The transgenic expression of a toxin gene or a thymidine kinase gene under the control of cell type-specific promoter/enhancer has been shown to be useful for removing a specific cell population in mice. However, this approach requires extensive analysis of the control elements for gene expression in the preparation of the transgenic constructs, and furthermore, the toxin gene might be expresse...

Only a few methods exist for simple, sensitive and rapid detection of alpha-toxin in clinical and biological samples. The aim of our study was to establish a procedure for the production of an antibody against a recombinant antigen with confirmed sequence identity. We applied a noble approach based on proteomics using a mass spectrometer for the conclusive identification of the recombinant alph...

Background: DNA immunization is an appropriate method to produce an immunological response. Pseudomonas aeruginosa produces exotoxin A which is highly cytotoxic for eukaryotic cells. Since domains II (translocation domain) and 1b of the toxin have antigenic qualities, so they could be  useful candidates to protect against pseudomonas infections. Objectives: To evaluate if recombinant plasmid co...

Anthrax toxin gene expression in Bacillus anthracis is dependent on the presence of atxA, a trans-acting regulatory gene located on the resident 185-kb plasmid pXO1. In atxA+ strains, expression of the toxin genes (pag, lef, and cya) is enhanced by two physiologically significant signals: elevated CO2/bicarbonate and temperature. To determine whether increased toxin gene expression in response ...

Abstract Breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) resist conventional treatments and cause tumor recurrence. Almost 25% of breast cancers overexpress human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2). Here we developed a novel multi-targeted nanosystem to specifically eradicate HER2 + BCSCs. Plasmids containing CXCR1 promoter, PE38 toxin, 5?UTR the basic fibroblast factor-2 (bFGF 5'UTR) were constructed....

The genus Conus comprises approximately 700 species of venomous marine cone snails that are highly efficient predators of worms, snails, and fish. In evolutionary terms, cone snails are relatively young with the earliest fossil records occurring in the Lower Eocene, 55 Ma. The rapid radiation of cone snail species has been accompanied by remarkably high rates of toxin diversification. To shed l...

OBJECTIVES Fidaxomicin, which was recently approved for the treatment of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea, demonstrates narrow-spectrum bactericidal activity via inhibition of RNA polymerase. In this study we evaluated its inhibitory activity versus C. difficile toxin gene expression and toxin production by quantifying toxin mRNA and protein. METHODS The effects of fidaxomicin, its ...

Tetanus toxin is a powerful neurotoxin known to inhibit neurotransmitter release. The tetanus toxin light chain is a metalloprotease that cleaves some members of the synaptobrevin gene family with high specificity. Here, we report the expression of a synthetic gene encoding the tetanus toxin light chain in the seminiferous epithelium of transgenic mice. Spermatogenesis was severely impaired and...

H-NS is an abundant nucleoid-associated protein involved in the maintenance of chromosomal architecture in bacteria. H-NS also has a role in silencing the expression of a variety of environmentally regulated genes during growth under nonpermissive conditions. In this study we demonstrate a role for H-NS in the negative modulation of expression of several genes within the ToxR virulence regulon ...

background: adhesion and biofilm formation are two important steps in candida pathogenesis. the aim of the current study was to investigate the presence of bcr1 gene in candida albicans (c. albicans) isolates from women with vaginal candidiasis and its impact on biofilm formation. methods: we used 50 clinical isolates which confirmed c. albicans by pcr-rflp. then total rna was extracted from c....