微生物学技术

Zeaxanthin is a powerful antioxidant that is widely found in vegetables and fruits. Epidemiological evidences suggest that increasing the consumption of zeaxanthin in the diet is associated with a lower risk of age-related macular degeneration, helps prevent glaucoma and catarac ...

Methylomonas sp. strain 16a is an obligate methanotrophic bacterium that uses methane or methanol as the sole energy and carbon source. In order to engineer a stable strain to produce carotenoids, integration of genes or gene clusters in various nonessential locations in the chromosome is u ...

C30 carotenoids, which have shorter backbones than C40 carotenoids, are known to be produced in the pathogenic bacterium Staphylococcus aureus that causes opportunistic infection. The first committed enzyme in the C30 carotenoid synthetic pathway is dehydrosqualene synthase ...

Directed evolution is a well-established strategy to confer novel catalytic functions to the enzymes. Thanks to the relative ease of establishing color screening, carotenogenic enzymes can be rapidly evolved in the laboratory for novel functions. The combinatorial usages of the evo ...

Astaxanthin is a red ketocarotenoid that exhibits extraordinary health-promoting activities such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, and immune booster. The recent discovery of the beneficial roles of astaxanthin against many degenerative diseases such as can ...

Astaxanthin is a natural product of immense value. Its biosynthesis has been investigated extensively and typically requires the independent activity of two proteins, a β-carotene ketolase and β-carotene hydroxylase. Rational engineering of this pathway has produced limited s ...

Dunaliella salina has become the most important microorganism for the production of β-carotene around the world. Natural carotenoids are a source of active metabolites utilized in different areas of food nutrition and pharmaceuticals, both in humans and also in animals. Identificat ...

In vitro studies of Helicobacter pylori pathogenesis mostly rely on the use of tumor-derived cell lines. Although invaluable, tumor cell lines are not representative of the normal cell physiology. Thus, the use of primary gastric epithelial cell cultures provides an important tool for in ...

Genetic manipulation of Helicobacter pylori facilitates characterization and functional analysis of individual H. pylori genes. This chapter discusses the methods involved in H. pylori chromosomal DNA isolation, mutagenesis of individual genes, and natural transformat ...

The cag pathogenicity island is a well-characterized virulence determinant. It is composed of 32 genes that encode a type IV bacterial secretion system and is linked with a more severe clinical outcome. The following chapters will explore the manipulation of bacterial factors in order to un ...

This chapter describes protocols for the verification of putative Helicobacter species’ identities using 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis.

Half of the world’s population is persistently infected with Helicobacter pylori. The chronicity of this infection ultimately elicits clinical manifestations ranging from gastritis and peptic ulcers to adenocarcinoma and MALT lymphoma. Laboratory research following the i ...

Over the past 25 years, a variety of methods have been developed for culture of Helicobacter pylori in vitro. H. pylori is a capnophilic and microaerophilic organism that is typically cultured using complex culture media. Analysis of H. pylori growth in chemically defined media has provided in ...

Infection with Helicobacter pylori is directly responsible for substantial morbidity and mortality worldwide. This ubiquitous organism causes disease through the interaction of multiple factors including bacterial factors, host immune responses, and environmental f ...

Helicobacter pylori is a well-recognized gastroduodenal pathogen (National Institute of Health Consensus Conference, JAMA 272:65–9, 1994) and a class I carcinogen (International Agency for Research on Cancer, IARC Monograph on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risk to Humans 61:17 ...

The redistribution and trafficking patterns of cells to different anatomic sites throughout the body is important during cancer development and metastasis. Interest in the origin and fate of gastric cancer stem cells has recently arisen, as it may explain the underlying mechanism of can ...

It is estimated that half of the world’s population is infected by Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) (Polk and Peek, Nat Rev Cancer 10:403–414, 2010; Peek et al., Physiol Rev 90:831–858, 2010). Following infection, H. pylori induces a chronic innate immune response that is thought to contribute to gastr ...

Innate immune receptors detect Helicobacter pylori infection and trigger downstream signaling events that result in the production of cytokines and interferon-β. This chapter gives an overview of the receptors and their roles in responding to H. pylori infection and details the down ...

Histopathology is a defining endpoint in mouse models of experimental gastritis and gastric adenocarcinoma. Presented here is an overview of the histology of gastritis and gastric cancer in mice experimentally infected with Helicobacter pylori or H. felis. A modular histopatholo ...

Animal models are used to study complex host, microbial, and environmental influences associated with gastric Helicobacter infection. Evidence that gastric helicobacters are pathogenic in animals first came from ferrets. Felids, nonhuman primates, and many other species also h ...