Rathayibacter oskolensis sp. nov., a novel actinobacterium from Androsace koso-poljanskii Ovcz. (Primulaceae) endemic to the Central Russian Upland.

A rod-shaped, non-endospore-forming and non-motile bacterium, strain DL-329, was isolated from the above-ground part of a plant, Androsace koso-poljanskii Ovcz. (Primulaceae), at the the State Natural Reserve 'Belogorie', Russia. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons, the strain clustered with members of the genus Rathayibacter, showing the highest sequence similarity to Rathayibacter tritici (98.

[Three new species of brevibacteria--Brevibacterium antiquum sp. nov., Brevibacterium aurantiacum sp. nov. and Brevibacterium permense sp. nov].

This work deals with the taxonomic study of 12 orange-pigmented bacteria isolated from permafrost sediments, rice plots, and soils contaminated with wastes from the chemical and salt industries, which were assigned to the genus Brevibacterium on the basis of phenotypic characteristics, as well as of some strains described previously as Brevibacterium linens. The study revealed three genomic species, whose members and the type strains of the closest species of Brevibacterium had DNA similarity levels between 24 and 59%. The strains of the genomic species differed from each other and from the known species of Brevibacterium in some physiological and biochemical characteristics, as well as in the sugar and polyol composition of their teichoic acids.

Transient expression assay in a baculovirus system using firefly luciferase gene as a reporter.

Transient gene expression assays were developed to assess the function of the regulatory sequences of baculoviruses Bombyx mori nuclear polyhedrosis virus (BmNPV) and Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus (AcNPV) in insect cells of Bombyx mori and Spodoptera frugiperda, respectively. DNA sequences encoding luciferase (luc) of the firefly Photinus pyralis was successfully employed in the expression assay as a reporter gene. Recombinant plasmids were constructed containing the luc gene under control of baculovirus-specific or heterologous promoters.

[Expression of the glow worm luciferase gene in mammalian cells using vectors based on vaccinia viruses].

The transient expression of the two reporter genes, the genes for luciferase and bacterial beta-galactosidase, were used for comparative estimation of vaccinia viral promoters and for characterizing of the constructed plasmids. The recombinant clones of vaccinia virus expressing simultaneously and with high efficiency the luciferase and beta-galactosidase were used for studying the reproduction of vaccinia virus in mammalian cells. The advantages of the luciferase gene in using it as a reporter gene are discussed.