Development and clinical evaluation of a rapid serodiagnostic test for toxoplasmosis of cats using recombinant SAG1 antigen

Rapid serodiagnostic methods for Toxoplasma gondii infection in cats are urgently needed for effective control of transmission routes toward human infections. In this work, 4 recombinant T. gondii antigens (SAG1, SAG2, GRA3, and GRA6) were produced and tested for the development of rapid diagnostic test (RDT). The proteins were expressed in Escherichia coli, affinity-purified, and applied onto the nitrocellulose membrane of the test strip. The recombinant SAG1 (rSAG1) showed the strongest antigenic activity and highest specificity among them. We also performed clinical evaluation of the rSAG1-loaded RDT in 182 cat sera (55 household and 127 stray cats). The kit showed 0.88 of kappa value comparing with a commercialized ELISA kit, which indicated a significant correlation between rSAG1-loaded RDT and the ELISA kit. The overall sensitivity and specificity of the RDT were 100% (23/23) and 99.4% (158/159), respectively. The rSAG1-loaded RDT is rapid, easy to use, and highly accurate. Thus, it would be a suitable diagnostic tool for rapid detection of antibodies in T. gondii-infected cats under field conditions.     

Ticks collected from selected mammalian hosts surveyed in the Republic of Korea during 2008-2009

A tick survey was conducted to determine the relative abundance and distribution of ticks associated with selected mammals in the Republic of Korea (ROK) during 2008-2009. A total of 918 ticks were collected from 76 mammals (6 families, 9 species) captured at 6 provinces and 3 Metropolitan Cities in ROK. Haemaphysalis longicornis (54.4%) was the most frequently collected tick, followed by Haemaphysalis flava (28.5%), Ixodes nipponensis (7.6%), Ixodes pomerantzevi (4.8%), Ixodes persulcatus (4.6%), and Haemaphysalis japonica (0.1%). Adults (57.0%) and nymphs (28.7%) of Ixodes and Haemaphysalis spp. were collected most frequently from medium or large mammals in this survey, while few larvae (14.3%) were collected. Hydropotes inermis was the most frequently captured mammal (52.6%), with a 16.4 tick index and 5 of 6 species of ticks collected during this survey. H. longicornis (69.7%) was the predominant tick collected from H. inermis, followed by H. flava (22.2%), I. persulcatus (6.1%), I. nipponensis (1.8%), and H. japonica (0.2%).     

Maintained seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis among the residents of Jeju island, Korea

Seroepidemiological status of toxoplasmosis among the residents of Jeju island was surveyed and evaluated by ELISA with crude extract of Toxoplasma gondii. The sera of 2,348 residents (male 1,157 and female 1,191) were collected and checked for the IgG antibody titers, which showed 13.2% positive rate (309 sera). The positive rates were increasing gradually according to the age from 4.3% in teenage to 20.6% in seventies. The positive rates were significantly different between the sex by 16.2% for male and 10.2% for female (P<0.05). This positive rate of toxoplasmosis in Jeju island residents is regarded relatively higher than any other regions of Korea. And the high positive rate may be maintained continuously among Jeju island residents without any clear reasons until now but due to some parts peculiar socio-cultural tradition of Jeju island. Therefore, it is necessary to study further the epidemiology of toxoplasmosis of Jeju island.     

Increased susceptibility of human-PrP transgenic mice to bovine spongiform encephalopathy infection following passage in sheep

The risk of the transmission of ruminant transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) to humans was thought to be low due to the lack of association between sheep scrapie and the incidence of human TSE. However, a single TSE agent strain has been shown to cause both bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and human vCJD, indicating that some ruminant TSEs are transmissible to humans. While the transmission of cattle BSE to humans in transgenic mouse models has been inefficient, indicating the presence of a significant transmission barrier between cattle and humans, BSE has been transmitted to a number of other species. Here, we aimed to further investigate the human transmission barrier following the passage of BSE in a sheep. Following inoculation with cattle BSE, gene-targeted transgenic mice expressing human PrP showed no clinical or pathological signs of TSE disease. However, following inoculation with an isolate of BSE that had been passaged through a sheep, TSE-associated vacuolation and proteinase K-resistant PrP deposition were observed in mice homozygous for the codon 129-methionine PRNP gene. This observation may be due to higher titers of the BSE agent in sheep or an increased susceptibility of humans to BSE prions following passage through a sheep. However, these data confirm that, contrary to previous predictions, it is possible that a sheep prion is transmissible to humans and that BSE from other species is a public health risk.     

Hairpin conformation of an 11-mer peptide

An 11-mer peptide taken from a subsequence of the human protein ubiquitin was synthesized. The peptide has been fully characterized by NMR spectroscopy using chemical shift analysis and by NOE measurements. The conformation was calculated using state of the art MD methods of protein chemistry. A hairpin conformation was found which is to a large part identical with the structure of this peptide fragment within the human ubiquitin. The surprising result that already an 11-mer peptide adopts a hairpin conformation in aqueous solution is discussed in terms of initials sites for protein folding.     

NaCl胁迫对马齿苋光合作用及叶绿素荧光特性的影响

以马齿苋为材料,采用温室盆栽法研究了14d NaCl胁迫处理对其幼苗生长、光合作用和叶绿素荧光特性的影响。结果表明：(1) 马齿苋幼苗的鲜重和株高在25mmol?L-1Nacl胁迫时与对照无显著差异,但其随着NaCl浓度的继续增加均显著降低,且其生物量受到的抑制早于株高。(2) NaCl胁迫下,马齿苋幼苗叶片净光合速率(Pn)降低,胞间二氧化碳(Ci)浓度增大,且两者的变化幅度随着NaCl浓度增加而增大。(3) NaCl胁迫下,马齿苋幼苗叶片的初始荧光(Fo)、最大荧光(Fm)、可变荧光(Fv)、恒态荧光(Fs)、恒态荧光与初始荧光差值(△Fo)、PSⅡ潜在光化学效率( Fv/Fo ) 和PSⅡ最大光化学效率( Fv/Fm) 均降低,叶片光化学荧光猝灭系数(qP) 也在NaCl胁迫下降低,而非光化学荧光猝灭系数(NPQ)则上升;在0-50 mmol?L-1NaCl胁迫下,幼苗叶片各荧光参数下降幅度小于其他高浓度NaCl胁迫。可见,在NaCl胁迫条件下,马齿苋幼苗叶片的光合作用受光抑制伤害,但其在低浓度NaCl下能够较多地将光能用于光化学反应,光抑制程度较低,保持了较高的净光合速率,明显减轻盐胁迫对植株生长的影响,表现出一定的耐盐性。     

Shotgun proteomics of cyanobacteria--applications of experimental and data-mining techniques.

Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic bacteria notable for their ability to produce hydrogen and a variety of interesting secondary metabolites. As a result of the growing number of completed cyanobacterial genome projects, the development of post-genomics analysis for this important group has been accelerating. DNA microarrays and classical two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) were the first technologies applied in such analyses. In many other systems, 'shotgun' proteomics employing multi-dimensional liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry has proven to be a powerful tool. However, this approach has been relatively under-utilized in cyanobacteria. This study assesses progress in cyanobacterial shotgun proteomics to date, and adds a new perspective by developing a protocol for the shotgun proteomic analysis of the filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena variabilis ATCC 29413, a model for N(2) fixation. Using approaches for enhanced protein extraction, 646 proteins were identified, which is more than double the previous results obtained using 2DE. Notably, the improved extraction method and shotgun approach resulted in a significantly higher representation of basic and hydrophobic proteins. The use of protein bioinformatics tools to further mine these shotgun data is illustrated through the application of PSORTb for localization, the grand average hydropathy (GRAVY) index for hydrophobicity, LipoP for lipoproteins and the exponentially modified protein abundance index (emPAI) for abundance. The results are compared with the most well-studied cyanobacterium, Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. Some general issues in shotgun proteome identification and quantification are then addressed.