A strain of streptomycin-resistant Listeria monocytogenes LM35 isolated from imported frozen beef was examined in this study. In conjugation studies, the L. monocytogenes LM35 strain harbouring two plasmids of 54, 3.0, 2.8 and 2.7 kilobase was used as the donor and streptomycin-sensitive and plasmidless L. monocytogenes LM65 and LM100 strains as the recipients. Streptomycin resistance was trans...

Examination of Haemophilus influenzae strains isolated in New Orleans revealed ampicillin-resistant strains with plasmids of size classes not previously detected in North America. The molecular weight of plasmids in five ampicillin-resistant strains ranged from 0.8 x 10(6) daltons (0.8 Mdal) to 36 Mdal. The molecular weights of the plasmids were determined by sucrose gradient centrifugation, el...

The Class D β-lactamases have emerged as a prominent resistance mechanism against β-lactam antibiotics that previously had efficacy against infections caused by pathogenic bacteria, especially by Acinetobacter baumannii and the Enterobacteriaceae. The phenotypic and structural characteristics of these enzymes correlate to activities that are classified either as a narrow spectrum, an extended s...

Inefficient DNA delivery methods and low expression of plasmid DNA have been major obstacles for the use of plasmid DNA as vaccine for HIV/AIDS. This review describes successful efforts to improve DNA vaccine methodology over the past ~30 years. DNA vaccination, either alone or in combination with other methods, has the potential to be a rapid, safe, and effective vaccine platform against AIDS....

Previous results from this laboratory [Kao et al, (1976) Biochem. J. 154, 471-480] demonstrated that a low-molecular-weight DNA species, "sDNA", present in high concentrations during rapid larval growth of the yellow-fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, may be an intermediate in DNA replication. We have now determined the life-span profiles of synthetic rates and the steady-state contents of sDNA and...

Plasmids are extrachromosomal pieces of double-stranded circular DNA which have the capability to replicate independently of the.Growth dynamics of multiple component communities of bacteria. Thus curing by acridines normally involves loss of the whole plasmid.Plasmids are extrachromasomally replicating molecules of DNA present in bacteria.Plasmid curing is a process of completely removing plas...

A remarkable non-linearity was found between dose and transfection activities of non-viral gene delivery systems, such as a Lipofectamine/DNA complex and an octaarginine-modified multifunctional envelope-type nano device (R8-MEND). We measured the nuclear delivery of pDNA to distinguish the non-linearity in intracellular pharmacokinetics or pharmacodynamics after transfection with R8-MEND at di...

A bacterial plasmid is a species of nonessential extrachromosomal deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) that replicates autonomously as a stable component of the cell's genome. Naturally occurring plasmids range in size from one to several hundred kilobases and in copy number from one to several hundred per cell. Copy number is a fixed characteristic of any plasmid under constant conditions and is contro...

Four laboratory strains and two isolates of Azotobacter vinelandii were found to contain plasmids. Twenty-five laboratory strains which could fix nitrogen did not have free, covalently closed circular plasmid DNA. The plasmids varied in size from 9 to 52 megadaltons, and each strain yielded only one plasmid. No discernible differences in ability to fix nitrogen were found between plasmid-bearin...

Incompatibility group IncA/C plasmids are large, low copy, theta-replicating plasmids that have been described in the literature for over 40 years. However, they have only recently been intensively studied on the genomic level because of their associations with the emergence of multidrug resistance in enteric pathogens of humans and animals. These plasmids are unique among other enterobacterial...