The impact of functional genomics on microbiological food quality and safety

In the food processing industry, unwanted occurrence and growth of spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms is a key concern. A prime example is the extremely heat resistant bacterial endospores, microbial survival structures, that create problems due to their ability to survive classical thermal treatments and their ability to subsequently...

Association of polymorphisms of the tumour necrosis factor receptors I and II and rheumatoid arthritis

Objective. To assess the role of polymorphisms of the tumour necrosis factor (TNF) receptors, TNF-RI (p55) and TNF-RII (p75) in the susceptibility to and severity of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Dutch patients. Methods. A total of 319 consecutive RA patients, and a cohort of 90 female RA patients with detailed 12-yr follow-up were genotyped for...

Complement-resistant Moraxella catarrhalis forms a genetically distinct lineage within the species

Moraxella catarrhalis is a bacterial species that has been implicated in 15^20% of all cases of otitis media in the USA and the complementresistantvariant of M. catarrhalis has been considered particularly pathogenic. A collection of geographically diverse, complement-sensitive (n = 28) and -resistant strains (n = 47) of M. catarrhalis was...

Establishing a campylobacter-free pig population through a top-down approach

Fattening pigs are often infected with campylobacter. To eliminate campylobacter from the pig population, a top-down approach, involving the breeding and reproduction farms, seems appropriate. In order to investigate the effectiveness of a top-down approach, sows' faeces from the following farms were analysed for the presence of campylobacter:...

Molecular characterization of two lipoxygenases from barley

Two full-length lipoxygenase cDNA sequences (LoxB and LoxC) from barley (Hordeum distichum cv. L. Triumph) are described. The cDNAs share high homology with the barley LoxA cDNA. Southern blotting experiments indicate single copy numbers of the three lipoxygenase genes. RFLP mapping revealed the presence of single lipoxygenase loci. LoxA and...

Bcl I polymorphism in the fibrinogen β-chain gene is associated with the risk of familial myocardial infarction by increasing plasma fibrinogen levels: A case-control study in a sample of GISSI-2 patients

The aim of this study was to investigate the association of the Bcl I β-chain fibrinogen polymorphism with the risk of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and its relationship with fibrinogen levels in the Italian population. We studied 102 AMI patients, selected within the framework of the GISSI-2 trial, who had a familial history of arterial...

Evaluation of molecular typing techniques to assign genetic diversity among Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains

Discrimination of strains within the species Saccharomyces cerevisiae was demonstrated by the use of four different techniques to type 15 strains isolated from spoiled wine and beer. Random amplified polymorphic DNA with specific oligonucleotides and PCR fingerprinting with the microsatellite oligonucleotide primers (GAC)5 and (GTG)5 enabled...

Population haplotype analysis and evolutionary relations of the COL2A1 gene

We have determined the allele frequencies mad pairwise linkage disequilibria of restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) distributed over the entire COL2A1 gene (spanning 23 · 6 kb) in a population of unrelated Dutch Caucasians. Pairwise linkage disequilibrium analysis of RFLP sites between exon 5B and 51 indicated a high degree of...

Gender-related association between β-fibrinogen genotype and plasma fibrinogen levels and linkage disequilibrium at the fibrinogen locus in Greenland Inuit

Elevated plasma fibrinogen levels represent an increased risk for cardiovascular diseased, but the mechanism explaining this association is still not clear. Genetic differences may play a role, because it has been shown that individuals who carry the rare alleles of polymorphisms in the genes for the Bβ-chain (Bcl I and G/A 455) and the Aα-chain...