However, recent studies in rats and mice have shown that vasopressin neurons in the supraoptic nucleus also display intrinsic

osmosensory and thermosensory properties. Isolated vasopressin neurons exposed to increases in perfusate temperature or osmolality generate increases in non-selective cation channel activity that cause membrane depolarization and increase neuronal excitability. These channels are calcium-permeable and can be blocked by ruthenium red. Moreover, intrinsic responses to osmotic and thermal stimuli are absent in magnocellular neurosecretory cells isolated from mice lacking the transient receptor potential vanilloid-1 (trpv1) gene, which Enzalutamide encodes the capsaicin receptor. Immunostaining of vasopressin-releasing neurons with anti-TRPV1 antibodies reveals the presence of amino acids present in the carboxy terminus of the

protein, but not those lying in the amino terminal domain. Thus, magnocellular neurosecretory check details neurons appear to express an N-terminal variant of trpv1 which lacks sensitivity to capsaicin, but which enables osmosensing and thermosensing. “
“The ventral pallidum (VP) is a major target of projections from the nucleus accumbens, and has been implicated in the reinstatement of psychostimulant seeking as part of a cortical–striatal–pallidal ‘final common pathway’ for relapse. Here, we studied the role of the VP in context-induced and primed reinstatement of alcoholic beer seeking, using a combination of microinjections and tract tracing studies. In experiment 1, rats were trained to respond to alcoholic beer in one context (A), and then extinguished in a second context (B), prior to testing for reinstatement (ABA renewal) and extinction (ABB). VP microinjection of the μ-opioid receptor (MOR) antagonist CTAP prevented reinstatement. In experiment 2, VP microinjection of CTAP also prevented the primed reinstatement of alcoholic beer seeking after rats were trained, extinguished, and tested in the same context. In experiment 3, we employed

retrograde neural tract tracing together with c-Fos immunohistochemistry to identify the VP afferents recruited during context-induced reinstatement of alcoholic beer seeking. There was evidence for the recruitment of accumbens coreVP, basolateral amygdalaVP Calpain and paraventricular thalamusVP pathways during context-induced reinstatement. These results indicate that the VP MORs are critical for context-induced reinstatement, and that the VP receives inputs from a number of regions known to be important in reinstatement of drug seeking. “
“Mental imagery is a complex cognitive process that resembles the experience of perceiving an object when this object is not physically present to the senses. It has been shown that, depending on the sensory nature of the object, mental imagery also involves correspondent sensory neural mechanisms.

Although pharmacists acknowledged that DTCA may have a role in promoting patient autonomy, in practice DTCA compromised their role in safeguarding consumers from inappropriate use of medicines.

Conclusions This study highlighted that the impact of DTCA is not restricted to prescription medicines, but extended also to over-the-counter, pharmacist-only and other pharmacy-related products. Pharmacists perceived that DTCA disempowered them, compromising their role in safeguarding the community from inappropriate medicine use. “
“This study aimed to gain a better understanding on perspectives of over-the-counter (OTC) codeine users and issues relating to codeine dependence in the community pharmacy setting. Examining OTC codeine users’ experiences aimed to promote better understanding of OTC codeine dependence, and inform PD-0332991 datasheet pharmacy practices. Utilising a qualitative research methodology we conducted interviews with 20 participants who were OTC codeine users and met DSM IV criteria for codeine dependence. Key themes identified included experience of participants acquiring I BET 762 OTC codeine and participants’ interactions with pharmacists. The OTC codeine-dependent participants found it generally easy to access OTC codeine, describing ‘standard’ questioning, minimal intervention from pharmacists and only occasional refusal to supply. A better appearance and presentation was generally linked to easy codeine supply. The experiences

of participants suggest a number of barriers exist to effective intervention for OTC codeine dependence in the community pharmacy setting. Identification of these barriers will provide an opportunity to more effectively target interventions to reduce harm related to OTC codeine products. Increased involvement of pharmacists in OTC codeine sales was associated with help-seeking by codeine users. “
“Saskatchewan is the second Canadian province to allow pharmacists to prescribe medications for minor ailments and the only province that remunerates for this activity. The aim of this project was to determine whether patients prescribed

such treatment by a pharmacist symptomatically improve within a set time frame. Oxymatrine Pharmacists were asked to hand a study-invitation card to anyone for whom they prescribed a medication for a minor ailment during the 1-year study period. Consenting participants contacted the study researchers directly and were subsequently instructed to complete an online questionnaire at the appropriate follow-up time. Ninety pharmacies in Saskatchewan participated, accruing 125 participants. Cold sores were the most common minor ailment (34.4%), followed by insect bites (20%) and seasonal allergies (19.2%). Trust in pharmacists and convenience were the most common reasons for choosing a pharmacist over a physician, and 27.2% would have chosen a physician or emergency department if the minor ailment service were not available.

All comparisons were two tailed; P<0.05 was considered as significant. Data were analyzed using spss 15. During the course of our experiments with SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells, we detected, using the EZ-PCR method, a mycoplasma contaminating our cell culture. The mycoplasma was identified as M. hyorhinis and designated as a neuroblastoma-derived M. hyorhinis (NDMH) strain. SH-SY5Y cells in the GM were infected with NDMH. NDMH-infected and noninfected (clean) cells were induced to differentiate, STA-9090 in vivo as described in Materials and methods. The morphology of the differentiated infected cells was similar to that of the clean cells,

with mycoplasma observed around the cells and in the medium of the infected cultures (Fig. 1a). PCR was carried out to determine the presence and absence of mycoplasmas in the cultured cells (Fig. 1b). Calpastatin in the control and in the NDMH-infected cells was analyzed by immunoblotting, as described in Materials and

methods. Calpastatin levels were significantly higher in the infected cells than in the clean cells, with levels of 208±20.3% (n=4), compared with the calpastatin levels in the clean cells (Fig. 2a and b). As can be seen in Fig. 2a, using a polyclonal anticalpastatin antibody, a major band of about 110 kDa was identified in both the clean and the infected cells. The NDMH did not exhibit the 110 kDa band, with a band of approximately 70 kDa observed (Fig. 2a). Using a monoclonal calpastatin antibody specific

for human calpastatin, the 110 kDa band was observed selleck kinase inhibitor in the clean and infected cells, whereas no bands were observed in the mycoplasma extracts, confirming that the mycoplasma did not have any human calpastatin (Fig. 2c and d). The results indicate that the high levels of calpastatin in the infected cells do not originate in the mycoplasma. Immunoblotting was also carried out for the identification of calpain. μ-Calpain was identified as a band of approximately 80 kDa, present in the clean and in the infected cells. It was not present in the NDMH (Fig. 3a). The μ-calpain levels in the infected cells were 139±9.7% (n=3), as compared with the levels in the clean cells (Fig. 3b). Calpain activation is generally considered to be associated with autolysis, with the 80 kDa subunit level indicating inactive calpain L-gulonolactone oxidase (Niapour et al., 2008), as is the case with inactive procaspases. The results thus suggested that calpain was less active in the infected cells than in the clean cells. In order to determine whether the higher calpastatin levels in the infected cells, observed by immunoblotting, interfere with calpain activity, casein zymography was carried out, as described in Materials and methods. Zymography allows the electrophoretic separation of calpastatin from calpain and estimation of calpain caseinolytic activity directly on the gel, without inhibition by the usual calpastatin content of the cell (Raser et al., 1995).

cerevisiae cells. This work originated from TRANSLUCENT, a SysMo ERA-NET-funded project, and COST activity CM 0902. It was supported by a GACR grant (P503/10/0307) and MSMT COST LD13037. The stay of Y-27632 molecular weight D.B. in the H.S. laboratory was supported by a FEMS Research Fellowship. “
“Horizontal gene transfer by conjugation has been reported to increase overall biofilm formation. Biofilm is considered a hot spot for plasmid transfer, and it has been found that social interactions during biofilm formation can increase the biomass. In this study, we demonstrate a contrast to previous studies by showing that the conjugative IncP-1 plasmid pKJK5 influences biofilm formation negatively. The results showed

that a co-culture (Pseudomonas putida, Kluyvera sp., and Escherichia coli) formed significantly more

biofilm than the strains did individually. Ibrutinib cell line When pKJK5 was inserted into P. putida, biofilm formation was significantly reduced compared with the co-culture without plasmid. A nonconjugative version of pKJK5 was also used, and the biofilm formation was restored. Visualization with the BioFlux 1000 facility showed that the presence of pKJK5-containing P. putida in the co-culture led to a changed biofilm structure, where the cells showed a higher tendency to attach to other cells rather than surfaces. This study thus indicates that the presence of conjugative plasmids in some species may decrease the surface-associated biofilm formation of a mixed co-culture by facilitating cell–cell attachment with reduced surface attachment as the consequence. “
“After uptake by susceptible host cells, Legionella pneumophila displays Glutamate dehydrogenase the ability to arrest phagolysosome fusion. To elucidate the role of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in this mechanism, we investigated its influence on Acanthamoeba castellanii, A/J mouse macrophages and human monocytes. For this, legionellae were cultured in broth to the replicative, noninfectious phase or

to the infectious phase expressing virulence traits. Shed LPS-enriched outer membrane vesicles (OMV) and LPS species <300 kDa were obtained from L. pneumophila Corby strains possessing the virulence-associated LPS epitope recognized by monoclonal antibody (MAb) 3/1 and its mutant TF 3/1, which has lost this epitope due to a mutation in the lag-1 gene. The shed LPS components were attached by specific antibodies to latex beads and added to the host cells for phagocytosis. We demonstrated for the first time that evasion of lysosomal degradation of phagosomes for up to 5 h can also be set off by LPS that is not tied up in OMV. Moreover, our cell culture models showed that the influence of MAb 3/1-positive and -negative LPS was identical. Our data clearly substantiate that LPS is an independent factor for evading lysosomal degradation, which is independent of the bacterial expression of known virulence traits.

, 2005a). Mass spectrometry analyses provided the molecular basis of these peculiar resistance

phenotypes: Erm(38) is a reluctant dimethyltransferase that leaves most of the rRNA molecules either monomethylated or unmethylated (Madsen et al., 2005b), and Erm(37) further methylates nucleotides A2057 and A2059 after monomethylation of A2058 (Madsen et al., 2005a). These phenotypic diversities of the Erm methylases suggest that frequent gene duplications and resultant paralog segregations eventually caused phylogenetic anomalies in the Erm clade of the Actinobacteria. The tree-constructing algorithms failed to ZVADFMK separate Erm proteins into either monomethylases (type I) or dimethylases (type II). Separate analysis of the Erm N-terminal and C-terminal domains or subdomains also could not distinguish monomethylase from dimethylase activities in the phylogenetic trees (data not shown). This research was supported by the Research Program for New Drug Target Discovery (2008-2005325) and the Basic Science Research Program (2010-0011442) through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (to H.J.J.). Fig. S1. Sequence alignments of representative amino acid sequences of Erm methylases and KsgA/Dim1 proteins. Selleck PD0325901 Table S1. List of sequences of KsgA/Dim1 used in phylogenetic

analyses. 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. “
“In the absence of added DNA, thermophilic DNA polymerases synthesize double-stranded DNA from free dNTPs, which consist of numerous repetitive units (ab initio DNA synthesis). The addition of thermophilic restriction endonuclease (REase), or nicking endonuclease (NEase), effectively stimulates ab initio DNA synthesis

and determines the nucleotide sequence of reaction products. We have found that NEases Nt.AlwI, Nb.BbvCI, and Nb.BsmI with non-palindromic recognition sites stimulate the synthesis of sequences organized mainly as palindromes. Moreover, the nucleotide sequence of the palindromes appeared to be dependent on NEase recognition/cleavage modes. Thus, the heterodimeric Nb.BbvCI stimulated RAS p21 protein activator 1 the synthesis of palindromes composed of two recognition sites of this NEase, which were separated by AT-reach sequences or (A)n(T)m spacers. Palindromic DNA sequences obtained in the ab initio DNA synthesis with the monomeric NEases Nb.BsmI and Nt.AlwI contained, along with the sites of these NEases, randomly synthesized sequences consisted of blocks of short repeats. These findings could help investigation of the potential abilities of highly productive ab initio DNA synthesis for the creation of DNA molecules with desirable sequence.

Interestingly, the enzyme activity of strain TA1 was increased by 1.9-fold in the presence of Mg2+ at a final concentration of 1 mM and was partially inhibited by 1 mM (40%) or 5 mM (45%) EDTA. This implies that Mg2+ contributed to the stability of TA1 enzyme. Therefore, TA1 enzyme experiments were conducted in the presence of Mg2+ at a final Autophagy Compound Library concentration of 5 mM. There was no effect on the enzyme activity of strain

TM1 in the presence of Mg2+ or EDTA. Pseudomonas fluorescens BTP9 produces some amount of VDH as reported previously. The activities of purified and reported enzymes were constitutively detected in P. fluorescens BTP9, and their subunit molecular mass (55 kDa) was similar to that of enzymes from strains TA1 and TM1. However, the enzyme from strain BTP9 was a tetramer like that from strain TA1. It has been reported that the enzyme activity in strain BTP9 was not influenced by Mg2+ or a chelating agent; however, the enzyme activity was approximately doubled in strain TA1 in the presence of Mg2+(Bare et al., 2002). The optimum temperature and pH for enzyme activity were estimated from vanillin oxidation. The enzyme from strain TA1 demonstrated buy Sirolimus the highest activity around 30 °C; however, the enzyme from TM1 demonstrated high activity across a wide range of temperatures, i.e. from 35 to 60 °C. The thermal stability of enzyme was investigated by measuring

its residual activity after incubation for 30 min at each temperature. The enzyme from strain TM1 was stable up to 35 °C, which was higher than the enzyme from strain TA1, which was stable up to 30 °C (Fig. 3). Both enzymes showed optimum activity between pH 9 and

10; however, the enzyme from strain TA1 was the most stable within a pH range of 7–8, whereas the enzyme from strain TM1 was the most stable within a pH range of 6–9 for a 30-min incubation at 30 °C (Fig. 4). The results suggest that the enzyme from strain TA1 exhibited oxidation activity specifically under alkaline conditions, although it was stable under neutral conditions. These results suggest that the enzyme from strain TM1 Gemcitabine purchase showed higher temperature and pH stability compared with that from strain TA1. The Michaelis–Menten constant (Km) and the maximum velocity (Vmax) of both enzymes were determined by photometric assays because this method allows a more accurate measurement of initial velocities with nonsaturating substrate concentrations than the HPLC method. The Km of enzymes from strains TA1 and TM1 for vanillin were 0.007 and 0.004 mM, respectively, under neutral conditions. The Vmax of enzymes from strains TA1 and TM1 for vanillin were 0.39 and 1.3 μmol min−1 mg−1 protein, respectively, under neutral conditions. Several aromatic aldehydes were used as substrates to compare the substrate specificity and measure the activities of purified enzymes from both strains (Table 2).

2 and 22%) were VFRs and less than 5 years old. No patient died, which is in agreement with the previously described low mortality rate of approximately 1% to 2% or less.8,9,17 The main tool used for diagnosis was the thick and thin blood film smears, which led to diagnosis in 55 (95%) of the

58 samples examined. However, even when malaria is suspected, a diagnosis may be missed due to a lack of experienced laboratory support.23,30 PCR for Plasmodium was useful for the diagnosis or species identification in seven patients, who were mainly recent immigrants. Taking into account the retrospective nature of this analysis, the PCR for Plasmodium was not performed in all patients and so we cannot affirm that PCR is only useful Y-27632 research buy find more for recent immigrant cases. However, due to the suitability of PCR to detect submicroscopic parasitemia of 3–4 parasites/µL41,42 and in the determination of mixed infections,43,44 possibly its application may be more useful in recent immigrant patients. In our opinion, when an experienced microbiologist is not available, treatment should be started if there is a high clinical suspicion (ie, VFRs who present with fever and thrombocytopenia) after obtaining a blood sample to perform a deferred thick and thin

blood smear. If possible, perhaps a malaria rapid antigen detection test should be performed. Multiple treatment options were used, which underlines the fact that there has been a lack of uniform criteria for the treatment of malaria. Furthermore, the extraordinary growth of immigration in Madrid in the last few years has surprised the health services, particularly the emergency room department who did not have previous experience in this disease. We ever believe that this aspect reinforces the need for continuous medical education in travel-migration medicine in European hospitals. Due to the results of this study, a specific protocol and guideline has been elaborated in our center. The strength of our study lies in the comparative study between recent immigrants and immigrant travelers (VFRs) among

children with imported malaria. The limitations of our study are associated with its retrospective design and that it is limited to a single center, although perhaps the results may be applied to other areas with a high proportion of immigrants. In summary, the characteristics of pediatric patients with malaria in our series are similar to that of other countries with a high percentage of immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa. However, two clinical groups with a different behavior should be distinguished. VFRs are those with a higher risk of complicated malaria with higher parasitemia levels, with higher fever and greater thrombocytopenia at diagnosis who frequently lack adequate malaria chemoprophylaxis when visiting their friends and relatives in endemic countries.

4b, lane 4). Overexpression of STY1365 induced by IPTG from pRP010 showed a slight Gemcitabine purchase difference in band intensity of OmpF and OmpC compared with the wild-type strain (lane 5). No significant difference was observed with ΔSTY1365 strain when tested for the crystal violet uptake and outer membrane protein profile. Moreover, strains carrying the empty vector pSU19 or the vector pCC1 induced or not by IPTG showed no differences in uptake of crystal violet (data not shown). Holins have been described extensively in bacteriophages, >50 unrelated protein families having been reported (Young, 2002). Because of the enormous diversity, location and characterization

of holin-like protein-coding genes in bacterial genomes has been difficult (Damman et al., 2000; Wang et al., 2000; Real et al., 2005; Anthony et al., 2010). Nevertheless we found some features of holin in STY1365 of S. Typhi by structural analysis of its sequence. Although it was not found a typical dual-start motif in the predicted amino acid sequence of STY1365, this result is not unusual because many holins lack this motif (Bläsi & Young, 1996; Farkasovska et al., 2004). Our experimental evidence reported in this work does not allow us to establish a full-holin activity to this small ORF of S. Typhi. Bacterial holins have been associated with an endolysin gene located adjacent to the holin gene, which

is not the case for STY1365 because both flanking ORFs are annotated as proteins without such endolysin function (Damman et al., 2000; Parkhill et al., Selleck OTX015 2001; Rice & Bayles, 2003; Delisle et al., 2006; Rodas et al., 2010). Moreover, overexpression of STY1365 showed growth impairment and alteration of the bacterial envelope, but

cell lysis was not observed as expected with overexpression of other holin genes (Loessner et al., 1999; Anthony et al., 2010; Rajesh et al., 2011). These evidences suggest that the protein encoded by STY1365 of S. Typhi has lost some but not all features associated with holins. Sequence analysis of STY1365 showed the presence of a premature stop codon (TGA) within its single PLEK2 TM domain, suggesting the disruption of this segment, and consequently this protein will not be inserted within the bacterial membrane. The frequency of use of TGA as a premature stop codon in bacterial genomes increases with the increase in GC content, a classical feature of genomic regions acquired by horizontal transfer (Wong et al., 2008). This is in accordance with the genomic location of STY1365, which is part of a genomic island (GICT18/1) with high GC content compared with whole genome of S. Typhi (Rodas et al., 2010). In addition, we detected the presence of a protein in the inner membrane of S. Typhi (∼17 kDa) consistent with the molecular weight of STY1365 protein product plus FLAG tag, suggesting that STY1365 is fully translated.

“
“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. Alectinib clinical trial 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, Fulvestrant 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 Inositol monophosphatase 1 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.

“
“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. Selleck A 769662 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, find more 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 all 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.