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Biochemical characterization of the purified bile salt hydrolase (BSH) from Bifidobacterium bifidum ATCC 11863 revealed some distinct characteristics not observed in other species of Bifidobacterium. The bsh gene was cloned from B. bifidum, and the DNA flanking the bsh gene was sequenced. Comparison of the deduced amino acid sequence of the cloned gene with previously known sequences revealed high homology with BSH enzymes from several microorganisms and penicillin V amidase (PVA) of Bacillus sphaericus. The proposed active sites of PVA were highly conserved, including that of the Cys-1 residue. The importance of the SH group in the N-terminal cysteine was confirmed by substitution of Cys with chemically and structurally similar residues, Ser or Thr, both of which resulted in an inactive enzyme. The transcriptional start point of the bsh gene has been determined by primer extension analysis. Unlike Bifidobacterium longum bsh, B. bifidum bsh was transcribed as a monocistronic unit, which was confirmed by Northern blot analysis. PCR amplification with the type-specific primer set revealed the high level of sequence homology in their bsh genes within the species of B. bifidum.

T-cell depleting anti-CD3 immunotoxins have utility in non-human primate models of transplantation tolerance and autoimmune disease therapy. We recently reported that an affinity matured single-chain (scFv) anti-monkey CD3 antibody, C207, had increased binding to T-cells and increased bioactivity in a diphtheria toxin (DT)-based biscFv immunotoxin compared with the parental antibody, FN18. However, FN18 scFvs and their mutant derivatives such as C207 did not exhibit robust bivalent character in the biscFv format. We now report that C207 in a diabody format exhibits a 7-fold increase in binding to T-cells over scFv (C207) indicating considerable divalent character for the diabody. This construct was formed by reducing the V(L)/V(H) linker to five residues and was secreted from Pichia pastoris as the non-covalent dimer. An immunotoxin based on this diabody format was secreted as a non-covalent dimer but was devoid of bioactivity and failed to bind T-cells, suggesting steric hindrance from the two large closely positioned truncated DT moieties. We constructed a single-chain diabody immunotoxin by fusing to the truncated DT C-terminus L1-VL-L1-VH-L2-VL-L1-VH where L1 is a five-residue linker and L2 is the longer (G4S)3 linker permitting interactions between the distal and proximal VL/VH domains. This 'fold-back' immunotoxin was secreted predominantly as the monomer and exhibited a 5- to 7-fold increase in bioactivity over DT390biscFv(C207) and depleted monkey T-cells in vivo.

BackgroundStudying human health in areas with industrial contamination is a serious and complex issue. In recent years, attention has increasingly focused on the health implications of large industrial complexes. A variety of potential toxic chemicals have been produced during manufacturing processes and activities in industrial complexes in South Korea. A large number of dyeing industries gathered together in Daegu dyeing industrial complex. The residents near the industrial complex could be often exposed to volatile organic compounds. This study aimed to evaluate VOCs levels in the ambient air of DDIC, to assess the impact on human health risks, and to find more convincing evidences to prove these VOCs emitted from DDIC.MethodsAccording to deterministic risk assessment, inhalation was the most important route. Residential indoor, outdoor and personal exposure air VOCs were measured by passive samplers in exposed area and controlled area in different seasons. Satisfaction with ambient environments and self-reported diseases were also obtained by questionnaire survey. The VOCs concentrations in exposed area and controlled area was compared by t-test. The relationships among every VOC were tested by correlation. The values of hazard quotient (HQ) and life cancer risk were estimated.ResultsThe concentrations of measured VOCs were presented, moreover, the variety of concentrations according the distances from the residential settings to the industrial complex site in exposed area. The residential indoor, outdoor, and personal exposure concentrations of toluene, DMF and chloroform in exposed area were significantly higher than the corresponding concentrations in controlled area both in summer and autumn. Toluene, DMF, chloroform and MEK had significantly positive correlations with each other in indoor and outdoor, and even in personal exposure. The HQ for DMF exceeded 1, and the life cancer risk of chloroform was greater than 10− 4 in exposed area. The prevalence of respiratory diseases, anaphylactic diseases and cardiovascular diseases in exposed area were significantly higher than in controlled area.ConclusionsThis study showed that adverse cancer and non-cancer health effects may occur by VOCs emitted from DDIC, and some risk managements are needed. Moreover, this study provides a convenient preliminarily method for pollutants source characteristics.

e Lactobacillus mucosae LM1, isolated from stool samples of a healthy piglet, displays good in vitro mucin adhesion and antimicrobial activity against pathogenic bacteria. To elucidate its antimicrobial effects and to find its epithelial cell and mucin adhesion genes, the genomic sequence of L. mucosae LM1 was investigated.L actobacillus mucosae, found in the mammalian gastrointestinal tract, has been shown to have the ability to adhere to mucosal surfaces (2,3,9). Previous reports have identified L. mucosae as having the ability to attach tightly to the epithelium of the human intestine and to produce antimicrobials and a biofilm when exposed to the physiological conditions of the gut (4). The adhesion of lactobacilli to gastrointestinal mucus makes them a good choice for probiotics since it increases their ability to colonize the gut efficiently, modulate the intestinal immune system, and inhibit pathogenic bacteria (1, 4, 9).L. mucosae LM1 was isolated from stool samples from a healthy piglet (6). Preliminary trials regarding the adhesion and antibacterial activity of L. mucosae LM1 demonstrated good mucin-binding activity in vitro and antibacterial activity against pathogenic bacteria. The genome of L. mucosae LM1 was determined using a Roche 454 GS FLX sequencer and Illumina GA IIx platform. All reads were assembled into 55 contigs by de novo assembly. The initial draft assembly was prepared from the libraries of 22,092,187 reads (950ϫ coverage) using Newbler Assembler 2.3 (Roche), CLC Genomics Workbench 4.8 (CLCbio), and CodonCode Aligner (CodonCode Co.). A functional annotation was performed by the Rapid Annotation using Subsystem Technology (RAST) server and BLASTP-based comparisons with the KEGG and COG databases.The draft genome of L. mucosae LM1 included 2,213,697 bp with a 45.87% GϩC content, 2,039 protein-coding genes, and 56 tRNA-encoding genes. Functions were assigned to 64.6% (1,318) of the total coding sequences; 8.7% (428) were found to be hypothetical proteins that are unique to this strain. A phylogenetic tree produced from the 16S rRNA genes revealed that strain LM1 is most closely related to L. mucosae CCUG 43169 (8). Likewise, 16S rRNA analysis showed strong homology to other Lactobacillus species with completed genomes, including Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 20016 (NCBI reference NC_009513.1), with 94% similarity, and Lactobacillus fermentum IF03956 (GenBank reference AP008937.1), with 95% similarity. The 16S rRNA gene sequence was extracted from whole-genome shotgun assemblies derived from the EzTaxon-e database (5).An analysis of the L. mucosae LM1 genome revealed that LM1 has a specific mucus-binding protein (mub) gene (LBLM1_04370), which showed 95% coverage and 93% similarity to the best-matched L. reuteri mub gene. The mucus-binding activity induced by this mub gene has antimicrobial effects through cell surface protection (7,8). Moreover, the L. mucosae LM1 genome includes a putative ABC transporter and adhesin-like protein (LBLM1_10110) with significant homology (100% coverage and 93...