Fusobacterium nucleatum is a periodontal pathogen that has been directly associated with the development and progression of periodontal disease, a widespread pathology that affects the support tissues of the tooth. We isolated a new bacteriophage (FnpΦ02) that specifically infects this bacterium. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the virion is composed of an icosahedral head and a se...

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) open reading frame (ORF) 2a contains a small internal ORF (2b) capable of encoding a protein of 70 or 73 amino acids (aa), termed E protein. The function and biochemical information of the E protein are currently not clear. In the present investigation, it was shown that the E protein was mainly located in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER...

Soil biochemical properties and microbial communities are usually considered as important indicators of soil health because of their association with plant nutrition. In this study, we investigated the impact of long-term application of bioorganic fertilizer (BOF) on soil biochemical properties and microbial communities in the apple orchard soil of the Loess Plateau. The experiment included thr...

In contrast to lytic phages, filamentous phages are assembled in the inner membrane and secreted across the bacterial envelope without killing the host. For assembly and extrusion of the phage across the host cell wall, filamentous phages code for membrane-embedded morphogenesis proteins. In the outer membrane of Escherichia coli, the protein gp4 forms a pore-like structure, while gp1 and gp11 ...

In the known monoclinic crystals the 3-dimensional structure of the hexameric, replicative helicase RepA encoded by plasmid RSF1010 shows 6-fold rotational symmetry. In contrast, in the cubic crystal form at 2.55 A resolution described here RepA has 3-fold symmetry and consists of a trimer of dimers. To study structure-function relationships, a series of repA deletion mutants and mutations yiel...

Cyanides are highly toxic and produced by various microorganisms as defence strategy or to increase their competitiveness. As degradation is the most efficient way of detoxification, some microbes developed the capability to use cyanides as carbon and nitrogen source. However, it is not clear if this potential also helps to lower cyanide concentrations in roadside soils where deicing salt appli...

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is a disease of swine, caused by an arterivirus, the PRRS virus (PRRSV). This virus infects pigs worldwide and causes huge economic losses. Due to genetic drift, current vaccines are losing their power. Adaptable vaccines could provide a solution to this problem. This study aims at producing in planta a set of antigens derived from the PRRSV ...

Our previous work demonstrated that application of a bio-organic fertilizer (BIO) to a banana mono-culture orchard with serious Fusarium wilt disease effectively decreased the number of soil Fusarium sp. and controlled the soil-borne disease. Because bacteria are an abundant and diverse group of soil organisms that responds to soil health, deep 16 S rRNA pyrosequencing was employed to character...

Helicases and translocases are proteins that use the energy derived from ATP hydrolysis to move along or pump nucleic acid substrates. Single molecule manipulation has proved to be a powerful tool to investigate the mechanochemistry of these motors. Here we first describe the basic mechanical properties of DNA unraveled by single molecule manipulation techniques. Then we demonstrate how the kno...

In contrast to lytic phages, filamentous phages are assembled in the inner membrane and 14 secreted across the bacterial envelope without killing the host. For assembly and extrusion of the 15 phage across the host cell wall, filamentous phages code for membrane-embedded morphogenesis 16 proteins. In the outer membrane of E. coli, the protein gp4 forms a pore-like structure, while gp1 17 and gp...