排序方式: 共有351条查询结果,搜索用时 0 毫秒
1.
Functional interactions between coexisting toxin-antitoxin systems of the ccd family in Escherichia coli O157:H7 下载免费PDF全文
Toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems are widely represented on mobile genetic elements as well as in bacterial chromosomes. TA systems encode a toxin and an antitoxin neutralizing it. We have characterized a homolog of the ccd TA system of the F plasmid (ccd(F)) located in the chromosomal backbone of the pathogenic O157:H7 Escherichia coli strain (ccd(O157)). The ccd(F) and the ccd(O157) systems coexist in O157:H7 isolates, as these pathogenic strains contain an F-related virulence plasmid carrying the ccd(F) system. We have shown that the chromosomal ccd(O157) system encodes functional toxin and antitoxin proteins that share properties with their plasmidic homologs: the CcdB(O157) toxin targets the DNA gyrase, and the CcdA(O157) antitoxin is degraded by the Lon protease. The ccd(O157) chromosomal system is expressed in its natural context, although promoter activity analyses revealed that its expression is weaker than that of ccd(F). ccd(O157) is unable to mediate postsegregational killing when cloned in an unstable plasmid, supporting the idea that chromosomal TA systems play a role(s) other than stabilization in bacterial physiology. Our cross-interaction experiments revealed that the chromosomal toxin is neutralized by the plasmidic antitoxin while the plasmidic toxin is not neutralized by the chromosomal antitoxin, whether expressed ectopically or from its natural context. Moreover, the ccd(F) system is able to mediate postsegregational killing in an E. coli strain harboring the ccd(O157) system in its chromosome. This shows that the plasmidic ccd(F) system is functional in the presence of its chromosomal counterpart. 相似文献
2.
3.
Liana dynamics in secondary and mature forests are well known in tropical areas dominated by native tree species. Outside the tropics and in secondary forests invaded by exotic species, knowledge is scarce. In this study, we compare liana communities between secondary and mature forests dominated by native species in a subtropical montane area of Sierra de San Javier, Tucuman, Argentina. Additionally, we evaluate changes of liana communities in secondary forests with increasing densities of Ligustrum lucidum and Morus alba, two of the most invasive exotic trees of the area. We surveyed liana species richness and density in three 30-year secondary patches, four 60-year secondary patches, and four mature patches dominated by native tree species, to analyze changes in liana communities with forest age. Within each patch, we sampled 10–25 20 × 20 m quadrats. Additionally, we surveyed liana density and species richness in secondary forest patches with different densities of L. lucidum and M. alba. In native-dominated forests, liana species richness increased and showed a tendency of increasing basal area from 30-year secondary forests to mature forests. Liana density was highly variable, and most of the species were shared between native-dominated secondary and mature forests. Liana density and species richness decreased with L. lucidum density, whereas in secondary forests highly dominated by M. alba, lianas increased in density. Overall, lianas followed different pathways influenced by native forest succession and exotic tree invasions. 相似文献
4.
Antonio Montresor Arminder Deol Natacha à Porta Nam Lethanh Dina Jankovic 《PLoS neglected tropical diseases》2016,10(4)
Background
Estimating the reduction in levels of infection during implementation of soil-transmitted helminth (STH) control programmes is important to measure their performance and to plan interventions. Markov modelling techniques have been used with some success to predict changes in STH prevalence following treatment in Viet Nam. The model is stationary and to date, the prediction has been obtained by calculating the transition probabilities between the different classes of intensity following the first year of drug distribution and assuming that these remain constant in subsequent years. However, to run this model longitudinal parasitological data (including intensity of infection) are required for two consecutive years from at least 200 individuals. Since this amount of data is not often available from STH control programmes, the possible application of the model in control programme is limited. The present study aimed to address this issue by adapting the existing Markov model to allow its application when a more limited amount of data is available and to test the predictive capacities of these simplified models.Method
We analysed data from field studies conducted with different combination of three parameters: (i) the frequency of drug administration; (ii) the drug distributed; and (iii) the target treatment population (entire population or school-aged children only). This analysis allowed us to define 10 sets of standard transition probabilities to be used to predict prevalence changes when only baseline data are available (simplified model 1). We also formulated three equations (one for each STH parasite) to calculate the predicted prevalence of the different classes of intensity from the total prevalence. These equations allowed us to design a simplified model (SM2) to obtain predictions when the classes of intensity at baseline were not known. To evaluate the performance of the simplified models, we collected data from the scientific literature on changes in STH prevalence during the implementation of 26 control programmes in 16 countries. Using the baseline data observed, we applied the simplified models and predicted the onward prevalence of STH infection at each time-point for which programme data were available. We then compared the output from the model with the observed data from the programme.Results
The comparison between the model-predicted prevalence and the observed values demonstrated a good accuracy of the predictions. In 77% of cases the original model predicted a prevalence within five absolute percentage points from the observed figure, for the simplified model one in 69% of cases and for the simplified model two in 60% of cases. We consider that the STH Markov model described here could be an important tool for programme managers to monitor the progress of their control programmes and to select the appropriate intervention. We also developed, and made freely available online, a software tool to enable the use of the STH Markov model by personnel with limited knowledge of mathematical models. 相似文献5.
6.
Natacha E. Piloni Juan C. Perazzo Virginia Fernandez Luis A. Videla Susana Puntarulo 《Biometals》2016,29(1):119-130
This work was aimed to test the hypothesis that sub-chronic administration of iron-dextran (Fe-dextran) (six doses of 50 mg Fe-dextran/kg) to rats triggers a transient oxidative stress in brain and mechanisms of cellular antioxidant defence. After 2 h of administration of the 6th dose, a significant increase of total Fe, the labile Fe pool (LIP), the lipid radical (LR?)/α-tocopherol (α-T) content ratio were observed, as compared to values in control brain homogenates. The ascorbyl radical (A?)/ascorbate (AH?) content ratio and the oxidation rate of 2′,7′-dichlorodihidrofluorescein (DCFH-DA) were significantly higher in Fe-dextran treated rats, as compared to values in brain from control rats after 4 h treatment. An increase in both catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity was observed at 8 and 1–2 h, respectively. No significant changes were detected in the nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) levels in nuclear extracts from rat brains after 1–8 h of Fe-dextran administration. After 2 h of Fe administration Fe concentration in cortex, striatum and hippocampus was significantly increased as compared to the same areas from control animals. Both, CAT and SOD activities were significantly increased in cortex after Fe administration over control values, without changes in striatum and hippocampus. Taken as a whole, sub-chronic Fe administration enhances the steady state concentration of Fe in the brain LIP that favors the settlement of an initial oxidative stress condition, both at hydrophilic and lipophilic compartments, resulting in cellular protection evidenced by antioxidant enzyme upregulation. 相似文献
7.
8.
9.
Britta Gribsholt Eric Struyf Anton Tramper Maria G. I. Andersson Natacha Brion Loreto De Brabandere Stefan Van Damme Patrick Meire Jack J. Middelburg Frank Dehairs Henricus T. S. Boschker 《Biogeochemistry》2006,80(3):289-298
The fate and transport of watershed-derived ammonium in a tidal freshwater marsh fringing the nutrient rich Scheldt River,
Belgium, was quantified in a whole ecosystem 15N labeling experiment. In late summer (September) we added 15N-NH4+ to the flood water entering a 3477 m2 tidal freshwater marsh area, and traced the ammonium processing and retention in four subsequent tide cycles. In this paper
we present the results for the water-phase components of the marsh system and compare them to a similar experiment conducted
in spring/early summer (May). Changes in concentration and isotopic enrichment of NO3− + NO2−, N2O, N2, NH4+ and suspended particulate nitrogen (SPN) were measured in concert with a mass balance study. All analyzed N-pools were labeled,
and 49% of the added 15NH4+ was retained or transformed. The most important pool for 15N was nitrate, accounting for 17% of 15N-transformation. N2, N2O and SPN accounted for 2.4, 0.02 and 1.4%, respectively. The temporal and spatial patterns of 15N transformation in the water phase component of the system were remarkably similar to those observed in May, indicating good
reproducibility of the whole ecosystem labeling approach, but the absolute ammonium transformation rate was 3 times higher
in May. While the marsh surface area was crucial for nitrification in May this was less pronounced in September. Denitrification,
on the other hand, appeared more important in September compared to May. 相似文献
10.
Daphné Coomans Jochen Vandenbossche Koen Homblé Eva Van den Bussche Eric Soetens Natacha Deroost 《PloS one》2014,9(8)
In the current study, we assessed whether visuospatial sequence knowledge is retained over 24 hours and whether this retention is dependent on the occurrence of eye movements. Participants performed two sessions of a serial reaction time (SRT) task in which they had to manually react to the identity of a target letter pair presented in one of four locations around a fixation cross. When the letter pair ‘XO’ was presented, a left response had to be given, when the letter pair ‘OX’ was presented, a right response was required. In the Eye Movements (EM) condition, eye movements were necessary to perform the task since the fixation cross and the target were separated by at least 9° visual angle. In the No Eye Movements (NEM) condition, on the other hand, eye movements were minimized by keeping the distance from the fixation cross to the target below 1° visual angle and by limiting the stimulus presentation to 100 ms. Since the target identity changed randomly in both conditions, no manual response sequence was present in the task. However, target location was structured according to a deterministic sequence in both the EM and NEM condition. Learning of the target location sequence was determined at the end of the first session and 24 hours after initial learning. Results indicated that the sequence learning effect in the SRT task diminished, yet remained significant, over the 24 hour interval in both conditions. Importantly, the difference in eye movements had no impact on the transfer of sequence knowledge. These results suggest that the retention of visuospatial sequence knowledge occurs alike, irrespective of whether this knowledge is supported by eye movements or not. 相似文献