Pathogenic Enteric Viruses and Microbial Indicators during Secondary Treatment of Municipal Wastewater.

Pathogenic enteric viruses are responsible for a wide range of infections in humans, with diverse symptoms. Raw and partially treated wastewaters are major sources of environmental contamination with enteric viruses. We monitored a municipal secondary wastewater treatment plant (New Orleans, LA) on a monthly basis for norovirus (NoV) GI and GII and enterovirus serotypes using multiplex reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) and microbial indicators of fecal contamination using standard plating methods.

Surveillance of Enteric Viruses and Microbial Indicators in the Eastern Oysters (Crassostrea virginica) and Harvest Waters along Louisiana Gulf Coast.

Noroviruses are the most common causative agent of viral gastroenteritis in humans, and are responsible for major foodborne illnesses in the United States. Filter-feeding molluscan shellfish exposed to sewage-contaminated waters bioaccumulate viruses, and if consumed raw, transmit the viruses to humans and cause illness. We investigated the occurrence of norovirus GI and GII and microbial indicators of fecal contamination in the eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) and water from commercial harvesting areas along the Louisiana Gulf Coast (January to November of 2013).

Evidence of participation of McrB(S) in McrBC restriction in Escherichia coli K-12.

The McrBC restriction system has the ability to restrict DNA containing 5-hydroxymethylcytosine, N4-methylcytosine, and 5-methylcytosine at specific sequences. The mcrB gene produces two gene products. The complete mcrB open reading frame produces a 51-kDa protein (McrB(L)) and a 33-kDa protein (McrB(S)).

Filtration and Utilization of Laboratory-Cultured Bacteria by Dreissena polymorpha, Corbicula fluminea, and Carunculina texasensis.

Dreissena polymorpha consumed about 6 x 108 Escherichia coli from 20 ml of artificial pondwater (APW) in 30 min under laboratory conditions. The clearance rate per mussel was 143 +/- 25 ml g-1 dry tissue min-1. The E.

Role of curved DNA in binding of Escherichia coli RNA polymerase to promoters.

The ability of curved DNA upstream of the -35 region to affect the interaction of Escherichia coli RNA polymerase and promoter DNA was examined through the use of hybrid promoters. These promoters were constructed by substituting the curved DNA from two Bacillus subtilis bacteriophage SP82 promoters for the comparable DNA of the bacteriophage lambda promoters lambda pR and lambda pL. The SP82 promoters possessed intrinsic DNA curvature upstream of their -35 regions, as characterized by runs of adenines in phase with the helical repeat.