Publications by authors named "P Sapountzis"
The mutualistic interaction specificity between attine ants and antibiotic-producing Actinobacteria has been controversial because strains cannot always be isolated from worker cuticles across attine ant species, while other actinobacteria can apparently replace and also inhibit growth of mycopathogens. Here we report that across field samples of Panamanian species: (i) Cuticular were largely restricted to species in the crown of the attine phylogeny and their appearance likely coincided with the first attines colonizing Central/North America. (ii) The phylogenetically basal attines almost always had cuticular associations with other Actinobacteria than .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe describe and discuss the intestinal mycobiota of dairy cows reared in France following variations in dietary regimes and two seasons. Two groups of 21 animals were followed over a summer and winter period, and another group of 28 animals was followed only during the same summer season. The summer diet was based on grazing supplemented with 3-5 kg/d of maize, grass silage and hay, while the winter diet consisted of 30% maize silage, 25% grass silage, 15% hay and 30% concentrate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- - Calves are very vulnerable to gastrointestinal infections, especially from pathogens like C. parvum, which can lead to severe diarrhea, poor growth, or even death. Consequently, studying the interaction between the pathogen and the gut microbiota is essential for developing better treatment strategies.
- - In a study with neonatal calves challenged by C. parvum, significant symptoms like fever and diarrhea were observed five days after exposure, along with signs of severe intestinal inflammation and an unbalanced gut microbiome characterized by harmful bacteria and toxins.
- - Supplementing calves with high-quality colostrum showed some promise in easing clinical symptoms and improving gut immune responses, making the gut environment resemble that of healthy calves, although its overall effectiveness in reducing diarrhea was limited.
Antigen 43 (Ag43) expression induces aggregation and biofilm formation that has consequences for bacterial colonisation and infection. Ag43 is secreted through the Type 5 subtype "a" secretion system (T5aSS) and is a prototypical member of the family of self-associating autotransporters (SAATs). As a T5aSS protein, Ag43 has a modular architecture comprised of (i) a signal peptide, (ii) a passenger domain that can be subdivided into three subdomains (SL, EJ, and BL), (iii) an autochaperone (AC) domain, and (iv) an outer membrane translocator.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To re-examine the changes with time in the underlying patterns of individual refraction at different ages, which have led to an increased prevalence of myopia in a population of Asian children.
Methods: Using published cross-sectional longitudinal data, the frequency distributions of spherical equivalent refractive error (SE) in yearly cohorts of 6- and 12-year-old Japanese children during the period 1984-1996 were modelled in terms of ex- and bi-Gaussian distributions.
Results: Both models suggested that over the period of the study, little change occurred in the SE frequency distributions for 6-year-olds, with most children having SEs near emmetropia.