Diploid Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains lacking the RAD52 gene required for homologous recombination have a very high rate of chromosome loss. Two of four isolates subcultured about 20 times (approximately 500 cell divisions) became haploid. These strains were capable of mating with wild-type haploids to produce diploid progeny capable of undergoing ...

Strain HIMB30 was isolated from coastal Hawaii seawater by extinction culturing in seawater-based oligotrophic medium. It is a phylogenetically unique member of the class Gammaproteobacteria that is only distantly related to its closest cultured relatives. Here we present the genome sequence of strain HIMB30, including genes for proteorhodopsin-based phototrophy and ...

A large outbreak caused by a rare Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli serotype O104:H4 occurred in Germany in May to July 2011. The National Reference Laboratory for E. coli and Shigella investigated the stool sample from an American tourist with bloody diarrhea who arrived in the Czech Republic from Germany where ...

The ever-expanding role of ESBL-harboring and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae in causing serious infections poses a grave public health threat because these organisms also tend to be multi-drug resistant for which very few (if any) antibiotic options remain available. Rapid detection of such pan-resistant organisms offers one of the best solutions to ...

We isolated sixteen antibiotic-producing bacterial strains throughout the central Arctic Ocean, including seven Arthrobacter spp. with almost identical 16S rRNA gene sequences. These strains were numerically rare as revealed from 454 pyrosequencing libraries. Arthrobacter spp. produced arthrobacilins A-C under different culture conditions, but other, not identified compounds likely contributed to ...

We describe an outbreak investigation of Pantoea agglomerans bacteraemia associated with anticoagulant citrate-dextrose 46% (ACD) solution prepared in-house. A healthy man presented with septic shock during plasmapheresis for granulocyte donation. The solution used for priming and blood samples were sent for culture. Identification of the isolate to species level was ...

The feline gastrointestinal microbiota have direct influence on feline health and also human health as a reservoir for potential zoonotic pathogens and antibiotic resistant bacterial strains. In order to describe the feline gastrointestinal microbial diversity, fecal samples from cats have been characterized using both culture-dependent and culture-independent methods. However, data ...

Microbial identification methods have evolved rapidly over the last few decades. One such method is multi-locus sequence typing (MLST). MLST is a powerful tool for understanding the evolutionary dynamics of pathogens and to gain insight into their genetic diversity. We illustrate the importance of accurate typing by reporting on three ...

The importance of selecting optimal yeast strains for research or industrial applications is often underestimated. For example, utilizing a strain background that already provides the desired stress tolerance or nutrient utilization profile can eliminate costly strain optimization. Yeast culture collections can provide not only the yeast strains but also data ...

We have studied the diversity of culturable halophilic Archaea at Rambla Salada, Murcia (south-eastern Spain). We made 8 samplings at different places in this habitat during the years 2006 and 2007 and isolated a total of 49 strains, which were identified by means of phenotypic tests and the hypervariable V1-V3 ...

Background: By the end of may 2010, an increase in the number of urines culture-positive for extremely drug-resistant (XDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa was observed in our 800-bed university hospital. This led to an infection control alert. No epidemiological link between the patients and no increase in the frequency of XDR P. ...

Pyrazinamide (PZA), one of the most effective anti-tuberculosis drugs, becomes toxic to Mycobacterium tuberculosis when converted to pyrazinoic acid by pyrazinamidase (PZase). PZA resistance is caused mainly by the loss of enzyme activity by mutation. To investigate the patterns of pncA mutations in PZA-resistant mycobacteria isolated from South Korean patients. ...

Magnetotactic bacteria contain magnetosomes--intracellular, membrane-bounded, magnetic nanocrystals of magnetite (Fe(3)O(4)) or greigite (Fe(3)S(4))--that cause the bacteria to swim along geomagnetic field lines. We isolated a greigite-producing magnetotactic bacterium from a brackish spring in Death Valley National Park, California, USA, strain BW-1, that is able to biomineralize greigite and magnetite depending ...

Twenty-three hospital laboratories from Europe and Israel participated in an external quality assessment (EQA) of the culture-based detection of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Participants also reported the MRSA prevalence in clinical cultures and patient screening specimens, as well as the MRSA screening practices employed at their hospitals. An EQA panel ...

A marine bacterium, designated strain MCTG13d, was isolated from a laboratory culture of the dinoflagellate Lingulodinium polyedrum CCAP1121/2 by enrichment with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as the sole carbon source. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons, the strain was most closely related to Porticoccus litoralis IMCC2115(T) (96.5%) and to ...

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major cause of mortality in underdeveloped countries, where more than one million people die from pneumococcal disease every year. Vaccines are the most efficient method for preventing the infection and are based on the capsular polysaccharide (PS) protection. The serotype 14 is the most frequent in ...

To analyze positive vitreous cultures and their respective antibiotic sensitivities in patients with endophthalmitis in Puerto Rico. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of vitreous cultures from all of the patients with a clinical diagnosis of endophthalmitis at the Puerto Rico Medical Service Administration Center in San Juan, Puerto Rico, ...

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC), particularly O157, are major food borne pathogens. Non-O157 STEC, particularly O26, O45, O103, O111, O121, and O145, have also been recognized as a major public health concern. Unlike O157, detection procedures for non-O157 have not been fully developed. Our objective was to develop a multiplex ...

Trichodesmium colonies contain an abundant microbial consortium that is likely to play a role in nutrient cycling within the colony. This study used laboratory cultures of Trichodesmium and two genome-sequenced strains of bacteria typical of Trichodesmium-associated microbes to develop an understanding of the cycling of iron, a potentially limiting micronutrient, ...

Melamine has recently been recognized as a food contaminant with adverse human health effects. Melamine contamination in some crops arises from soil and water pollution from various causes. To remove melamine from the polluted environment, a novel bacterium, Nocardioides sp. strain ATD6, capable of degrading melamine was enriched and isolated ...

Colonisation and weathering of freshly deglaciated granite are key processes in initial soil formation and development. We have obtained 438 isolates from granite sand covering glacial toe, 284 isolates at 22°C and 154 at 4°C incubation temperatures, respectively, to obtain cultures for the investigation of their weathering capabilities under laboratory ...

The purpose of this work was to study the bacterial communities in raw milk and in Danish raw milk cheeses using pyrosequencing of tagged amplicons of the V3 and V4 regions of the 16S rDNA and cDNA. Furthermore, the effects of acidification and ripening starter cultures, cooking temperatures and rate ...

Methane-oxidizing bacteria (MOB) have a large potential as a microbial sink for the greenhouse gas methane as well as for biotechnological purposes. However, their application in biotechnology has so far been hampered, in part due to the relative slow growth rate of the available strains. To enable the availability of ...

Here we report on the 18W-13a strain of Aurantiochytrium sp., which accumulates very high amounts of squalene. The squalene contents and production at 4 d of culture were 198 mg/g and 1.29±0.13 g/L, respectively, exceptionally high values compared to previous reports.

Human adenoviruses species D (HAdV-D) are known to cause severe epidemic keratoconjunctivitis. However, the isolation rate of HAdV-D is not high, because HAdV-D is usually slow to propagate. Although new types of HAdV-D have been reported, accurate surveillance has not been performed because of difficulties in culturing the viruses and ...

A two-strain starter culture containing Lactobacillus plantarum CIDCA 83114, a potential probiotic strain isolated from kefir grains, and Streptococcus thermophilus CIDCA 321 was tested for the preparation of a fermented milk product. Kluyveromyces marxianus CIDCA 8154, a yeast with immunomodulatory properties was included to formulate a three-strain starter culture. Supernatants ...

Blood cultures positive for gram-positive cocci in clusters can pose a dilemma for empiric antimicrobial therapy because they could represent coagulase-negative staphylococcus or Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia. The GeneXpert MRSA/SA BC Assay (Cepheid, Sunnyvale, CA) is a polymerase chain reaction-based method for identifying S aureus and methicillin resistance that has been ...

This study investigates faecal indicator bacteria (FIB), multiple antibiotic resistant (MAR), and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), of sediment profiles from different parts of Lake Geneva (Switzerland) over the last decades. MARs consist to expose culturable Escherichia coli (EC) and Enterococcus (ENT) to mixed five antibiotics including Ampicillin, Tetracycline, Amoxicillin, Chloramphenicol ...

We characterized the profiles of virulence genes and antimicrobial susceptibility of Bacillus cereus isolates from blood cultures as well as the risk factors for blood stream infections (BSIs). The diversity of virulence gene patterns was found to be wide among 15 B. cereus isolates from BSIs and also among 11 ...

We performed a comparative evaluation of the Vitek-2 Compact and Phoenix systems for direct identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) from positive blood culture bottles in comparison to the standard methods. Overall, 139 monomicrobial blood cultures, comprising 91 Gram-negative and 48 Gram-positive isolates, were studied. Altogether, 100% and 92.3% of ...

The present work presents a successful attempt to achieve an enhanced and more predictable fermentation process in Spanish-style green olive technology by selection and use of autochthonous starter cultures. During the first phase of this work, two Spanish-like fermentations of green table olives of cultivar (cv) "Nocellara del Belice", coming ...

We compared recovery of Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) from nasal and groin swabs of 600 HIV-infected outpatients by selective and non-selective direct plating and broth enrichment. Swabs were collected at baseline, 6-month and 12-month visits, cultured by direct plating to Mannitol Salt Agar (MSA), CHROMagar™ MRSA (CM), ...

Synthetic Escherichia coli consortia engineered for syntrophy demonstrated enhanced biomass productivity relative to monocultures. Binary consortia were designed to mimic a ubiquitous, naturally occurring ecological template of primary productivity supported by secondary consumption. The synthetic consortia replicated this evolution-proven strategy by combining a glucose positive E. coli strain, which served ...

A quadriplex real-time polymerase chain reaction assay was developed for detecting pneumococci, penicillin susceptibility, and macrolide/lincosamide resistance. The assay was sensitive for all 4 targets (<10 copies) and correlated with antimicrobial susceptibilities in 172/180 isolates and 28/29 culture-positive clinical specimens. For 29 lytA-positive culture-negative specimens, the assay allowed interpretation of ...

A new selective medium, named LNIV-M, has been developed for isolation of Brucella suis. In this work, we evaluated the growth of B. suis reference and field strains from domestic pigs in different basal media and the susceptibility to different antibiotics contained in the currently used Farrell's and modified Thayer-Martin ...

The resistance of bacteria to 12 different antibiotics was investigated in shrimp farms on Donghai Island, China. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria were found to be widespread in shrimp farms, indicating a high environmental risk. Further, significant differences were found in bacterial strains among farms (ANOVA, p<0.05), showing resistance to antibiotics such as ...

Oral triazole therapy is well established for the treatment of invasive aspergillosis (IPA), allergic aspergillosis (ABPA), and chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA), and is often long-term. Resistance to triazole azole antifungal drugs in Aspergillus fumigatus is now a major clinical problem in a number of European locations, in China, Canada and ...

Aim:  To determine the bacterial agents involved in urinary tract infections in pregnant women and their antibiotic susceptibility patterns in Ibadan, Nigeria. Methods:  All consenting subjects who attended antenatal clinics of the University College Hospital and Adeoyo Maternity Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria, from 1 April 2007 and 30 March 2009 were ...

PURPOSE: To assess the information obtained by bile culture and susceptibility testing for malignant biliary obstruction by a retrospective one-center study. METHODS: A total of 694 patients with malignant biliary obstruction received percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage during the period July 2003 to September 2010, and subsequently, bile specimens were collected ...

The bacterial communities in the intestinal tracts of earthworm were investigated by culture-dependent and - independent approaches. In total, 72 and 55 pure cultures were isolated from the intestinal tracts of earthworms under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, respectively. Aerobic bacteria were classified as Aeromonas (40%), Bacillus (37%), Photobacterium (10%), Pseudomonas ...

The acceptability of Swiss cheese largely depends on the flavor profile, and strain variations of cheese cultures will affect the final quality. Conventional biochemical methods to identify the cultures at the strain level are time-consuming and expensive, and require skilled labor. Our objective was to develop rapid classification methods of ...

Oenococcus oeni is an alcohol-tolerant, acidophilic lactic acid bacterium that plays an important role in the elaboration of wine. It is often added as a starter culture to carry out malolactic conversion. Given the economic importance of this reaction, the taxonomic structure of this species has been studied in detail. ...

The purpose of this study was to assess the accuracy of the Xpert MRSA assay (XP) for the detection of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) carriage upon hospital admission. Nasal swabs were prospectively collected for MRSA screening from 1,891 patients admitted to a teaching hospital. XP results were compared to chromogenic ...

We studied the risk factors associated with resistance to imipenem, levofloxacin and gentamicin in Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from blood cultures of 175 patients in a hospital in Japan. Imipenem resistance was associated with transfer from another hospital, and receiving antifungal medication. Gentamicin resistance was associated with previous administration of a ...

The 16S rRNA gene sequences of 12 strains of Thiobacillus thioparus held by different culture collections have been compared. A definitive sequence for the reference type strain (Starkey; ATCC 8158(T)) was obtained. The sequences for four examples of the Starkey type strain were essentially identical, confirming their sustained identity after ...

Objectives. Posttympanostomy tube otorrhea (PTTO) results in significant health care cost and decreased satisfaction with care. The authors reviewed PTTO failing initial ototopical and/or oral antibiotic therapy and microbiology/susceptibility data from cultures. Study Design. Case series with chart review. Setting. A community university satellite ambulatory clinic and the outpatient clinic ...

In aquatic ecosystems, the factors that regulate the dominance of toxin-producing cyanobacteria over non-toxin-producing strains of the same species are largely unknown. One possible hypothesis is that limiting resources lead to the dominance of the latter because of the metabolic costs associated with toxin production. In this study, we tested ...

Aim:  To develop a multiplex real-time PCR assay for detection and differentiation of Moraxella bovis (M. bovis), M. bovoculi, and M. ovis. Methods and Results:  The multiplex real-time PCR assay was validated on three reference strains, 57 pure culture isolates, and 45 lacrimal swab samples. All the reference strains were ...

Objectives: The purposes of this study were to determine the prevalence of intravenous catheter colonisation in a routine clinical setting, to identify pathogens involved and to explore factors associated with an increased risk of colonisation. Methods: A prospective study of 100 peripherally placed intravenous catheters from 13 cats and 78 ...

In this study, significant contamination in the intensive care unit environment was observed (P < .004). Sampling of inanimate surfaces and equipment found vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis, ciprofloxacin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and S epidermidis, and multiresistant Acinetobacter baumannii with similarities (60%-80%) to blood culture isolates.