Wolbachia are intracellular microorganisms that form maternally-inherited infections within numerous arthropod species. These bacteria have drawn much attention, due in part to the reproductive alterations that they induce in their hosts including cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), feminization and parthenogenesis. Although Wolbachia's presence within insect reproductive tissues has been well de...

In vitro translation of the mRNA from the congenital goiter tissue of Afrikander cattle directs the synthesis of two (Mr congruent to 250,000 and congruent to 75,000, respectively) abnormal thyroglobulin-like polypeptides. Common features of these polypeptides are the following: 1) both are immunoprecipitated by purified, anti-thyroglobulin antibody; 2) the signal sequence is present on their n...

Human parvovirus B19 infection in pregnancy represents a potential hazard to the fetus since fetal loss or fetal hydrops can occur. The risk of fetal loss due to transplacental B19 transmission has been evaluated in several studies using different diagnostic methods on maternal and fetal specimens. We analyzed the diagnostic value of virological and serological techniques on maternal serum, fet...

To increase our understanding of the genes involved in flower development in citrus, we identified genes differentially expressed between juveniles and adults of an early-flowering mutant of trifoliate orange (precocious trifoliate orange, Poncirus trifoliata L. Raf.) by suppressive subtractive hybridization (SSH) and macroarray hybridization analyses. Based on dot blot analysis, we confirmed t...

BACKGROUND Direct smear examination with Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) staining for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) is cheap and easy to use, but its low sensitivity is a major drawback, particularly in HIV seropositive patients. As such, new tools for laboratory diagnosis are urgently needed to improve the case detection rate, especially in regions with a high prevalence of TB and HIV. OB...

Diversity among the pathogenic strains of Theileria equi (T. equi), a major agent of equine piroplasmosis, can affect the appropriate detection of parasite and host immunization. Production of recombinant surface proteins from an infected horse in natural endemic area provides a reliable tool for immunodiagnosis of parasite. Regarding this, the present study was targeted toward the cloning, exp...

size of 150 (p >0.05). The cost of the consumables for the assay is approximately 10% less expensive than the dot blot assay. A plate containing 80 samples can be analyzed in under 30 min by the fluorescence-based assay, an eighth of the time required per sample for the dot blot; a single operator can easily assay over 1100 samples per day, compared to 240 samples by dot blot. Furthermore, the ...

The distribution of viruses in eastern Australian field garlic was evaluated. Detection assays were developed that involved generic RT-PCR for the Allexivirus, Carlavirus and Potyvirus genera followed by virus-specific colorimetric dot-blot hybridization. Assays targeted potyviruses (onion yellow dwarf virus (OYDV), shallot stripe (SYSV), leek (LYSV)), carlaviruses (garlic common latent (GCLV) ...