After 2 months of

After 2 months of treatment (at T2), the difference between groups was statistically significant, according to a chi-squared test (p < 0.001). ALA α-lipoic acid, SOD superoxide dismutase Lastly, compliance with the treatment was checked by the physician. In group 1 receiving ALA/SOD in addition to physiotherapy, more than 84 and 78 % BIBF1120 of patients were reported to have followed the

medical prescriptions for physiotherapy after 30 and 60 days of treatment, respectively. Conversely, at the same time points, only 71 and 55 % of patients in group 2 were reported to be compliant with the prescriptions for physiotherapy, and most of them reported that they were not completely happy about the results achieved with physiotherapy

alone. The difference between the groups was significant (p = 0.048) and was considered an indirect GSK2245840 order confirmation that better pain control was achieved in group 1 than in group 2 (Fig. 2). Fig. 2 Percentages of patients who fully complied with physiotherapy prescribed by the site medical staff, in the group treated with α-lipoic Selleckchem Rabusertib acid (ALA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) plus physiotherapy, and in the group treated with physiotherapy alone. The difference between groups was statistically significant (p = 0.048) The tolerability was generally acceptable in both experimental groups, and no drug-related adverse events were reported. 4 Discussion Cervicobrachial pain is a common cervical spine disorder. When the condition evolves to chronicity (CNP), it encompasses the characteristics of neuropathic pain and becomes a persistent or recurring problem, which impacts unfavorably on an individual’s mental as well as physical health, thus leading to high costs for the health care system and society [33]. Here, we report the results of a prospective, randomized, controlled study aimed at evaluating the difference in pain relief between physical rehabilitation alone and multimodal therapy in patients affected by CNP. Our results demonstrated a statistically significant difference between the two study groups, confirming the hypothesis

that multimodal therapy, combining oral antioxidants—ALA and SOD—with physiotherapy, would lead to better improvement of perceived pain in these patients. In addition, both groups reported improvements Cetuximab research buy after the first month of treatment, but after 2 months, group 2 (who were treated with physiotherapy alone) stopped improving, while patients in group 1 receiving ALA600SOD® continued to experience improvement in their perceived pain, as showed by their mNPQ responses. ALA is a biological compound occurring in foods such as liver, spinach, and broccoli, but it is always covalently bound to macromolecules and, in fact, it is not fully bioavailable from standard dietary sources. Additionally, the amount of ALA that is present in the diet is very small, and dietary supplementation is needed whenever increased oxidative stress in the body (e.g.

The amplified 5′ fragments of phoP and axyR were digested with Ba

The amplified 5′ fragments of phoP and axyR were digested with BamHI and EcoRI and cloned into the thermosensitive plasmid pMAD using the corresponding restriction sites. Using the EcoRI and NcoI sites in the plasmids and fragments, the resulting constructs were used to clone the amplified 3′ fragments of phoP and axyR downstream of the 5′ fragments of the appropriate genes,

yielding constructs pMADΔphoP and pMADΔaxyR, {Selleck Anti-diabetic Compound Library|Selleck Antidiabetic Compound Library|Selleck Anti-diabetic Compound Library|Selleck Antidiabetic Compound Library|Selleckchem Anti-diabetic Compound Library|Selleckchem Antidiabetic Compound Library|Selleckchem Anti-diabetic Compound Library|Selleckchem Antidiabetic Compound Library|Anti-diabetic Compound Library|Antidiabetic Compound Library|Anti-diabetic Compound Library|Antidiabetic Compound Library|Anti-diabetic Compound Library|Antidiabetic Compound Library|Anti-diabetic Compound Library|Antidiabetic Compound Library|Anti-diabetic Compound Library|Antidiabetic Compound Library|Anti-diabetic Compound Library|Antidiabetic Compound Library|Anti-diabetic Compound Library|Antidiabetic Compound Library|Anti-diabetic Compound Library|Antidiabetic Compound Library|Anti-diabetic Compound Library|Antidiabetic Compound Library|buy Anti-diabetic Compound Library|Anti-diabetic Compound Library ic50|Anti-diabetic Compound Library price|Anti-diabetic Compound Library cost|Anti-diabetic Compound Library solubility dmso|Anti-diabetic Compound Library purchase|Anti-diabetic Compound Library manufacturer|Anti-diabetic Compound Library research buy|Anti-diabetic Compound Library order|Anti-diabetic Compound Library mouse|Anti-diabetic Compound Library chemical structure|Anti-diabetic Compound Library mw|Anti-diabetic Compound Library molecular weight|Anti-diabetic Compound Library datasheet|Anti-diabetic Compound Library supplier|Anti-diabetic Compound Library in vitro|Anti-diabetic Compound Library cell line|Anti-diabetic Compound Library concentration|Anti-diabetic Compound Library nmr|Anti-diabetic Compound Library in vivo|Anti-diabetic Compound Library clinical trial|Anti-diabetic Compound Library cell assay|Anti-diabetic Compound Library screening|Anti-diabetic Compound Library high throughput|buy Antidiabetic Compound Library|Antidiabetic Compound Library ic50|Antidiabetic Compound Library price|Antidiabetic Compound Library cost|Antidiabetic Compound Library solubility dmso|Antidiabetic Compound Library purchase|Antidiabetic Compound Library manufacturer|Antidiabetic Compound Library research buy|Antidiabetic Compound Library order|Antidiabetic Compound Library chemical structure|Antidiabetic Compound Library datasheet|Antidiabetic Compound Library supplier|Antidiabetic Compound Library in vitro|Antidiabetic Compound Library cell line|Antidiabetic Compound Library concentration|Antidiabetic Compound Library clinical trial|Antidiabetic Compound Library cell assay|Antidiabetic Compound Library screening|Antidiabetic Compound Library high throughput|Anti-diabetic Compound high throughput screening| respectively. These plasmids were introduced into L. monocytogenes EGD by electroporation and gene replacement was performed as described previously [36]. Erythromycin-sensitive clones were screened for the presence of the phoP and axyR deletion by PCR with primers phoP-1 and phoP-4, and primers axyR-1 and axyR-4, respectively. The shorter PCR products amplified from these strains were sequenced buy BV-6 to verify that they carried the desired deletions. Antibiotic susceptibility GANT61 tests The susceptibility of L. monocytogenes strains to different

antibiotics was examined using a microdilution test. The antimicrobial agents were obtained as powders (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, USA) and stock solutions were prepared immediately before use. The microdilution method was performed according to guidelines of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute [37]. Briefly, an overnight culture of each strain was serially diluted in BHI broth to a cell density of 105 CFU/ml and 100 μl aliquots were added to the wells of 96-well microdilution plates containing 100 μl of two-fold dilutions of the different antimicrobial agents in BHI broth. These plates were then incubated at 37°C for 18–22 h before the MIC endpoints were read. The MIC was determined as the lowest antibiotic concentration

that resulted in the absence of apparent growth of the bacteria. MIC determinations were carried out in triplicate. For quality control of performance and reliability of the results of MIC determination, standard Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 strains were used in parallel tests. The growth of L. monocytogenes strains Diflunisal in the presence of a sublethal level of penicillin G was examined by plotting growth curves. Overnight cultures were diluted (1:100) into BHI broth supplemented with 0.09 μg/ml penicillin G and incubated with shaking at 37°C. Cell growth was monitored spectrophotometrically by measuring the OD600. The presented results are the average of three independent experiments, each carried out in triplicate. The tolerance of L. monocytogenes strains to penicillin G was tested as described previously [12], except that cultures in the exponential rather than the stationary phase of growth were used for the assays. Briefly, cultures in mid-exponential phase (OD600 0.4) were diluted (5 × 107 CFU/ml) into BHI broth supplemented with 32 μg/ml penicillin G and incubated with shaking at 37°C.

J

Clin Endocrinol Metabol 2010,95(2):552–558 CrossRef 21

J

Clin selleck inhibitor Endocrinol Metabol 2010,95(2):552–558.CrossRef 21. Colao A, Auriemma RS, Lombardi G, Pivonello R: Resistance to somatostatin analogs in acromegaly. Endocrine Review 2011,32(2):247–271.CrossRef 22. Boquete HR, Sobrado PG, Fideleff HL, Sequera AM, Giaccio AV, Sua´ rez MG, Ruibal GF, Miras M: Evaluation of diagnostic accuracy of insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I and IGF-binding protein-3 in growth hormone-deficient children and adults using ROC plot analysis. J Clin Endocrinol Metabol 2003, 88:4702–4708.CrossRef 23. van der Lely AJ, Bernabeu I, Cap J, Caron P, Colao A, Marek J, Neggers S, Birman P: Eltanexor mw Coadministration of lanreotide Autogel and pegvisomant normalizes IGF1 levels and is well tolerated in patients with acromegaly partially controlled by somatostatin analogs alone. Eur J Endocrinol 2011,164(3):325–333.PubMedCrossRef 24. Filopanti M, Olgiati L, Mantovani G, Corbetta S, Arosio M, Gasco V, De Marinis L, Martini C, Bogazzi F, Cannavò S, Colao A, Ferone D, Arnaldi G, Pigliaru F, Peri A, Angeletti G, Jaffrain-Rea ML, Lania AG, Spada A: Growth hormone receptor variants

and response to pegvisomant in monotherapy or in combination with somatostatin analogs in acromegalic AZD7762 solubility dmso patients: a multicenter study. J Clin Endocrinol Metabol 2012,97(2):E165-E172.CrossRef 25. Reid TJ, Post KD, Bruce JN, Nabi Kanibir M, Reyes-Vidal CM, Freda PU: Features at diagnosis of 324 patients with acromegaly did not change from, to 2006: acromegaly remains under recognized and under-diagnosed. Clin Endocr (Oxf) 2010 Masitinib (AB1010) 1981,72(2):203–208.CrossRef 26. Roemmler J, Gutt B, Fischer R, Vay S, Wiesmeth A, Bidlingmaier M, Schopohl J, Angstwurm M: Elevated incidence of sleep apnoea in acromegaly-correlation to disease activity. Sleep Breath 2012,16(4):1247–1253.PubMedCrossRef 27. Buchfelder M, Schlaffer S, Droste M, Mann K, Saller B, Brübach K, Stalla GK, Strasburger CJ:

German Pegvisomant Observational Study. The German ACROSTUDY: past and present. Eur J Endocrinol 2009,161(1):S3-S10.PubMedCrossRef 28. Neggers SJ, van der Lely AJ: Combination treatment with somatostatin analogues and pegvisomant in acromegaly. Growth Horm IGF-I Res 2011,21(3):129–133.CrossRef 29. Trainer PJ: ACROSTUDY: the first 5 years. Eur J Endocrinol 2009,161(1):S19-S24.PubMedCrossRef 30. Parkinson C, Burman P, Messig M, Trainer PJ: Gender, body weight, disease activity, and previous radiotherapy influence the response to pegvisomant. J Clin Endocrinol Metabol 2007, 92:190–195.CrossRef 31. Bianchi A, Mazziotti G, Tilaro L, Cimino V, Veltri F, Gaetani E, Pecorini G, Pontecorvi A, Giustina A, De Marinis L: Growth hormone receptor polymorphism and the effects of pegvisomant in acromegaly. Pituitary 2009,12(3):196–199.PubMedCrossRef 32.

The in-frame

The in-frame fusion was confirmed by DNA sequencing.

Luciferase assays To perform luciferase assays, pre-cultures were grown overnight at 30 or 42°C in CDM or LM17 medium. Pre-cultures STA-9090 nmr were then diluted to an OD600nm of 0.05, in 50 ml of respective appropriate medium and temperature. A volume of 1 ml of the culture was sampled at regular intervals during the growth until the stationary phase and analyzed as follows: OD600nm was measured, 10 μL of a 0.1% nonyl-aldehyde solution was added to the sample and the luminescence was measured with a Luminoskan TL (Labsystems). Results are reported in relative luminescence divided by the OD600nm (AU). Three independent experiments were realized. Overexpression, purification of Rgg0182-buy Belinostat His6-tagged protein and Western blotting Expression

of the His6-tagged protein was induced in E. coli C41(DE3) containing selleck pET15b::rgg 0182 for 4h at 30°C by adding Isopropyl β, D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG, 1mM final concentration) to the OD600nm = 0.5 culture. Cells were harvested by centrifugation at 14,000 rpm, at 4°C for 30 min. The supernatant was discarded and cells were suspended in lysis buffer (50 mM phosphate sodium pH 8.0, 300 mM NaCl, and 10 mM imidazol) and stored at -20°C. The cells were disrupted on ice with a microtip of Sonifier 250 (Branson Ultrasonics). The soluble fraction including the recombinant His6-tagged protein was collected by centrifugation at 20,000 rpm for 45 min at 4°C and loaded on an

affinity chromatography column equilibrated with lysis buffer. When the UV absorbance at 280 nm had fallen to the zero baseline, the recombinant Rgg0182 protein was eluted by elution buffer (50 mM phosphate sodium pH 8.0, 300 mM NaCl, 250 mM imidazol). The eluted fraction was collected and finally concentrated in Tris EDTA buffer pH 8.0. The Resminostat purity of the His6-tagged proteins was confirmed by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) using 15% acrylamide resolving. For Western blot experiments, proteins were size separated by SDS-PAGE 12% acrylamide resolving gel and electroblotted onto polyvinylidene difloride (PVDF) membrane (Roche Applied Science) using a semi-dry blotting system (Bio-Rad). After transfer, the PVDF membrane was blocked with 5% skim milk in Tris-buffered saline containing 0.1% tween 20 (TBS-T) for 1 h. The membrane was subsequently incubated for 1 h with penta-His antibodies (1:10,000) (Qiagen), washed three times with TBS-T and incubated for 1 h with conjugated goat anti-mouse immunoglobulin G (H + L)-horseradish peroxidase (1:10,000) (Bio-Rad). The membrane was washed three times with TBS-T.

Surface activation of the nickel-based materials is an important

Surface activation of the nickel-based materials is an important step to create NiOOH compound on the surface and initiate the electrochemical activity. For instance, NiOOH compound has to be originated on the surface to initiate the electrochemical activity. Similarly, the investigated NiO nanostructures

in this study were activated by U0126 solubility dmso applying cyclic voltages for 50 times in 1 M KOH electrolytes (the utilized scan rate was 100 mV/s). The cyclic voltammetric behaviors of NiO NPs and NFs are shown in Figure 3. In the voltammograms of the nickel oxide nanoparticles and nanofibers, the cathodic and anodic peaks corresponding to Ni(II)/Ni(III) couple are observed at about 0.35 and 0.42 V (vs. Ag/AgCl), respectively. Tariquidar nmr As the chemical composition and the grain size are similar in both nanostructures, the same behavior was obtained as shown in the figure. Typically, these peaks refer to the formation of NiOOH in accordance with

these reactions [27–29]: (2) (3) Figure 3 Consecutive cyclic voltammogram of the synthesized NiO NPs and NFs in 1 M KOH at scan rate of 50 mVs −1 . Increasing the number of potential sweeps results in a progressive increase of the current density values of the cathodic peak because of the entry of OH− into the surface layer, which leads to the progressive formation of a thicker NiOOH layer corresponding to the NiO/NiOOH transition [24]. It is noteworthy mentioning that the formed NiOOH layer is responsible for the electrocatalytic activity of nickel-based electrocatalysts [17, 24]. The linear scan voltammograms for the methanol AZD8931 in vitro oxidation on the NiO NPs and NFs surfaces in different methanol concentrations are shown in Figure 4. The methanol-containing electrolyte was previously purged with argon. The onset potential is an important indicator among the invoked parameters to demonstrate the electrocatalytic activity. The onset potential indicates the electrode overpotential. In other words, the onset

potential can be utilized to evaluate the efficacy of the electrocatalyst. In methanol electrooxidation, more negative onset potential indicates high activity and less overpotential. Generally, PTK6 the main reason behind increasing the onset potential is the OH− and CO adsorbed layer on the surface of the electrodes, this gas layer leads to overpotential [30]. Sometimes, carbon monoxide is an intermediate compound in the methanol electrooxidation; it accumulates on the surface of the electrode until further oxidation step to carbon dioxide occurs. Usually, adsorption of CO appears to take place with the formation of islands of adsorbate [31], and electroactivity appears to be restricted to the outsides of these islands. Accordingly, good catalytic activity is related with the rate of CO removal and/or skipping formation of CO intermediate. From the obtained results, the onset potentials are 0.

BMC Microbiol 2009, 9:50 PubMedCrossRef 34 Tindall BJ, Rosselló-

BMC Microbiol 2009, 9:50.PubMedCrossRef 34. Tindall BJ, Rosselló-Móra R, Busse HJ, Ludwig W, Kämpfer P: Notes on the characterization of prokaryote

strains for taxonomic purposes. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2010,60(Pt 1):249–66.PubMedCrossRef 35. Rosselló-Mora R, Amann R: The species concept for prokaryotes. FEMS Microbiol Rev 2001, 25:39–67.PubMedCrossRef 36. Chain PSG, Carniel E, Larimer FW, Lamerdin J, Stoutland PO, Regala WM, Georgescu AM, Vergez LM, Land ML, Motin VL, Brubaker RR, Fowler J, Hinnebusch J, Marceau M, Medigue C, Simonet M, Chenal-Francisque V, Souza B, Dacheux D, Elliott JM, Derbise A, Hauser LJ, Garcia E: Insights into the evolution of Yersinia pestis through whole-genome comparison with Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. C646 supplier Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2004,101(38):13826–31.PubMedCrossRef 37. Kersey P, Bower L, Morris L, Horne A, Petryszak R,

Kanz C, Kanapin A, Das U, Michoud K, Phan I, Gattiker A, Kulikova T, Faruque N, Duggan K, Mclaren P, Reimholz B, Duret L, Penel S, Reuter I, Apweiler R: Integrted and Genome Reviews: integrated views of complete genomes and proteomes. Nucleic Acids Res 2005, (33 Database):D297–302. 38. Tatusov RL, Koonin EV, Lipman DJ: A genomic perspective on protein families. Science 1997,278(5338):631–637.PubMedCrossRef 39. Tatusov RL, Galperin MY, Natale DA, Koonin EV: The COG URMC-099 mw database: a tool for genome-scale analysis of protein NSC 683864 manufacturer functions and

evolution. Nucleic Acids Res 2000, 28:33–36.PubMedCrossRef 40. Tatusov RL, Natale DA, Garkavtsev IV, Tatusova TA, Shankavaram UT, Rao BS, Kiryutin B, Galperin MY, Fedorova ND, Koonin EV: The COG database: new developments in phylogenetic classification of proteins from complete genomes. Nucleic Acids Res 2001, 29:22–28.PubMedCrossRef 41. Tatusov RL, Fedorova ND, Jackson JD, Jacobs AR, Kiryutin B, Koonin EV, Krylov DM, Mazumder R, Mekhedov SL, Nikolskaya AN, Rao BS, Smirnov S, Sverdlov AV, Vasudevan S, Wolf YI, Yin JJ, Natale DA: The COG database: an updated version includes eukaryotes. BMC Bioinformatics 2003, 4:41.PubMedCrossRef 42. Fulton DL, Li YY, Laird MR, Horsman BG, Roche FM, Brinkman FS: Improving the Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase specificity of high-throughput ortholog prediction. BMC Bioinformatics 2006, 7:270.PubMedCrossRef 43. Chiu JC, Lee EK, Egan MG, Sarkar IN, Coruzzi GM, DeSalle R: OrthologID: automation of genome-scale ortholog identification within a parsimony framework. Bioinformatics 2006,22(6):699–707.PubMedCrossRef 44. Zmasek CM, Eddy SR: RIO: analyzing proteomes by automated phylogenomics using resampled inference of orthologs. BMC Bioinformatics 2002, 3:14.PubMedCrossRef 45. Storm CEV, Sonnhammer ELL: Automated ortholog inference from phylogenetic trees and calculation of orthology reliability. Bioinformatics 2002, 18:92–99.PubMedCrossRef 46.

dendrorhous Cell growth (a), total amount of carotenoids produce

dendrorhous. Cell growth (a), total amount of carotenoids produced by culture volume (b) and carotenoids produced by biomass (c) were determined for the control (untreated, black circle) and cultures treated with glucose (20 g/l final, white inverted triangle) or ethanol (2 g/l final, black square). In addition, the relative content of astaxanthin

with respect to the total amount of carotenoids detected in each sample was determined (d). The error bars correspond to standard deviation (n = 3). Previous studies performed in our laboratory indicated that #Blasticidin S in vivo randurls[1|1|,|CHEM1|]# as X. dendrorhous cultures age, the proportion of carotenoid intermediates relative to astaxanthin decreases. This phenomenon is accompanied by an increase in the relative amount of astaxanthin, which was explained by the termination of the de novo synthesis of pigments and the conversion of all of the intermediates to the final product of the pathway. Therefore, de novo synthesis of pigments can be evaluated by determining the proportion of intermediates relative to the amount of the final product (astaxanthin) over the course of the experiment. Accordingly, an analysis of the composition of the carotenoids present in the previously analyzed samples was conducted using reverse phase liquid chromatography

(RP-HPLC). We measured the relative content of astaxanthin with respect to the total amount of pigments detected in each sample (i.e., astaxanthin, phoenicoxanthin, canthaxanthin, 3-OH-ketotorulene, echinenone, 3-OH-echinenone,

neurosporene and β-carotene) (Figure 4d). Tariquidar price In the control condition, the amount of astaxanthin remained constant at approximately 75% over the 24-h period studied, indicating that there were no intermediates generated. A very similar situation was observed when glucose was added; the proportion of astaxanthin remained the same as in the control at Methocarbamol each of the times analyzed. A completely different phenomenon was observed when ethanol was added to the medium. In this case, 24 h after the addition of the carbon source, a significant decrease in the relative amount of astaxanthin was observed. This observation can be explained by the generation of carotenoid intermediates as a result of the induction of pigment biosynthesis. These results indicate that the addition of ethanol caused an increase in the amount of total carotenoids by promoting the de novo synthesis of pigments. In contrast, when glucose was added to the medium, there was an inhibition of pigment synthesis that was maintained over the entire analyzed time period. Importantly, both effects were detectable as early as 24 h after the addition of the carbon source and the effects correlated temporally with changes in the mRNA levels of the carotenogenesis genes.

Bioinformatics 2007, 23:673–679 PubMedCrossRef 126 Altschul SF,

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analysis. Mol Biol Evol 2000, 17:540–552.PubMed 130. Bryant D, Moulton V: Neighbor-net: an agglomerative method for the construction of phylogenetic networks. Mol Biol Evol 2004, 21:255–265.PubMedCrossRef 131. Huson DH, Bryant D: Application of phylogenetic networks in evolutionary studies. Mol Biol Evol 2006, 23:254–267.PubMedCrossRef 132. Marchler-Bauer A, Panchenko

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B

B. fragilis C10 proteases genes, bfp1 and bfp4, are selleck chemicals co-transcribed with those for predicted Staphostatin-like inhibitors For both the streptococcal and staphylococcal systems, the proteases and adjacently encoded inhibitors are co-transcribed [13, 28]. To determine if this transcriptional coupling of protease and inhibitor genes was also

present in B. fragilis, RNA was isolated from broth grown 638R cells, and analysed by reverse transcriptase PCR, using a series of specific primers for the protease and inhibitor genes (Table 4). Amplicons were detected for all C10 protease structural genes suggesting that all the proteases were transcribed in vitro (Fig. 4, Lanes 2, 6, 7 and 8 for bfp1, bfp2, bfp3 and bfp4 respectively). Amplification of a 1.9 Kb product (Fig. 4, Lane 5) using primers Bfi1A_F and Bfi1B_R supports the hypothesis that bfp1 is co-transcribed learn more on a single mRNA with bfi1A and bfi1B. In addition, amplification of a 1.65 Kb product with primers Bfp4_F and Bfi4_R suggests that bfp4 is transcriptionally coupled to bfi4 (Fig. 4, Lane 9). Table 4 Oligonucleotide primers used in this study. Primer Sequence Commenta Bfp1_F CAGCAGCATATGGACGAAGAAATCATTATTTTGATTAAT E, L Bfp1_R CAGCAGGGATCCTTACCACAAAATTTCAGTTCCC E, L Bfp2_F CAGCAGCATATGACAAGAAGAGTTGATTCTGCCAG check details E Bfp2_R CAGCAGGGATCCTTATTTATTAGGTGACACTTTAAT

E Bfp3_F CAGCAGGGATCCAGAAGATAATGTAATTGCTTCTTT E Bfp3_R CAGCCAGGAATTCTCATCGGTGTATATTGGTTATC E Bfp4_F CAGCAGGGATCCGAAGACAATTTAGAATCTTTAA E, L Bfp4_R CAGCAGGGATCCTCATCGCGATATAATAGAATATTC E Bfi1A_F CAGCAGGAATTCGAGGATGTAATGGCTATTATG E, L Bfi1A_R CAGCAGGGATCCTTACCTTCCAATATAAATGTC E Bfi1B_F CAGCAGGGATCCACACCAACCAGATACTCCACC E Bfi1B_R CAGCAGGAATTCTTACTCTTTTTTTTCGGCTGTG E, L Bfi4_F CAGCAGGAATTCAGGGATGGAGATTGGGATTC E Bfi4_R CAGCAGGGATCCTTAATTATCCTTTCCCTTTTGTTT E, L Bfgi2_Int_F CCTGATATTAGCTTCTCTATCTTTTTTGCC

I many Bfgi2_Int_R CAGCAGGGATTCCGAAGATAATGTAATTGCTTC I Bfgi2_attB_F CCGGGAATGTTTCGTCAGGAATTGATGGTG I Bfgi2_attB_R GGTTTATTGATTGTTATTTGTCGGCAAAG I a Primer used in E = Expression studies, L = Linkage studies, I = Integration/Excision studies Figure 4 Analysis of expression and transcriptional coupling of bfp genes in Bacteroides fragilis. Horizontal open arrows represent the protease (white) and putative inhibitor (grey) genes. Small filled black arrows represent the positions of the oligonucleotide primers used in the reverse-transcription PCR analysis, the size of the expected amplicon is given in bp between the appropriate sets of pimers. The resulting PCR fragments are presented in the right-hand panels, above which the size markers are indicated. bfp3 and bfp4 are located on genome insertions As mentioned above, two of the protease genes (bfp3 and bfp4) were identified only in strain 638R enabling a comparison with the two other sequenced strains of B. fragilis. Using the Artemis comparison tool [29], alignment of the B. fragilis NCTC9343 and B.