BACKGROUND The high degree of phenotypic similarity among Trichophyton species makes their identification difficult. OBJECTIVES The current study aims to establish the use of rolling circle amplification (RCA) based on internal transcribed spacer ribosomal DNA (ITS rDNA) as a powerful, simple, and rapid procedure for distinguishing closely related organisms, and specifically to identify Trich...

With numerous imipenem-resistant clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa as well as in vitro-selected resistant mutants, we have demonstrated, by a simple method with a powerful cephalosporinase inhibitor, BRL42715, the contribution of chromosomal cephalosporinase in resistance to imipenem in this species.

A pentaplex PCR was developed and optimised to detect the genes that encode the five most important putative virulence factors in Aeromonas isolates. It seems to be more efficient than previously reported techniques and promises to be a powerful tool for more accurate risk assessments and for monitoring pathogenic strains.

Whole genome sequencing (WGS) is a new powerful technology for characterisation of bacterial genomes and has been used successfully to investigate Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates associated with tuberculosis (TB) outbreaks and to elucidate mutations conferring drug resistance [1–6]. Enhanced contact investigation and improved diagnosis and treatment of latent TB infection (LTBI) are an impo...

Isolates of the genera Pasteurella and Mannheimia cause a wide variety of diseases of great economic importance in poultry, pigs, cattle and rabbits. Antimicrobial agents represent the most powerful tools to control such infections. However, increasing rates of antimicrobial resistance may dramatically reduce the efficacy of the antimicrobial agents used to control Pasteurella and Mannheimia in...

The Interval Volume Decomposer (IVD) is an interface for decomposing an entire volume into interval volumes each of which characterizes a distinctive volume feature. The advantage of the IVD is that it allows us to look inside the volume by peeling interval volumes from outside to inside not only interactively but also automatically. This is achieved due to the rigorous analysis of nested struc...

Community assembly history is increasingly recognized as a fundamental determinant of community structure. However, little is known as to how assembly history may affect ecosystem functioning via its effect on community structure. Using wood-decaying fungi as a model system, we provide experimental evidence that large differences in ecosystem functioning can be caused by small differences in sp...

We determined the sequence of the intergenic spacer (IGS) 1 region, which is located between the 26S and 5S rRNA genes, in 25 species of the genus TRICHOSPORON: IGS 1 sequences varied in length from 195 to 719 bp. Comparative sequence analysis suggested that the divergence of IGS 1 sequences has been greater than that of the internal transcribed spacer regions. We also identified five genotypes...