Microbial Musings – December 2020
Published in Microbiology
Erratum: Microbial Musings – November 2020
Published in Microbiology
Corrigendum: Accelerating the sustainable development goals through microbiology: some efforts and opportunities
Published in Access Microbiology
Efficient differentiation of Nocardia farcinica, Nocardia cyriacigeorgica and Nocardia beijingensis by high-resolution m...
Published in Journal of medical microbiology
Accurate identification of Nocardia species remains a challenge due to the complexities of taxonomy and insufficient discriminatory power of traditional techniques. We report the development of a molecular technique that utilizes real-time PCR-based high-resolution melting (HRM) analysis for differentiation of the most common Nocardia species. Base...
Effect of host-mimicking medium and biofilm growth on the ability of colistin to kill Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Published in Microbiology (Reading, England)
In vivo biofilms cause recalcitrant infections with extensive and unpredictable antibiotic tolerance. Here, we demonstrate increased tolerance of colistin by Pseudomonas aeruginosa when grown in medium that mimics cystic fibrosis (CF) sputum versus standard medium in in vitro biofilm assays, and drastically increased tolerance when grown in an ex v...
Microbial Musings – November 2020
Published in Microbiology
Hogwash: three methods for genome-wide association studies in bacteria
Published in Microbial Genomics
Bacterial genome-wide association studies (bGWAS) capture associations between genomic variation and phenotypic variation. Convergence-based bGWAS methods identify genomic mutations that occur independently multiple times on the phylogenetic tree in the presence of phenotypic variation more often than is expected by chance. This work introduces hog...
Prevalence of target anaerobes associated with chronic periodontitis
Published in Access Microbiology
Introduction Periodontal diseases are a group of chronic infections that destroy tissues surrounding and supporting the teeth. Data on the anaerobes associated with periodontal infections in Kuwait is lacking. Aim To investigate the target anaerobes associated with chronic periodontitis (CP) in patients admitted to Dental Clinics in Kuwait Universi...
rpoB mutations conferring rifampicin-resistance affect growth, stress response and motility in Vibrio vulnificus
Published in Microbiology
Rifampicin is a broad-spectrum antibiotic that binds to the bacterial RNA polymerase (RNAP), compromising DNA transcription. Rifampicin resistance is common in several microorganisms and it is typically caused by point mutations in the gene encoding the β subunit of RNA polymerase, rpoB . Different rpoB mutations are responsible for various levels ...
Biofilm formation by Bacillus subtilis is altered in the presence of pesticides
Published in Access Microbiology
Bacillus subtilis uses swarming motility and biofilm formation to colonize plant roots and form a symbiotic relationship with the plant. Swarming motility and biofilm formation are group behaviours made possible through the use of chemical messengers. We investigated whether chemicals applied to plants would interfere with the swarming motility and...
