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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

The Evolution Of Host Specificity In The Vertebrate Gut Symbiont Lactobacillus Reuteri, Steven Frese Nov 2012

The Evolution Of Host Specificity In The Vertebrate Gut Symbiont Lactobacillus Reuteri, Steven Frese

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The vertebrate gut is home to one of the densest populations of life on Earth. This microbial community has a profound effect on host health, nutrition, development, behavior, and evolution. However, very little is known about how these microbes have evolved with their vertebrate hosts, how and whether they select hosts or how they remain associated with their hosts. Recent work identified Lactobacillus reuteri as an organism that is composed of host-specific sub-populations, each population associated with a different host animal. Representatives from each host-associated population were tested for their ability to colonize gnotobiotic mice, which only rodent strains could …


Form And Function Of Clostridium Thermocellum Biofilms, Alexandru Dumitrache, Gideon Wolfaardt, Grant Allen, Steven N. Liss, Lee R. Lynd Oct 2012

Form And Function Of Clostridium Thermocellum Biofilms, Alexandru Dumitrache, Gideon Wolfaardt, Grant Allen, Steven N. Liss, Lee R. Lynd

Dartmouth Scholarship

The importance of bacterial adherence has been acknowledged in microbial lignocellulose conversion studies; however, few reports have described the function and structure of biofilms supported by cellulosic substrates. We investigated the organization, dynamic formation, and carbon flow associated with biofilms of the obligately anaerobic cellulolytic bacterium Clostridium thermocellum 27405. Using noninvasive, in situ fluorescence imaging, we showed biofilms capable of near complete substrate conversion with a characteristic monolayered cell structure without an extracellular polymeric matrix typically seen in biofilms. Cell division at the interface and terminal endospores appeared throughout all stages of biofilm growth. Using continuous-flow reactors with a rate …


In Vitro Antimicrobial Effect Of A Cold Plasma Jet Against Enterococcus Faecalis Biofilms, Chunqi Jiang, Christoph Schaudinn, David E. Jaramillo, Paul Webster, J. William Costerton Jan 2012

In Vitro Antimicrobial Effect Of A Cold Plasma Jet Against Enterococcus Faecalis Biofilms, Chunqi Jiang, Christoph Schaudinn, David E. Jaramillo, Paul Webster, J. William Costerton

Bioelectrics Publications

The hypothesis that a cold plasma jet has the antimicrobial effect against Enterococcus faecalis biofilms was tested in vitro. 27 hydroxyapatite discs were incubated with E. faecalis for six days to form a monoculture biofilm on the disc surface. The prepared substrata were divided into three groups: the negative control, the positive control (5.25% NaOCl solution), and the plasma treatment group. Resultant colony-forming unit counts were associated with observations of bacterial cell morphology changes using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Treatment of E. faecalis biofilm with the plasma and 5.25% NaOCl for 5min resulted in 93.1% and 90.0% kill (P < 0.0001), respectively. SEM detected that nearly no intact bacteria were discernible for the plasmaexposed HA disc surfaces. The demonstrated bactericidal effect of the plasma with direct surface contact may be due to the enhanced oxidation by the locally produced reactive plasma species.


Toxin-Antitoxic Loci Vapbc-1 And Vapxd Contribute To Survival And Virulence In Nontypeable Haemophilus Influenzae, Dabin Ren, Anna N. Walker, Dayle A. Daines Jan 2012

Toxin-Antitoxic Loci Vapbc-1 And Vapxd Contribute To Survival And Virulence In Nontypeable Haemophilus Influenzae, Dabin Ren, Anna N. Walker, Dayle A. Daines

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) is a significant human pathogen responsible for respiratory tract infections and the most common cause of recurrent otitis media. Type II toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems are genetic elements that code for a stable protein toxin and a labile antitoxin that are thought to be involved in metabolic regulation of bacteria by enabling a switch to a dormant state under stress conditions. The contribution to infection persistence of the NTHi TA loci vapBC-1 and vapXD was examined in this study.

Results: Deletions in vapBC-1, vapXD and vapBC-1 vapXD significantly decreased the survival of NTHi co-cultured with …