No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is one of the most feared of transboundary animal diseases. Accidental or deliberate release of the causative agent can have both direct and indirect effects that result in massive economic losses and disruption. The direct effects of an FMD outbreak include immediate losses to agricultural production and disruption of local economies, while the indirect effects are mainly related to disease control measures such as restriction of market access at local and global levels and the high costs of disease control. To improve the capacity of the European Union (EU) to counter animal bioterrorism threats, AniBioThreat was launched with a special focus on threats to living animals, feed, and food of animal origin. As part of this project, several zoonotic or animal pathogenic agents are considered from different perspectives. FMD virus was selected as one agent to be scrutinized because it is highly contagious and an outbreak can have a severe economic impact. Ways to fight a deliberate outbreak can be demonstrated through the example of FMD. In this article, the virology and epidemiology of FMD virus are discussed with special attention to the related law enforcement aspects.

Bacillus cereus is increasingly recognized as an opportunistic pathogen causing local and systemic infections. The causative strains typically produce three pore-forming enterotoxins. This study focusses on the tripartite non-hemolytic enterotoxin (Nhe). Until today, studies have tried to elucidate the structure, complex formation and cell binding mechanisms of the tripartite Nhe toxin. Here, we demonstrate the synthesis of the functional tripartite Nhe toxin using eukaryotic cell-free systems. Single subunits, combinations of two Nhe subunits as well as the complete tripartite toxin were tested. Functional activity was determined by hemolytic activity on sheep blood agar plates, planar lipid bilayer measurements as well as cell viability assessment using the MTT assay. Our results demonstrate that cell-free protein synthesis based on translationally active eukaryotic lysates is a platform technology for the fast and efficient synthesis of functionally active, multicomponent toxins.