Examining the immunotoxicity of oil sands process affected waters using a human macrophage cell line.

Oil sands process affected water (OSPW) is produced during the surface mining of the oil sands bitumen deposits in Northern Alberta. OSPW contains variable quantities of organic and inorganic components causing toxic effects on living organisms. Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) are widely used to degrade toxic organic components from OSPW including naphthenic acids (NAs).

Using immune cell-based bioactivity assays to compare the inflammatory activities of oil sands process-affected waters from a pilot scale demonstration pit lake.

In this study, we provide evidence that oil sands process-affected waters (OSPW) contain factors that activate the antimicrobial and proinflammatory responses of immune cells. Specifically, using the murine macrophage RAW 264.7 cell line, we establish the bioactivity of two different OSPW samples and their isolated fractions.

Abiotic and biotic constituents of oil sands process-affected waters.

The oil sands in Northern Alberta are the largest oil sands in the world, providing an important economic resource for the Canadian energy industry. The extraction of petroleum in the oil sands begins with the addition of hot water to the bituminous sediment, generating oil sands process-affected water (OSPW), which is acutely toxic to organisms. Trillions of litres of OSPW are stored on oil sands mining leased sites in man-made reservoirs called tailings ponds.

Genomes of Vibrio metoecus co-isolated with Vibrio cholerae extend our understanding of differences between these closely related species.

Background: Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of cholera, is a well-studied species, whereas Vibrio metoecus is a recently described close relative that is also associated with human infections. The availability of V. metoecus genomes provides further insight into its genetic differences from V.

Assay for Evaluating the Abundance of and Its O1 Serogroup Subpopulation from Water without DNA Extraction.

Cholera is a severe diarrheal disease caused by , a natural inhabitant of brackish water. Effective control of cholera outbreaks depends on prompt detection of the pathogen from clinical specimens and tracking its source in the environment. Although the epidemiology of cholera is well studied, rapid detection of remains a challenge, and data on its abundance in environmental sources are limited.

Population Analysis of Vibrio cholerae in Aquatic Reservoirs Reveals a Novel Sister Species ( sp. nov.) with a History of Association with Humans.

Most efforts to understand the biology of Vibrio cholerae have focused on a single group, the pandemic-generating lineage harboring the strains responsible for all known cholera pandemics. Consequently, little is known about the diversity of this species in its native aquatic environment. To understand the differences in the V.

Modular Molecular Weaponry Plays a Key Role in Competition Within an Environmental Population.

The type VI secretion system (T6SS) operons of contain extraordinarily diverse arrays of toxic effector and cognate immunity genes, which are thought to play an important role in the environmental lifestyle and adaptation of this human pathogen. Through the T6SS, proteinaceous "spears" tipped with antibacterial effectors are injected into adjacent cells, killing those not possessing immunity proteins to these effectors. Here, we investigate the T6SS-mediated dynamics of bacterial competition within a single environmental population of .

Simultaneous Quantification of and with Its O1 Serogroup and Toxigenic Subpopulations in Environmental Reservoirs.

is a recently described aquatic bacterium and opportunistic pathogen, closely related to and often coexisting with To study the relative abundance and population dynamics of both species in aquatic environments of cholera-endemic and cholera-free regions, we developed a multiplex qPCR assay allowing simultaneous quantification of total and (including toxigenic and O1 serogroup) cells. The presence of was restricted to samples from regions that are not endemic for cholera, where it was found at 20% of the abundance of . In this environment, non-toxigenic O1 serogroup represents almost one-fifth of the total population.