Mitochondria contain their own DNA (mtDNA), which codes for 13 proteins (all subunits of the respiratory chain complexes), 22 tRNAs and 2 rRNAs. Several mtDNA point mutations as well as deletions have been shown to be causative in well-defined mitochondrial disorders. A mixture of mutated and wild type mtDNA (heteroplasmy) is found in most of these disorders. Inheritance of mtDNA is maternal, a...

Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) represents a heterogeneous group of E. coli strains. The pathogenicity and clinical relevance of these bacteria are still controversial. In this review, we describe the clinical significance of EAEC regarding patterns of infection in humans, transmission, reservoirs, and symptoms. Manifestations associated with EAEC infection include watery diarrhea, mu...

Burkholderia cenocepacia is a member of the Burkholderia cepacia complex, a group of metabolically versatile bacteria that have emerged as opportunistic pathogens in cystic fibrosis and immunocompromised patients. Previously a screen of transposon mutants in a rat pulmonary infection model identified an attenuated mutant with an insertion in paaE, a gene related to the phenylacetic acid (PA) ca...

DNA polymorphism analysis and pathogenicity assays were used to characterize strains of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae and Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola collected from rice leaves in West Africa. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), repetitive sequence-based polymerase chain reaction, fluorescent amplified fragment-length polymorphism (FAFLP) analyses were assessed for molecular c...

Direct interspecies transmissions of group A rotaviruses (RVA) have been reported under natural conditions. However, the pathogenicity of RVA has never been directly compared in homologous and heterologous hosts. The bovine RVA/Cow-tc/KOR/K5/2004/G5P[7] strain, which was shown to possess a typical porcine-like genotype constellation similar to that of the G5P[7] prototype RVA/Pig-tc/USA/OSU/197...

Determining the mechanisms of host-pathogen interaction is critical for understanding and mitigating infectious disease. Mechanisms of fungal pathogenicity are of particular interest given the recent outbreaks of fungal diseases in wildlife populations. Our study focuses on Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), the chytrid pathogen responsible for amphibian declines around the world. Previous st...

during 2001-2005, 79 isolates of rhizoctonia from seed rot, seedling damping –off, root rot and dry rot canker of sugar beet were collected. based on morphological characteristics, number of nuclei per cell and hyphal diameter, isolates were classified in two groups, binucleate (4 isolates) and multinucleate (75 isolates). among 75 multinucleate isolates ,27 isolates were identified as  ag4, 28...

Abstract Transcription factors (TFs) play critical roles in the control of development and pathogenicity phytopathogens by directly or indirectly regulating expression downstream genes. Here, we identified characterized a zinc finger TF UvMsn2 Ustilaginoidea virens , homolog MoMsn2 from rice blast fungus. Heterogenous complementation assay revealed that fully restored defects ?Momsn2 mutant veg...

BACKGROUND A school-based electrocardiographic screening program has been developed in Japan. However, few data are available on the genetic characteristics of pediatric patients with long-QT syndrome who were diagnosed by this program. METHODS AND RESULTS A total of 117 unrelated probands aged ≤18 years were the subjects who were referred to our centers for genetic testing. Of these, 69 subj...