suis serotype 1/2) contains an R antigen identical with that of R

suis serotype 1/2) contains an R antigen identical with that of R streptococci (S. suis serotype 2), whereas the S component of RS streptococci, although

closely related, is not identical to the S antigen of S streptococci (S. suis serotype 1) (Perch et al., 1981). According to the comparison of the cps locus, the monosaccharide composition and/or structure of serotype 1/2 CPS should be similar to that of serotype 2, but different from that of serotype 1. The cross-reaction between serotypes 1/2 and 1 may be caused by the similar antigenicity induced by the CPS conformation or another component on the cell surface. A one-way cross-reaction was detected between serotypes 1 and 14. Serotype 1 strain can react with the serum produced against both serotypes 1 and 14. Selleckchem Metabolism inhibitor Antibody activity against serotype 1 can be removed from anti-serotype 14 serum by absorption with serotype 1 organisms. The adsorbed serum still can agglutinate with serotype 14 strains (Gottschalk et al., Etoposide nmr 1989). Eight transposases are absent in the serotype 1 cps locus compared with serotype 14, which may lead to the production of different CPS from the similar cps locus, resulting in the one-way cross-reaction. The cps locus encodes the enzymes to build the repeat unit (Garcia et al., 2000). According to the available cps locus of all 15 serotypes, CPS

of S. suis are generally synthesized by the Wzy-dependent pathway, which is also found in several other streptococcal species (Llull et al., 2001). The CPS synthesis pathway of genetic groups 1 and

2 is a www.selleck.co.jp/products/Staurosporine.html little different. In genetic group 1, the capsule was predicted to be amino-polysaccharide. The polysaccharide repeat unit can be synthesized by the sequential transfer of monosaccharides and adding some amino by aminotransferase or utilizing amino-monosaccharide (serotype 9 and 10). After the CPS is translocated across the bacterial membrane, CapD-like protein generates amide bonds to anchor CPS with the cell wall. In genetic group 2, CPS was predicted to be synthesized by transfer of an initial monosaccharide phosphate to a membrane-associated lipid carrier, followed by the sequential transfer of further monosaccharides to produce the lipid-linked repeat unit. Several bacterial pathogens, including S. suis, exist in a large number of antigenic variants because of differences in the polysaccharides presented on the cell surface. The evolution of the cps locus is very complex, with a long history of gene capture, loss and genetic rearrangements, and it is probably unrealistic to expect to be able to untangle their evolutionary history. A striking feature of the cps locus is the presence of many highly divergent forms of each of the key enzyme classes. There are 12 HGs for polysaccharide polymerases, nine HGs for flippases, 38 HGs for GTs and a great diversity of transferases in the 15 serotype cps locus. There are also multiple kinds of transposases (17 HGs) downstream of the locus.

As with the DR task, aged monkeys are slower to learn the task an

As with the DR task, aged monkeys are slower to learn the task and perform more poorly IWR-1 nmr as delay intervals are increased (Shamy et al., 2011). Behavioral flexibility is another frontal-dependent cognitive process that is compromised with aging. This has been studied using a variety of tasks, notably extradimensional set-shifting and reversal tasks in humans (Ridderinkhof et al., 2002; Marschner et al., 2005; Weiler et al., 2008), monkeys (Bartus et al., 1979; Lai et al., 1995; Voytko, 1999; Moore et al., 2003) and rats (Stephens et al., 1985; Barense et al., 2002; Schoenbaum et al., 2002; Nicolle & Baxter, 2003; Mizoguchi et al., 2010). Interestingly,

lesions of area 9 in marmoset monkeys affected extradimensional set-shifting performance, whereas lesions of the orbital PFC affected Selleckchem AZD1208 reversal performance (Dias et al., 1996). These data suggest that these tasks rely on different brain structures within the PFC. Extradimensional set-shifting refers to the problem of switching attention between cues that are in different perceptual dimensions in order to perform the task correctly. An example

of this is to train a rat to use light cues to determine which arm to select in a maze, and then shift the relevant cue to an auditory stimulus. When the extradimensional set-shifting occurs, the rat must shift its strategy and follow the sound cue in order to select the correct baited arm (e.g., Insel et al., 2012). In contrast, reversal learning refers to adapting a behavior to the changing contingencies required to reach a goal. For example, a rat can initially learn to press a lever in a ‘light-on’ condition to receive reward. After a reversal, the rat must adapt its behavior to press during the ‘light-off’ condition (e.g., Nomura et al., 2004). In parallel to the age-related cognitive deficits discussed above, aging is also associated with changes in attentional processes (Gazzaley & D’Esposito, 2007; Prakash et al., 2009; Hedden et al., 2012). This is accompanied by a greater susceptibility to distraction or interference during the delay period of a working memory task in humans (Bowles & Salthouse, 2003; Campbell et al., 2012) and monkeys (Bartus & Dean,

1979; Epothilone B (EPO906, Patupilone) Prendergast et al., 1998). Additionally, fMRI studies in older adults have reported that there is increased activity in brain regions mediating distraction (Milham et al., 2002; Stevens et al., 2008), and in cases where task-irrelevant stimuli are presented (Gazzaley et al., 2005). One of the most consistent finding in the literature on aging brain is a decline in the volume of the PFC of humans, monkeys and rodents. This decline is one of the earliest changes detected, and for almost fifty years it was thought that the decrease in frontal lobe volume was the result of cell loss (Haug, 1986; Peters, 2002). The early reports of cell loss, however, turned out to be an error resulting from differential shrinkage of young and aged tissue during processing (Haug et al.


“In the MONotherapy in Europe with Tmc114 (MONET) trial, d


“In the MONotherapy in Europe with Tmc114 (MONET) trial, darunavir/ritonavir (DRV/r) monotherapy showed noninferior

efficacy vs. two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors Trametinib cost (NRTIs) plus DRV/r at the primary 48-week analysis. The trial was continued to week 144 to assess the durability of the results. A total of 256 patients with viral load < 50 HIV-1 RNA copies/mL on current highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for at least 6 months switched to DRV/r 800/100 mg once daily, either as monotherapy (n = 127) or with two NRTIs (n = 129). Treatment failure was defined as two consecutive HIV RNA levels above 50 copies/mL [time to loss of virological response (TLOVR)] by week 144, or discontinuation of study drugs. Eighty-one per cent of patients were male and 91% were Caucasian, and they had a median baseline high throughput screening CD4 count of 575 cells/uL. More patients in the DRV/r monotherapy arm had hepatitis C virus coinfection at baseline than in the control arm (18% vs. 12%, respectively). By week 144, the percentage of patients with HIV RNA < 50 copies/mL [intent to treat (ITT), TLOVR, switch = failure method] was 69% vs. 75% in the DRV/r monotherapy and triple therapy arms [difference = −5.9%; 95% confidence interval (CI)

−16.9%, +5.1%]; by a strict ITT analysis (switches not considered failures), the percentage of patients with HIV RNA < 50 copies/mL was 84% vs. 83.5%, respectively (difference = +0.5%; 95% CI −8.7%, +9.7%). Twenty-one and 13 patients had two consecutive HIV RNA results above 50 copies/mL in the DRV/r monotherapy arm and triple therapy arm, respectively, of whom 18 of 21 (86%) and 10

of 13 (77%) had HIV RNA < 50 copies/mL at week 144. In this study, for patients with HIV RNA < 50 copies/mL at baseline, switching to DRV/r monotherapy showed noninferior efficacy to DRV/r plus two NRTIs in a strict ITT (switches not considered failures) analysis, but not in a TLOVR switch equals failure analysis. International HIV treatment guidelines recommend that patients should be treated Avelestat (AZD9668) with at least three antiretroviral drugs throughout the course of HIV infection, typically with two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) and either a nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) or a boosted protease inhibitor (PI) [1-4]. However, recently published European treatment guidelines have included an option for patients to be switched to boosted PI monotherapy, if the patient has HIV RNA levels below 50 HIV-1 RNA copies/mL and no history of virological failure [3, 4]. The two PIs being considered for this switching option are darunavir/ritonavir (DRV/r) 800/100 mg once daily and lopinavir/ritonavir 400/100 mg twice daily. Randomized trials have evaluated the efficacy of switching to DRV/r monotherapy vs. a standard treatment of DRV/r plus two NRTIs (DRV/r + 2NRTIs) [5-9], for patients with HIV RNA < 50 copies/ml at baseline.

4 The protein homogeneity of the recombinant enzymes was analyze

4. The protein homogeneity of the recombinant enzymes was analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) (Schägger & von Jagow, 1987). Protein concentration was determined according to the method of Bradford using bovine serum albumin as standard (Bradford, 1976). The purified recombinant enzymes were

used as immunogens to produce specific antibodies in mice. Standard procedures were followed for this purpose. The activities of the recombinant ME isozymes in the direction of oxidative decarboxylation of malate were assayed spectrophotometrically as previously described (Cannata et al., 1979). The apparent parameters were determined by nonlinear regression; the data were fitted to a hyperbola applying the Gauss–Newton algorithm (Fraser & Suzuki, 1973). The selleck screening library effect of potential effectors such as l-aspartate (0.5 mM), acetyl-CoA (5 μM), succinate (0.5 mM), oxaloacetate (0.5 mM), 2-oxoglutarate (0.5 mM), glyoxylate (0.5 mM), l-glutamate (0.5 mM) and fructose-1,6-bisphosphate (0.5 mM) was assayed at the final concentrations indicated in parentheses. The final concentration of

l-malate in the reaction mixture was 0.2 mM. The results are presented as a percentage of the activity measured in the presence vs. that determined in absence of each effector. Trypanosoma brucei procyclics and T. cruzi epimastigotes Copanlisib supplier (3 × 108 cells mL−1) were used for subcellular localization of MEs as previously described (Aranda et al., 2006). The mitochondrion was labelled with Mitotracker™ Lepirudin Red CMXRos

(Molecular Probes) following the procedure reported by Vassella et al. (1997). Appropriate dilutions of mouse polyclonal antibodies raised against the recombinant T. brucei and T. cruzi MEs were utilized. The secondary antibody was anti-mouse IgG (H+L), Alexa Fluor® 488 (Molecular Probes). DNA was stained with 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole dilactate (DAPI dilactate, Molecular Probes). The parasites used for the localization of the cytosolic isozyme were processed in parallel except that they were not exposed to the mitochondrial fluorophore. Photographs were taken with a Spot RT Slider Model No. 2.3.1 digital camera (Diagnostic Instruments Inc., Sterling Heights, MI) and metamorph/metafluor 6.2 software (Molecular Devices), at a resolution of 1600 × 1200 pixels. imagej (version 1.42q; http://rsb.info.nih.gov/ij/) was used to create the image compositions. Cell-free extracts of the insect and mammalian stages of T. cruzi CL Brener clone (5 × 107 cells) and those of procyclic and bloodstream forms of T. brucei (4 × 107 cells) were obtained, the solubilized proteins were resolved by SDS-PAGE on 7.5% polyacrylamide gels, electro-transferred onto nitrocellulose membranes and developed with the polyclonal mouse antisera raised against each of the recombinant T. cruzi and T. brucei MEs (1 : 1000). β-Tubulin was selected as protein loading control of T. cruzi and T.

The specificity of the primers and probes was preliminarily asses

The specificity of the primers and probes was preliminarily assessed using a nucleotide blast (http://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi). One hundred and eleven Fusarium isolates from different geographical origins were used to test the specificity of the TaqMan assays (Table 1). All 35 isolates of F. avenaceum, 15 of F. tricinctum and single closely related isolate of F. acuminatum generated fluorescent signals with the assay specific for the F. avenaceum/F. tricinctum

esyn1 genotype. In the case of an assay specific for F. poae esyn1 genotype, all 22 of F. poae tested isolates generated fluorescent signals. No positive results were recorded for the other nontarget isolates tested. The efficiency selleck kinase inhibitor of each assay was evaluated in serial analysis by testing fivefold dilutions of genomic DNA extracted from F. avenaceum find more and F. poae isolates. High amplification efficiency (98.5–99.8%) was achieved for each of the TaqMan assays developed (data not shown). The detection limits and the dynamic range of the TaqMan reactions were deduced from the standard curves for each

of the esyn1 genotypes. The detection limits (CT value=35) for the F. avenaceum/F. tricinctum esyn1 genotype and the F. poae genotype were 19 and 0.3 pg, respectively. The main purpose of this experiment was to reveal the quantities of esyn1 Fusarium genotypes and enniatins levels in grains showing no visible symptoms of FHB. This grain cannot be ignored in terms of seed health or mycotoxin contamination (Yoshida et al., 2007); however, there is little information

about the occurrence of Fusarium spp. and associated mycotoxins in grains with the absence of FDK (Fusarium-damaged kernels). This is especially true in the case of enniatins, which are nowadays detected at the highest prevalence among fusarial toxins at least in certain geographic areas (Jestoi et al., 2004a, b). Previous examination of asymptomatic wheat grain samples revealed that F. poae and F. tricinctum are the most abundant species in such samples, and enniatins were detected N-acetylglucosamine-1-phosphate transferase at the highest prevalence, although at relatively low concentrations (Kulik & Jestoi, 2009). In this study, the concentrations of enniatins detected in the samples analyzed were low and, especially in samples from 2008, in most cases, below the LOQ. However, it should be emphasized that the impact of regular low-level intake of mycotoxins is likely to be significant, with a number of negative effects on human health (Bryden, 2007). The mean recoveries for enniatins were 60%, 74%, 75% and 86% (for enniatin A, A1, B and B1, respectively). Consequently, low amounts of esyn1 genotypes were quantified using TaqMan assays developed in this study (data not shown). Fusarium avenaceum/F. tricinctum esyn1 genotypes were quantified in 22 samples ranging from 1401 to 32 pg, while the F. poae esyn1 genotype was quantified in 33 samples ranging from 5.1 to 0.3 pg.

Since the advent of the HIV pandemic, health care workers includi

Since the advent of the HIV pandemic, health care workers including medical trainees have been at increased risk of infection through exposure to blood or body fluids. The risk of occupational exposure is high even among medical students working in resource-rich North American hospitals. A survey conducted among the graduating class of 2003 at the University of Toronto School of Medicine revealed that 35% (55 of 157) of students selleck chemicals had sustained at least one needlestick injury and less than 50% of those with exposures sought medical advice.5 The American Medical Association recommends that US medical schools ensure that medical students who engage in clinical rotations

abroad have immediate access to HIV postexposure prophylaxis (PEP), and encourages medical schools to provide information to students regarding potential health risks associated with international electives and education regarding appropriate precautions STA-9090 to minimize risks.6 Among health care workers globally, 2 million needlestick injuries occur annually.7 Although the risk for HIV transmission from needlestick

accidents in the United States is estimated to be 0.3%, the global rate is estimated to be 4.4%.8,9 The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that annually there are 1,000 (range 200–5,000) new HIV infections due to occupational exposures experienced by health care workers.9 Among all HIV-infected health care workers, 2.5% of their infections are believed to result from occupational exposures, indicating the significant risk of nosocomial exposures. While the greatest number of documented reports of occupational infection are from the United States and Europe, the majority

of exposures occurs in the developing world.7 Although 70% of the world’s HIV-infected population resides in sub-Saharan Africa, only 4% of worldwide occupational cases of HIV infection have been reported in this region.10 Given substantial underreporting and the lack of basic supplies such as gloves, protective eyewear, and special safety devices such as needleless phlebotomy devices, the risk of nosocomial exposure to blood and body fluids is likely to be much greater in developing Tyrosine-protein kinase BLK countries than in industrialized countries. Consistent with this hypothesis, a South African study found that 91% of junior physicians sustained needlestick injuries in the previous year, with 55% of those exposures occurring with patients who were known to be HIV positive.11 Thus, percutaneous exposure to blood products internationally remains a serious threat and must be recognized as a health hazard to traveling health care workers, including medical trainees. In developed countries, PEP has greatly reduced the potential risk of infection for health care workers.

The results were best demonstrated by sigmoidal curves (pFe 188–

The results were best demonstrated by sigmoidal curves (pFe 18.8–21.7, Fe3+ = 10−18.8–10−21.7 M) with the linear range extending from pFe 19.6–21.5 (Fe3+ = 10−19.6–10−21.5 M) after a 12-h incubation time. Optimal conditions for the use of this bioreporter to sense the iron bioavailability were determined to be: a 12-h exposure time, initial cell density of OD730 nm = 0.06, high nitrate (100 μM), high phosphate (10 μM), moderate Co2+ (0.1–22.5 nM), Zn2+ (0.16–12 nM), Cu2+ (0.04–50 nM),

and wide range of Mn2+ concentration (0.92–2300 nM). The applicability of using this iron bioreporter to assess iron availability in the natural environment http://www.selleckchem.com/products/abt-199.html has been tested using water samples from eutrophic Taihu, Donghu, and Chaohu lakes. It is indicated that the bioreporter is a useful tool to assess bioavailable iron in various water quality samples, especially in eutrophic lakes with high bioavailable iron. Iron is an essential nutrient for organisms. As the fourth most abundant element in the crust of the earth, it generally exists in two forms, Fe2+ and Fe3+, in aquatic environments. In oxic environments, Fe2+ can be quickly oxidized into Fe3+ and then

transformed into insoluble and inaccessible ferric hydroxide. In addition, iron also exists in the form of colloids and can be complexed check details by organic ligands. Although various iron chelates, including siderophores and grazing byproducts, and iron-organic compounds have been shown to act as sources of iron to phytoplankton (Hutchins et al., 1999; Poorvin et al., 2004), iron bioavailability is still low in many aquatic environments and constrains phytoplankton growth in areas of the open ocean characterized as ‘high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll’ regions (Martin et al., 1991; Coale et al., 1996), coastal waters (Hutchins et al., 1998), and some freshwater systems (Twiss et al., 2000). Although rapid and reliable chemical protocols are available to measure absolute

levels of iron in water samples, whole-cell bioreporters provide data on the capacity of the biota to acquire and assimilate iron. Recombinant bioluminescent bacterial Aspartate strains have been successfully applied in monitoring iron (Durham et al., 2002; Mioni et al., 2003) and the availability of other metal ions (Peca et al., 2008) in environmental samples. The bicistronic isiAB operon is in part regulated by the iron-dependent repressor Fur (ferric uptake regulator) in cyanobacteria (Ghassemian & Straus, 1996). The first gene isiA codes for a protein that is very similar to CP43, a chlorophyll-binding core protein of photosystem II. Flavodoxin coded by gene isiB has been revealed to have the ability to replace ferredoxin as carrier in the electron transfer chain.

07) Two studies[18,25] reported only clinical and patient outcom

07). Two studies[18,25] reported only clinical and patient outcomes. Chabot et al.[18] described a Canadian community pharmacy CDSS to increase adherence C59 wnt ic50 to antihypertensive medicines and improve blood-pressure control.

The benefits of this computer-based pharmaceutical care programme (improved physical activity levels, self-reported adherence and blood-pressure control) were restricted to higher-income patients. Weinberger et al.[25] report an RCT comparing usual care, a peak-flow-monitoring control group and a pharmaceutical care intervention using patient-specific clinical data and support materials for patients with asthma or COPD. At 12 months, patients in the pharmaceutical-care arm had statistically significantly higher peak-flow rates than usual-care-arm patients, but there was no difference compared to the peak-flow-monitoring control group. Both peak-flow-monitoring and pharmaceutical-care

SCH772984 order patients reported statistically significant increases in satisfaction with pharmacist services, and there were trends in both groups towards improved quality of life compared to patients in the usual-care arm. Two of the QUM studies examined the effect of a CDSS on pharmacist activity.[20,21] Murray et al.[20] investigated the effects of computerised guidelines and patient-specific treatment suggestions for a number of chronic diseases (heart failure, ischaemic heart disease, reactive airways disease and uncomplicated hypertension) on pharmacists’ time dealing with prescriptions and contacts with patients and other health professionals. These authors found that the CDSS increased time spent discussing medication-related issues and problem-solving and decreased time spent checking and filling prescriptions. Reeve et al.[21] found an electronic prompt in the dispensing software of Australian community pharmacies significantly Anidulafungin (LY303366) changed pharmacists’ behaviour, increasing the number of interventions

to recommend aspirin therapy in diabetic patients. Notably, the rate of intervention decreased over time and did not persist with deactivation of the prompt. Of the 10 studies reporting prescribing outcomes, five were conducted in institutional settings and five in ambulatory care. All 10 studies demonstrated significant improvements on the majority of prescribing outcomes assessed. The clinical targets for the drug safety and monitoring studies varied. Targets included critical drug interactions where the prescription was halted until the pharmacist contacted the prescriber,[28] excessive dosing of 98 medications based on the patient’s level of renal function,[32] prescriptions for medicines to be avoided in pregnancy[33] and new prescriptions for medications considered inappropriate for use in the elderly.

The surprise signal of the unsigned PE also yielded a highly foca

The surprise signal of the unsigned PE also yielded a highly focal activation in the midbrain anatomically consistent with the substantia nigra (SN)/ventral tegmental area and activity

in the anterior insula (Fig. 4A). We did not observe a significant correlation with blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) responses in the amygdala for signed PEs in a complementary analysis (inspected at a threshold of P < 0.05, family-wise error corrected). In a second step, activity in a different amygdala subregion was found to be negatively correlated with the associability at the time of CS onset (Fig. 4B and Table 3B), whereas no positive correlation could be observed in the amygdala (even at a liberal threshold of P < 0.01, uncorrected). As the negative associability Alectinib indicates the reliability of prior predictions, the observed negative correlations suggest that activity in the amygdala increased whenever outcome predictions became more reliable and decreased when

outcome predictions were poor. According to the anatomical atlas as well as the probabilistic maps (Table 4), the observed amygdala activation can be assigned to the BLA. However, it should be noted that, although the probabilistic maps and the anatomical atlas yielded the same amygdala subregions in the present study, the location of amygdala nuclei can differ between both methods. To further approve the functional dissociation of the CM and BLA, we directly compared the mean activity with unsigned PE and negative associability signals in those areas [associability BAY 73-4506 mouse beta values were inversed for the purpose of this analysis to indicate the strength (and not the direction) of the correlation]. More specifically, we extracted the betas for both signals from all voxels falling into the CM and BLA, respectively. The CM was approximated by a combination of the bilateral superficial and the centromedial amygdala masks and the BLA was defined by bilateral basolateral amygdala masks using the maximum

probability maps to define regions of interest Carnitine palmitoyltransferase II (Eickhoff et al., 2005). A 2 × 2 repeated-measures anova with factors region (CM, BLA) and signal (unsigned PE, negative associability) on the mean beta coefficients from individual subjects revealed a significant region-by-signal interaction (F1,20 = 12.39, P < 0.01) indicating that the two subdivisions of the amygdala are differentially engaged in representing the unsigned PE and negative associability (Fig. 5B). In addition, subsequent t-tests showed that the unsigned PE correlated significantly more strongly with activity in the CM than in the BLA (t20 = 2.54, P < 0.05), whereas the negative associability function revealed a larger correlation with BOLD responses in the BLA as compared with the CM (t20 = 2.76, P < 0.05).

, 2009a, b) Its oxidation during menadione stress, a potent gene

, 2009a, b). Its oxidation during menadione stress, a potent generator of O2•− may help signal oxidative

stress and the inactivation of KGDH. With the concomitant increase in GDH and ICDH activities observed in this study, it is quite plausible that the pool of KG created helps scavenge the ROS in a nonenzymatic manner. The presence of elevated amounts of succinate, a product of the decarboxylation Proteasome inhibitor drugs of KG by ROS, in the H2O2-stressed cells would point to such a possibility. Hence, P. fluorescens appears to induce the participation of KG in the detoxification of O2•− and H2O2. In order to decipher whether histidine metabolism was an important generator of KG during oxidative stress, the cellular extracts were treated with fluorocitrate. This moiety is known to interfere with citrate metabolism (Nasser et al., 2006; Zielke et al., 2007). Hence, VDA chemical the catabolism of citrate via aconitase should be perturbed and any KG formed would emanate from the degradation of histidine. In the H2O2-stressed cultures, there was no sharp variation in the production of KG in the presence of fluorocitrate. However, in the control cultures, the inclusion of fluorocitrate led to only minute amounts of KG (Fig. 6). As the citrate decomposition pathway was blocked in both cases, it is clear that the elevated levels of KG observed in the H2O2-stressed bacteria were due to the ability

of H2O2-challenged P. fluorescens to preferentially metabolize histidine to KG, an attribute absent in the control bacteria. Hence, it is possible that P. fluorescens diverts histidine towards KG in an effort to combat oxidative stress. The role of ketoacids as antioxidants is now beginning Interleukin-2 receptor to emerge. Both prokaryote and eukaryotes are known to induce the enhanced production of these moieties to cope with an oxidative environment

(Brookes et al., 2006; Mailloux et al., 2007; Sharma et al., 2008). While the involvement of pyruvate in the detoxification of ROS has been reported, the role of KG in alleviating the oxidative burden is beginning to be appreciated (Nakamichi et al., 2005; Brookes et al., 2006; Mailloux et al., 2007). These data clearly point to a pivotal role of histidine metabolism in the homeostasis of KG and shows how this amino acid is a key component of the antioxidative defense strategy in P. fluorescens. This report provides further evidence on the significance of metabolism and KG in the detoxification of ROS. It adds to the growing body of literature on the role of ketoacids in antioxidative defense. Pseudomonas fluorescens reprograms its metabolic networks in an effort to generate KG, a moiety that subsequently nullifies H2O2 with the concomitant formation of succinate and CO2. Because histidine was utilized as the sole source of nitrogen, the production of glutamate was favored. However, this amino acid appeared to be dedicated to the production of KG, as GDH was upregulated.