Microsporidia form environmentally resistant spores that are critical for their host-to-host transmission and persistence in the environment. The spore walls of these organisms are composed of two layers, the exospore and the endospore. Two spore wall proteins (SWP1 and SWP2) have been previously identified in members of the Encephalitozoonidae family. These proteins localize to the exospore. The endospore is known to contain chitin, and a putative glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored chitin deacetylase has been localized to the plasmalemma-endospore interface. Using proteomic techniques, we have identified a new spore wall protein (SWP3) that is located in the endospore. The gene for this protein is located on chromosome 1 and corresponds to the open reading frame ECU01_1270. SWP3 is predicted to have a signal peptide and to be GPI anchored. Consistent with these modifications, two-dimensional electrophoresis demonstrated that SWP3 has an acidic pI and a molecular mass of <20 kDa. By immunoelectron microscopy, this protein was found on the cell surface during sporogony and in the endospore in mature spores. SWP3 has several potential O-glycosylation sites, and it is possible that it is a mannosylated protein like the major polar tube protein (PTP1).Microsporidia are eukaryotic obligate intracellular sporeforming parasites in the phylum Microsporidia (34, 35). They are ubiquitous in the animal kingdom, with over a thousand species parasitizing a wide range of invertebrate and vertebrate hosts, including humans (44). Microsporidia were first recognized as human pathogens over 75 years ago, but prior to the AIDS epidemic there were less than a dozen reports of human microsporidiosis (44). Since the recognition that Enterocytozoon bieneusi causes diarrhea in patients with AIDS (11), many infections with different species of microsporidia have been reported from all over the world. Microsporidia are now also recognized as etiologic agents of infections in organ transplant recipients, patients being treated with immunosuppressive drugs, and immunocompetent patients (28,30,33,39,44). Although the phylum Microsporidia consists of nearly 150 genera, only 7 genera (Enterocytozoon, Encephalitozoon [including Septata], Pleistophora, Trachipleistophora, Vittaforma, Brachiola, and Nosema) as well as a few unclassified microsporidia (e.g., Microsporidium) have been described as pathogens in humans (14, 44). Microsporidia have been found in municipal water supplies, tertiary sewage effluent, and groundwater (12). It is likely that many human infections with microsporidia are of zoonotic origin (10).Recent phylogenetic data suggest that microsporidia are related to the fungi (22, 42) and that they have a mitochondrial relic organelle, the mitosome (43). The fungal origin of microsporidia has a significant impact on how we interpret their unusual characteristics, as these no longer represent ancestral features but instead are indicative of the highly derived nature of these intracellular parasites. Members of the microspo...

To understand the molecular mechanisms of bacteria resistance to glycopeptides, we obtained proteomic profiles of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis V583 (reference strain) and V309 (clinical isolate) passaged with and without the drug. The specificity and reversibility of vancomycin resistance genes induced in V583 and V309 were further studied over time. By semiquantitative RT-PCR of vancomycin-treated versus untreated samples of both strains, 28 (V583) or 20 (V309) up-regulated proteins, 8 (V583) or 6 (V309) down-regulated proteins, and 1 (V583) or 4 (V309) proteins with mobility changes in 2-DE gel analysis were identified. Some of these proteins have known vancomycin resistance functions or are related to virulent factors, stress, metabolism, translation, and conjunction, which would help Enterococcus survive under drug selection. Vancomycin induced specifically and reversibly VanA, VanX, VanB, and VanXB. Notably, 6 proteins (Pgm, Ldh, Gap-2, RpsB, EF2076, and sex pheromone cAD1 precursor lipoprotein) exhibited clear post-translational modifications. Vancomycin induced phosphorylation of Ser/Thr in Ldh, Gap-2, and sex pheromone cAD1 precursor lipoprotein (EF3256), newly identified here as enterococcal phosphoproteins. Our data suggest that phosphorylated EF3256 is normally active in E. faecelis, whereas EF3256-P together with oppA-like protein may play a key role in the regulation of pheromone and transmission of conjugation plasmids.

Wang et al. Development of Print-Speech Integration in Beginning Readers RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS-Differential processing of congruent and incongruent audiovisual nonwords emerges in second grade and is reflected by an incongruency effect in right MTG/ITG.-Pseudoword reading improvements with time are associated with the strength of the emerging congruency effect to audiovisual nonwords in the left STG.-Functional coupling between the left occipito-temporal and the right SPL increases in typical readers for congruent pairs from first to second grade.-Functional coupling between the left occipito-temporal and the left IFG/STG increases in poor readers for incongruent pairs from first to second grade.

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Through precursor-directed biosynthesis, feeding halogenated (F-, Cl-, Br-, I-) or methoxy-substituted 4-methyl-3-hydroxyanthranilic acid (4-MHA) analogues to the acnGHLM-deleted mutant strain of Streptomyces costaricanus SCSIO ZS0073 led to the production of ten new actinomycin analogues (4–13). Several of the actinomycin congeners displayed impressive antimicrobial activities, with MIC values spanning 0.06–64 μg/mL to clinically derived antibiotic resistant pathogens, including Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecium, and Candida albicans, with low cytotoxicity.

The bacterial second messenger cyclic diguanylate monophosphate (c-di-GMP) regulates a series of cellular functions, including biofilm formation, motility, virulence, and other processes. In this study, we confirmed the presence of several c-di-GMP related genes and evaluated their activities and functions in Lactobacillus species. Bioinformatic and biochemical analyses revealed that Lactobacillus acidophilus La-14 have an active c-di-GMP phosphodiesterase (PdeA) that may act in the metabolic cycle of c-di-GMP. A GGDEF protein (DgcA) induced two c-di-GMP-dependent phenotypes (low motility and high production of curli fimbriae) in Escherichia coli by heterologously expressed in vivo but showed no diguanylate cyclases activity in vitro while in the expression without the N-terminal transmembrane domain. The degenerated EAL-domain protein (PdeB), encoded by the last gene in the gts operon, serve as a c-di-GMP receptor which may be associated with exopolysaccharide (EPS) synthesis in L. acidophilus. Heterologously expressed GtsA and GtsB, encoded by the gts operon, stimulated EPS and biofilm formation in E. coli BL21. Constitutive expression in L. acidophilus revealed that a high concentration of intracellular DgcA levels increased EPS production in L. acidophilus and enhanced the co-aggregation ability with E. coli MG1655, which may be beneficial to the probiotic properties of Lactobacillus species. Our study imply that the c-di-GMP metabolism-related genes, in L. acidophilus, work jointly to regulate its functions in EPS formation and co-aggregation.

Bacterial leaf spot of Euphorbia pulcherrima has been reported in many countries. Characterization by polyphasic approaches indicated that the isolates from India, USA and New Zealand could be distinguished based on rep-PCR profiles and gyrB phylogenies, while the Chinese isolates should be ascribed to Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. poinsettiicola.

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