Biomedical subjects

S Gendel

Publications and source records attributed to S Gendel.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2004

Natural atypical Listeria innocua strains with Listeria monocytogenes pathogenicity island 1 genes.

Identification of bona fide Listeria isolates into the six species of the genus normally requires only a few tests. Aberrant isolates do occur, but even then only one or two extra confirmatory tests are generally needed for identification to species level. We have discovered a hemolytic-positive, rhamnose and xylose fermentation-negative Listeria strain with surprising recalcitrance to identification to the species level due to contradictory results in standard confirmatory tests. The issue had to be resolved by using total DNA-DNA hybridization testing and then confirmed by further specific PCR-based tests including a Listeria microarray assay. The results show that this isolate is indeed a novel one. Its discovery provides the first fully documented instance of a hemolytic Listeria innocua strain. This species, by definition, is typically nonhemolytic. The L. innocua isolate contains all the members of the PrfA-regulated virulence gene cluster (Listeria pathogenicity island 1) of L. monocytogenes. It is avirulent in the mouse pathogenicity test. Avirulence is likely at least partly due to the absence of the L. monocytogenes-specific allele of iap, as well as the absence of inlA, inlB, inlC, and daaA. At least two of the virulence cluster genes, hly and plcA, which encode the L. monocytogenes hemolysin (listeriolysin O) and inositol-specific phospholipase C, respectively, are phenotypically expressed in this L. innocua strain. The detection by PCR assays of specific L. innocua genes (lin0198, lin0372, lin0419, lin0558, lin1068, lin1073, lin1074, lin2454, and lin2693) and noncoding intergenic regions (lin0454-lin0455 and nadA-lin2134) in the strain is consistent with its L. innocua DNA-DNA hybridization identity. Additional distinctly different hemolytic L. innocua strains were also studied.

Animals↗

PubMed1983

Shuttle cloning vectors for the cyanobacterium Anacystis nidulans.

Hybrid plasmids capable of acting as shuttle cloning vectors in Escherichia coli and the cyanobacterium Anacystis nidulans R2 were constructed by in vitro ligation. DNA from the small endogenous plasmid of A. nidulans was combined with two E. coli vectors, pBR325 and pDPL13, to create vectors containing either two selectable antibiotic resistance markers or a single marker linked to a flexible multisite polylinker. Nonessential DNA was deleted from the polylinker containing plasmid pPLAN B2 to produce a small shuttle vector carrying part of the polylinker (pCB4). The two polylinker-containing shuttle vectors, pPLAN B2 and pCB4, transform both E. coli and A. nidulans efficiently and provide seven and five unique restriction enzyme sites, respectively, for the insertion of a variety of DNA fragments. The hybrid plasmid derived from pBR325 (pECAN1) also transforms both E. coli and A. nidulans, although at a lower frequency, and contains two unique restriction enzyme sites.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

PubMed1980

Light-induced Changes in Allophycocyanin.

Several lines of evidence indicate that allophycocyanin is the previously unidentified "phycochrome" observed in extracts of blue-green algae.Fractions containing phycoerythrin, phycocyanin, and allophycocyanin and exhibiting light-induced absorbance changes were prepared from extracts of Nostoc muscorum and Fremyella diplosiphon by isoelectric focusing. Illumination of such fractions with red light (650 nanometers) causes a reduction in absorbance at 620 nm ( approximately 1 to 2%) and an increase at 560 nm. The effect, (previously observed by Björn and Björn [1976 Physiol Plant 36: 297-304]) is reversible, upon illumination with green light (550 nm). Selective immunoprecipitation of the phycobiliproteins indicates that allophycocyanin is the photoresponsive pigment.At pH 4.0 to 4.2, allophycocyanin purified from the same algae or from Phormidium luridum exhibits a light-induced absorbance change at 620 nm, which coincides with its absorption maximum at this pH; the fluorescence emission of allophycocyanin under these conditions is at 647 nm and its S(20,w) is 2.28, compatible with an alpha(1)beta(1) polypeptide composition. At neutral pH (5.8 to 7.0), allophycocyanin aggregates have a sedimentation coefficient of 4.8 ( approximately alpha(3)beta(3)) and an additional absorption peak at 640 nm appears while that at 620 nm remains unaffected. The fluorescence emission maximum of the larger aggregate is at 667 nm and the light-induced change in its absorption is shifted to 650 nm. The effect of pH changes in the range 4.0 to 7.0 on the spectral and aggregation properties of allophycocyanin is completely reversible. Changes in pH which affect allophycocyanin aggregation have parallel effects on absorption and fluorescence maxima as well as on the light-induced absorbance changes of the biliprotein.No evidence is provided to resolve whether this phycochrome plays the role of an adaptochrome.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1979

Control of Phycoerythrin Synthesis during Chromatic Adaptation.

Chromatic adaptation is the process by which blue-green algae alter the rates of biliprotein synthesis in response to changes in the color of available light. We have examined the control of phycoerythrin synthesis during the early stages of chromatic adaptation in Fremyella diplosiphon using fluorescence spectroscopy and (35)S-labeling of polypeptides. Phycoerythrin synthesis begins within 45 to 90 minutes after transfer of cells from red to green light, but is blocked by rifamycin. Transfer of cells from green to red light stops phycoerythrin synthesis with a t(1/2) = 45 minutes, as does the addition of rifamycin in green light. Transfer from green light to darkness slows but does not stop phycoerythrin synthesis. Gel electrophoresis of labeled polypeptides, both soluble and membrane-bound, shows that the synthesis of some polypeptides other than phycoerythrin are also affected by changes in light. These data suggest that chromatic adaptation involves gene regulation at the transcriptional level.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1978

Differential rates of DNA denaturation and renaturation in situ in relation to the C-banding of Allium cepa chromosomes.

Telomeric heterochromatin can be demonstrated in Allium cepa chromosomes when root tip squashes are subjected to a C-banding procedure (treatment with saturated barium hydroxide for 10 min, followed by 1 h in phosphate buffer at 60 degrees C). Acridine orange (A0) staining indicated that the chromosomal DNA was denatured by the alkaline treatment and that it renatured within the first 3-7 min in the hot buffer. The DNA of the telomeres reannealed somewhat faster than the rest of the chromosomal DNA, but the AO staining suggested that all chromosomal DNA was double stranded after 7 min in buffer. Digestion of the chromosomes with a single strand specific nuclease, DNase S1, followed by Feulgen staining, demonstrated that the AO staining gives a somewhat misleading picture of the extent of DNA denaturation and renaturation. The S1 nuclease results showed that the chromosomal DNA was completely denatured by the alkaline treatment, but that a fraction of the DNA reannealed during the deionized water wash that preceded the incubation in hot buffer. Neither controls nor chromosomes subjected to the complete C-banding procedure were affected by S1 nuclease digestion, demonstrating that virtually all of the chromosomal DNA was double stranded both before and after the C-banding process. These results, along with the fact that the appearance of the bands was unaffected when the buffer incubation was performed at high (80 degrees C) or low (40 degrees C) temperature, indicated that differential DNA denaturation and renaturation is unlikely to be responsible for C-banding in this species.

Chromosome Banding↗