Search results for " Virulence"

A stoichiometric perspective on host-parasite interactions

2013

Bacteriophage Adherence to Mucus Mediates Preventive Protection against Pathogenic Bacteria

2019

The mucosal surfaces of animals are habitat for microbes, including viruses. Bacteriophages—viruses that infect bacteria—were shown to be able to bind to mucus. This may result in a symbiotic relationship in which phages find bacterial hosts to infect, protecting the mucus-producing animal from bacterial infections in the process. Here, we studied phage binding on mucus and the effect of mucin on phage-bacterium interactions. The significance of our research is in showing that phage adhesion to mucus results in preventive protection against bacterial infections, which will serve as basis for the development of prophylactic phage therapy approaches. Besides, we also reveal that exposure to m…

CHARACTERIZATION OF ATYPICAL CLAVIBACTER MICHIGANENSIS subsp. MICHIGANENSIS POPULATIONS IN GREENHOUSE TOMATOES IN ITALY

2012

The quarantine bacterium Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis (Cmm) is the agent of tomato bacterial canker (TBC), one of the most destructive bacterial diseases of this crop, that causes severe economic losses worldwide. During a recent outbreak of TBC in Sicily (insular Italy), it was impossible to amplify the pat-1 gene by PCR with CMM5/CMM6 primers from affected greenhouse-grown plants from three farms, although Cmm-like colonies were consistently isolated. Microlog metabolic profile, 16S rDNA sequencing and the positive amplification of other Cmm DNA targets supported the identification of the strains as Cmm, suggesting the occurrence of a population lacking the virulence gen…