Laying hens were inoculated orally, intracloacally (IC), or intravenously (IV) with Salmonella enteritidis phage type 8 isolates from a human (E700-87) eggs (Y-8P2), or the ovary of a hen (27A). Oral or IV inoculation of 2 x 10(8) to 4 x 10(8) colony-forming units (CFU) of E700-87 caused depression, anorexia, reduced egg production, diarrhea, and some mortality. Lower doses resulted in milder clinical signs. S. enteritidis was cultured from the shells of a few eggs but not from egg contents. Fecal shedding persisted for up to 6 weeks in some birds. Isolate Y-8P2 (10(6) CFU) also caused anorexia, diarrhea, and a drop in egg production. Hens inoculated orally or IC were less severely affected than those inoculated IV. Fecal shedding was intermittent and lasted up to 18 days. Eggshells from the IC-inoculated birds had the highest rate of contamination, and S. enteritidis was isolated from the albumen of 11 and yolk of three of 726 eggs. Oral inoculation of 10(6) CFU of isolate 27A resulted in a bacteremic infection with seeding of the liver, spleen, peritoneum, ovule, and oviduct. However, the birds remained clinically normal with normal egg production. S. enteritidis was cultured from the yolk and albumen of a small number of eggs until 11 days postinfection. Antigen prepared from S. enteritidis detected antibody in more sera than did commercially available S. pullorum antigen in agglutination tests.

Profilin, a multigene family involved in actin dynamics, is a multiple partners-interacting protein, as regard of the presence of at least of three binding domains encompassing actin, phosphoinositide lipids, and poly-L-proline interacting patches. In addition, pollen profilins are important allergens in several species like Olea europaea L. (Ole e 2), Betula pendula (Bet v 2), Phleum pratense (Phl p 12), Zea mays (Zea m 12) and Corylus avellana (Cor a 2). In spite of the biological and clinical importance of these molecules, variability in pollen profilin sequences has been poorly pointed out up until now. In this work, a relatively high number of pollen profilin sequences have been cloned, with the aim of carrying out an extensive characterization of their polymorphism among 24 olive cultivars and the above mentioned plant species. Our results indicate a high level of variability in the sequences analyzed. Quantitative intra-specific/varietal polymorphism was higher in comparison to inter-specific/cultivars comparisons. Multi-optional posttranslational modifications, e.g. phosphorylation sites, physicochemical properties, and partners-interacting functional residues have been shown to be affected by profilin polymorphism. As a result of this variability, profilins yielded a clear taxonomic separation between the five plant species. Profilin family multifunctionality might be inferred by natural variation through profilin isovariants generated among olive germplasm, as a result of polymorphism. The high variability might result in both differential profilin properties and differences in the regulation of the interaction with natural partners, affecting the mechanisms underlying the transmission of signals throughout signaling pathways in response to different stress environments. Moreover, elucidating the effect of profilin polymorphism in adaptive responses like actin dynamics, and cellular behavior, represents an exciting research goal for the future.

Background: Nicotinamide is a soluble compound of the vitamin B 3 group with antimicrobial activity. Results: Nicotinamide causes disruption of the lysosome and inhibits the cathepsin b-like enzyme, an essential lysosomal protease in trypanosomatids. Conclusion: Nicotinamide kills African trypanosomes by targeting the cathepsin b-like protease.Significance: These results demonstrate for the first time the inhibitory effect of nicotinamide on a protease.

The selection of productive varieties of modern Criollo cocoa, showing fine aromatic qualities in their beans, is of major interest for some producing countries, such as Venezuela. Cultivated populations of Modern Criollo or Trinitario varieties may be suitable for admixture mapping analysis, as large blocks of alleles derived from two identified divergent ancestors, recently admixed, are still preserved, after a few generations of recombination, similar to experimental mapping progenies. Two hundred and fifty-seven individuals from a cultivated population of Modern Criollo were selected and analysed with 92 microsatellite markers distributed along the genome. This population exhibited a wide range of variability for yield factors and morphological features. Population structure analysis identified two main subgroups corresponding to the admixture from the two ancestors Criollo and Forastero. Several significant associations between markers and phenotypic data (yield factors and morphological traits) were identified by a least squares general linear model (GLM) taking into account the population structure and the percentage of admixture of each individual. Results were compared with classical QTL analyses previously reported for other cacao populations. Most markers associated to quantitative traits were very close to QTLs detected formerly for the same traits. Associations were also identified between markers and several qualitative traits including the red pigmentation observed in different organs, mainly associated to common markers in linkage group 4.