Comprehensive analysis of draft genomes of two closely related pseudomonas syringae phylogroup 2b strains infecting mono- and dicotyledon host plants

Comparison of the prophage region in Pseudomonas syringae strain SM (A) with the corresponding regions in strains 1845 (B) and 2507 (C) using MAUVE software (Darling et al. 2010). (PNG 2118 kb

Reconstruction of Transcription Control Networks in Mollicutes by High-Throughput Identification of Promoters

Bacteria of the class Mollicutes have significantly reduced genomes and gene expression control systems. They are also efficient pathogens that can colonize a broad range of hosts including plants and animals. Despite their simplicity, Mollicutes demonstrate complex transcriptional responses to various conditions, which contradicts their reduction in gene expression regulation mechanisms. We analyzed the conservation and distribution of transcription regulators across the 50 Mollicutes species. The majority of the transcription factors regulate transport and metabolism, and there are four transcription factors that demonstrate significant conservation across the analyzed bacteria. These factors include repressors of chaperone HrcA, cell cycle regulator MraZ and two regulators with unclear function from the WhiA and YebC/PmpR families. We then used three representative species of the major clades of Mollicutes (Acholeplasma laidlawii, Spiroplasma melliferum and Mycoplasma gallisepticum) to perform promoters mapping and activity quantitation. We revealed that Mollicutes evolved towards a promoter architecture simplification that correlates with a diminishing role of transcription regulation and an increase in transcriptional noise. Using the identified operons structure and a comparative genomics approach, we reconstructed the transcription control networks for these three species. The organization of the networks reflects the adaptation of bacteria to specific conditions and hosts

Mediators and biomarkers of inflammation in meningitis: Cytokine and peptidome profiling of cerebrospinal fluid

© 2016, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.Differential diagnosis of bacterial and viral meningitis is an urgent problem of the modern clinical medicine. Early and accurate detection of meningitis etiology largely determines the strategy of its treatment and significantly increases the likelihood of a favorable outcome for the patient. In the present work, we analyzed the peptidome and cytokine profiles of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 17 patients with meningitis of bacterial and viral etiology and of 20 neurologically healthy controls. In addition to the identified peptides (potential biomarkers), we found significant differences in the cytokine status of the CSF of the patients. We found that cut-off of 100 pg/ml of IL-1β, TNF, and GM-CSF levels discriminates bacterial and viral meningitis with 100% specificity and selectivity. We demonstrated for the first time the reduction in the level of two cytokines, IL-13 and GM-CSF, in the CSF of patients with viral meningitis in comparison with the controls. The decrease in GM-CSF level in the CSF of patients with viral meningitis can be explained by a disproportionate increase in the levels of cytokines IL-10, IFN-γ, and IL-4, which inhibit the GM-CSF expression, whereas IL-1, IL-6, and TNF activate it. These observations suggest an additional approach for differential diagnosis of bacterial and viral meningitis based on the normalized ratio IL-10/IL-1β and IL-10/TNF > 1, as well as on the ratio IFN-γ/IL-1β and IFN-γ/ TNF < 0.1. Our findings extend the panel of promising clinical and diagnostic biomarkers of viral and bacterial meningitis and reveal opposite changes in the cytokine expression in meningitis due to compensatory action of proand antiinflammatory factors

Analysis of the intestinal microbiota of the taxonomic composition of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

The paper summarizes the results ot studies on the composition ot microbial communities in stool samples of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease compared with healthy volunteers using genome-metagenomic sequencing. It is shown that the microbial community ot the intestine in patients with COPD is characterized as diverse taxonomic composition of metagenomes that the microbiota of healthy volunteers. In this case, the normal composition of intestinal microbiota in patients with COPD differs from samples of healthy individuals qualitatively and quantitatively. In contrast to healthy volunteers, the intestinal microbiota in patients with COPD was characterized by a higher average representation of microorganisms of the genus Acidaminococcus, Bacteroides, Barnesiella, Flavonifractor, Odoribacter, Parabacteroides, Tannerella and reduced representation of commensal microorganisms - the genera Bifidobacterium. Catenibacterium, Coprococcus, Lactobacillus, Prevotella (mainly Prevotella copri). Ruminococcus. representatives of Firmicutes - Faecalibacterium and Eubacterium.В статье обобщены результаты исследований по изучению состава сообщества микроорганизмов в образцах кала больных хроническом обструктивной болезнью легких в сравнении со здоровыми добровольцами методом полногеномного метагеномного секвенирования. Показано, что сообщество микроорганизмов кишечника у пациентов с ХОБЯ характеризуется столь же разнообразным таксономическим составом метагеномов, что и микробиота здоровых добровольцев. При этом нормальный состав кишечной микробиоты у больных ХОБЛ отличается от образцов здоровых лиц качественно и количественно В отличие от здоровых добровольцев, кишечная микробиота больных ХОБЛ характеризовалась более высокой средней представленностью микроорганизмов родов Acidaminococcus, Bacteroides, Barnesiella, Flavonifractor, Odoribacter. Parabacteroides. Tannerella и сниженной представленностью микроорганизмов-комменсалов - представителен родов Bifidobacterium. Catembacterium, Coprococcus. Lactobacillus, Prevotella (преимущественно Prevotella copri), Ruminococcus. представителей отдела Firmicutes - Faecalibacterium и Eubacterium

The Megapixel EBCCD: a high-resolution imaging tube sensitive to single photons

A hybrid image-intensifier tube, suitable for extremely low-light imaging, has been tested. This device is based on an Electron-Bombarded CCD chip (EBCCD) with $1024 \times 1024$ sensitive pixe ls. The tube, which has a photocathode diameter of 40 mm, is gateable and zoomable, with an image magnification varying from 0.62 to 1.3. The high gain (about 4000 collected electrons per photo electron at the operational voltage of 15 kV) and the relatively low noise (180 electrons per pixel at 10 MHz pixel-readout frequency), allows single-photoelectron signals to be separated from n oise with a signal-to-noise ratio greater than 10. By applying an appropriate threshold on the signal amplitude, the background can almost be eliminated, with a loss of few percent in single-ph otoelectron counting. High inner gain, low noise, single-photoelectron sensitivity, and high spatial resolution make the EBCCD imaging tube a unique device, attractive for many applications in h igh-energy physics, astrophysics, biomedical diagnostics

A high-resolution tracking hodoscope based on capillary layers filled with liquid scintillator

Results are given on tests of a high-resolution tracking hodoscope based on layers of \hbox{26-$\mu$m-bore} glass capillaries filled with organic liquid scintillator (1-methylnaphthalene doped with R39). The detector prototype consisted of three 2-mm-thick parallel layers, with surface areas of $2.1 \times 21$~cm$^2$. The layers had a centre-to-centre spacing of 6~mm, and were read by an optoelectronic chain comprising two electrostatically focused image intensifiers and an Electron-Bombarded Charge-Coupled Device (EBCCD). Tracks of cosmic-ray particles were recorded and analysed. The observed hit density was 6.6~hits/mm for particles crossing the layers perpendicularly, at a distance of 1~cm from the capillaries' readout end, and 4.2~hits/mm for particles at a distance of 20~cm. A track segment reconstructed in a single layer had an rms residual of $\sim$~20~$\mu$m, and allowed determination of the track position in a neighbouring layer with a precision of $\sim$~170~$\mu$m. This latter value corresponded to an rms angular resolution per layer of about 30~mrad. A comparison is made between capillary layers and silicon microstrip planes

Иммуногенетические особенности у больных хроническим гепатитом "С"

В настоящее время изучаются регуляторные механизмы взаимодействия различных сигналов, как результат полиморфизма спектра генов у больных ХГС. Одним из таких механизмов является BMP/SMAD сигнальный путь. Известно, что белок SMAD, принадлежащий суперсемейству TGF-лигандов (трансформирующий фактор роста) участвует в регуляции клеточной сигнализации, пролиферации, дифференциации и апоптозе клеток, но патогенетическое значение полиморфизма гена SMAD7 и его роль в различных межгенных взаимодействиях и в различных исходах ХГС изучено недостаточно. Исследован аллельный полиморфизм генов цитокинов IL-4 (C-590T), IL-10 (G-1082A) и гена SMAD7. Под наблюдением находилось 100 жителей Одесского региона, которые состоят на диспансерном учете Одесской городской клинической инфекционной больницы