, 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 selleck kinase inhibitor 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, Stem Cells inhibitor 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 Ketotifen 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.

, 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 INCB024360 research buy 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, Apoptosis inhibitor 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 Ergoloid 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.

Attitudinal questions about the role of pharmacy in the provision of CAM advice revealed that whilst only 11% of respondents reported their pharmacist aware of their use of CAM, and 52% agreed it important their pharmacist knowledgeable about CAM, only 25% felt their pharmacist currently to be a useful source of information. However, 55% reported they would use their pharmacist as a preferred source of information about CAM if they felt them more knowledgeable. 49% thought their pharmacist ought to be the most reliable source of information about

safety of CAMs and interactions with medication. However, 45% used their family and friends as their primary source of information about CAM. The results concur with Australian and Canadian studies that report customers expect pharmacists to be knowledgeable about CAMs www.selleckchem.com/products/Bafilomycin-A1.html and provide an advisory role to help them assess information and communicate guidance about safety issues (2). However, whilst the study demonstrates many UK

customers Napabucasin expect their pharmacist to be knowledgeable about CAM and believe they should be a source of reliable safety information and advice regarding possible interactions with medications, they feel that there is a lack of understanding within the profession on the subject. This pilot investigation demonstrates the need for a larger scale study to better understand consumer’s more general and specific needs in greater detail together with a Olopatadine parallel assessment of the requirements of community pharmacy to meet any identified demands in the context of an evidence based scenario. One place to begin to enhance the provision of good quality advice regarding CAM products may

be through the provision of CPD pharmacy training. 1. Cramer H. et al. Over the counter advice seeking about complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) in community pharmacies and health shops: an ethnographic study. Health and Social Care in the Community 2010; 18: 41–50. 2. Kwan D et al. Exploring consumer and pharmacist views on the professional role of the pharmacist with respect to natural health products: a study of focus groups. BMC Complement Altern Med 2008; 8: 40. Rebecca Dickinson1, DK Raynor1, Peter Knapp2, Jan MacDonald3 1University of Leeds, Leeds, UK, 2University of York, York, UK, 3Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, London, UK This objective of this study was to explore whether patients use a headline section in a patient information leaflet to find key information about their medicines in a user-test. Quantitative findings showed the headline was used for 55/140 opportunities (39%), and qualitative findings suggested the headline was viewed as a positive inclusion. The headline section was only used just over a third of the time, but its inclusion was viewed as a valuable addition. European legislation requires a PIL be provided with each licensed medicine.

, 1998; Osset et al., 2001). The antimicrobials are mainly organic acids produced from the fermentation of sugars, which leads to the typical low pH of the vagina. This low pH is able to inhibit the growth of most pathogens (Boskey et al., 2001). Probiotics are defined as ‘live microorganisms which when administered in adequate

amounts confer a health benefit on the host’ (FAO/WHO, 2006). Use of lactobacilli as probiotic agents in the human genitourinary tract has a long history of safe use, which dates from 1915 (Newman, 1915). Among the physiological traits that are desirable for potential probiotic lactobacilli, adhesion to epithelial surfaces is of paramount importance. It is well known that, in healthy women, the cervix produces mucus that is mainly composed of mucin, among other components (Moghissi Erastin et al., 1960) acting as a protective Tamoxifen mouse barrier for the uterus and the vagina (Wang & Lee, 2002). A good adhesion to mucin is thus a desirable characteristic, which may increase the residence time of probiotic lactobacilli, as happens with intestinal Lactobacillus strains (McGrady et al., 1995; Perea Vélez et al., 2007). The quick turnover of the vaginal mucosa makes adhesion a crucial feature for the establishment and colonization of probiotic lactobacilli; thus, it is necessary to characterize the bacterial adhesion an efficient in vitro model (Van den Abbeele et al., 2009).

In the present study, the adhesion abilities Acesulfame Potassium of 32 vaginal and 11 intestinal Lactobacillus strains to mucin have been characterized.

Among them, eight strains were selected to characterize their adhesion abilities to Caco-2, HT-29, and HeLa cells, three well-known epithelial cell models. The interference of the lactobacilli cells and their secreted proteins on the adhesion of the vaginal pathogens C. albicans and Actinomyces neuii to the vaginal cell line HeLa was determined as well. Finally, secreted and surface proteins were identified, with some of them being suggested as molecular elicitors of the interaction between the lactobacilli and the mucosal surface. The Lactobacillus strains used in this study were isolated from the vagina of fertile women or had an intestinal origin and were selected because of their good probiotic properties (Martín et al., 2008a, unpublished data). Actinomyces neuii R1 was isolated from a vaginal swab of a woman with vulvovaginitis, whereas C. albicans CECT 1392, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (ATCC 53103), and Lactobacillus plantarum 299V (DSM 9843) were obtained from the Colección Española de Cultivos Tipo, the American Type Culture Collection and the German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, respectively. Lactobacilli were grown in MRS broth (Difco, Detroit), whereas C. albicans and A. neuii were grown in BHI broth (Oxoid, Cambridge, UK) supplemented with 1% (w/v) yeast extract (Difco), 0.

Norris for stimulating discussions regarding metal toxicity; Dr Steve Stanley for discussions on methanotrophy and Miss Susan E. Slade

and Prof. Donovan P. Kelly for advice on the practicalities of radiocarbon methane. “
“Clinical isolates of Photorhabdus asymbiotica have been recovered from patients in both the United States of America and Australia, and the full sequence of P. asymbiotica ATCC43949 from the United States has been reported recently. In contrast to other bacteria in the genus that only infect insects, P. asymbiotica strains are able to infect both insects and DAPT research buy humans. Using a combination of Solexa (Illumina) and 454 Life Sciences (Roche) sequence data in different assembly pipelines, we report on a draft genome sequence of a strain of P. asymbiotica recovered from a patient from Kingscliff, Australia. The best assembly yielded an N50 scaffold size of 288 627 base pairs (bp) with >88.6% of the predicted genome covered by scaffolds over 100 000 bp. One of the central differences found between this Australian isolate and the US isolate is the presence of an additional plasmid, pPAA3. This plasmid is similar to pCRY from Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of bubonic plague, and the presence of pPAA3 may account for the increased virulence of Australian

isolates both against tissue culture cells and infected patients. The genome of the Kingscliff strain also contains several genomic differences from the US isolate, acetylcholine whose potential significance in virulence

against both humans and insects Fluorouracil is discussed. Photorhabdus are Gram-negative bioluminescent members of the Enterobacteriaceae family that live in association with soil-dwelling entomopathogenic Heterorhabditid nematodes that invade and kill insects. Photorhabdus infection of humans was first described in 1989 from cases discovered in the United States (Farmer et al., 1989). Since then, further examples of human infection occurring in Australia have also been reported and linked to Photorhabdus asymbiotica infection (Gerrard et al., 2004). Photorhabdus asymbiotica has been associated with locally invasive soft tissue and disseminated bacteraemic infections, characterized by multifocal skin and soft tissue abscesses (Gerrard et al., 2004). Recently, a highly invasive strain of P. asymbiotica was isolated from a 49-year-old Australian man who had fever and soft tissue infections of his right hand and left thigh in Kingscliff, New South Wales (Gerrard et al., 2006). The genome of a North American strain of P. asymbiotica (ATCC43949) has been sequenced completely and annotated manually (Wilkinson et al., 2009). We have derived a draft sequence of the Australian isolate and, by comparing this draft genome with the finished genome of the North American strain, have begun to identify the differences between the P.

Human Pathol 1997; 28: 801–808. 10 Boulanger E, Agbalika F, Maarek O et al. A clinical, molecular and cytogenetic study of 12 cases of human herpesvirus 8 associated primary effusion lymphoma in HIV-infected patients. Haematol J 2001; 2: 172–179. 11 Oksenhendler E, Clauvel JP, Jouveshomme S et al. Complete remission of a primary effusion lymphoma with antiretroviral therapy. Am J Hematol 1998; 57: 266. 12 Simonelli C, Spina M, Selleck Ibrutinib Cinelli R et al. Clinical features and outcome of primary effusion lymphoma in HIV-infected patients: a single-institution

study. J Clin Oncol 2003; 21: 3948–3954. 13 Valencia ME, Martinez P, Moreno V et al. AIDS-related body cavity-based lymphomas, herpesvirus-8 and HIV infection: a study of seven cases. AIDS 1999; 13: 2603–2605. 14 Ascoli V, Signoretti S, Onetti-Muda A et al. Primary effusion lymphoma in HIV-infected patients

with multicentric Castleman’s disease. J Pathol 2001; 193: 200–209. 15 Toomey NL, Deyev VV, Wood C et al. Induction of a TRAIL-mediated selleckchem suicide program by interferon alpha in primary effusion lymphoma. Oncogene 2001; 20: 7029–7040. Plasmablastic lymphoma accounts for 2.6% of all HIV-related lymphomas [1]. In the original report, 15 of the 16 cases were HIV infected and had involvement of the oral cavity [2]. The disease can also occur in the non-HIV population, particularly in those with immunosuppression. There are three recognized subtypes of plasmablastic lymphoma. The first is the usually found in the oral mucosa and contains a monomorphic population of plasmablasts with minimal plasmacytic differentiation. The second type tends to have more plasmacytic differentiation CYTH4 and is usually extraoral. The third type is plasmablastic lymphoma associated with Castleman’s disease and is typically nodal or splenic.

In the WHO classification [3], the tumour is a subtype of diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL). The majority of patients with PBL are men, particularly in the HIV population, with a mean age of presentation of 39 years. These tumours need to be distinguished from the immunoblastic variant of DLBCL and body and extracavity variants of primary effusion lymphoma (PEL), Burkitt lymphoma (BL) with plasmacytoid differentiation, and extramedullary plasmablastic secondary multiple myeloma. Advances in immunophenotyping have facilitated these distinctions based on the low or absent expression of leukocyte common antigen (CD45) or the B cell markers CD20, CD79a, and PAX5. The plasma cell markers VS38c, CD38, multiple myeloma oncogene-1 (mum-1) and CD138 (syndecan-1) are almost always expressed [4]. The tumour cells are nearly always Epstein–Barr virus positive and this may be demonstrated in their three latent forms by the use of fluorescent or chromogenic in situ hybridization and may be useful in distinguishing it from plasmablastic multiple myeloma.

025 using a two-sample t-test. An analysis of covariance (ancova) model was used to analyse the two primary efficacy endpoints. This Torin 1 in vivo model had pretreatment log10 HIV-1 RNA (mean of screening and day 0 viral loads) as the covariate and treatment, study country and screening genotype (fewer than three TAMs or at least three TAMs/K65R) as the independent variables. If the ancova revealed a significant overall treatment effect for a given primary endpoint, pairwise comparisons based on the least square means would be performed between each of the test doses (600 mg ATC and 800 mg ATC) and the reference

(150 mg 3TC), using the Fisher’s protected t-test approach to handle the issue of test multiplicity. The significance level of the Fisher’s protected t-test was set at 0.025. As the primary efficacy analyses involved co-primary endpoints, the alpha level of 0.05 was used to claim an overall treatment effect in the ancova if both primary endpoints revealed an overall treatment effect with the P-value being ≤0.05; otherwise, the alpha level of 0.025 was used to claim independently

an overall treatment VX-765 mw effect in the ancova for each primary endpoint. The safety population was defined as all patients who received at least one dose of investigational product. The intention-to-treat (ITT) population was defined as all patients who received at least one dose of investigational product and had at least one valid viral load measurement post baseline. The day 21 Florfenicol per protocol (D21 PP) population was defined as all patients in the ITT population who completed the primary treatment period (day 0 to day 21) and were deemed to be compliant with the protocol. Fifty-two patients were randomized to treatment in this study, one of whom withdrew between screening and the baseline visit, leaving 51 patients eligible for the safety population (17 patients in the 600 mg ATC bid arm, 18 in the 800 mg ATC bid arm and 16 in the 150 mg 3TC bid arm) (Fig. 2). Forty-seven patients (17 patients in the 600 mg ATC bid arm, 16 in the 800 mg

ATC bid arm and 14 in the 150 mg 3TC bid arm) completed day 21 without major protocol violations to qualify for the D21 PP population: one patient (in the 800 mg ATC arm) withdrew from the study after the baseline visit for noncompliance, one patient (in the 800 mg ATC arm) had study drug interrupted at day 13 because of an (unrelated) AE and two patients (both in the 150 mg 3TC arm) were found not to have met the inclusion/exclusion criteria [both patients had a pretreatment viral load (mean of screening and day 0 viral loads) of <2000 copies/mL and M184V could not be demonstrated at day 0 in one of these patients]. The three treatment arms had similar baseline characteristics (Table 1). There were 16 women enrolled in the study, making up approximately 30% of the study population.

That more than 8800 patients have been offered the opportunity of an HIV test within the time-pressured and target-driven constraints of the department

by ED staff themselves is a success in itself. The use of sustainability methodology and PDSA cycles – examining key outcome measures in real time, planning interventions based on stakeholder input, audit, and patient feedback, and thereafter examining the impact – has enabled us to maintain and sustain the programme. Since month 22, two key changes, namely the introduction of blood HIV testing in addition to oral fluid and the engagement of nursing staff, APO866 supplier appear to have had a significant impact on the proportion of patients offered and accepting HIV tests. This is a relatively recent success, and we hope that it

will be maintained. Weekly meetings between the ED and sexual health department have sustained momentum and facilitated sharing of best practice. http://www.selleckchem.com/products/ink128.html ED staff remain increasingly committed to the future of the project, and value the service both as a mechanism to diagnose undiagnosed HIV infection and also as a means of destigmatizing HIV testing and of forging relationships between departments in the hospital. There have been no reported negative impacts upon the running of the department. The success of the programme has directly informed a revision of the Best Practice Position Statement from the College of Emergency Medicine in 2012: initial opposition to the use of EDs as a venue for routine HIV testing programmes has now changed to a permissive attitude in EDs in high-prevalence areas, with recognition that it can be an effective and feasible intervention [13]. All patients with confirmed HIV 4-Aminobutyrate aminotransferase infection have transferred to specialist care, and the prevalence of newly diagnosed HIV infection (0.30%)

is consistent with that previously observed. However, a modelling study using Public Health England surveillance data and based on the demographics of ED attendees suggests that upwards of 140 individuals attend the department per annum with undiagnosed HIV infection. We must strive to increase the proportion of patients offered and accepting HIV tests in this venue to make diagnoses earlier. Further work is ongoing to examine how the performance of the testing programme relates to ED key performance indicators. There is a concern that increasing working pressures will have a deleterious effect on the HIV testing programme, and but we will work with commissioners and other stakeholders to secure the future of this feasible, effective and acceptable programme. This project was made possible by an unrestricted grant from the Gilead UK & Ireland Fellowship Programme, Gilead Sciences Ltd, Cambridge, UK.

7%; 95% confidence interval (CI) 69.2–84.8%] than by healthy individuals (88.0%; 95% CI 81.2–93.0%; P < 0.001) and did not increase after the second dose (69.8%; 95% CI 60.1–78.3%). Systemic reactions were rare and evenly distributed in the two groups (not shown). Ninety of 121 HIV-infected patients provided paired plasma samples for the detection of HIV RNA before and 4 weeks after the second dose of vaccine. At baseline, HIV RNA levels were below the detection threshold in 68 individuals and detectable

in 22. Unexpectedly, overall HIV RNA levels were significantly higher at follow-up compared with baseline (P < 0.001). HIV RNA was detected in 40 of 68 (58.8%) previously aviraemic patients [median 152 copies/mL; interquartile range (IQR) 87–509 copies/mL], independent of CD4 cell count (Fig. 1f). Among the 22 HIV-infected patients with selleck chemical detectable baseline HIV RNA levels (≥ 20 copies/mL), the median HIV RNA level increased, but an increase of ≥1 log10 copies/mL was observed in only two of 22 patients (9.1%). Individuals with an increase in their HIV RNA level were invited to return for follow-up 3 months later (median 91 days; IQR 65–122 days) at which point HIV RNA levels had returned to baseline in most individuals (27 of

34; 79.4%; Fig. 1f). Logistic regression analysis BMS-354825 research buy established previous nonadjuvanted seasonal influenza Ponatinib clinical trial vaccination as the sole determinant for HIV RNA increase above the detection threshold of 20 copies in previously aviraemic patients (P = 0.05; Table 4). Patients with a new elevated HIV RNA after dose 2 had similar characteristics compared with patients who stayed virologically suppressed: no differences in treatment regimen (NNRTI-based vs. PI-based antiretroviral therapy) were observed (data not

shown). In the following season (2010/2011), HIV RNA levels were assessed before and 4 weeks after administration of a single dose of seasonal influenza vaccine in a total of 66 HIV-positive patients who had participated in 2009. HIV RNA levels increased this time only weakly in three previously aviraemic individuals (median 29 copies/mL; range 20–125 copies/mL), two of whom had also experienced an increase after the AS03-adjuvanted vaccine in 2009 (23 and 125 copies/mL, respectively). For the remaining 23 individuals who had experienced an increase in viraemia in 2009, this finding was not reproduced in 2010/2011. This study reports the influence of the novel AS03-adjuvanted influenza A/09/H1N1 vaccine in HIV-positive patients attending an HIV clinic in a public hospital. HIV-positive patients achieved seroprotection rates of 94.2% and seroconversion rates of 85.6%, regardless of their clinical or biological characteristics. However, immunization triggered a detectable increase in HIV RNA levels even in successfully HAART-treated, aviraemic patients.

Therefore, results from the polyphasic taxonomy study suggested that strain JC2131T represents a novel genus and species in the family Flavobacteriaceae for which

the name Marinitalea sucinacia gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed (type strain JC2131T=KCTC 12705T=JCM 14003T). Tidal flats in Korea contain a highly diverse prokaryotic community as shown by culture-independent approaches (Kim et al., 2004, 2005, 2008a; Yi & Chun, 2006). In recent years, bacterial taxa belonging to the family Flavobacteriaceae have been isolated from a variety of tidal flats on the west coast of the Korean peninsula (Choi & Cho, 2006; Kim et al., 2008b; Yoon et al., 2008; Park et al., 2009). The family Flavobacteriaceae is a diverse group of bacteria Daporinad in vivo and currently comprises 89 validly named genera (see the list of validly published bacterial selleck screening library names at http://www.dsmz.de/

or http://www.bacterio.cict.fr/). In this study, we report the description of a new Flavobacterium-like bacterium that showed low 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities to other members of the family Flavobacteriaceae with validly published names. A bacterial strain designated JC2131T was isolated from a tidal flat sediment sample from Ganghwa island, South Korea (37°36′22.3″N; 126°22′59.4″E), using the standard dilution plating method on marine agar 2216 (MA; Conda). The isolate was routinely cultured on MA 30 °C and preserved as a suspension in marine broth (MB; Conda) supplemented with 20% (v/v) glycerol. The 16S rRNA gene was amplified enzymatically from a single colony by PCR using AccuPower PCR Premix (Bioneer) and primers 27F and 1492R (Lane, 1991). The PCR product was purified using the AccuPrep PCR Purification kit (Bioneer) and sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene was performed with an Applied Biosystems automatic sequencer (ABI3730XL) at Macrogen, Seoul, South Korea. The identification of phylogenetic neighbours and calculation of pairwise 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity were new achieved using the EzTaxon server (http://www.eztaxon.org/;

Chun et al., 2007). The nearly complete 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain JC2131T was aligned manually against those of representatives of the family Flavobacteriaceae using the bacterial 16S rRNA gene secondary structure model and the jphydit program (Jeon et al., 2005). The phylogenetic analyses were performed by the neighbour-joining (Saitou & Nei, 1987) and maximum-likelihood (Felsenstein, 1981) methods. Evolutionary distance matrices for the neighbour-joining method were generated according to the model of Jukes & Cantor (1969). The resultant neighbour-joining tree topology was evaluated by bootstrap analyses (Felsenstein, 1985) based on 1000 resamplings. Phylogenetic analyses were carried out using the mega4 (Tamura et al., 2007) and phylip (Felsenstein, 2005) programs.