The first genus- and subgenus-specific fluorescent oligonucleotide probes for in situ staining of Acanthamoeba are described. Sequences of these phylogeny-based probes complement the 18S rRNA and the gene encoding it (18S rDNA). The genus-specific probe (GSP) is a fluorescein-labeled 22-mer specific for Acanthamoeba as shown here by its hybridization to growing trophozoites of all 12 known Acan...

Maximum likelihood trees produced from 18S rDNA sequences separated 14 Xiphinema and five Xiphidorus nematode species from Brazil into distinct groups that concurred with their current morphological taxonomic status. Species belonging to the X. americanum group (X. brevicolle, X. diffusum, X. oxycaudatum, and X. peruvianum) formed a single group that was clearly separated from the other Xiphine...

Over the last decade, culture-independent surveys of marine picoeukaryotic diversity based on 18S ribosomal DNA clone libraries have unveiled numerous sequences of novel high-rank taxa. This newfound diversity has significantly altered our understanding of marine microbial food webs and the evolution of eukaryotes. However, the current picture of marine eukaryotic biodiversity may be significan...

Lacazia loboi is the last of the classical fungal pathogens to remain a taxonomic enigma, primarily because it has resisted cultivation and only causes cutaneous and subcutaneous infections in humans and dolphins in the New World tropics. To place it in the evolutionary tree of life, as has been done for the other enigmatic human pathogens Pneumocystis carinii and Rhinosporidium seeberi, we amp...

Plasmid pBG 35 contains the whole rDNA unit from flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) (Goldsbrough and Cullis, 1981). We cloned four different Eco RI restriction rDNA fragments of pBG 35 in the plasmid vector pBluescript SK+ (pBS). One of the subclones (p2.1) contained the most part of the 5 ́-end of 18S rRNA gene (1581 bp) and was used as a heterologous DNA probe in molecular hybridization experiments...

The fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) technique has been applied to somatic chromosomes in the medicinally important species, Bunium persicum, to elucidate its karyotypes. The bicolour FISH technique involving 18S-5.8S-26S and 5S ribosomal RNA genes as probes was used to assign physical localization and measurement of rDNA sites on homologous pairs of chromosomes. The two 18S-5.8S-26S rR...

Three types of nuruk were made from rice, wheat, and a rice-glasswort (6:4) mixture. Nuruk, makgeolli, and vinegar were manufactured with rice nuruk (RN), wheat nuruk (WN), and rice-glasswort nuruk (RGN). The saccharifying activity and ethanol productivity of nuruk, polyphenol content in makgeolli, and acetic acid and polyphenol content in the vinegar were increased as the result of the additio...

Paramecium bursaria, a species belonging to the genus Paramecium, is quite unique in that the species intracellularly maintains several hundreds of symbiotic algae. This species has been regarded as firstly branched-off species within this genus, and reported its higher genetic variation. We determined rDNA 5’ half regions of 13 strains of P. bursaria, and investigated their intraspecific genet...

Increased human activities and environmental changes may lead to genetic diversity variations of Cladocerans in water. Daphnia pulex are distributed throughout the world and often regarded as a model organism. The 16S rDNA, cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI), and 18S genes were used as molecular marks. The genetic diversity and phylogeny of D. pulex obtained from 10 water bodies in the middle...

Fibre-FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) has not been used in filamentous fungi before to the authors' knowledge. In this study, this technique was applied to a filamentous ascomycete, Cochliobolus heterostrophus, to visualize the organization of the rRNA gene clusters (rDNA). Using protoplasts embedded in agarose, DNA fibres were released from interphase nuclei and extended on a glass s...