4) These findings are similar to previous work on Serratia sp (

4). These findings are similar to previous work on Serratia sp. (Adams et al., 2007) where glycerol was found to be the most favourable electron donor tested and acetate and benzoate resulted in slow rates of Fe(III) reduction. The Serratia species isolated from Sellafield sediment was found to reduce Fe(III) optimally at the pH of 4.5–6.5 with a range of activity between pH 3.5 to 9.5 (Fig. 5). No Fe(III)

reduction was observed above pH 9.5, and rates of Fe(III) reduction were observed to slow above pH c. 6.5 and below pH c. 4.5 (Fig. 5a). In cultures where the pH was initially < 6.5, the microbial Fe(III) reduction was observed to shift the pH towards alkalinity selleckchem presumably because of the release of OH− during Fe(III) reduction (Fig. 5b) (Mortimer et al., 1997; Adams et al., 2007). However, the pH in Fe(III)-citrate cultures with an initial pH > 6.5 decreased during Fe(III) reduction presumably because of an increase in aqueous CO2 resulting from microbial

respiration and subsequent formation and dissociation of carbonic acid (Figs 1b,c and 5b). In addition, after Fe(III) reduction had developed, a white precipitate was observed above pH 7 and this learn more was identified via XRD analysis as containing both siderite and vivianite (data not shown). Siderite and vivianite production consumes and OH− acting to decrease the pH. It is interesting that the biogeochemical processes occurring in these microcosms act to buffer the pH towards the optimum growth pH for Serratia 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase sp. The bacterium isolated in this study appears to be a robust and highly adaptable species that is capable of surviving dramatic changes in sediment geochemistry. Serratia species are reported to reduce Fe(III) over a wide spectrum of pH values and utilize a diverse range of alternative electron acceptors and electron donors (This study and Adams et al., 2007). It appears that during microbial stimulation scenarios, changes in pH and available electron donors/acceptors can result in unusually resilient rather than

more commonly identified Fe(III)-reducing organisms becoming dominant. Here, an organism rarely reported as an Fe(III)-reducing bacterium with an optimum growth pH of < 7 was observed to dominate in a pH 9 system which had undergone extensive denitrification prior to metal reduction. Thus, it is possible that during remediation scenarios where sediment geochemistry is altered during bioremediation, the microbial community may shift to favour less typical, but more adaptable species. This work was funded by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) as part of the Decommissioning, Immobilisation and Management of Nuclear Waste for Disposal (DIAMOND) consortium grant EP/F055412/1. We also acknowledge the support of NERC grants NE/H007768/1 for the molecular ecology work.

3c) on both crystalline and amorphous cellulose as well as comple

3c) on both crystalline and amorphous cellulose as well as complex cellulosic substrates, for example, alfalfa cell walls, wheat straw and banana fruit stem. Both recombinant CBM3s underwent partial cleavage by E. coli native proteases during the purification procedure. Nevertheless, the full-length recombinant CBM3 of Cthe_0059 bound strongly to all of the cellulosic target substrates; the recombinant CBM3 of Cthe_0404 showed much weaker binding characteristics to the various substrates, particularly to amorphous cellulose and alfalfa cell

walls, perhaps indicating the different recognition properties of the two CBM3 variants. The cellulose-degradation process commences with the binding of the cellulolytic enzymes and/or the entire organism to the cellulosic substrate, mediated by a separate cellulosome-borne component, the CBM3 (Poole et al., 1992; Bayer et al., 1996; Tormo et al., 1996). CBMs can serve as targeting agents for the catalytic modules of free cellulases GSI-IX supplier or can act as a separate

buy Autophagy Compound Library targeting module, for example, as part of the noncatalytic scaffoldin subunit of the cellulosome (Bayer et al., 1998). The C. thermocellum genome contains 20 genes encoding proteins, which carry 23 CBM3s. The CBM3s are known to either bind strongly to crystalline cellulose, thus playing a substrate-targeting role, or serve to modulate the apparent mode of action of the parent cellulase. Thirteen of these proteins are GHs and other enzymes involved in polysaccharide degradation; one is the main cellulosomal structural protein (scaffoldin CipA), and six others are hypothetical proteins of unknown function. All in all, the functional very connection between carbohydrate-active proteins and the huge majority

of genes encoding for CBM3-containing proteins could be accounted for, with the notable exception of Cthe_0059, Cthe_267 and Cthe_404. This anomaly deserved further attention (Lamed, 2010), and upon meticulous bioinformatic examination, we discovered that the N-terminal portions of the latter hypothetical proteins bore tenuous homology to the B. subtilisσI-modulating protein RsgI (Fig. S1). Systematic analysis of the C. thermocellum genome revealed another six hypothetical proteins whose N-terminal regions also exhibited homology to those of the abovementioned CBM3-containing proteins and, hence, also shared a relationship with the B. subtilis RsgI. Intriguingly, the C-terminal regions of additional proteins contained other types of carbohydrate-active modules, i.e., CBM42, PA14 and GH10 (Fig. 1). Moreover, in each case, a gene located immediately upstream of the rsgI-like ORF encoded a putative alternative σ factor resembling B. subtilisσI (Fig. 2). Such an operon-like organization of the B. subtilis and C. thermocellum sigI and rsgI genes matches perfectly one of the main criteria for the ECF σ factors (Helmann, 2002). Preliminary analysis of putative σI-related promoter sequences of the C.

3c) on both crystalline and amorphous cellulose as well as comple

3c) on both crystalline and amorphous cellulose as well as complex cellulosic substrates, for example, alfalfa cell walls, wheat straw and banana fruit stem. Both recombinant CBM3s underwent partial cleavage by E. coli native proteases during the purification procedure. Nevertheless, the full-length recombinant CBM3 of Cthe_0059 bound strongly to all of the cellulosic target substrates; the recombinant CBM3 of Cthe_0404 showed much weaker binding characteristics to the various substrates, particularly to amorphous cellulose and alfalfa cell

walls, perhaps indicating the different recognition properties of the two CBM3 variants. The cellulose-degradation process commences with the binding of the cellulolytic enzymes and/or the entire organism to the cellulosic substrate, mediated by a separate cellulosome-borne component, the CBM3 (Poole et al., 1992; Bayer et al., 1996; Tormo et al., 1996). CBMs can serve as targeting agents for the catalytic modules of free cellulases SB203580 nmr or can act as a separate

Daporinad supplier targeting module, for example, as part of the noncatalytic scaffoldin subunit of the cellulosome (Bayer et al., 1998). The C. thermocellum genome contains 20 genes encoding proteins, which carry 23 CBM3s. The CBM3s are known to either bind strongly to crystalline cellulose, thus playing a substrate-targeting role, or serve to modulate the apparent mode of action of the parent cellulase. Thirteen of these proteins are GHs and other enzymes involved in polysaccharide degradation; one is the main cellulosomal structural protein (scaffoldin CipA), and six others are hypothetical proteins of unknown function. All in all, the functional Methane monooxygenase connection between carbohydrate-active proteins and the huge majority

of genes encoding for CBM3-containing proteins could be accounted for, with the notable exception of Cthe_0059, Cthe_267 and Cthe_404. This anomaly deserved further attention (Lamed, 2010), and upon meticulous bioinformatic examination, we discovered that the N-terminal portions of the latter hypothetical proteins bore tenuous homology to the B. subtilisσI-modulating protein RsgI (Fig. S1). Systematic analysis of the C. thermocellum genome revealed another six hypothetical proteins whose N-terminal regions also exhibited homology to those of the abovementioned CBM3-containing proteins and, hence, also shared a relationship with the B. subtilis RsgI. Intriguingly, the C-terminal regions of additional proteins contained other types of carbohydrate-active modules, i.e., CBM42, PA14 and GH10 (Fig. 1). Moreover, in each case, a gene located immediately upstream of the rsgI-like ORF encoded a putative alternative σ factor resembling B. subtilisσI (Fig. 2). Such an operon-like organization of the B. subtilis and C. thermocellum sigI and rsgI genes matches perfectly one of the main criteria for the ECF σ factors (Helmann, 2002). Preliminary analysis of putative σI-related promoter sequences of the C.

Consistently, low-frequency faces specifically

activate t

Consistently, low-frequency faces specifically

activate the subcortical visual pathway, including the superior colliculus, pulvinar and amygdala (Vuilleumier et al., 2003). Furthermore, residual visual ability MG-132 was tuned to low spatial frequency in a patient with blindsight due to lesions in the visual cortical areas (Sahraie et al., 2002). This fast activation of the pulvinar might be due to direct inputs from the superior colliculus, contributing to the ability of newborns to orient toward faces. The present study provides neurophysiological evidence of pulvinar involvement in fast and coarse facial information processing. The second hypothesis proposes that interactive activity based on reciprocal connections between the subcortical and cortical areas is important for stimulus recognition and attention (Bullier, 2001;

Pessoa & Adolphs, 2010). These cortico-pulvino-cortical circuits might be involved in coordinating and amplifying signals, and improving signal-to-noise ratios (Shipp, 2003; Pessoa & Adolphs, 2010), as well as modulating interactions between oscillatory processes in different cortical areas, which contributes to visual attention (Serences & Yantis, 2006; Saalmann & Kastner, 2009). Our results here indicate that pulvinar neurons detect face-like patterns in epoch 1, while they categorize the visual stimuli into one of the five stimulus categories in epoch 2. Furthermore, the amount of stimulus information conveyed by the pulvinar neurons and the number of stimulus-differential neurons was higher in epoch 2 than in Cobimetinib order epoch 1. These results indicate that before pulvinar neurons become more sensitive to other categories of stimuli after epoch 1 (i.e. epoch 2 or later), during which cortical neurons also become active (for response latencies of cortical neurons, see a review by Lamme & Roelfsema, 2000).

These findings suggest that pulvinar responsiveness to a variety of stimuli in epoch 2 might be due to reciprocal connections with cortical areas with similar response latencies. Consistent with this, a neuropsychological study of human patients with pulvinar lesions suggests that the pulvinar is involved in enhancing stimulus saliency (Snow et al., 2009), which might contribute to neural computation in an early stage of stimulus categorization (Meeren et al., 2008). Our results provide direct neurophysiological evidence that pulvinar neurons respond to face-like patterns with short latencies, which seems to be consistent with the view that the pulvinar nuclei comprise a subcortical pathway that rapidly processes coarse facial information. Following the initial recognition of the facial stimulus, the population activity of the pulvinar neurons participates in classifying the facial pattern, with a concomitant increase in the amount of information processed.

, 2001) (Fig 1) The performance of these genetic tools for tagg

, 2001) (Fig. 1). The performance of these genetic tools for tagging various Gram-negative bacteria was compared. The three different vectors were chosen for their difference selleck inhibitor in antibiotic selection gene (gentamycin, tetracyclin and kanamycin, respectively) and the opportunities for maintenance as a plasmid (pBBRMCS-5 and pME6031) or integration into the chromosome (pBK-miniTn7). In addition, pBBRMCS-5 (a derivative of the general cloning vector pBBR) is assumed to have a higher copy number than pME6031 (containing the pVS1 replicon). pME6031 was described as being maintainable without the selective

pressure of tetracyclin (Heeb et al., 2000). All vectors were reported to have a broad

host range in Gram-negative bacteria. Pseudomonas putida strain PCL1445, which is an excellent root colonizer and is able to form biofilms on abiotic surfaces such as polyvinylchloride (Kuiper et al., 2004a), was selected to examine the new constructs containing mcherry. Growth curves of the transformed strains did not show an effect of the constructs BMN 673 purchase and mcherry expression on growth (data not shown). However, care should be taken when using these plasmids under other growth conditions. As expected, the pME6031-derived plasmid pMP7604 was maintained without antibiotic pressure (no loss was observed), whereas the pBBRMCS-5-derived plasmid pMP7607 showed a loss of 3% in cells of the population after 3 days of subculturing without antibiotic pressure. Qualitative and quantitative analyses showed that all constructs can be used for visualization at the single-cell level and that the intensity of fluorescence resulting from the use of the different Tacrolimus (FK506) genetic constructs correlates with the copy number of the different plasmids and the transposon used (Fig. 2). The mcherry constructs created were shown to be functional in different Pseudomonas spp. (i.e. P. putida PCL1445, P. fluorescens WCS365 and P. aeruginosa PAO1) and the fish pathogen E. tarda, with comparable mCherry production

levels (Fig. 3). In addition, fluorescence was observed during cloning in E. coli. Labeled strains under in vitro (biofilm formation on glass) and in vivo (tomato root colonization) conditions showed that the constructs are well suited for the visualization at the single-cell level (Figs 4 and 5). In addition, tagging with the mcherry plasmid constructs was shown to be useful for the simultaneous visualization with the eGFP-tagged strain of P. putida PCL1445 as shown for biofilms formed on glass and tomato roots (Fig. 5). Also, single strains tagged with eGFP and mCherry were recently shown to be useful for bioreporter studies (Tecon et al., 2009). The vectors constructed in this study could function as markers to locate bacteria in such studies.

[1] First, schistosomiasis is associated with eosinophilia in app

[1] First, schistosomiasis is associated with eosinophilia in approximately 60% of cases; in fact, eosinophilia in a returning traveler from a Schistosoma-endemic region should be sufficient to suspect infection. Second, Dogon Country has a high prevalence of schistosomiasis, as a result, 44% of cases reported by TropNetEurop since 1999 (412 cases)[2] have come from Dogon Country in Mali

and Lake Tanganyika in Malawi. Third, the febrile episode experienced by the patient during the final part of the trip was likely an acute schistosomiasis. Artemisinin has been reported to be partially effective against Schistosoma and schistosomules.[3] HTS assay Eradication has been achieved in 25% of chronic infections, together with >95% reduction in ova production.[4] Artemisinin is not active in adult schistosomes older

than 6 weeks (given 3 weeks after exposure in our case); however, it may have some activity against immature worms. Thus, artemisinin exposure may have reduced the adult worm burden in our patient resulting in late seroconversion and absence of parasites in the urine microscopies. Serology is more sensitive in returning travelers than urine or stool microscopy. beta-catenin inhibitor Indeed, series describe up to 88% of imported cases of schistosomiasis as being diagnosed with serology, of whom only 44% had parasites in stool or urine.[5] Seroconversion typically occurs from 6 weeks onwards,[6] although late seroconversions (6 months after exposure) have been reported.[7] In this case, the negative IHA serology 5.5 months after exposure together with persistently negative urine microscopy and denial of the epidemiological factor made us question a parasitic etiology, and led us to perform a diagnostic cystoscopy while waiting for the second serology result. Although not a first line diagnostic tool, invasive techniques such as cystoscopy or rectal snips can be helpful in diagnosis of difficult cases; these tests are highly sensitive and typically PIK3C2G demonstrate ova invading the mucosa with the characteristic submucosal granulomatous reaction.[8] In this case, cystoscopy was decisive to reach the final diagnosis, as ova were only released into the urine

after the biopsy, resulting in a pathogen-directed treatment. Despite reasonable doubts about parasitic infection, we are aware that cystoscopy could have been avoided by waiting for the second serology or simply by administering empirical treatment, especially if eosinophilia after returning from an endemic region was assumed to be schistosomiasis, despite the patient’s denial of water exposure. Different techniques were used for the first and second serological determination (IHA and ELISA, respectively). The sensitivity of the techniques varies according to the type of antigen and the stage of the infection. IHA is generally more widely available and recommended as first line assessment, although it is less sensitive than ELISA.

Guidelines recommend that all patients with ED as part

Guidelines recommend that all patients with ED as part check details of a minimum assessment should have testosterone measured. By adhering to NICE guidance recommending an annual enquiry in regard to sexual health, diabetologists are already screening for hypogonadism in the diabetic clinic. There is currently no recommendation that testosterone be checked in all diabetic men. The recently updated clinical practice guideline of the American Endocrine Society does say that they suggest measurement

of testosterone in men with type 2 diabetes.22 The benefits of TRT on sexual function and on body composition in hypogonadal men have been recognised for several years and this therapy is a recognised and established treatment for the condition. There is accumulating evidence that TRT may have specific benefits on metabolic and cardiovascular parameters PLX3397 purchase in men with type 2 diabetes. When replacing testosterone the aim should be to try and achieve as near normal

physiological replacement as possible. The importance of this is underlined by a recent publication of a study designed to determine the effects of the hormone on frailty where testosterone doses used in frail elderly men with established co-morbidities exceeded those used in normal clinical practice.23

It is important to recognise that this study was not powered to detect a significant increase in cardiovascular events but did report more cardiovascular-related symptoms/events in the testosterone treatment group. The cardiovascular-related events were heterogeneous and included oedema, which would be expected in high testosterone dose therapy, and self-reported symptoms such as syncope. A similar study using normal testosterone gel dosing did not show an increase in cardiovascular events.24 These findings, however, demonstrate that larger and longer-term Abiraterone ic50 studies are needed to verify the cardiovascular and metabolic action of testosterone replacement in men with diabetes. It also underlines the importance of making a correct diagnosis of hypogonadism and, if indicated, treating with testosterone replacement to attain serum testosterone levels usually in the mid-normal to upper normal range.25 THJ is a consultant for ProStrakan as a chief investigator of the TIMES2 study. He has also been a member of advisory boards and has received honoraria for educational lectures from Bayer-Schering Pharma, ProStrakan and Ferring. He has received no funding for the preparation of this article. References are available online at www.practicaldiabetesinternational.com.

, 2007) Antimicrobial activity was assayed by the disc diffusion

, 2007). Antimicrobial activity was assayed by the disc diffusion susceptibility test, according to the recommendations of the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS, 2000). The disk diffusion test was performed on Muller–Hinton agar (Himedia Laboratories) for the bacterial pathogens. The culturable actinomycetes count Navitoclax datasheet in the mucus were 7.0 × 104±3 × 102 CFU cm−2. In comparison, numbers of culturable actinomycetes in seawater and sediment adjacent to the corals were 2.0 × 102±1.3 × 103 CFU mL−1 and 3.7

× 102±2 × 103 CFU g−1. A total of 15 actinomycetes strains were isolated from the coral mucus. Amplified products of about 870 bp were generated. ARDRA showed the presence of different polymorphic group of actinomycetes in coral mucus. ARDRA revealed five polymorphic patterns for HinfI, 10 polymorphic patterns for RsaI followed by 11 polymorphic patterns for MspI (Fig. 1). All the strains were identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Phylogenetic analysis of actinomycetes associated with the mucus of the coral A. digitifera showed that Streptomyces sp. were the predominant actinomycetes members. CA3 had 99.8% similarity to Streptomyces akiyoshiensis (FJ486367.1) isolated from China. Strains CA4 and CA18 had 96.7% homology Ivacaftor nmr with Streptomyces sp.

(EU523135.1) a species having antimicrobial activity. Strain CA7 had only 96.7% similarity with Propionibacterium sp. (AM410900.1) a deep sea bacterium screened to produce antitumour compounds (Fig. 2). The actinomycetes strains isolated in this study had different biochemical profiles and exhibited variable sensitivity to six different commercial antibiotics (Supporting Information, Table S1). Isolates that are close relatives according to the phylogenetic tree exhibited different biochemical profiles and antibiotic sensitivity, indicating phenotypic diversity in strains that were very closely related on the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis.

For example, CA14 and CA15 fall closely together but their biochemical profiles and antibiotic sensitivities show that they are different bacterial strains (Table S1). In primary screening, actinomycetes strains Glycogen branching enzyme were screened for their antibacterial activity against test pathogens through the cross-streak method. All the 15 actinomycetes strains showed antibacterial activity against various bacterial pathogens. Five strains namely CA5, CA7, CA10, CA15 and CA18 showed antibacterial activity towards all the tested pathogens (Table 1). Secondary screening results showed that supernatants of 12 strains namely CA1, CA2, CA3, CA4, CA5, CA6, CA7, CA8, CA9, CA10, CA12 and CA14 showed antibacterial activity against the pathogens. Each actinomycete was grown in ISP2 medium culture and then the filtered culture fluid was extracted with one of three solvents.

In agreement with this hypothesis, members of the major facilitat

In agreement with this hypothesis, members of the major facilitator superfamily show higher sequence similarity among their N-terminal halves than at their C-terminal moieties; it was proposed that the N-terminal

half of these carriers is essential for energization of transport, whereas the C-terminal half is involved in substrate specificity (Paulsen et al., 1996). Also, the finding of successive genes encoding N- CT99021 mw and C-terminal domains of a full-length CHR protein suggests a distinct function for each protein half (Nies et al., 1998). Random mutagenesis of the P. aeruginosa chrA gene, selecting for mutants that lost chromate resistance, revealed that most essential residues are located at the amino half of the protein (Aguilera et al., 2004). Moreover, phylogenetic analysis showed that sequences of N-terminal halves in 77 putative ChrA homologues are significantly more conserved than those from C-terminal domains (Díaz-Pérez et al., 2007). These data further suggest that the two halves of Chr3N/C proteins have different roles in their function as chromate transporters. It has been suggested that inverted topology in membrane transporters may be important for their function because it allows the arrangement of two conformational states (inward and outward) in a symmetric form

with respect to both sides of the membrane, because of the structural symmetry of each inverted repeat domain (Forrest & Rudnick, 2009; Radestock & Forrest, 2011). Moreover, it was proposed that inverted topology in small heterodimeric transporters, with fixed but opposite membrane learn more topology, may increase the stability of each monomer in the selleck screening library membrane by allowing formation of stable and functional heterodimers (Kolbusz et al., 2010). This work was supported by grants from Coordinación de Investigación Científica (UMSNH; 2.6), CONACYT (México; 79190), and Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico (UNAM; IN208510). R.M.-V. and G.R.-C. were supported by graduate and undergraduate student fellowships, respectively, from CONACYT. Please note: Wiley-Blackwell is not responsible for the

content or functionality of any supporting materials supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing material) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article. “
“The gastrointestinal microbiota produces short-chain fatty acids, especially butyrate, which affect colonic health, immune function and epigenetic regulation. To assess the effects of nutrition and aging on the production of butyrate, the butyryl-CoA:acetate CoA-transferase gene and population shifts of Clostridium clusters lV and XlVa, the main butyrate producers, were analysed. Faecal samples of young healthy omnivores (24 ± 2.5 years), vegetarians (26 ± 5 years) and elderly (86 ± 8 years) omnivores were evaluated. Diet and lifestyle were assessed in questionnaire-based interviews.

The bacterial

cells were harvested at 120, 210, 300, 440

The bacterial

cells were harvested at 120, 210, 300, 440 and 560 min and the level of β-galactosidase activity was determined. The level of β-galactosidase was reflective of the lytM promoter activity. The highest lytM expression was determined in cells from the early to the mid-exponential phase and this activity declined during the late-exponential phase and was the lowest during Ipatasertib price the stationary phase of growth (Fig. 3a). A higher expression of lytM was also observed in S. aureus cells from the early- to the mid-exponential phase of growth in a real-time reverse transcriptase-PCR assay (data not shown). This observation is consistent with a previous report showing increased lytM transcript levels in early-exponential-phase S. aureus cells (Ramadurai & Jayaswal, 1997). It was also reported by Ramadurai et al. (1999) that the transcription of lytM was suppressed in the agr mutant cells of S. aureus. In this study also, we observed a noticeable decrease in the expression of lytM in an agr mutant of S. aureus SH1000 compared with the wild-type SH1000 (Fig. 3b). The lytM gene, however, was not identified as a gene regulated by Agr in transcriptional profiling

studies that compared the gene expression in the agr mutant relative to their wild-type parent (Dunman et al., 2001; Cassat et al., 2006). It is possible that in these studies, the level of lytM regulation was below the cut-off set for the Agr-regulated genes. Considering the role of LytM as a peptidoglycan hydrolase and its abundance in cells resistant to vancomycin (Mongodin et al., 2003; Pieper et al., 2006), lytM expression was Gefitinib purchase also determined in cells stressed with various cell wall inhibitors. The cells were allowed to grow to a density of 0.6, and at

this point, the cell wall inhibitors were added at final concentrations of 5 μg mL−1. The cells were allowed to grow for 60 min with these antibiotics and the level of β-galactosidase was subsequently determined. There was no real growth inhibition in cultures growing in the presence of vancomycin and bacitracin in 60 min, but with the other antibiotics, there was about 20–30% growth inhibition relative to the lytM reporter culture without the addition of any antibiotic. Ribose-5-phosphate isomerase There was no appreciable change, however, in the level of β-galactosidase in these antibiotic stressed cells, suggesting that the expression of lytM is not affected when S. aureus cells are challenged with cell wall-active antibiotics (data not shown). This observation is consistent with the previous report that did not identify lytM as a gene with an altered expression in S. aureus cells challenged with cell wall-active antibiotics (Utaida et al., 2003). The autolysis subsequent to mutation in the lytM gene in S. aureus was initially investigated in strain SH1000. However, no difference in the autolysis of the lytM mutant cells of S. aureus strain SH1000 was observed compared with the autolysis of the wild-type SH1000.