Genome Analysis of Legionella pneumophila Strains Using a Mixed-Genome Microarray

Background: Legionella, the causative agent for Legionnaires' disease, is ubiquitous in both natural and man-made aquatic environments. The distribution of Legionella genotypes within clinical strains is significantly different from that found in environmental strains. Developing novel genotypic methods that offer the ability to distinguish...

Standardisation of environmental enrichment for laboratory mice and rats: Utilisation, practicality and variation in experimental results

Rats and mice are the most commonly used species as laboratory animal models of diseases in biomedical research. Environmental factors such as cage size, number of cage mates and cage structure such as environmental enrichment can affect the physiology and behavioural development of laboratory animals and their well-being throughout their lives....

Identification of glucose-fermenting bacteria present in an in vitro model of the human intestine by RNA-stable isotope probing

16S rRNA-based stable isotope probing (SIP) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy-based metabolic profiling were used to identify bacteria fermenting glucose under conditions simulating the human intestine. The TIM-2 in vitro model of the human intestine was inoculated with a GI tract microbiota resembling that of the small intestine...

Microbial metabolomics: Replacing trial-and-error by the unbiased selection and ranking of targets

Microbial production strains are currently improved using a combination of random and targeted approaches. In the case of a targeted approach, potential bottlenecks, feed-back inhibition, and side-routes are removed, and other processes of interest are targeted by overexpressing or knocking-out the gene(s) of interest. To date, the selection of...

Fusion of mass spectrometry-based metabolomics data

A general method is presented for combining mass spectrometry-based metabolomics data. Such data are becoming more and more abundant, and proper tools for fusing these types of data sets are needed. Fusion of metabolomics data leads to a comprehensive view on the metabolome of an organism or biological system. The ideas presented draw upon...

Identification of disease- and nutrient-related metabolic fingerprints in osteoarthritic guinea pigs

Osteoarthritis (OA), one of the most common diseases among the elderly, is characterized by the progressive destruction of joint tissues. Its etiology is largely unclear and no effective disease-modifying treatment is currently available. Metabolic fingerprinting provides a novel tool for the identification of biomarkers. A metabolic fingerprint...

Bacterial deposition to fluoridated and non-fluoridated polyurethane coatings with different elastic modulus and surface tension in a parallel plate and a stagnation point flow chamber

Deposition of three marine bacterial strains with different cell surface hydrophobicities from artificial seawater to polyurethane coatings on glass with different surface tensions and elastic modulus was studied in situ in a parallel plate (PP) and stagnation point (SP) flow chamber. Different surface tensions of the coatings were established...

A comparative analysis of bone and cartilage metabolism in two strains of guinea-pig with varying degrees of naturally occurring osteoarthritis

Objective: To evaluate the interaction of bone and cartilage in knee osteoarthritis (OA) pathogenesis in two guinea-pig strains with appreciable differences in bone metabolism. Design: Two guinea-pig strains were evaluated for their susceptibilities to OA using semi-quantitative histological grading of knee joints and quantification of...

The effect of organic nitrogen sources on recombinant glucoamylase production by Aspergillus niger in chemostat culture

Aspergillus niger B1, a recombinant strain carrying 20 extra copies of the native glucoamylase gene, was grown in glucose-limited chemostat cultures supplemented with various organic nitrogen sources (dilution rate 0.12 ± 0.01 h-1, pH 5.4). In cultures supplemented with L-alanine, L-methionine, casamino acids, or peptone, specific glucoamylase ...

Role of volatile fatty acids in development of the cecal microflora in broiler chickens during growth

It is known that volatile fatty acids can inhibit growth of species of the family Enterobacteriaceae in vitro. However, whether these volatile fatty acids affect bacterial populations in the ceca of chickens is unknown. Therefore, a study was conducted to investigate if changes in volatile fatty acids in ceca of broiler chickens during growth...

Screening and characterization of Lactobacillus strains producing large amounts of exopolysaccharides

A total of 182 Lactobacillus strains were screened for production of extracellular polysaccharides (EPS) by a new method: growth in liquid media with high sugar concentrations. Sixty EPS-positive strains were identified; 17 strains produced more than 100 mg/l soluble EPS. Sucrose was an excellent substrate for abundant EPS synthesis. The ability...

Species and strain differences in the hepatic cytochrome P450-mediated biotransformation of 1,4-dichlorobenzene

Our goal was to characterize possible species and strain differences in the hepatic microsomal biotransformation of 1,4-dichlorobenzene (1,4-DCB). Experiments compared extent of labeled 1,4-DCB conversion to oxidized metabolites, glutathione conjugates, and covalently bound metabolites by hepatic microsomes from humans, from male B6C3F1 mice,...

Variability in cholesterol content in serum and aortic tissue in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice is comparable in inbred (129/Sv) and outbred (mixed 129/Sv and C57BL/6) mice [1]

Chemicals/CAS: Apolipoproteins E; Cholesterol, 57-88-5