Disseminated nocardiosis in three macaque monkeys

Extrapulmonary nocardiosis was diagnosed at necropsy in two rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) and one pigtailed monkey (M. nemestrina) over a four-year period in a large primate center. Typical lesions were multiple pyogranulomatous foci in the liver, intestines, peritoneum, lung and brain. Partially acid-fast, branching, filamentous organisms were seen in all lesions. Nocardia sp. was isolated from two cases. We postulate that two of the monkeys were infected by the oral route because of the distribution of lesions.     

Ca2+ channel antagonist actions in bladder smooth muscle: comparative pharmacologic and [3H]nitrendipine binding studies

The actions of a series of 15 Ca2+ channel antagonists including D-600, nifedipine, and diltiazem were examined against K+ depolarization and muscarinic receptor induced responses in guinea pig bladder smooth muscle. Responses of bladder are very dependent upon extracellular Ca2+ and sensitive to the Ca2+ channel antagonists, the tonic component more than the phasic component of response. Regardless of stimulant, K+ or methylfurmethide (MF), or component of response, the same rank order of antagonist activities is expressed, suggestive of a single structure-activity relationship and the existence of a single category of binding site which may, however, exist in several affinity states. High affinity binding of [3H]nitrendipine (KD = 1.1 X 10(-10) M) occurs in bladder membranes, and similar high affinity binding was found in microsomal preparations from other smooth muscles including guinea pig and rat lung, rat vas deferens, uterus, and stomach. [3H]nitrendipine binding in the bladder was sensitive to displacement by other 1,4-dihydropyridines, paralleling their pharmacologic activities and showing excellent agreement with binding data previously obtained for guinea pig ileal smooth muscle. Comparison of pharmacologic data for inhibition of K+- and MF-induced responses by a common series of Ca2+ channel antagonists in bladder and ileum revealed excellent correlations. Neither pharmacologic nor binding studies suggest significant differences in Ca2+ channel antagonist properties in smooth muscle from bladder and intestine.     

The detection of fish pathogenVibrio anguillarum in water and fish using a species-specific DNA probe combined with membrane filtration

The marine bacteriumVibrio anguillarum causes disease in fish worldwide and is particularly devastating in aquaculture. Little is known about the ecology ofV. anguillarum in the environment and how this may relate to the pathogenicity of this organism. Combining membrane filtration and a species-specific DNA probe, culturableV. anguillarum cells were detected in water from three habitats and in chinook salmon (Onchorynchus tshawytscha) tissue samples. Results show that different marine habitats have a marked effect on cell numbers and that water temperature may play a role in the culturability and distribution ofV. anguillarum. Vibrio anguillarum was detected from the gills of salmon within 24 h of transfer of fingerlings from freshwater to seawater, with cell numbers reaching a concentration of 1.9 × 10² cells g^–1 tissue 28 days post transfer.Vibrio anguillarum cell numbers were low in the colon throughout the study, andV. anguillarum was not detected in healthy kidney samples. The methodology reported in this paper allows the accurate quantification of culturableV. anguillarum cells and has allowed a preliminary study of the ecology of this species.     

Development of a DNA probe using differential hybridization to detect the fish pathogenVibrio anguillarum

The fish pathogenVibrio anguillarum causes significant economic losses in commercially cultured fish species worldwide. At present, identification ofV. anguillarum requires conventional isolation and culturing techniques. Using differential hybridization, a 310 base pairV. anguillarum-specific DNA fragment was isolated for use as a probe. In specificity studies against 19 different bacterial species, including twoVibrio sp. and fish pathogens, and 223 marine bacterial isolates, the probe hybridized exclusively toV. anguillarum strains. The probe also strongly hybridizes to 7 of 9 serotypes tested, with serotype 09 giving a weak probe reaction and serotype O7 negative. The probe allows rapid and accurate detection of both pathogenic and environmental strains ofV. anguillarum.     

Activity of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase of an anthracycline-producing streptomycete

During fermantation studies on the production of anthracycline antibiotics by Streptomyces C5, it was observed that among the intermediate metabolism enzymes tested, only phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPCase; EC 4.1.1.31) increased significantly in specific activity during stationary phase. The specific activity of the Streptomyces C5 PEPCase increased ca. 3-fold during antibiotic production phase from the logarithmic phase levels. To characterize the regulation of the enzyme further, the Streptomyces C5 PEPCase was purified 150-fold from crude extracts. Acetyl-CoA and Mg2+ were shown to be required for PEPCase activity. The activity of the partially purified PEPCase was stimulated slightly by fructose 1,6-bisphosphate and AMP, and was inhibited severely by oxaloacetate, aspartate, malate, succinate, ATP, citrate, and CoASH.     

Nonintegrative transformation in the filamentous fungus Podospora anserina: stabilization of a linear vector by the chromosomal ends of Tetrahymena thermophila.

The effect of the chromosomal ends of Tetrahymena thermophila on the stability of linear transforming molecules in the filamentous fungus Podospora anserina was tested. A derivative of an integrative vector for this fungus has been constructed, so that after linearization, the ends of the plasmid are the telomeric sequences of T. thermophila. After transformation, this linear molecule was maintained as an extrachromosomal plasmid with no integrated copies in about 50% of the transformants. Under selective conditions, there was approximately one linear molecule per 5 to 10 nuclei, and these extrachromosomal molecules were rapidly lost under nonselective conditions. The circular plasmid carrying an inverted repeat of T. thermophila telomeres could be linearized and processed in vivo.     

The case for cloud computing in genome informatics

With DNA sequencing now getting cheaper more quickly than data storage or computation, the time may have come for genome informatics to migrate to the cloud.