A randomised crossover study investigating the effects of galacto-oligosaccharides on the faecal microbiota in men and women over 50 years of age.

Faecal microbial changes associated with ageing include reduced bifidobacteria numbers. These changes coincide with an increased risk of disease development. Prebiotics have been observed to increase bifidobacteria numbers within humans.

Identification and functional characterization of the Lactococcus lactis rfb operon, required for dTDP-rhamnose Biosynthesis.

dTDP-rhamnose is an important precursor of cell wall polysaccharides and rhamnose-containing exopolysaccharides (EPS) in Lactococcus lactis. We cloned the rfbACBD operon from L. lactis MG1363, which comprises four genes involved in dTDP-rhamnose biosynthesis.

Efficient target-selected mutagenesis in zebrafish.

One of the most powerful methods available to assign function to a gene is to inactivate or knockout the gene. Recently,we described the first target-selected knockout in zebrafish. Here,we report on the further improvements of this procedure,resulting in a highly efficient and easy method to do target-selected mutagenesis in zebrafish.