Search results for "Bacteria"

Antimicrobial and antistaphylococcal biofilm activity from the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus

2010

Aims:  Staphylococcal biofilm-associated infections are resistant to conventional antibiotics. Consequently, new agents are needed to treat them. With this aim, we focused on the effector cells (coelomocytes) of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus immune system. Methods and Results:  We tested the activity of the 5-kDa peptide fraction of the cytosol from coelomocytes (5-CC) against a group of Gram-positive, Gram-negative bacteria and fungi. We determined minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) ranging from 253·7 to 15·8 mg ml−1. We observed an inhibitory activity and antibiofilm properties of 5-CC against staphylococcal biofilms of reference strains Staphylococcus epidermidis DSM 3269 an…

P783 Ciprofloxacin resistance in ESBL producing enterobacteriaceae colonizing the gut in IBD patients

2017

The gut microbiota structure of the terrestrial isopod Porcellionides pruinosus (Isopoda: Oniscidea)

2020

We used a combination of culture-dependent and independent approaches to study in depth the microbial community associated with the digestive tract of the terrestrial isopod Porcellionides pruinosus (Brandt, 1833). Specimens from different sampling sites in Tunisia harbored distinct microbiota profiles indicating the impact of both host origin and environmental factors on shaping the microbial flora within P. pruinosus. Our results revealed unexpected bacterial diversity especially via metagenomic analysis; a total of 819 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) assigned to two major bacterial phyla; Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes. We used Nutrient Agar to isolate the cultivable fraction of bac…

Effect of different salting technologies on the chemical and microbiological characteristics of PDO Pecorino Siciliano cheese

2011

The present work was carried out to evaluate the effect of two salting technologies [dry salting (DS) and the combined dry-brine salting (DBS)] on the chemicophysical and microbiological characteristics of PDO Pecorino Siciliano cheeses of different final weight (6 and 12 kg). Dry matter was significantly influenced by both salting process and final size. Twelve kilogram cheeses treated by DBS showed higher protein content with higher soluble nitrogen per cent than 6 kg cheeses. Salt content was in the range 3.1–4.0% on dry matter. The colour did not show significant differences for any of the factors, but 12 kg cheeses subjected to DS showed higher yellow index than the other cheeses. The …

Tellurite-dependent blackening of bacteria emerges from the dark ages

2019

Environmental contextAlthough tellurium is a relatively rare element in the earth’s crust, its concentration in some niches can be naturally high owing to unique geology. Tellurium, as the oxyanion, is toxic to prokaryotes, and although prokaryotes have evolved resistance to tellurium, no universal mechanism exists. We review the interaction of tellurite with prokaryotes with a focus on those unique strains that thrive in environments naturally rich in tellurium. AbstractThe timeline of tellurite prokaryotic biology and biochemistry is now over 50 years long. Its start was in the clinical microbiology arena up to the 1970s. The 1980s saw the cloning of tellurite resistance determinants whil…

Comparison of epifluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry in counting freshwater picophytoplankton

2021

The smaller the phytoplankton, the greater effort is required to distinguish individual cells by optics-based methods. Flow cytometry is widely applied in marine picophytoplankton research, but in freshwater research its role has remained minor. We compared epifluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry in assessing the composition, abundance and cell sizes of autofluorescent picophytoplankton in epilimnia of 46 Finnish lakes. Phycocyaninrich picocyanobacteria were the most dominant. The two methods yielded comparable total picophytoplankton abundances, but the determination of cell sizes, and thus total biomasses, were on average an order of magnitude higher in the microscopy results. Howev…

Vertical stratification of bacteria and archaea in sediments of a small boreal humic lake

2019

Blue biotechnology: enhancement of bioremediation using bacterial biofilms on biodegradable scaffolds

2016

Petroleum hydrocarbons are still the most threatening environmental pollutants. A promising non invasive and low-cost technology for the treatment of contaminated sites is based on bioremediation by biodegrading microorganism endowed with catabolic ability towards oil and derivatives. New methods are needed to enhance and optimize natural biodegradation, such as the immobilization of hydrocarbons degraders in many types of supports. We developed a scaffold-bacteria bioremediation system to clean up oil contamination based on degradable 3D scaffolds. The polycaprolactone component is biodegradable, produced in the melt, i.e. at low cost and without the use of toxic solvents. The biofilm is m…

Potentiation of the cytotoxic activity of copper by polyphosphate on biofilm-producing bacteria: A bioinspired approach

2012

Adhesion and accumulation of organic molecules represent an ecologically and economically massive problem. Adhesion of organic molecules is followed by microorganisms, unicellular organisms and plants together with their secreted soluble and structure-associated byproducts, which damage unprotected surfaces of submerged marine structures, including ship hulls and heat exchangers of power plants. This is termed biofouling. The search for less toxic anti-biofilm strategies has intensified since the ban of efficient and cost-effective anti-fouling paints, enriched with the organotin compound tributyltin, not least because of our finding of the ubiquitous toxic/pro-apoptotic effects displayed b…

BLAST Database with all accesible non-tuberculous mycobacteria genomic sequences (Oct, 2018)

2019

In our work "Towards next generation diagnostics for tuberculosis: identification of novel molecular targets by large-scale comparative genomics" (https://doi.org/10.1101/569384 ). We look for M. tuberculosis genes that are not present in organisms other tan MTBC. This database corresponds with the described database of 4,277 NTM assemblies.