Genetic comparison of Campylobacter coli resulting from pigs and poultry with isolates resulting from human campylobacteriosis

133 isolates of Campylobacter coli isolated from Brittany in France and collected in 2003 were analysed by RFLP/PFGE. They came from pig (65), poultry (56) and human campylobacteriosis (12). No pulsotype common to the 3 origins could be detected but the analysis of the genetic similarity at 80% of the isolates made it possible to build 19 groups of similarity in 3 cases. Poultry isolates were found in groups containing human isolates. Neverthless, the pig isolates were always in groups different from the poultry isolates and the human ones. These results tend to indicate that the two animal productions would have their own genotype and that the campylobacters from pigs are rarely responsible of human campylobacteriosis

Phosphorylation of bacterial-type phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase at Ser425 provides a further tier of enzyme control in developing castor oil seeds

PEPC [PEP (phosphoenolpyruvate) carboxylase] is a tightly controlled anaplerotic enzyme situated at a pivotal branch point of plant carbohydrate metabolism. Two distinct oligomeric PEPC classes were discovered in developing COS (castor oil seeds). Class-1 PEPC is a typical homotetramer of 107 kDa PTPC (plant-type PEPC) subunits, whereas the novel 910-kDa Class-2 PEPC hetero-octamer arises from a tight interaction between Class-1 PEPC and 118 kDa BTPC (bacterial-type PEPC) subunits. Mass spectrometric analysis of immunopurified COS BTPC indicated that it is subject to in vivo proline-directed phosphorylation at Ser425. We show that immunoblots probed with phosphorylation site-specific antibodies demonstrated that Ser425 phosphorylation is promoted during COS development, becoming maximal at stage IX (maturation phase) or in response to depodding. Kinetic analyses of a recombinant, chimaeric Class-2 PEPC containing phosphomimetic BTPC mutant subunits (S425D) indicated that Ser425 phosphorylation results in significant BTPC inhibition by: (i) increasing its Km(PEP) 3-fold, (ii) reducing its I50 (L-malate and L-aspartate) values by 4.5- and 2.5-fold respectively, while (iii) decreasing its activity within the physiological pH range. The developmental pattern and kinetic influence of Ser425 BTPC phosphorylation is very distinct from the in vivo phosphorylation/activation of COS Class-1 PEPC's PTPC subunits at Ser11. Collectively, the results establish that BTPC's phospho-Ser425 content depends upon COS developmental and physiological status and that Ser425 phosphorylation attenuates the catalytic activity of BTPC subunits within a Class-2 PEPC complex. To the best of our knowledge, this study provides the first evidence for protein phosphorylation as a mechanism for the in vivo control of vascular plant BTPC activity

Genome-wide identification of host-segregating epidemiological markers for source attribution in <i>Campylobacter jejuni</i>

Campylobacter is among the most common worldwide causes of bacterial gastroenteritis. This organism is part of the commensal microbiota of numerous host species, including livestock, and these animals constitute potential sources of human infection. Molecular typing approaches, especially multi-locus sequence typing (MLST), have been used to attribute the source of human campylobacteriosis by quantifying the relative abundance of alleles, at 7 MLST loci, among isolates from animal reservoirs and human infection, implicating chicken as a major infection source. The increasing availability of bacterial genomes provides data on allelic variation at loci across the genome, providing the potential to improve the discriminatory power of data for source attribution. Here we present a source attribution approach based on the identification of novel epidemiological markers among a reference pan-genome list of 1810 genes identified through gene-by-gene comparison of 884 genomes of C. jejuni isolates from animal reservoirs, the environment and clinical cases. Fifteen loci, involved in metabolic activities, protein modification, signal transduction and stress response, or coding for hypothetical proteins, were selected as host-segregating markers and used to attribute the source of 42 French and 281 UK clinical C. jejuni isolates. Consistent with previous studies of British campylobacteriosis, analyses performed using STRUCTURE software, attributed 56.8% of British clinical cases to chicken, emphasizing the importance of this host reservoir as an infection source in the UK. However, among French clinical isolates, approximately equal proportions of isolates were attributed to chicken and ruminant reservoirs suggesting possible differences in the relative importance of animal host reservoirs and indicating a benefit for further national-scale attribution modelling to account for differences in production, behaviour and food consumption.IMPORTANCE: Accurately quantifying the relative contribution of different host reservoirs to human Campylobacter infection is an ongoing challenge. This study based on the development of a novel source attribution approach, provides the first results of source attribution in Campylobacter jejuni in France. A systematic analysis using gene-by-gene comparison of 884 genomes of C. jejuni isolates, with a pan-genome list of genes, identified 15 novel epidemiological markers for source attribution. The different proportions of French and UK clinical isolates attributed to each host reservoir illustrates a potential role for local/national variations in C. jejuni transmission dynamics.</p

Разработка метода количественного определения воды в сотовых панелях самолетов методом ИК термографии

Проведено моделирование и экспериментальные исследования по тепловому контролю воды в авиационных сотовых панелях. Рассмотрены случаи разного расположения воды внутри ячеек и разного количества воды. Показана возможность количественной оценки скрытой воды при двухстороннем и одностороннем доступе к объекту контроля. Разработан и реализован алгоритм количественной оценки массы воды для конкретной сотовой панели.Modelling and experimental activities of TNDT jf aviation honeycomb panels are conducted. The cases of various amount and location of water ingress are considered. The possibility of quantitative evaluation of hidden water with one and two side control is illustrated. The algoritm of quantitative evaluation of hidden water content is realized

Implications of Cosmological Gamma-Ray Absorption II. Modification of gamma-ray spectra

Bearing on the model for the time-dependent metagalactic radiation field developed in the first paper of this series, we compute the gamma-ray attenuation due to pair production in photon-photon scattering. Emphasis is on the effects of varying the star formation rate and the fraction of UV radiation assumed to escape from the star forming regions, the latter being important mainly for high-redshift sources. Conversely, we investigate how the metagalactic radiation field can be measured from the gamma-ray pair creation cutoff as a function of redshift, the Fazio-Stecker relation. For three observed TeV-blazars (Mkn501, Mkn421, H1426+428) we study the effects of gamma-ray attenuation on their spectra in detail.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, accepted by A&

Very High Energy Gamma-ray spectral properties of Mrk 501 from CAT Cerenkov telescope observations in 1997

The BL Lac object Mrk 501 went into a very high state of activity during 1997, both in VHE gamma-rays and X-rays. We present here results from observations at energies above 250 GeV carried out between March and October 1997 with the CAT Cerenkov imaging Telescope. The average differential spectrum between 30 GeV and 13 TeV shows significant curvature and is well represented by phi_0 * E_TeV^{-(alpha + beta*log10(E_TeV))}, with: phi_0 = 5.19 +/- 0.13 {stat} +/- 0.12 {sys-MC} +1.66/-1.04 {sys-atm} * 10^-11 /cm^2/s/TeV alpha = 2.24 +/- 0.04 {stat} +/- 0.05 {sys} beta = 0.50 +/- 0.07 {stat} (negligible systematics). The TeV spectral energy distribution of Mrk 501 clearly peaks in the range 500 GeV-1 TeV. Investigation of spectral variations shows a significant hardness-intensity correlation with no measurable effect on the curvature. This can be described as an increase of the peak TeV emission energy with intensity. Simultaneous and quasi-simultaneous CAT VHE gamma-ray and BeppoSAX hard X-ray detections for the highest recorded flare on 16th April and for lower-activity states of the same period show correlated variability with a higher luminosity in X-rays than in gamma-rays. The observed spectral energy distribution and the correlated variability between X-rays and gamma-rays, both in amplitude and in hardening of spectra, favour a two-component emission scheme where the low and high energy components are attributed to synchrotron and inverse Compton (IC) radiation, respectively.Comment: Submitted to Astronomy and Astrophysics, 8 pages including 6 figures. Published with minor change

Spectrum and Variability of Mrk501 as observed by the CAT Imaging Telescope

The CAT Imaging Telescope has observed the BL Lac object Markarian 501 between March and August 1997. We report here on the variability over this time including several large flares. We present also preliminary spectra for all these data, for the low emission state, and for the largest flare.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Late

Observation of the Crab Nebula Gamma-Ray Emission Above 220 Gev by the Cat Cherenkov Imaging Telescope

The CAT imaging telescope, recently built on the site of the former solar plant Themis (French Pyrenees), observed gamma-rays from the Crab nebula from October 1996 to March 1997. This steady source, often considered as the standard candle of very-high-energy gamma-ray astronomy, is used as a test-beam to probe the performances of the new telescope, particularly its energy threshold (220 GeV at 20 degrees zenith angle) and the stability of its response. Due to the fine-grain camera, an accurate analysis of the longitudinal profiles of shower images is performed, yielding the source position in two dimensions for each individual shower.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, Tex, contribution to 25th ICRC Durba