Adaptation to zinc restriction in : role of the ribosomal protein and zinc-importers regulated by AdcR.

Unlabelled: Zinc (Zn) is an essential cofactor for numerous bacterial proteins and altering Zn availability is an important component of host innate immunity. During infection, adaptation to both Zn deprivation and excess is critical for pathogenic bacteria development. To understand the adaptive responses to Zn availability of , a pathogen causing invasive infections of neonates, global transcriptional profiling was conducted.

Characterization of galactose catabolic pathways in and identification of a major galactose: phosphotransferase importer.

We identified and characterized genomic regions of that are involved in the Leloir and the tagatose-6-phosphate pathways for D-galactose catabolism. The accumulation of mutations in genes coding the Leloir pathway and the absence of these genes in a significant proportion of the strains suggest that this pathway may no longer be necessary for and is heading toward extinction. In contrast, a genomic region containing genes coding for intermediates of the tagatose-6-phosphate pathway, a Gat family PTS transporter, and a DeoR/GlpR family regulator is present in the vast majority of strains.

The Streptococcus agalactiae Exonuclease ExoVII Is Required for Resistance to Exogenous DNA-Damaging Agents.

Streptococcus agalactiae is a human pathogen responsible for severe invasive infections in newborns. In this bacterium, XseB, a part of the ExoVII exonuclease, was shown to be specifically more abundant in the hypervirulent ST-17 strains. In Escherichia coli, ExoVII is associated either with mismatch repair or with recombinational DNA repair and is redundant with other exonucleases.

Application of droplet digital PCR for the detection of vector copy number in clinical CAR/TCR T cell products.

Background: Genetically engineered T cells have become an important therapy for B-cell malignancies. Measuring the efficiency of vector integration into the T cell genome is important for assessing the potency and safety of these cancer immunotherapies.

Methods: A digital droplet polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) assay was developed and evaluated for assessing the average number of lenti- and retroviral vectors integrated into Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) and T Cell Receptor (TCR)-engineered T cells.

Defining the Role of the Sht-Family Proteins in Zinc Acquisition and Complement Evasion.

is not only part of the human intestinal and urogenital microbiota but is also a leading cause of septicemia and meningitis in neonates. Its ability to cause disease depends upon the acquisition of nutrients from its environment, including the transition metal ion zinc. The primary zinc acquisition system of the pathogen is the Adc/Lmb ABC permease, which is essential for viability in zinc-restricted environments.

Inductors and regulatory properties of the genomic island-associated fru metabolic operon of Streptococcus agalactiae.

The fru metabolic operon of Streptococcus agalactiae encodes the phosphoenolpyruvate:carbohydrate phosphotransferase system (PTS) enzyme II complex Fru (EIIB , EIIA , and EIIC ); Fru R, a transcriptional activator with PTS regulatory domains (PRDs); a d-allulose-6-phosphate 3-epimerase; a transaldolase; and a transketolase. We showed that the transcription of fru is induced during the stationary phase of growth in complex media and during incubation in human cerebrospinal or amniotic fluids. d-allose and d-ribose are environmental signals governing this induction.