We therefore propose that this particular

link should be

We therefore propose that this particular

link should be taken into consideration in future studies to better understand the presently hidden carbon fluxes within the microbial trophic food webs. “
“Afipia felis, a Gram-negative alphaproteobacterium, selleck inhibitor has been implicated as one of the causative agents of cat scratch disease. To identify and begin to examine the virulence traits of this organism, we developed and tested a highly efficient transposon delivery system and a stable plasmid vector expressing green fluorescent protein. The transposome system is based on a Tn5-derived transposon and a phage restriction endonuclease type I inhibitor. Electroporation of this construct produced a library of >2600 mutants, which were screened for flagella biosynthesis mutants using a monoclonal antibody to Afipia flagellin. Insertion loci for two selected mutants were located in the genes for flagellin and flagellin biosynthesis FlhA, confirming the validity of the approach. Afipia felis is a Gram-negative alphaproteobacterium and one of the causative agents of cat scratch disease, a usually benign lymphadenopathy (English et al.,

1988). The genus Afipia comprises 10 species with some evidence that Afipiae other than A. felis can also be pathogenic under certain circumstances. Afipia felis is a facultative intracellular bacterium, it inhabits an unusual and

not classically endocytic compartment in murine macrophages and it can invade some nonprofessionally phagocytic mammalian selleckchem cells (Birkness et al., 1992; La Scola et al., 2000; Lührmann et al., 2001). We were interested in studying the molecular basis of A. felis pathogenicity; however, no tools were available. Therefore, we designed and tested a transposon mutagenesis system and a stable vector that expressed green fluorescent protein (GFP) in Afipia. With the future availability of genome sequences from Afipia, it would be possible to genetically complement mutants of interest. Work by others had shown that transposomes, linear Tn5-derived transposon constructs with purified hyperactive transposase already attached (Goryshin et al., 2000), could be successfully used Edoxaban for the mutagenesis of a wide range of bacteria, such as Gram-positive Rhodococcus (Sydor et al., 2008), Gram-negative Bartonella henselae (Riess et al., 2003) and Francisella tularensis (Kawula et al., 2004). Technical advantages of this system include the irreversibility of the mutagenesis, as bacteria do not normally provide the Tn5 transposase functions in trans making these mutations stable. In addition, no donor bacteria are necessary to introduce the transposome, because, here, introduction is by electroporation.

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