Mice immunized with recombinant HP0272 (group 1) survived until the end of the study, i.e. 10 days. No bacterium was isolated from surviving mice after 10 days. To evaluate the distribution of HP0272 among reference strains of different serotypes of S. suis and SS2 field strains, we used PCR for the bacterial genome. As shown in Fig. 4, HP0272 was found in 17 of 33 S. suis serotypes with different sizes but 31 of 47 tested serotype 2 isolates from different geographical origins in China were of the same size. To evaluate in vivo changes in gene expression, relative quantification of gene transcript was examined

by real-time PCR. Analysis of the dissociation curves from infected samples and bacteria cultured in vitro revealed a single melting peak and no specific fluorescence signal from negative control samples, indicating Gefitinib a specific signal, corresponding to http://www.selleckchem.com/products/gsk1120212-jtp-74057.html HP0272 and the endogenous control, respectively. When using extracted RNA as a template, no specific fluorescence signal was detected, indicating that the extraction procedure, including DNAse treatment, effectively removed genomic DNA from the RNA samples. Real-time PCR indicated a significant increase, 21.05±6.99-fold, of gene expression levels in vivo over in vitro for the HP0272 gene. The results confirmed that expression of HP0272 is significantly upregulated in vivo. Streptococcus suis is an increasingly important pathogen, causing

meningitis, septicaemia, arthritis and endocarditis in both pigs and humans. In recent years, SS2 infections have become a major problem in all countries with an intensive pig industry. The prevention and control of SS2 are hampered by the lack of an effective vaccine, also and identification of additional novel protective antigens against SS2 is desirable. The present study therefore evaluated the protective efficacy of the novel immunogenic surface protein.

Surface immunogenic proteins had been identified in a previous study (Zhang et al., 2008). Among these, HP0272 was highly immunoreactive to the convalescent sera and was expressed in vivo, which indicated that the protein had the potential to be a candidate vaccine. In mice, recombinant HP0272 was able to induce high titres of antibodies, and to confer good protection against highly pathogenic SS2 infection. In addition, HP0272 existed in most SS2 pathogenic field strains, and half of other serotypes. All of these indicated that the protein had the potential to be a vaccine antigen, at least for SS2 infection. It had been suggested the protection against S. suis infection is mediated primarily by opsonophagocytosis, which is mainly associated with a Th1-type immune response characterized by IgG2a production (Brazeau et al., 1996; Gottschalk & Segura, 2000). Furthermore, it is well known that adjuvant plays an important role in the efficacy of vaccines (Li et al.

With ribose as substrate, growth rates are considerably improved, but still not as high as with glucose, which is the preferred carbon source of B. subtilis (Fig. 3a; Singh et al., 2008). Samples were taken periodically and the phosphorylation state of Crh was analyzed (Fig. 3b). For comparison, the phosphorylation state of HPr was also determined (Fig. 3c). To discriminate between HPr(Ser~P) and HPr(His~P),

which migrate at the same position on the gel, a second aliquot of each sample was heated prior its loading onto the gel (Fig. 3c, even-numbered lanes). This leads to loss of the thermo-labile phospho-histidine bonds, whereas the serine-phosphate bonds are stable and remain intact. The comparison of both aliquots allows an estimation of the degree of phosphorylation of each site. During growth on the various substrates, the phosphorylation patterns of both Crh and HPr changed Selleck Dinaciclib Y-27632 chemical structure in a similar manner. Both proteins were detectable in their non-phosphorylated as well as serine-phosphorylated forms

during the exponential growth phase. As observed before (Fig. 2 and Singh et al., 2008), the ratio of the two forms depended on the carbon source (Fig. 3b, compare lanes 1, 4, 8; Fig. 3c, compare lanes 2, 8, 16). However, upon transition to the early stationary phase, the amount of Ser-phosphorylated Crh and HPr decreased drastically. When glucose was the carbon source, Crh as well as HPr was completely non-phosphorylated at Ser46 when cells entered the stationary growth phase (Fig. 3b, lane 3; Fig. 3c, lane 6). When succinate or ribose was the Ribonucleotide reductase carbon source, the extent of phosphorylation at Ser46 also decreased but a small amount of HPr(Ser)~P and Crh~P was detectable even upon entry into the stationary growth phase (Fig. 3b, lanes 7, 10; Fig. 3c, lanes 14, 20). The majority of phosphorylated HPr species detectable in this growth phase were phosphorylated at the His15 residue (Fig. 3c, compare lanes 5 and 6, lanes 13 and 14, lanes 19 and 20). There were no major changes in the total amounts of Crh or HPr under the various conditions (Fig. 3b and c, bottom panels). Finally, we wanted

to confirm that scarcity of the carbon source prevents phosphorylation of Crh and HPr at their Ser46 sites when cells enter the stationary growth phase. To this end, the wild-type strain was grown once again in minimal medium supplemented with glucose. After 7 h growth, i.e. the time of transition to the stationary growth phase, the culture was split and glucose was added to one of the two resulting cultures. The culture treated with additional glucose resumed growth and reached a final OD600 nm of 8.4, whereas the untreated culture entered the stationary growth phase, yielding a final OD600 nm of 3.7 (Fig. 4a), demonstrating that scarcity of the carbon source is growth-limiting under these conditions. Subsequently, the phosphorylation states of Crh and HPr were analyzed in samples that were taken periodically during growth (Fig. 4b).

5% w/v. This is in contrast to glucose, where concentrations above 0.2% w/v resulted in the saturation of growth (Fig. 1a). Casamino concentrations higher than 0.5% w/v were not tested because the resulting OD of more than 0.7 is already rather high for turbidity measurements and higher values selleck products would be imprecise. When high cell masses are needed, for example for biochemical experiments, casamino acid concentrations higher than 0.5% w/v should be used. As a next application of growth in microtiter plates, the usage of seven different carbon sources was investigated (Fig. 1c). Haloferax volcanii did not grow at all on mannose, but to a variable extent on the other six carbon

sources. The best growth was obtained on glucose and fructose, followed by glycerin (and pyruvate, data not shown), xylose and arabinose, and the slowest growth was obtained with acetate as the sole carbon and energy source. These results, together with the very fast growth on casamino acids (Fig. S2), underscore the versatile metabolism of H. volcanii that can grow on a variety of different sugars, sugar alcohols, acids, amino acids and peptides. It will be interesting to test further and more unusual carbon sources like various polymers

or man-made chemicals. The next aim was to selleck screening library unravel the vitamin dependence of H. volcanii. About 20 years ago, it was reported that H. volcanii stops growing after two or three serial dilutions in a synthetic medium, suggesting that vitamins are missing, and that the addition of biotin and thiamine is enough to allow prolonged growth in a synthetic medium (Kauri et al., 1990). At that time, we were working with H. volcanii strain WR340 and found that the addition of biotin and thiamine did not yield reproducible and satisfactory results; therefore, we started to add 0.01% w/v yeast extract Dimethyl sulfoxide as a vitamin source. However, several groups regularly reported the growth of H. volcanii in a synthetic medium with biotin and thiamine as the sole vitamin sources (e.g. Allers et al., 2004; Blaby et al., 2010); therefore, we used microtiter-based

growth to reinvestigate the vitamin dependence of H. volcanii. Much to our surprise, repeated serial dilutions of precultures in the absence of added vitamins did not lead to growth arrest and H. volcanii and it grew rather well in the absence of vitamins (Fig. 2), in contrast to earlier observations (Kauri et al., 1990). This clearly showed that H. volcanii is able to synthesize all coenzymes and prosthetic groups and does not depend on vitamin addition. However, the addition of both biotin and thiamine enhanced the growth rate, indicating that the biosynthesis rates of both substances limited the maximal growth rate. However, the effect was not additive; the addition of both biotin and thiamine led to a growth rate lower than that obtained with the addition of thiamine alone, but the difference was rather small (Fig. 2).

6% perceived the risk as high and 3.9% gave the risk as unknown. Pre-travel health advice was sought by 82% (n = 169) of those with a perceived high malaria risk at destination, by 54% (n = 54) of those with a perceived low risk, and by 41% (n = 7) of those with a perceived absent malaria risk (p = 0.001, data not shown). As shown in Table 4, the proportion of travelers carrying prophylaxis differed depending on the actual risk of malaria

at destination (p < 0.001). A company source of advice was positively associated with carrying malaria prophylaxis to high-risk (RR = 2.30, 95% CI: 1.18–4.49) and low-risk (RR = 3.12, 95% CI: 1.04–9.37) destinations (Table 2). However, FBT who received company advice were also more likely to carry malaria prophylaxis when it was not necessary to do so (ie, when traveling to no-risk destinations; RR = 3.87, 95% CI: 1.22–12.30): one in five of these travelers Pictilisib in vivo were unnecessarily carrying malaria prophylaxis (Table

2). The proportion of travelers carrying an appropriate anti-malaria drug regimen was positively associated with receiving company advice among those traveling to high-risk destinations (RR = 2.10, 95% CI: 1.21–3.67), but not for those traveling to low- or no-risk destinations. Sixty-eight percent (n = 119) of travelers to a high-risk area were learn more carrying an appropriate anti-malaria drug regimen; for travelers to low-risk areas this was only 21% (n = 9). Advice as to which tablets to use was EGFR antibody inhibitor provided in 68.4% by the company (occupational health physician or nurse). The company Intranet was used as a sole source by 6.6% and an additional 9.2% used multiple sources, but this always included an occupational health source of information. The remainder (9.2%) used miscellaneous sources and 6.6% did not specify the source. Most anti-malarials

were taken for prevention (75.3%), 2.5% for standby treatment, and 22% for both reasons. During the time this study was conducted, the occupational health department did not advise standby emergency treatment. Atovaquone/proguanil was by far the most commonly reported drug (44.6%), followed by mefloquine (14.3%), chloroquine (21.5%), and proguanil (14.8). Quinine (3.5%) and halofantrine (1%) were much less common. No one reported the use of doxycycline or artemether/lumefantrine. The reasons why FBT traveling to a malarious area did not carry malaria prophylaxis varied widely. There was no significant difference in carrying prophylaxis between FBT traveling to rural, urban, or beach destinations (Table 4). The majority stated that they were advised not to take tablets (39.5%). The second largest group (22.5%) judged that it was not necessary; 14% said they did not know why; for 13% the answers were very miscellaneous, and 7% had a dislike for all tablets in general. All other categories such as “I took the risk,”“prophylaxis not being deemed effective,”“forgetfulness,” and “allergy” contributed less than 6%.

Cells were finally suspended in 1 mL of 10% glycerol, and 100 μL aliquots were used for electroporation. selleck inhibitor Transposome (2 μL) was mixed with 100 μL BF638R competent cells in a 0.2 cm electroporation cuvette and incubated on ice for 30 min. Electroporation was performed using a BioRad Gene Pulser™ (200 Ohms, 25 μF and 2.5 kV). Following electroporation, 900 μL of pre-reduced BHI broth was added and the mixture incubated anaerobically for 3 h at 37 °C. The cells were then plated on BHI-Erm agar plate (to select for transposon mutants) and incubated

anaerobically for 3 days at 37 °C. The probe, ermF, was PCR-amplified using ermF-BamHI-F and ermF-BamHI-R primers with pFD288 as template DNA. Biotin-16-dUTP (Roche Applied Bioscience, Indianapolis, IN) was incorporated into the probe during PCR amplification. Genomic DNA was isolated using the DNeasy Blood and Tissue Kit (Qiagen). Genomic DNA (2 mg) was digested overnight with BglII, electrophoresed (0.8% agarose), and transferred to Nytran SuperCharge Nylon membrane (Whatman, Piscataway, NJ) using the Turboblotter Rapid Downward Transfer Systems (Whatman). DNA was cross-linked to ABT-737 research buy the membrane by baking at 80 °C for 2 h. Hybridization and

detection of probe was performed with the biotin Chromogenic kit (Fermantas, Glen Burnie, MD). Genomic DNA was prepared from transposon mutants and digested with BglII (any enzyme that does not cut within the transposon could be used). Subsequently, the digested DNA was purified, self-ligated with T4 DNA ligase, and introduced into electrocompetent EC100D pir-116 E. coli (EPICENTRE® Biotechnologies)

by electroporation. The circularized fragments containing the transposon replicate as plasmids and the transformants were recovered Non-specific serine/threonine protein kinase on LB agar plates containing kanamycin (LB-Km). Transposon junction plasmids were isolated from selected transformants and sequenced using transposon-specific outward primers EZTNSeq3R and EZTNSeqFP (Table 1), which anneal to ≤ 100 bp upstream of the mosaic end left (MEL) and the mosaic end right (MER), respectively. Sequences were then compared to the protein sequence database (GenBank) using the Blastx algorithm. For each mutant, the junction between the transposon sequence (the Tn5 inverted repeat sequence ending with CTGTCTCTTATACACATCT or AGATGTGTATAAGAGACAG) and the genomic DNA sequence as well as the 9-bp target duplication (a characteristic of Tn5 insertions) were identified. The SRP-PCR was developed as described by Chen et al. (2000b). The first round of PCR was performed using OneTaq ™ Hot Start 2× master mix (New England Biolabs, MA) with SRP1 and EnTnSeqN1R (transposon specific) primers and template DNA from the mutant. The first-round PCR conditions were 10 min at 95 °C, six cycles of 30 s at 95 °C, 30 s at 30 °C, and 1.

More importantly, these results demonstrate that even when microorganisms are not using check details the aerobic respiratory chain for growth, they are still killed by CO-RMs. This indicates that proteins other than the respiratory cytochrome c oxidase are targeted by CO. Davidge et al. (2009) reported that the growth of E. coli was impaired by CORM-3 but not by CO. In this study, exposure of aerobically grown E. coli cells to CORM-3 caused c. 50% inhibition of bacterial respiration due to the binding of CO to the terminal oxidases. Importantly, CORM-3 impaired growth of antibiotic-resistant strains of P. aeruginosa (Desmard et al., 2009). Table 2 summarizes the

microorganisms, and their conditions of growth, that have been shown to be killed by CO-RMs. The effects of CO on the genome-wide transcriptome TGF-beta inhibitor profile has been analysed for cultures of E. coli grown aerobically and anaerobically in minimal medium salts with CORM-2, in glycerol (aerobically), and in glycerol/fumarate (anaerobically) with CORM-3 (Davidge et al., 2009; Nobre et al., 2009). In all cases, CO-RMs caused significant alteration of the mRNA abundance of a large number of genes (Fig. 2). Under aerobic conditions, CO-RM represses the transcription of E. coli genes involved in the citric acid cycle, respiration and iron homeostasis, whilst it up-regulates the expression of genes involved in general defence mechanisms, and in methionine, sulphur and cysteine metabolism. For E. coli grown

anaerobically in the presence of CO-RM, the genes involved in iron homeostasis are down-regulated, whereas those involved in zinc homeostasis and biofilm formation are induced. Furthermore, genes participating in protein homeostasis, oxidative stress, zinc and methionine metabolism, and general

defence mechanisms are up-regulated independently of Selleckchem 5-Fluoracil the oxygen conditions in which E. coli is grown (Fig. 2). The transcription data acquired for E. coli grown aerobically with CO-RMs suggests that the respiratory chain may be hindered (Fig. 2). In accordance, P. aeruginosa treated with CORM-3 reduced oxygen less rapidly (Desmard et al., 2009). As blockage of the electron transport chain enhances the generation of ROS, the gene expression profile of E. coli in the presence of CO-RMs is expected to share similarities with its transcriptional response to hydrogen peroxide (Zheng et al., 2001; Zuckerbraun et al., 2007; Wang et al., 2009). In fact, the expression of a number of genes is affected similarly in cells treated with either of the two chemicals. They include the E. coli spy, encoding a periplasmic protein that is induced by envelope stress, the ibpA and ibpB genes, encoding two heat-shock proteins that are related to protein stability, hptX, coding for a heat shock protein, dnaK, dnaJ and hslO genes, encoding chaperones, and genes encoding proteins involved in sulphur metabolism such as sbp and cysWA (Zheng et al., 2001; Davidge et al., 2009; Nobre et al.

bruxellensis or the Kwkt. The growth curves of the viable D. bruxellensis cells in the must microfermentations are shown in Fig. 2. In the positive control without Kwkt and without addition of SO2, the D. bruxellensis maintained the initial concentration until day 4, after which the biomass increased by about one logarithmic order (from 103 to 104 cells mL−1) over the course of the microfermentations to the end of the fermentation. As expected, in the presence of SO2, a rapid death

rate for the D. bruxellensis was learn more seen (no viable cells by the fourth day; Fig. 2). The D. bruxellensis growth curve in the presence of both concentrations of purified Kwkt (40 and 80 mg L−1, 12 and 24 AU mL−1, respectively) showed similar behaviour to that seen after the addition of SO2. Indeed, under these conditions, Kwkt showed effective control of the D. bruxellensis spoilage yeast: at the higher Kwkt concentration (80 mg L−1) the sensitive D. bruxellensis also disappeared by the fourth day, and by seventh day with Kwkt at the lower concentration (40 mg L−1). These results are comparable to those

obtained in the wine environment in a previous work using partially purified Kwkt (Comitini et al., 2004a). The well-test assay of the must was carried out throughout the full fermentation process. The results indicated that with both these added Kwkt Selleck GSK1120212 concentrations also there was zymocidial activity during the first stages of the fermentation. Indeed, the activity persisted in the must at least for 4 days at the lower Kwkt concentration (40 mg L−1), and at least for 7 days at the higher Kwkt concentration (80 mg L−1; Fig. 2). The results of the chemical analyses for the most important undesired enological characters of these microfermentations are reported in Table 2. In

the positive control without Kwkt and without SO2, D. bruxellensis produced volatile compounds. These levels were not affected by the use of SO2 or the addition of the lower concentration (40 mg L−1) of Kwkt. Interestingly, when Kwkt was added at the higher concentration (80 mg L−1), the acetic acid content, evaluated as volatile acidity, decreased significantly (P<0.01) vs. all other conditions. For the 4-ethyl phenol production, the positive control without Kwkt and without SO2 showed the highest levels of 4-ethyl phenol (0.140 mg L−1), whereas in the presence of both 40 and 80 mg L−1 Kwkt, no ethyl phenols were produced. A low production of 4-ethyl phenol was seen in the trials where 60 mg L−1 SO2 was added. In this study, we have described the purification and the activity in wine of the killer toxin produced by K. wickerhamii, Kwkt, which is active against Brettanomyces/Dekkera spoilage yeasts.

Treatment of spinal cord-injured fish

with two different antisense morpholinos to knock down syntenin-a expression resulted in significant inhibition of locomotor PF-01367338 purchase recovery at 5 and 6 weeks after injury, when compared to control morpholino-treated fish. Knock-down of syntenin-a reduced regrowth of descending axons from brainstem neurons into the spinal cord caudal to the lesion site. These observations indicate that syntenin-a is involved in regeneration after traumatic insult to the central nervous system of adult zebrafish, potentially leading to novel insights into the cellular and molecular mechanisms that require activation in the regeneration-deficient mammalian central nervous system. “
“Drugs selleck inhibitor of abuse cause changes in the mesocorticolimbic dopamine (DA) system, such as a long-term potentiation (LTP)-like phenomenon at glutamatergic synapses onto ventral tegmental area (VTA) DA neurons. Abolishing this LTP interferes with drug-seeking behavior. Endocannabinoids (ECs) can be released by DA neurons in response to repetitive activation, which can inhibit glutamate release. Therefore, we hypothesized

that ECs may act as negative regulators of LTP. Here we tested the induction of LTP in DA neurons of the VTA in mice expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein under the control of the tyrosine hydroxylase promoter. Immunohistochemistry showed colocalization of CB1 receptors with vesicular glutamate transporter (VGLUT)1 in terminals near DA neuron dendrites, with less extensive colocalization with VGLUT2. In addition, a CB1 receptor agonist, as well as

Adenosine trains of stimulation leading to EC production, decreased glutamate release onto DA neurons. We found that blocking CB1 receptors or synthesis of the EC 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) was without effect on basal excitatory postsynaptic potential amplitude; however, it facilitated the induction of LTP. As previously reported, antagonizing γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)A transmission also facilitated LTP induction. Combining GABAA and CB1 receptor antagonists did not lead to larger LTP. LTP induced in the presence of CB1 receptor blockade was prevented by an N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antagonist. Our observations argue in favor of the hypothesis that 2-AG acts as a negative regulator of LTP in the VTA. Understanding the factors that regulate long-term synaptic plasticity in this circuit is critical to aid our comprehension of drug addiction in humans. “
“Neural network activity regulates the development of hippocampal newborn granule cells (GCs). Excitatory GABAergic input is known to be a key player in this regulation. Although calcium signaling is thought to be a downstream mediator of GABA, GABA-induced calcium signaling in newborn GCs is not well understood.

Most prior studies that have examined provider–child–caregiver communication during general paediatric visits have not examined the extent to which the child and caregiver ask questions or seek information from the provider about asthma management.[7-12] However, the limited literature that is available suggests that child and caregiver question-asking is minimal. In fact, Wassmer et al.[7] found that caregivers sought information during 13% of paediatric visits and children

asked for information during only 3% of visits. Tanespimycin supplier In our prior work we found that only 33% of caregivers and 13% of children asked asthma management questions during paediatric office visits; the majority of these questions were about medications.[13] One could assume that the relative lack of caregiver and child question-asking may, EGFR inhibitors list in part, be caused by families’ general lack of questions or concerns. However, we also found that 87% of these same children reported a problem or concern in using their asthma medications, 31% of caregivers reported that their children were bothered by medication side effects, and 29% of caregivers were not sure if their children were using their inhalers the way that they should.[14] No prior work has examined whether caregivers or children who report asthma medication problems

ask their providers questions about these problem areas. Although we have examined question-asking more generally in a previous

article,[13] we have not specifically examined whether caregivers and children who report asthma medication problems had asked questions about these problems during their medical visits. This is important to understand, because patients who report problems with medications, such as side effects, tend to be less adherent to their medications. Moreover, the findings from this article have implications for pharmacists, because pharmacists are in an optimal second position to solicit and answer caregiver and child-medication questions when they are filling their asthma prescriptions and pharmacists can play an important role in medication management. The primary objective of the study was to examine the extent to which caregivers and children who reported asthma medication problems asked medication questions during their medical visits. The secondary aims were to examine: (1) the association, among caregivers and children who reported asthma medication problems, between the socio-demographic variables and whether caregivers and children had asked medication questions during their medical visits and (2) the extent to which caregivers and children still reported the same medication problems one month after the visit at a home visit interview. The study was approved by the University of North Carolina Institutional Review Board (IRB), USA.

“
“Within the phylum Bacteroidetes, the gyrB gene, encoding for the B subunit of the DNA gyrase, has been used as a phylogenetic marker for several genera closely related to Flavobacterium. GDC-0941 supplier The phylogenies of the complete 16S rRNA gene and the gyrB gene were compared for 33 Antarctic Flavobacterium isolates and 23 type strains from closely related Flavobacterium species. gyrB gene sequences provided

a higher discriminatory power to distinguish between different Flavobacterium groups than 16S rRNA gene sequences. The gyrB gene is therefore a promising molecular marker for elucidating the phylogenetic relationships among Flavobacterium species and should be evaluated for all the other type strains of described Flavobacterium species. Combining the phylogeny of both genes, the new Antarctic Flavobacterium strains constitute 15 Flavobacterium groups, including at least 13 potentially new species together with one group of isolates probably belonging to the species Flavobacterium micromati and one group close to Flavobacterium gelidilacus. Heterotrophic bacterial communities in Antarctica are highly diverse in aquatic (Bowman et al., 2000; Van Trappen et al., 2002) as well as in terrestrial (Aislabie et al., 2006; Babalola et al., 2009) habitats. A genus that has been isolated

often from these environments is Flavobacterium (Brambilla et al., 2001; Humphry et al., 2001; Van Trappen et al., 2002), and several novel Flavobacterium species were described from Antarctic habitats (Flavobacterium gelidilacus, Flavobacterium gillisiae, Flavobacterium hibernum, LY294002 in vivo Flavobacterium micromati, Flavobacterium psychrolimnae, Flavobacterium xanthum) or other cold environments (Flavobacterium xinjangense and Flavobacterium omnivorum). Other Flavobacterium species have been mainly isolated from freshwater fish (Flavobacterium see more branchiophilum, Flavobacterium columnare, Flavobacterium psychrophilum), temperate freshwater (Flavobacterium aquatile, Flavobacterium flevense, Flavobacterium saccharophilum) and from soil (Flavobacterium johnsoniae, Flavobacterium pectinovorum). Most Flavobacterium species are psychrotolerant and as they are able to hydrolyse several carbohydrates and biomacromolecules

such as gelatine, casein and starch, they might be of biotechnological importance (Bernardet & Bowman, 2006). The family Flavobacteriaceae (phylum Bacteroidetes) as well as the genus Flavobacterium have been revised and added to repeatedly over the years (Vandamme et al., 1994; Bernardet et al., 1996, 2002). Flavobacterium was created in 1923 for all bacteria that formed yellow- or orange-pigmented colonies and weakly produced acid from carbohydrates (Bergey et al., 1923). This broadly defined and taxonomically heterogeneous group was further refined using phenotypic characteristics (Holmes et al., 1984) and the determination of guanine plus cytosine (G+C) content (Reichenbach, 1989). The introduction of the 16S rRNA gene oligonucleotide catalogue (Paster et al.