Gold Nanoparticle Paper Immunoassays for Sensing the Presence of in Oyster Hemolymph.

Seafood contamination with bacteria is a problem for aquaculture, especially with oysters, which are often consumed raw. Current methods for diagnosing bacterial pathogens in seafood involve lab-based assays such as polymerase chain reaction or culturing, which are time consuming and must occur in a centralized location. Detection of in a point-of-care assay would be a significant tool for food safety control measures.

Draft Genome Sequence of Enterococcus faecalis AS003, a Strain Possessing All Three Type II-a CRISPR Loci.

is a clinically significant member of the human microbiome. Three CRISPR-Cas loci are located in conserved locations. Previous studies provide evidence that strains with functional CRISPR-Cas genes are negatively correlated with antibiotic resistance.

Optimization of paper-based nanoparticle immunoassays for direct detection of the bacterial pathogen in oyster hemolymph.

The detection of foodborne pathogens is critical for disease control and infection prevention, especially in seafood consumed raw or undercooked. Paper-based diagnostic tools are promising for rapid fieldable detection and provide a readout by eye due to the use of gold nanoparticle immunoprobes. Here we study different strategies to overcome these challenges in a real biological matrix, oyster hemolymph, for the detection of the pathogenic bacteria Vibrio parahaemolyticus (Vp).

Incidence of Type II CRISPR1-Cas Systems in Enterococcus Is Species-Dependent.

CRISPR-Cas systems, which obstruct both viral infection and incorporation of mobile genetic elements by horizontal transfer, are a specific immune response common to prokaryotes. Antiviral protection by CRISPR-Cas comes at a cost, as horizontally-acquired genes may increase fitness and provide rapid adaptation to habitat change. To date, investigations into the prevalence of CRISPR have primarily focused on pathogenic and clinical bacteria, while less is known about CRISPR dynamics in commensal and environmental species.

Induction of resistance to Staphylococcus aureus in an environmental marine biofilm.

The study of environmental biofilms is complicated by the difficulty of working with them under lab conditions. Nonetheless, knowledge of cellular activity and interactions within environmental biofilms could lead to novel biomedical applications. As a first step in this direction we propose a novel technique for inducing resistance to Staphylococcus aureus (S.