Search results for "Molecular Biology Techniques"
showing 10 items of 95 documents
Sentinel hospital-based surveillance for norovirus infection in children with gastroenteritis between 2015 and 2016 in Italy
2018
Noroviruses are one of the leading causes of gastro-enteric diseases worldwide in all age groups. Novel epidemic noroviruses with GII.P16 polymerase and GII.2 or GII.4 capsid type have emerged worldwide in late 2015 and in 2016. We performed a molecular epidemiological study of the noroviruses circulating in Italy to investigate the emergence of new norovirus strains. Sentinel hospital-based surveillance, in three different Italian regions, revealed increased prevalence of norovirus infection in children (<15 years) in 2016 (14.4% versus 9.8% in 2015) and the emergence of GII.P16 strains in late 2016, which accounted for 23.0% of norovirus infections. The majority of the strains with a GII.…
Identification of a large, fast-expanding HIV-1 subtype B transmission cluster among MSM in Valencia, Spain
2017
We describe and characterize an exceptionally large HIV-1 subtype B transmission cluster occurring in the Comunidad Valenciana (CV, Spain). A total of 1806 HIV-1 protease-reverse transcriptase (PR/RT) sequences from different patients were obtained in the CV between 2004 and 2014. After subtyping and generating a phylogenetic tree with additional HIV-1 subtype B sequences, a very large transmission cluster which included almost exclusively sequences from the CV was detected (n = 143 patients). This cluster was then validated and characterized with further maximum-likelihood phylogenetic analyses and Bayesian coalescent reconstructions. With these analyses, the CV cluster was delimited to 11…
Cosavirus, Salivirus and Bufavirus in Diarrheal Tunisian Infants
2016
International audience; Three newly discovered viruses have been recently described in diarrheal patients: Cosa-virus (CosV) and Salivirus (SalV), two picornaviruses, and Bufavirus (BuV), a parvovirus. The detection rate and the role of these viruses remain to be established in acute gastroen-teritis (AGE) in diarrheal Tunisian infants. From October 2010 through March 2012, stool samples were collected from 203 children <5 years-old suffering from AGE and attending the Children's Hospital in Monastir, Tunisia. All samples were screened for CosV, SalV and BuV as well as for norovirus (NoV) and group A rotavirus (RVA) by molecular biology. Positive samples for the three screened viruses were …
Preservation of Multiple Mammalian Tissues to Maximize Science Return from Ground Based and Spaceflight Experiments.
2016
Background Even with recent scientific advancements, challenges posed by limited resources and capabilities at the time of sample dissection continue to limit the collection of high quality tissues from experiments that can be conducted only infrequently and at high cost, such as in space. The resources and time it takes to harvest tissues post-euthanasia, and the methods and duration of long duration storage, potentially have negative impacts on sample quantity and quality, thereby limiting the scientific outcome that can be achieved. Objectives The goals of this study were to optimize methods for both sample recovery and science return from rodent experiments, with possible relevance to b…
Characterization of Bacillus thuringiensis isolates by their insecticidal activity and their production of Cry and Vip3 proteins.
2018
WOS: 000449027600099 PubMed ID: 30383811 Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) constitutes the active ingredient of many successful bioinsecticides used in agriculture. In the present study, the genetic diversity and toxicity of Bt isolates was investigated by characterization of native isolates originating from soil, fig leaves and fruits from a Turkish collection. Among a total of 80 Bt isolates, 18 of them were found carrying a vip3 gene (in 23% of total), which were further selected. Insecticidal activity of spore/crystal mixtures and their supernatants showed that some of the Bt isolates had significantly more toxicity against some lepidopteran species than the HD1 reference strain. Five isolate…
Dom34 Links Translation to Protein O-mannosylation.
2016
In eukaryotes, Dom34 upregulates translation by securing levels of activatable ribosomal subunits. We found that in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans, Dom34 interacts genetically with Pmt1, a major isoform of protein O-mannosyltransferase. In C. albicans, lack of Dom34 exacerbated defective phenotypes of pmt1 mutants, while they were ameliorated by Dom34 overproduction that enhanced Pmt1 protein but not PMT1 transcript levels. Translational effects of Dom34 required the 5′-UTR of the PMT1 transcript, which bound recombinant Dom34 directly at a CA/AC-rich sequence and regulated in vitro translation. Polysomal profiling revealed that Dom34 stimu…
Six Serum miRNAs Fail to Validate as Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1 Biomarkers.
2016
Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is an autosomal dominant genetic disease caused by expansion of a CTG microsatellite in the 3' untranslated region of the DMPK gene. Despite characteristic muscular, cardiac, and neuropsychological symptoms, CTG trinucleotide repeats are unstable both in the somatic and germinal lines, making the age of onset, clinical presentation, and disease severity very variable. A molecular biomarker to stratify patients and to follow disease progression is, thus, an unmet medical need. Looking for a novel biomarker, and given that specific miRNAs have been found to be misregulated in DM1 heart and muscle tissues, we profiled the expression of 175 known serum miRNAs in …
MicroRNAs miR-19, miR-340, miR-374 and miR-542 regulate MID1 protein expression.
2018
The MID1 ubiquitin ligase activates mTOR signaling and regulates mRNA translation. Misregulation of MID1 expression is associated with various diseases including midline malformation syndromes, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. While this indicates that MID1 expression must be tightly regulated to prevent disease states specific mechanisms involved have not been identified. We examined miRNAs to determine mechanisms that regulate MID1 expression. MicroRNAs (miRNA) are small non-coding RNAs that recognize specific sequences in their target mRNAs. Upon binding, miRNAs typically downregulate expression of these targets. Here, we identified four miRNAs, miR-19, miR-340, miR-374 and miR-542…
Characterisation of CDKL5 Transcript Isoforms in Human and Mouse.
2016
Mutations in the X-linked Cyclin-Dependent Kinase-Like 5 gene (CDKL5) cause early onset infantile spasms and subsequent severe developmental delay in affected children. Deleterious mutations have been reported to occur throughout the CDKL5 coding region. Several studies point to a complex CDKL5 gene structure in terms of exon usage and transcript expression. Improvements in molecular diagnosis and more extensive research into the neurobiology of CDKL5 and pathophysiology of CDKL5 disorders necessitate an updated analysis of the gene. In this study, we have analysed human and mouse CDKL5 transcript patterns both bioinformatically and experimentally. We have characterised the predominant brai…
Impact of temperature and soil type on Mycobacterium bovis survival in the environment
2017
Mycobacterium bovis, the causative agent of the bovine tuberculosis (bTB), mainly affects cattle, its natural reservoir, but also a wide range of domestic and wild mammals. Besides direct transmission via contaminated aerosols, indirect transmission of the M. bovis between wildlife and livestock might occur by inhalation or ingestion of environmental substrates contaminated through infected animal shedding. We monitored the survival of M. bovis in two soil samples chosen for their contrasted physical and-chemical properties (i.e. pH, clay content). The population of M. bovis spiked in sterile soils was enumerated by a culture-based method after 14, 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 days of incubation…