The in vitro activity of sparfloxacin, a new quinolone, was compared with those of ciprofloxacin and fleroxacin against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, greater than 90% of which were isolated from blood culture specimens of cancer patients. Sparfloxacin was extremely active against Acinetobacter species, Aeromonas hydrophila, Citrobacter diversus, Enterobacter species, Escherichia col...

The inhibition of Citrobacter freundii cephalosporinase activity by moxalactam is shown to be due to the formation of a transiently stable covalent complex, probably acyl enzyme. The covalent complex formed was identified by coelution of [14C] moxalactam with the enzyme by using Sephadex G-25 gel filtration in the presence of 5.7 M guanidine hydrochloride and by analytical isoelectric focusing....

With a modification of Taylor's decarboxylation broth, histidine decarboxylase was detected in Enterobacter aerogenes, Morganella morganii, Raoultella ornithinolytica, and some strains of Citrobacter youngae and Raoultella planticola. This method provides a useful confirmatory test for identification of E. aerogenes strains.

Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) and enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) translocate dozens of type III secretion system effectors, including the WxxxE effectors Map, EspM and EspT that activate Rho GTPases. While map, which is carried on the LEE pathogenicity island, is absolutely conserved among EPEC and EHEC strains, the prevalence of espM and espT is not known. Here we report the resu...

A bifunctional aldolase/kinase enzyme named DLF has been constructed by gene fusion through overlap extension. This fusion enzyme consists of monomeric fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase (FBPA) from Staphylococcus carnosus and the homodimeric dihydroxyacetone kinase (DHAK) from Citrobacter freundii CECT 4626 with an intervening linker of five amino acid residues. The fusion protein was expresse...

A study was performed to determine the effect of parenteral treatment with four broad-spectrum cephalosporins (cefoperazone, ceftriaxone, ceftazidime, and cefepime) on the number of aerobic gram-negative rods and on the outgrowth of Candida albicans and a multiresistant strain of Citrobacter freundii in the feces of mice. The estimated fractions of a parenteral dose that were excreted into the ...

Resistance to quinolones in Gram-negative bacteria is usually mediated by the following: (i) chromosomal mutations that alter the target enzymes, DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV, in their quinolone resistance-determining regions (QRDR), (ii) changes in drug entry (loss of porin channels), and (iii) the presence of plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) determinants [qnrA, qnrB, qnrS, qnrC...

A series of bacteriophages specific for Escherichia coli (E-1, E-2, E-3, and E-4), Citrobacter freundii (phi I, phi II, and phi III), Enterobacter cloacae (Ent), and Shigella spp. (Sh) have been isolated from hospital sewage. These bacteriophages, in combination with Felix Salmonella phage O-I, were used as a diagnostic phage typing set which included seven phage preparations: O-I, C (phi I and...

Background. The dietary usage of carrageenan as common food additive has increased observably over the last 50 years. But there is substantial controversy about its safety. Methods. We investigated whether the κ-carrageenan could enhance lipopolysaccharide-induced IL-8 expression by studying its actions on the TLR4-NF-κB pathway. The aggravating effect of κ-carrageenan on Citrobacter freundii D...

A novel carbapenem, SF2103A, is a strong inhibitor of various types of 3-lactamase. Equimolar concentrations of SF2103A completely inactivated the cephalosporinases of Proteus vulgaris and Citrobacter freundii and type lb and type II penicillinases mediated by R plasmids in a progressive manner. The inactivation of the two penicillinases and P. vulgaris cephalosporinase was apparently irreversi...