PubMedCrossRef 35. Kassinen A, Krogius-Kurikka L, Makivuokko H, Rinttila T, Paulin L, Corander J, Malinen E, Apajalahti J, Palva A: The fecal microbiota of irritable bowel syndrome patients differs significantly from that of healthy subjects. Gastroenterology 2007,133(1):24–33.PubMedCrossRef 36. Gerber JS, Glas M, Frank G, Shah SS: Streptococcus bovis infection in young Infants. Pediatr Infect Dis J 2006,25(11):1069–1073.PubMedCrossRef Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Authors’ contribution DJ, LL, ZL, HJ, CY and JX conceived and designed the experiments.DJ, SL,YXu and XB performed the experiments.CC, ZZ, PD, HW, YXiong, HZ and

LW carried out the molecular genetic studies and participated in the sequence alignment.HS contributed reagents and materials. DJ, MG and JX wrote the manuscript. All authors mTOR inhibitor read and approved the final manuscript.”
“Background selleck chemicals llc In the environment, bacteria are predominantly attached to biotic or abiotic surfaces, where they are held by adhesive molecules at the surface of the cell envelope. Despite identification of adhesins in many bacterial species, little is known about the nature of the adhesive process from the material science point of view. In order to gain insight about the material properties of bacterial adhesins, we study the morphogenesis of the adhesive

Selleck OSI 906 holdfast of the Gram negative bacterium Caulobacter crescentus. C. crescentus is a ubiquitous bacterium that can be found in wet soil and aquatic environments [1, 2]. Its asymmetric cell division produces a motile swarmer cell and a sessile stalked cell. The swarmer cell swims by rotating its single polar flagellum [3–6]. This mechanism allows for dispersal of the progeny cells following each division, which reduces local competition for nutrients. The swarmer cell also harbors pili, which are synthesized at the flagellar pole immediately after cell division [7]. The stalked cell is typically Protein tyrosine phosphatase attached to a

surface by a holdfast found at the end of a thin, elongated extension of the cell envelope, called a stalk. The stalk is thought to increase nutrient uptake, which is particularly important in nutrient-deficient environments where molecular uptake is limited by diffusion [8]. The flagellum, pili, and the holdfast play important roles in surface adhesion [9–11]. Reversible adhesion occurs in swarmer cells where initial surface interactions are mediated by the flagellum and pili [12]. Contact of the flagellum and pili with a surface increases the load on the flagellum motor, halting flagellum rotation and triggering just-in-time deployment of holdfast from the flagellar pole. The attached cell subsequently develops into a stalked cell with elongation of a thin stalk from the pole bearing the holdfast. In cells that do not contact a surface, holdfast synthesis is regulated by the developmental program and occurs in the late swarmer stage [11, 12].