Detection of Borrelia-specific 16S rRNA sequence in total RNA extracted from Ixodes ricinus ticks

A reverse transcriptase - polymerase chain reaction based assay for Borrelia species detection in ticks was developed. The method was based on amplification of 552 nucleotide bases long sequence of 16S rRNA, targeted by Borrelia specific primers. In the present study, total RNA extracted from Ixodes ricinus ticks was used as template. The results showed higher sensitivity for Borrelia detection as compared to standard dark-field microscopy. Method specificity was confirmed by cloning and sequencing of obtained 552 base pairs long amplicons. Phylogenetic analysis of obtained sequences showed that they belong to B. lusitaniae and B. afzelii genospecies. RT-PCR based method presented in this paper could be very useful as a screening test for detecting pathogen presence, especially when in investigations is required extraction of total RNA from ticks

Original scientific paper Far-infrared spectroscopy of PbTe doped with iron

Far infrared reflection spectra, at room and liquid nitrogen temperature, of PbTe single crystals doped with iron are presented. Plasma minima were observed at about 160 cm –1 and 180 cm –1 for room and liquid nitrogen temperature, respectively. Using the reflectivity diagrams and their minima, the values of the hole concentrations and their mobility at both temperatures were calculated and compared with galvanomagnetic measurements. All these results indicated that when PbTe is doped with a small concentration of Fe, the hole concentration is reduced by one order of magnitude and the free carrier mobility is larger when compared to pure PbTe