BACKGROUND Nitrilase is an important member of the nitrilase superfamiliy. It has attracted substantial interest from academia and industry for its function of converting nitriles directly into the corresponding carboxylic acids in recent years. Thus nitrilase has played a crucial role in production of commercial carboxylic acids in chemical industry and detoxification of nitrile-contaminated w...

The Gibberella fujikuroi complex includes many plant pathogens of agricultural crops and trees, all of which have anamorphs assigned to the genus Fusarium. In this study, an interspecific hybrid cross between Gibberella circinata and Gibberella subglutinans was used to compile a genetic linkage map. A framework map was constructed using a total of 578 AFLP markers together with the mating type ...

Fusarium verticillioides (teleomorph, Gibberella moniliformis) is an important plant pathogen that causes seedling blight, stalk rot, and ear rot in maize (Zea mays). During infection, F. verticillioides produce fumonsins B1 (FB1) that pose a serious threat to human and animal health. Recent studies showed that Set1, a methyltransferase of H3K4, was responsible for toxin biosynthesis in filamen...

BACKGROUND Patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) with Pseudomonas aeruginosa lung infections produce endobronchial mucus plugs allowing growth of obligate anaerobes including Prevotella spp. Whether obligate anaerobes contribute to the pathophysiology of CF lung disease is unknown. METHODS The virulence of Prevotella intermedia and Ps aeruginosa was investigated in vitro and in mice, antibodies ...

Natural mycoflora and co-occurrence of fumonisins (FB(1), FB(2)) and aflatoxins (AFB(1), AFB(2), AFG(1) and AFG(2)) in freshly harvested corn grain samples from four regions of Brazil were investigated. Fusarium verticillioides was predominant in all samples. Analysis of fumonisins showed that 98% of the samples were contaminated with FB(1) and 74.5% with FB(1) + FB(2), with toxin levels rangin...

Five strains of Prevotella intermedia were examined for their ability to coaggregate with various gram-positive and gram-negative species of oral bacteria. Two of the P. intermedia strains coaggregated with selected Actinomyces species, P. intermedia 27 with Actinomyces viscosus T14V and Actinomyces naeslundii ATCC 12104, PK606, PK984, and PK947, and P. intermedia 113 with Actinomyces odontolyt...

During a blood meal, Lutzomyia intermedia sand flies transmit Leishmania braziliensis, a parasite causing tegumentary leishmaniasis. In experimental leishmaniasis, pre-exposure to saliva of most blood-feeding sand flies results in parasite establishment in absence of any skin damages in mice challenged with dermotropic Leishmania species together with saliva. In contrast, pre-immunization with ...