Analysis of temporal gene expression during Bacillus subtilis spore germination and outgrowth

Bacillus subtilis forms dormant spores upon nutrient depletion. Under favorable environmental conditions, the spore breaks its dormancy and resumes growth in a process called spore germination and outgrowth. To elucidate the physiological processes that occur during the transition of the dormant spore to an actively growing vegetative cell, we...

Functional analysis of three plasmids from Lactobacillus plantarum

Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS1 harbors three plasmids, pWCFS101, pWCFS102, and pWCFS103, with sizes of 1,917, 2,365, and 36,069 bp, respectively. The two smaller plasmids are of unknown function and contain replication genes that are likely to function via the rolling-circle replication mechanism. The host range of the p WCFS101 replicon includes...

Lack of effect of coumarin on unscheduled DNA synthesis in the in vivo rat hepatocyte DNA repair assay

The ability of coumarin to induce UDS in male Sprague-Dawley CD rat hepatocytes in vivo was assessed using the unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS) assay. From a preliminary toxicity study the oral maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of coumarin was determined to be 320mg/kg body weight. For the UDS studies, rats were treated with 0 (corn oil control), 32 ...

Verocytotoxin inhibits mitogenesis and protein synthesis in purified human glomerular mesangial cells without affecting cell viability: Evidence for two distinct mechanisms

Acute renal failure is one of the hallmarks of the hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Infection with a verocytotoxin (VT)- or Shiga-like toxin (SLT)-producing Escherichia coli has been strongly implicated in the etiology of the epidemic form of HUS. The functional receptor for these closely related toxins appears to be a glycosphingolipid,...

A convenient and reproducible method to genetically transform bacteria of the genus Bifidobacterium

A protocol was developed for the introduction of foreign plasmid DNA into various Bifidobacterium strains. The method, which is applicable to all Bifidobacterium species tested so far, is based on electroporation of bacteria made competent by preincubation in electroporation buffer for several hours at 4°C. Transformation of Bifidobacterium...

Structural and functional analysis of two cryptic plasmids from Lactobacillus pentosus MD353 and Lactobacillus plantarum ATCC 8014

The DNA sequences of a 2.4 kb plasmid (p353-2) from Lactobacillus pentosus MD353 and a 1.9 kb plasmid (p8014-2) from Lactobacillus plantarum ATCC 8014 show 81.5% overall similarity. Both plasmids carry elements (replication protein gene, plus-origin and minus-origin of replication), which are typical of plasmids that replicate via a rolling...

Effects of microinjected photoreactivity enzyme on thymine dimer removal and DNA repair synthesis in normal human and xeroderma pigmentosum fibroblasts

UV-induced thymine dimers (10 J/m2 of UV-C) were assayed in normal human and xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) fibroblasts with a monoclonal antibody against these dimers and quantitative fluorescence microscopy. In repair-proficient cells dimer-specific immunofluorescence gradually decreased with time, reaching about 25% of the initial fluorescence...

DNA repair and survival in UV-irradiated chicken-embryo fibroblasts

The role of the pyrimidine dimer in cell killing, DNA synthesis and repair has been studied by utilizing the light-requiring DNA-repair mechanism of photo-reactivation in UV-irradiated chicken-embryo fibroblasts. Survival, as measured by colony-forming ability at 41??C, is increased in cells left in the light. The initial inhibition of DNA...

Platinum compounds with anti-tumour activity

Ten platinum (Pt) coordination complexes with different ligands, comprising both Pt(II) and Pt(IV) complexes of which the cis-compounds all possessed at least some anti-tumour activity and the trans-compounds were inactive, were tested as to their effect on cell survival and the induction and repair of DNA damage in cultured Chinese hamster...

Repair of X-ray damage in DNA of cultivated cells from patients having xeroderma pigmentosum

Repair replication and rejoining of single-strand breaks after X-irradiation in human-skin fibroblasts from normal donors and several patients with xeroderma pigmentosum have been compared. The xeroderma strains showed different levels of repair replication following UV exposure. Repair replication and rejoining of breaks, which are considered...