Helicobacter pylori, an important etiologic agent in a variety of gastroduodenal diseases, produces large amounts of urease as an essential colonization factor. We have demonstrated previously that urease is located within the cytoplasm and on the surface of H. pylori both in vivo and in stationary-phase culture. The purpose of the present study was to assess the relative contributions of cytop...

The proton pump inhibitors omeprazole and lansoprazole and its acid-activated derivative AG-2000, which are potent and specific inhibitors of urease of Helicobacter pylori (K. Nagata, H. Satoh, T. Iwahi, T. Shimoyama, and T. Tamura, Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 37:769-774, 1993), inhibited the growth of H. pylori. The growth was inhibited not only in urease-positive clinical isolates but also ...

During a study of ureolytic microbial calcium carbonate (CaCO(3)) precipitation by bacterial isolates collected from different environmental samples, morphological differences were observed in the large CaCO(3) crystal aggregates precipitated within bacterial colonies grown on agar. Based on these differences, 12 isolates were selected for further study. We hypothesized that the striking differ...

The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of two different humic acid (HA) fractions, high molecular weight (HMW 100–300 kDa) and low molecular weight (LMW 10–20 kDa), extracted from peat on the activity and stability of Jack Bean urease. HMW HA significantly inhibited urease activity at pH 6.0 but did not influence the activity at pH 7.0 and 8.0. HMW HA stabilised urease activity over a ...

Survival of Helicobacter pylori in acid depends on intrabacterial urease. This urease is a Ni(2+)-containing oligomeric heterodimer. Regulation of its activity and assembly is important for gastric habitation by this neutralophile. The gene complex encodes catalytic subunits (ureA/B), an acid-gated urea channel (ureI), and accessory assembly proteins (ureE-H). With the use of yeast two-hybrid a...

Helicobacter pylori urease is essential for colonization of the gastric mucosa irrespective of whether the stomach is acidic or hypochlorhydric. It has therefore been speculated that the enzyme functions as an adhesin. The aim of this study was to compare the adherence of H. pylori N6 with the adherence of an isogenic urease-negative mutant, strain N6(ureB::TnKm), to gastric cells. Strain N6 or...

The complete genome of the gram-negative bacterial pathogen Helicobacter pylori, an important etiological agent of gastroduodenal disease in humans, has recently been published. This sequence revealed that the putative products of roughly one-third of the open reading frames (ORFs) have no significant homology to any known proteins. To be able to analyze the functions of all ORFs, we constructe...

Purpose: To develop a multiplex-urease PCR assay specific for ureA and ureB genes directly from gastric biopsy specimens and compare the results of multiplex-urease PCR assay with rapid urease test (RUT) and histopathology. Methodology: This study was conducted on 109 patients. A RUT was run; histopathological staining and multiplex urease PCR were applied to biopsy specimen to detect H. pylori...

Gut-associated microbiota of ants include Rhizobiales bacteria with affiliation to the genus Bartonella. These bacteria may enable the ants to fix atmospheric nitrogen, but no genomes have been sequenced yet to test the hypothesis. Sequence reads from a member of the Rhizobiales were identified in the data collected in a genome project of the ant Harpegnathos saltator. We present an analysis of...