The Mesorhizobium loti strain R7A symbiosis island is a 502-kb chromosomally integrated element which transfers to nonsymbiotic mesorhizobia in the environment, converting them to Lotus symbionts. It integrates into a phenylalanine tRNA gene in a process mediated by a P4-type integrase encoded at the left end of the element. We have determined the nucleotide sequence of the island and compared ...

Group B streptococcus (GBS) pili may enhance colonization and infection by mediating bacterial adhesion to host cells, invasion across endothelial and epithelial barriers, and resistance to bacterial ingestion and killing by host phagocytes. However, it remains unclear how pilus expression is regulated and how modulation of pilus production affects GBS interactions with the human host. We inves...

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a major cause of nosocomial infections, particularly in immunocompromised patients or in individuals with cystic fibrosis. The notable ability of P. aeruginosa to inhabit a broad range of environments, including humans, is in part due to its large and diverse genomic repertoire. The genomes of most strains contain a significant number of large and small genomic islands...

Citrobacter rodentium is a murine pathogen that is now widely used as an in vivo model for gastrointestinal infections due to its similarities with human enteropathogens, such as the possession of a locus for enterocyte effacement (the LEE island). We studied the lrp gene of C. rodentium and found that it encodes a product highly similar to members of the Lrp (leucine-responsive regulatory prot...

Type IV pili are virulence factors in various bacteria and mediate, among other functions, the colonization of diverse surfaces. Various subclasses of type IV pili have been identified, but information on pilus expression, biogenesis, and the associated phenotypes is sparse for the genus Yersinia. We recently described the identification of PypB as a transcriptional regulator in Yersinia entero...

One hundred and two Streptococcus agalactiae (group B streptococcus [GBS]) isolates were collected from dairy cattle with subclinical mastitis in Eastern China during 2011. Clonal groups were established by multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), respectively. Capsular polysaccharides (CPS), pilus and alpha-like-protein (Alp) family genes were also charact...

conclusions our results indicated that the dissemination of pi-1 was widespread in s. pneumoniae isolates, although no pi-2 isolates were detected. furthermore, the frequency of rlra and rrgc of clinical isolates was significantly more than that of normal flora isolates. results the results confirmed the presence of rlra and rrgc genes in both clinical (n = 39) and normal flora (n = 26) isolate...

Neocypholaelaps kreiteri n. sp. is described based on the morphology of adult females, males, deutonymphs, protonymphs and larvae collected on inflorescences of Cocos nucifera L. (Arecaceae) in La Réunion Island, Indian Ocean. This is the first species of Neocypholaelaps reported from that island. It is most similar to N. cocos Evans, 1963 and N. stridulans Evans, 1955. A discussion is presente...

The pilus is an extracellular structural part that can be detected in some Streptococcus pneumoniae ( S. ) isolates (type I pili are found approximately 30% of strains, while type II 20%). It anchored to the cell wall by LPXTG-like motifs on peptidoglycan. Two kinds have been discovered, namely, pilus-1 and pilus-2. former encoded islet 1 (PI-1) a polymer formed protein subunits RrgA, RrgB RrgC...