Identification of a New Pathogenicity Island Within the Large pAH187_270 Plasmid Involved in Virulence.

Objectives: is responsible for food poisoning and rare but severe clinical infections. The pathogenicity of strains varies from harmless to lethal strains. The objective of this study was to characterize three isolates isolated from the same patient and identify their virulence potentials.

The pathogenic biomarker alcohol dehydrogenase protein is involved in Bacillus cereus virulence and survival against host innate defence.

Bacillus cereus is a spore forming bacteria recognized among the leading agents responsible for foodborne outbreaks in Europe. B. cereus is also gaining notoriety as an opportunistic human pathogen inducing local and systemic infections.

New genetic biomarkers to differentiate non-pathogenic from clinically relevant Bacillus cereus strains.

Objectives: Bacillus cereus is responsible for food poisoning and rare but severe clinical infections. The pathogenicity of strains varies from harmless to lethal strains. However, there are currently no markers, either alone or in combination, to differentiate pathogenic from non-pathogenic strains.

Implication of a Key Region of Six Genes Involved in Siroheme Synthesis, Nitrite Reductase Production and Iron Cluster Repair in the Bacterial Response to Nitric Oxide Stress.

Bacterial response to nitric oxide (NO) is of major importance for bacterial survival. NO stress is a main actor of the eukaryotic immune response and several pathogenic bacteria have developed means for detoxification and repair of the damages caused by NO. However, bacterial mechanisms of NO resistance by Gram-positive bacteria are poorly described.

The cytotoxic potential of Bacillus cereus strains of various origins.

B. cereus is a human pathogen associated with food poisoning leading to gastrointestinal disorders, as well as local and severe systemic infections. The pathogenic spectrum of B.

The Enterococcus faecalis virulence factor ElrA interacts with the human Four-and-a-Half LIM Domains Protein 2.

The commensal bacterium Enterococcus faecalis is a common cause of nosocomial infections worldwide. The increasing prevalence of multi-antibiotic resistant E. faecalis strains reinforces this public health concern.

The Bacterial Mfd Protein Prevents DNA Damage Induced by the Host Nitrogen Immune Response in a NER-Independent but RecBC-Dependent Pathway.

Production of reactive nitrogen species is an important component of the host immune defence against bacteria. Here, we show that the bacterial protein Mfd (Mutation frequency decline), a highly conserved and ubiquitous bacterial protein involved in DNA repair, confers bacterial resistance to the eukaryotic nitrogen response produced by macrophage cells and during mice infection. In addition, we show that RecBC is also necessary to survive this stress.

Genome Sequence of "Candidatus Arthromitus" sp. Strain SFB-Mouse-NL, a Commensal Bacterium with a Key Role in Postnatal Maturation of Gut Immune Functions.

"Candidatus Arthromitus" sp. strain SFB-mouse-NL (SFB, segmented filamentous bacteria) is a commensal bacterium necessary for inducing the postnatal maturation of homeostatic innate and adaptive immune responses in the mouse gut. Here, we report the genome sequence of this bacterium, which sets it apart from earlier sequenced mouse SFB isolates.

Genome Sequence of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. lactis CNRZ327, a Dairy Bacterium with Anti-Inflammatory Properties.

Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. lactis CNRZ327 is a dairy bacterium with anti-inflammatory properties both in vitro and in vivo. Here, we report the genome sequence of this bacterium, which appears to contain no less than 215 insertion sequence (IS) elements, an exceptionally high number regarding the small genome size of the strain.

Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. lactis and ssp. bulgaricus: a chronicle of evolution in action.

Background: Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. lactis and ssp. bulgaricus are lactic acid producing bacteria that are largely used in dairy industries, notably in cheese-making and yogurt production.

High-throughput system for the presentation of secreted and surface-exposed proteins from Gram-positive bacteria in functional metagenomics studies.

Complex microbial ecosystems are increasingly studied through the use of metagenomics approaches. Overwhelming amounts of DNA sequence data are generated to describe the ecosystems, and allow to search for correlations between gene occurrence and clinical (e.g.

Enterotypes of the human gut microbiome.

Our knowledge of species and functional composition of the human gut microbiome is rapidly increasing, but it is still based on very few cohorts and little is known about variation across the world. By combining 22 newly sequenced faecal metagenomes of individuals from four countries with previously published data sets, here we identify three robust clusters (referred to as enterotypes hereafter) that are not nation or continent specific. We also confirmed the enterotypes in two published, larger cohorts, indicating that intestinal microbiota variation is generally stratified, not continuous.

Conservation of key elements of natural competence in Lactococcus lactis ssp.

Natural competence is active in very diverse species of the bacterial kingdom and probably participates in horizontal gene transfer. Recently, the genome sequence of various species, including Lactococcus lactis, revealed the presence of homologues of competence genes in bacteria, which were not previously identified as naturally transformable. We investigated the conservation among lactococcal strains of key components of the natural competence process in streptococci: (i) comX which encodes a sigma factor, allowing the expression of the late competence genes involved in DNA uptake, (ii) its recognition site, the cin-box and (iii) dprA which encodes a protein shown to determine the fate of incoming DNA.

csp-like genes of Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus and their response to cold shock.

The two csp-like genes from the lactic acid bacterium Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus were characterized and designated cspA and cspB. The gene cspA has been identified using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based approach with degenerated primers and further characterized using an inverse PCR strategy.

The kdgRKAT operon of Bacillus subtilis: detection of the transcript and regulation by the kdgR and ccpA genes.

Transcription of a new catabolic operon in Bacillus subtilis, involved in the late stages of galacturonic acid utilization, has been studied. The operon consists of four genes: kdgR, encoding the putative regulator protein; kdgK, encoding 2-keto-3-deoxygluconate kinase; kdgA, encoding 2-keto-3-deoxygluconate-6-phosphate aldolase; and kdgT, encoding a transporter. These four genes are organized in one transcriptional unit and map at 198 degrees of the B.