antigen-encoding plasmid DNA or mRNA is released by s...

A differential PCR technique detected the transcriptional downregulation of the mss1 (mammalian suppressor of svg1) gene in murine J774A.1 macrophages following uptake of Salmonella typhimurium. This downregulation was also noted after entry of virulent strains of Listeria monocytogenes and Shigella flexneri, two other facultative intracellular bacterial species. In contrast, uptake of nonpatho...

A Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium aroA-deficient delivery system was used to target the immunosuppressive protein Salp15 to antigen-presenting cells. In vitro and in vivo infections with Salp15-containing Salmonella resulted in an impaired CD4(+)-T-cell activation, suggesting that the protein was produced by antigen-presenting cells in a physiologically active form.

The complete Shiga toxin B subunit and two N-terminal segments of the B subunit have been inserted into a cell surface exposed loop of the LamB protein, and expression of the hybrid proteins from three different promoter systems, i.e., (i) an in vitro-inducible tac promoter that provides high-level expression, (ii) the iron-regulated aerobactin promoter presumably induced in vivo under the iron...