Molecular Diagnostics for Group A Streptococcal Pharyngitis: Clinical and Economic Benefits in the Belgian Healthcare Context.

Unlabelled: (1) Background: Group A Streptococcal (GAS) pharyngitis is common, resulting in numerous ambulatory visits. Accurate diagnosis is challenging. This study evaluated the clinical utility, cost, and performance of a nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) for GAS detection, comparing it to a rapid antigen detection test (RADT) and throat culture.

Functional redundancy of seasonal vitamin B biosynthesis pathways in coastal marine microbial communities.

Vitamin B (cobalamin) is a major cofactor required by most marine microbes, but only produced by a few prokaryotes in the ocean, which is globally B -depleted. Despite the ecological importance of B , the seasonality of B metabolisms and the organisms involved in its synthesis in the ocean remain poorly known. Here we use metagenomics to assess the monthly dynamics of B -related pathways and the functional diversity of associated microbial communities in the coastal NW Mediterranean Sea over 7 years.

Author Correction: Carboxythiazole is a key microbial nutrient currency and critical component of thiamin biosynthesis.

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has been fixed in the paper.

Carboxythiazole is a key microbial nutrient currency and critical component of thiamin biosynthesis.

Almost all cells require thiamin, vitamin B1 (B1), which is synthesized via the coupling of thiazole and pyrimidine precursors. Here we demonstrate that 5-(2-hydroxyethyl)-4-methyl-1,3-thiazole-2-carboxylic acid (cHET) is a useful in vivo B1 precursor for representatives of ubiquitous marine picoeukaryotic phytoplankton and Escherichia coli - drawing attention to cHET as a valuable exogenous micronutrient for microorganisms with ecological, industrial, and biomedical value. Comparative utilization experiments with the terrestrial plant Arabidopsis thaliana revealed that it can also use exogenous cHET, but notably, picoeukaryotic marine phytoplankton and E.