Search results for "Microbiology and Parasitology"
showing 10 items of 493 documents
Disentangling the rhizosphere effect on nitrate reducers and denitrifiers: insight into the role of root exudates.
2008
International audience; To determine to which extent root-derived carbon contributes to the effects of plants on nitrate reducers and denitrifiers, four solutions containing different proportions of sugar, organic acids and amino acids mimicking maize root exudates were added daily to soil microcosms at a concentration of 150 μg C g−1 of soil. Water-amended soils were used as controls. After 1 month, the size and structure of the nitrate reducer and denitrifier communities were analysed using the narG and napA, and the nirK, nirS and nosZ genes as molecular markers respectively. Addition of artificial root exudates (ARE) did not strongly affect the structure or the density of nitrate reduce…
Kinetics of Thermoascus aurantiacus solid-state fermentation on sugar-beet pulp-polysaccharide alteration and production of related enzymatic activit…
1996
International audience; The fungal solubilization of cell wall components of sugar-beet pulp, during solid-state fermentation of Thermoascus aurantiacus, is reported here. The extracellular fungal enzyme activities related to the substrate degradation were also studied. In 120 h, more than 60% of the main sugar-beet pulp polysaccharides, i.e. pectins, arabinose- and glucose-containing polysaccharides, were rapidly brought into solution by the fungus. The slow accumulation of monosaccharides compared to the fast degradation of the polysaccharides suggested that most of the released sugars were consumed by the fungus. The analysis of the enzymes present in the water extracts of the solid-stat…
The Agr communication system provides a benefit to the populations of Listeria monocytogenes in soil
2014
International audience; In this study, we investigated whether the Agr communication system of the pathogenic bacterium Listeria monocytogenes was involved in adaptation and competitiveness in soil. Alteration of the ability to communicate, either by deletion of the gene coding the response regulator AgrA (response-negative mutant) or the signal pro-peptide AgrD (signal-negative mutant), did not affect population dynamics in soil that had been sterilized but survival was altered in biotic soil suggesting that the Agr system of L. monocytogenes was involved to face the complex soil biotic environment. This was confirmed by a set of co-incubation experiments. The fitness of the response-negat…
Comparison of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and whole-genome-sequencing-based typing confirms the accuracy of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis for…
2020
Summary Aim To determine whether pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) accurately recognizes isolates belonging to clusters defined by techniques based on whole-genome sequencing (WGS) using Pseudomonas aeruginosa as a model. Methods We selected 65 isolates of ST395 P. aeruginosa isolated in seven European hospitals between 1998 and 2012. Isolates were typed by PFGE and sequenced by WGS. A core genome multi-locus sequence typing (cgMLST) analysis based on 3831 genes was performed with a homemade pipeline. Findings PFGE identified eight pulsotypes and cgMLST differentiated nine clusters and nine singletons. Five cgMLST clusters and pulsotypes (31/65 isolates) coincided perfectly. Isolates …
Usefulness of omp1 restriction mapping for avian Chlamydia psittaci isolate differentiation
1995
Abstract Sixty-five avian Chlamydia psittaci isolates collected worldwide, including 27 previously characterized reference strains, were analysed by restriction mapping of the major outer membrane protein gene ( omp1 ) obtained after DMA amplification by PCR. They were compared to 2 ruminant isolates, a feline pneumonitis and a guinea pig inclusion conjunctivitis (GPIC) isolate. According to their omp1 restriction patterns, avian strains were heterogeneous in that they exhibited 6 and 4 distinct patterns using Alu I and Mbo II restriction enzymes, respectively, thus defining 7 groups. However, 84% of the studied strains belonged to groups 1 to 4, which share a specific fragment triplet of 4…
Use of Biocides for the Control of Fungal Outbreaks in Subterranean Environments: The Case of the Lascaux Cave in France
2012
The Lascaux Cave in France suffered an outbreak of the fungus Fusarium solani in 2001. Biocides were applied for three years to control this outbreak. Four months after the initial biocide application, a new outbreak appeared in the form of black stains that progressively invaded the cave. The black stains on the ceiling and passage banks were so evident by 2007 that they became one of the caves major problems. Therefore, biocides were used again in 2008. The present study investigated the fungal communities associated with the black stains and the effectiveness of the biocides applied, by using cloning, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, and culture-dependent methods. A novel species…
Development of a rapid and highly sensitive biochemical method for the measurement of fungal spore viability. An alternative to the CFU method
2001
Abstract 1 A biochemical method, based on dehydrogenase activity (DHA) measurement, has been developed as an alternative to colony forming unit (CFU) enumeration, for assessing the viability of fungal spores. In viable cells, a tetrazolium salt (MTT) is reduced to a coloured formazan (MTTf) by cellular dehydrogenase enzymes. From the colorimetric assay developed by Mosmann for mammalian cells, the procedure has been adapted and optimised using P. digitatum spores as a model. Propan-2-ol has been selected as the best solvent to extract the MTTf from the spores. The sensitivity of the method has been considerably increased by determining the optimal conditions of incubation for the MTT reduct…
Protection of Saccharomyces cerevisiae by a layer-by-layer system : effect on yeast metabolic activity in response to environmental conditions
2016
In order to protect the Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast during dehydration, two strategies were used to improve cell survival. Strengthening cell resistance (internal protection) was performed by improving the concentration of intracellular glutathione in yeast. Encapsulation was performed by layer-by-layer method using two biopolymers β-lactoglobulin and alginate for the external protection of the yeast. The adequate medium culture and favorable growing conditions for glutathione enhancement were determined. The composition of the culture medium is rich in nutrients and glutathione precursors consisting in 30 g/L glucose, 30 g/L yeast extract, 0.6 g/L KH2PO4 and 0.6 g/L cysteine. The succes…
Spatial patterns of bacterial taxa in nature reflect ecological traits of deep branches of the 16S rRNA bacterial tree
2009
International audience; Whether bacteria display spatial patterns of distribution and at which level of taxonomic organization such patterns can be observed are central questions in microbial ecology. Here we investigated how the total and relative abundances of eight bacterial taxa at the phylum or class level were spatially distributed in a pasture by using quantitative PCR and geostatistical modelling. The distributions of the relative abundance of most taxa varied by a factor of 2.5–6.5 and displayed strong spatial patterns at the field scale. These spatial patterns were taxon-specific and correlated to soil properties, which indicates that members of a bacterial clade defined at high t…
Involvement of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa MexAB–OprM efflux pump in the secretion of the metallophore pseudopaline
2020
ABSTRACTThe ability for all organisms to acquire metals from their environment is essential for life. To overcome the metal restriction imposed by the host’s nutritional immunity, bacterial pathogens exploits the use of small high metal affinity molecules called metallophores. Metallophores are first synthetized in the cytoplasm, then secreted into the medium where they sequester the metal. The metal-metallophore complex is then imported into the bacterium following binding to dedicated cell surface receptors. Recently, a new family of metallophores has been discovered in pathogenic bacteria called staphylopine in Staphylococcus aureus and pseudopaline in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Here, we ar…