Pseudorabies virus (PrV) is the etiological agent of Aujeszky's disease, a disease that causes heavy economic losses in the swine industry. A rational approach to the generation of an effective vaccine against this virus requires an understanding of the immune response induced by it and of the role of the various viral antigens in inducing such a response. We have constructed mutants of PrV [st...

Equipment and additionally required solutions The -Gal Reporter Gene Assay can be performed in all automated or manual luminometers in tube and microplate format, as well as in scintillation counters. When using the microplate format, black or white microplates must be used. Except for redist. water (required for reconstitution and dilution purposes), the kit contains all assay reagents for lys...

Lysozyme production is a frequent property of staphylococcal strains isolated from various sources; all 503 tested strains of Staphylococcus aureus and 13 out of 35 strains of Staphylococcus epidermidis produced an enzyme lysing Micrococcus lysodeikticus as tested by a modified plate method. Lysozyme production by staphylococci is more frequent than the production of free coagulase, clumping fa...

Daptomycin, a new lipopeptide antibiotic, is highly bactericidal against the majority of Gram-positive human pathogens, including methicillin-resistant (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci. Its mechanism of action is unique resulting in the destruction of the membrane potential without lysing the cell wall. The mechanism of action of daptomycin, its antibacterial spectrum, the developmen...

The faecal material of seven species of attine ants from the genera Cyphomyrmex, Apterostigma, Myrmicocrypta, Sericomyrmex, and Atta has been shown to contain c+amylase and chitinase, but only a trace of uricase. Chitinase probably serves a beneficial rBle in the fungus-culturing activities of the primitive form.3 by contributing to the degradation of chitinous substrates, such as insect cuticl...

Using oriented circular dichroism, we have found that magainin adopts an alpha-helical conformation with two distinct orientations when interacting with a lipid bilayer. At low concentrations, magainin is absorbed parallel to the membrane surface. However, at high concentrations, magainin is inserted into the membrane. This transition occurs at roughly the same critical concentration required f...

Many strains of Corynebacterium diphtheriae carry phages capable of lysing other strains. Diphtheria phages are type-specific and do not lyse strains which are serologically unrelated but susceptibility to a phage may vary among different members of the same serological type and this can be used to differentiate subtypes of different biological behaviour. Phage-resistant mutants are readily sel...

Surface IR (infrared) modes of crystalline and fumed (amorphous) silica particles, calcined at temperatures up to 1095 degrees C, have been studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The ability of these same particles to lyse cells has been measured by a hemolysis protocol. The untreated crystalline and amorphous materials differ by a factor of 40 in specific surface area, and the int...

Intracellular dissolution of inhaled inorganic particles is an important clearance mechanism of the lung and occurs in phagolysosomal vacuoles of phagocytes. Flow cytometric measurements of intraphagolysosomal pH in alveolar macrophages (AM) obtained from beagle dogs, Wistar rats, and from a baboon were made using fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled amorphous silica particles (FSP). AM were obta...

Different approaches were used to examine the function of teichoic acids (TA) as phage receptors among selected Listeria strains, and to identify and characterize specific receptor structures of host cells belonging to different serovars. This included successive removal of cell wall constituents, preparation and purification of TA, and GLC analysis of TA components. Adsorption of Listeria mono...