Previously, it was shown that Ktl is in a complex with the Drosophila 5-HT receptor 5-HT7, and we observed Omipalisib supplier that both Ktl and the 5-HT1A receptor are required in insulin-producing cells (IPCs) for proper adult male behaviour, as well as for hyperaggressive activity induced by the mammalian 5-HT1A receptor agonist 8-hydroxy-2-dipropylaminotetralin-hydrobromide. Finally, we show that Ktl expression in the IPCs is necessary to regulate locomotion and normal sleep/wake patterns in Drosophila, but not the 5-HT1A receptor. Similar to what was observed with mammalian KCTD12-family

members that interact physically with a GPCR receptor to regulate desensitization, in Drosophila Ktl may function in GPCR 5-HT receptor pathways to regulate their signalling, which is required for proper adult male behaviour. “
“Although facilitation of the cortico-spinal system during action observation is widely accepted, it remains controversial whether this facilitation reflects a replica of the observed movements or the goal of the observed motor acts. In the present transcranial magnetic stimulation study, we recorded motor evoked potentials from two hand muscles

(first dorsal interosseous and abductor digiti minimi) while 22 healthy participants observed a hand reaching towards and grasping PD-166866 mouse a bottle. To test for alternative coding levels (goal vs. movement), three relevant aspects were systematically manipulated: the type of observed movement (precision grip or whole hand grasping), situational context (bottle positioned

in front of or behind a wall-like barrier), and processing stage (transcranial magnetic stimulation pulse delivered at the onset of the movement or at the moment of contact between the fingers and the object). At movement onset, motor evoked potential responses reflected the program necessary to achieve the action goal within the situational context. During movement observation, 4��8C however, the type of observed movement was taken into account and a transition towards a movement-related modulation was observed. These results suggest that, rather than being exclusive alternatives, goal coding and movement coding may relate to different processing stages. “
“We used the oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD) method in cultured astrocytes as an in vitro ischemic model. We investigated whether activation of group-II metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR2/3) can reverse OGD-induced impairment in astrocytic glutamate/aspartate transporter (GLAST) expression and elucidated the signaling pathways involving the GLAST expression. Cultured astrocytes exposed to OGD for 6 h resulted in significant reductions in the GLAST expression and extracellular glutamate clearance. These reductions were effectively restored by mGluR2/3 activation with mGluR2/3 agonists, LY379268 or DCG-IV, after the 6 h OGD insult. These mGluR2/3-mediated restorative effects were inhibited by selective mGluR2/3 antagonists LY341459 or EGLU.

7. Cyclic β-1,2-glucans were extracted from cell pellets, and separated by gel filtration and anion-exchange chromatography buy VX-809 as described previously (Kawaharada et al., 2007). We prepared anionic fractions of cyclic β-1,2-glucans from an 8 L culture of YML1008 for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, which was performed as described previously (Kawaharada et al., 2008). To approximate the glucan content in the periplasm, M. loti cells were grown to an OD660 nm of 0.3, washed with phosphate-buffered saline, and divided

for assays of oligosaccharides and proteins. For periplasmic oligosaccharides, cell pellets were extracted with 1% (w/v) trichloroacetic acid for 30 min at room temperature as described previously (Iñón de Iannino et al., 1996). The extracts Tofacitinib manufacturer were filtrated through a Centricon centrifugal filter device YM-30 (molecular weight 30 000 cut-off; Millipore), and the materials that were precipitated from the filtrates with 10 vol. of ethanol were subjected to the anthrone/sulfuric acid assay. For whole cellular proteins, cell pellets were sonicated and subjected to the DC Protein Assay (Bio-Rad). We performed a biologically triplicate measurement for each strain.

We amplified the 2213-bp DNA fragment containing the cgmA ORF and its flanking sequences (upstream 235-bp and downstream 16-bp regions) from the ML001 total DNA by PCR using primers with sequences 5′-ACTGGTACCGAAGACTGGTTTTACTTGGCTGATAAC-3′ and 5′-ACTTCTAGACTCTAAGGATCACCCCTCAACTCAT-3′ (underlined sequences denote KpnI and XbaI sites, respectively, as above). Then we cloned the fragment in broad-host-range vector pBBR1MCS-3 (tetracycline resistant; Kovach et al., 1995), yielding pYK88, and we conjugated it into YML1008. The resulting tetracycline-resistant transconjugants were subjected to thin-layer

chromatography. We extracted of crude cyclic β-1,2-glucans from cells, which were grown to an OD660 nm of 0.3, with hot 70% ethanol and directly applied them onto a Silica gel 60 TLC plate (Merck Ltd, Darmstadt, Germany). The plates were developed with 1-butanol–ethanol–water (5 : 5 : 4), sprayed with 5% (v/v) sulfuric acid in ethanol, and heated at 120 °C for 30 min to visualize neutral and anionic glucans (Breedveld et al., 1995). Lotus japonicus B-129 Gifu plants were inoculated with M. loti strains as described previously (Kawaharada et al., 2007). To observe the invasion process, we used M. loti derivatives harboring pHC60, a stably maintained plasmid from which the green fluorescent protein is constitutively expressed (Cheng & Walker, 1998). We counted the numbers of infection pockets and infection threads formed on roots under a fluorescent microscope at 2 weeks postinoculation. In addition to cgmB, the S. meliloti cgm locus contains another ORF (cgmA), which locates on the opposite strand and overlaps with cgmB (Wang et al., 1999).

Marie Callen Private practice, Cincinnati, USA Dr. Carol

Mason Consultant in Paediatric Dentistry, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust, London, UK Prof. Dr. Stephen Porter Institute Director and Professor of Oral Medicine, UCL Eastman Dental Institute, London, UK Dr. Nina Skogedal Specialist in Paediatric Dentistry, National Resource Centre for Oral Health in Rare Medical Conditions (TAKO-centre), Lovisenberg Diakonale Hospital, Oslo, Norway. Dr. Kari Storhaug Director dr.odont., National Resource Centre for Oral Health in Rare Medical Conditions (TAKO-centre), Lovisenberg Diakonale Bax protein Hospital, Oslo, Norway. Dr. Reinhard Schilke Department of Conservative Dentistry, Periodontologie und Preventive Dentistry, Hannover Medical School, Germany. 6.5.2 Patient Group  Patients and representatives from the DEBRA association groups of Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom were invited to review the document in order to make sure that the degree to which the evidence addresses patients’ concerns is reflected in the guideline. Anne W Lucky, MD Acting Director, Division of Pediatric dermatology Cincinnati

Children’s Hospital. Cincinnati, Ohio, USA Professor of Dermatology and Pediatrics The University of Cincinnati College of Medicine Cincinnati, Ohio USA Lesley Haynes Formerly Principal Paediatric JAK inhibitors in development Dietitian for EB, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, UK Lynne Hubbard Specialist Dietitian, St. Thomas’ Hospital, London, UK Christian Fingerhuth Lay reviewer, Chile The guideline was piloted in three centres for a period of three months. At the end of the pilot period a feedback form was sent to the authors. Dr. Victoria Clark Consultant in Paediatric Dentistry, Birmingham Children s Hospital, UK Dr. Gabriela Scagnet Dentist, DEBRA Argentina & Universidad de Buenos Aires and Hospital de Odontología Infantil Quinquela Martin Gobierno, Buenos Aires, Argentina Dr. Mariana Armada Hospital de Odontologia Infantil Quinquela Martin Gobierno, Buenos Aires, Argentina Dr.

Adela Stepanska Dentist, DEBRA Czech Republic Dr. Renata Gaillyova Department of Genetics, University Hospital, Brno, Czech Ergoloid Republic Dr. Sylvia Stepanska Practical dentist, Brno, Czech Republic One patient, Scott O’Sullivan from England, participated during the consensus meeting held in Santiago, Chile in November 2010 expressing his opinion and experience regarding dental treatment. Patients and representatives from seven DEBRA association groups were invited to review the document in July and August 2011. According to the context of implementation of this guideline, some barriers to be considered are: Lack of knowledge and training of some health professionals to implement the recommendations. A more detailed study on the effect of sucralfate. The authors would like to thank Dr. Victoria Clark, Dr.

O’Keefe M, Henderson A, Pitt R. Health, Medicine and Veterinary Science Academic Standards Statement 2011 http://www.olt.gov.au/resource-library?text=Science%20Learning%20and%20Teaching%20Academic%20Standards%20Statement (accessed 4 February 2014) AZD6244 supplier N. Walker, K. Lefteri, L. Kravitz, B. W. Evans University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK This questionnaire-based

pilot study investigates pharmacy students’; perceptions on the use of peer observation, learning and assessment in a formative OSCE setting. Students completed a set of 10 formative stations in pairs, after training each student acted as the assessor at alternate stations. One hundred per cent of students agreed that this was an effective method of learning, with comments detailing the usefulness of the session and how this format could improve their performance and learning. This study has demonstrated the potential for students acting as assessors as part of the formative OSCE process. Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) are increasingly used as part of the pharmacy curriculum to assess competence in skills such as communication, data gathering and problem solving GSK126 cost in a clinical setting. Time and cost factors can limit the exposure to formative

(practice) sessions and therefore a way of modifying this experience to use student assessors in the feedback role has been developed. This is also in line with new GPhC Standards for Education which recommends the use of Thiamine-diphosphate kinase peer assessment. Research suggests that peer involvement in OSCEs in other medical professions has increased supportive feedback1 whilst maintaining the same standard of marking one would expect from tutors.2 The aim of this study was to investigate pharmacy students’; perceptions on the use of peer observation, learning and assessment in a formative OSCE setting. Third Year MPharm students were split into pairs and at each of

the 10 formative stations alternated between being the ‘student’ or the ‘assessor’. ‘Assessors’; were trained to use the brief and marking criteria in order to provide feedback immediately to the ‘student’ at the end of the station. This feedback was then discussed as a group and supplemented by the facilitators (two academic members of pharmacy practice staff) who also moderated marks. At the end of the session students were asked to complete a written questionnaire, with qualitative and quantitative sections, to assess the benefits and constraints of this method of learning in comparison to earlier formats of formative OCSEs. The data from the questionnaires were analysed using basic descriptive statistics and categorical theming. As this pilot project was an audit of educational provision it was exempt from ethics approval under the University’s Ethics Policy. Overall 129 of the 136 eligible students attended the formative OSCE session (95% attendance) and 126 students returned the questionnaire, giving a response rate of 98%.

A cumulative total of 124 days off duty was reported for the whole 5-month study period. Among the 240 cases reported, only 196 patients provided stool samples (81.7%), the remainder

failed to return samples. Pathogenic agents were identified in 78 stool samples (39.8%), 7 of which had dual infections. Enteric viruses were the most common pathogens identified (28.1%), alone or in coinfection (Table 1). Norovirus was found in 14.3% of the samples, three times in coinfection with respectively Salmonella spp, Shigella spp, and Ankylostomiasis. Rotavirus was found in 10.2% of the samples, three times in coinfection with Shigella spp and once in coinfection with astrovirus. In January 2008, an outbreak was observed (second peak, Figure 3) where rotaviruses represented 29.5% (13/44)

of tested stools. Among the 240 cases of diarrhea, 70 were excluded from case-crossover Cobimetinib solubility dmso analysis: 34 due to a diarrheal episode occurring before a minimum of 10 days of stay in N’Djamena, 25 due to a diarrheic episode occurring in the 10 days following a previous diarrheic episode, and 12 due to missing data for one of these two criteria. The case-crossover analysis included 170 diarrheic episodes (170 case–control pairs). By univariate analysis, the significant risk factors for acute diarrhea were (1) ice in drinks, (2) presence of a diarrheal case in the close circle, (3) eating at local restaurants, and (4) eating in a field kitchen (Table 2). Always

eating at the mess was protective. No interaction BTK inhibitor was observed between the presence of diarrhea in the close circle and places to eat, thus ruling out a group effect due to Pregnenolone a food-borne disease outbreak. The conditional multivariate logistic regression analysis confirmed that the presence of diarrhea in the close circle was a risk factor for acute diarrhea (Table 2), while always eating at the mess conferred a protective effect. Moreover, sometimes eating in a temporary encampment was also protective (Table 2). Our study is the first to evaluate etiology and risk of TD in Chad. We observed substantial implication of viruses and a high risk of person-to-person transmission for diarrhea among French forces deployed to Chad. Enteric viruses were the most frequently observed pathogens (28.1%), ahead of bacteria (12.8%) in stool samples. However, no pathogen was identified in 60% of stool samples. This rate is slightly higher than that in others’ studies reporting rates of around 50% of no pathogen identification in TD.8–10 This difference may be partly explained by the fact that our study failed to identify the most frequent pathogens usually involved in TD, namely enterotoxigenic E coli and enteroaggregative E coli.8–11 This is undoubtedly related to the fact that the local French field laboratory in N’Djamena did not perform analyses for E coli for want of suitable technical facilities.

The standardized patient methodology was a successful way to assess the community pharmacy counselling provided with OTC sleep requests and suboptimal staff responses were found when compared with recommended practice standards. “
“Government and professional groups within the pharmacy have sought to extend the role of pharmacists from dispensing-focused towards the provision of further pharmaceutical services. The aim of this research was Selleck INK128 to describe how pharmacists in current English community

pharmacy practice spend their time using a work sampling method. Ten community pharmacies across London were purposively selected. Trained observers visited one pharmacy each to record the activities of the responsible pharmacist, using a fixed-interval work sampling technique. Activities were recorded every minute, into one of 18 predefined, piloted and tested activity codes. Data were recorded for 4 h each day for 1 week at each pharmacy during 2011. A total of 12 306 observations were recorded across the pharmacies. The pharmacists spent Caspase cleavage the majority of their time assembling and labelling

products (median 25.2%; quartiles 19.0, 31.0) and monitoring prescriptions for clinical appropriateness (10.6%; 8.3, 13.0). The next most prevalent activity code was rest, waiting and breaks (8.6%; 6.9, 15.3).

They spent more time offering non-prescription medicines advice (6.6%; 3.5, 7.6) than prescription medicines counselling (3.8%; 2.8, 5.6). The provision of pharmaceutical services accounted for 3.2% (0.8, 7.5) of pharmacists’ time. Overall, 46.2 % (35.2, 56.2) of their time was spent on activities deemed to be ‘Professional’. Despite repeated attempts cAMP during the last decade to shift pharmacists’ roles towards patient-care activities, on the basis of this research, community pharmacists continue to spend the majority of their time on technical dispensing (as opposed to cognitive patient-centred) tasks. “
“Internationally, the preparation of pharmacy graduates for professional practice has evolved from educating for capacities for practice, to a focus on competencies, and most recently, on assuring graduate outcomes. Consequently, there is an increasing emphasis on the specification of and accountability around student learning outcomes. This, in turn, has implications for teaching and assessment. The aim of the study was to harmonise the various expectations and regulatory requirements for Australian pharmacy education programmes through the development of learning outcomes and exemplar standards for all entry-level pharmacy graduates.

Bacteria PTC124 solubility dmso with biofilm-forming capacity have enormous advantages in establishing persistent infections because the virulent strain must decrease its virulence by forming biofilm so that it can achieve persistent infection in vivo (Falkinham, 2007). Decreased virulence of biofilm cells is a common feature of plaque-forming bacteria, which is because bacterial metabolism is at rest and a variety of toxins are wrapped in the biofilm formed by a polysaccharide complex, and so the attack on the tissue is reduced. Bacteria growing in biofilms are different from those growing in planktonic cells. To adapt to

a community lifestyle, bacteria undergo extensive changes and a number of genes are differentially expressed compared with the respective planktonic cultures (Gilmore et al., 2003; Shemesh et al., 2007). Gilmore et al. (2003) reported that the majority of Streptococcus gordonii genes were downregulated in the biofilm phase, especially for virulence factors. Profiling studies indicated that expression of several virulence-associated genes was different in biofilms relative to planktonic

cultures (Cho & Caparon, 2005). In this study, three virulence genes were downregulated in the expression level of the gdh, cps2 and mrp genes between biofilms and planktonic cells, while gapdh and sly were upregulated in biofilms. The change in the structure of the bacteria may cause the difference in the expression level of the virulence genes. Biofilm cells are wrapped by a polysaccharide complex, which would influence the virulence factors secreted from the bacteria. Zebrafish are receiving ROCK inhibitor more attention as an infection and immunological model, and some experiments have been conducted with various bacteria. Currently, zebrafish as a model of SS infection has been verified (Wu et al., 2010; Zhang et al., 2010). Zebrafish Urease are used as model host to study infection, but the use of zebrafish as an immunological model for the study of bacterial

diseases may have a double impact. It has an application in the field of biomedicine because it may be applied to studies on innate and adaptive immune responses against bacteria and viruses (Lin et al., 2005). Our experimental results showed that intraperitoneal injection of inactivated SS can produce a good immune-protective effect to zebrafish. This was a significant result because many features of the immune system of zebrafish resemble those of higher vertebrates. For example, microscopic and ultrastructural analysis suggest a general similarity between the thymus of zebrafish and higher vertebrates (Zapata & Amemiya, 2000). Thymic organogenesis and lymphoid development are highly conserved from zebrafish to mammals, making the zebrafish an attractive model for screening vaccines involved in adaptive immunity (Yoder et al., 2002). SS continues to cause a variety of diseases in pigs worldwide.

Six of 12 serum specimens from systemic lupus erythematosus contained both 29/28 and 13.5 kDa proteins and showed characteristic immunofluorescent patterns. The same phenomenon appeared in 3/6 serum samples which contained 29/28 kDa proteins only. Sera from 10 healthy donors did not react with HEp-Sm-D1 or HEp-2 at 1:80 attenuant degrees. No alteration in expression, localization and morphology was observed when HEp-Sm-D1 or HEp-2 interacted with the reference sera which could react with Ro/SSA, La/SSB, β2GP1,

centromere, histone, and Scl-70 antibodies in routine IIF tests. As a new kind of substrate of IIF, HEp-Sm-D1 can be used to detect anti-Sm antibodies. Transfected HEp-2 cells keep the immunofluorescent property of HEp-2 cells in immunofluorescence anti-nuclear antibody (IFANA) test and could potentially be used as substrate for routine IFANA detection. selleck compound “
“Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is sialotropic. The pathogenesis of sicca manifestations in patients with chronic HCV infection is not fully understood. We aimed to detect

changes in magnetic resonance sialography (MRS) of HCV patients with and without vasculitis. We studied 32 HCV patients (19 female, mean age 48.8 ± 10.3 years) and 20 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. Half of the patients had vasculitis. Demographic, clinical and serological data were prospectively evaluated. In patients with vasculitis, the disease activity was assessed by the Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Score (BVAS). MRS was performed on all patients and controls. Abnormal MRS was found in 25% of patients, (6/16 and 2/16 in patients with and without Atezolizumab ic50 vasculitis, respectively). Among patients with vasculitis, those with abnormal MRS had longer disease duration, higher leukocytic and lymphocytic counts and more frequent cryoglobulinemia (P < 0.01, P < 0.001, P < 0.001 and P < 0.008, respectively), while BVAS scores were not significantly different. Among HCV patients with vasculitis, longer disease

duration Methane monooxygenase and cryoglobulinemia were associated with abnormal findings on MRS. To confirm our results, we propose larger-scale, multicentre studies with longer evaluation periods. “
“Aim:  Low back pain (LBP) is the second most frequent reason for seeking medical advice. Various treatments are proposed from no intervention, to analgesics, rest, exercises, local interventions and surgical procedures. Results and outcomes are differently reported. Back School (BS), a combination of patient education and physical exercises, seems to have good results. The aim of this study was to check the effect of BS in factory workers. Patients and Methods:  All (70) workers were interviewed and 26 of them (37.1%) had chronic LBP. Secondary causes were excluded. Anatomy, physiology, biomechanics of the spine, correct postures at work and back exercises were taught. Pain on a visual analog scale (VAS) of 0–100, and Short Form (SF)-36 health survey were applied, before, at the end of BS sessions, and 3 months after BS.

5%) having CD4 counts >400 cells/μL; 1.8% had counts <200 cells/μL. The results for the primary endpoint are summarized in Table 2: continued virological suppression at week 24 was observed in 93.6% of NVP XR-treated patients and 92.6% of patients in the NVP IR group. Adjusting for the strata of background treatment, the difference was 1.0% (95% CI −4.3, 6.0) using the TLOVR algorithm and Cochran statistic. NVP XR was noninferior to NVP IR in terms of virological

response, using either the planned −12% or the modified −10% margin for noninferiority. This finding http://www.selleckchem.com/epigenetic-reader-domain.html was consistent when virological responses were compared using an LLOQ of VL = 400 copies/mL, and was unaffected by gender, race or age (results not shown). As would be expected, continued virological response was slightly lower using the TaqMan-only analysis (91.2 and 89.9% for NVP XR and NVP IR, respectively) than with the Amplicor-corrected analysis. However, the observed difference

in continued virological suppression of 1.3% favouring the NVP XR group is consistent with the difference observed using the Amplicor-corrected analysis. Investigation of virological responses by ARV treatment stratum buy Ganetespib revealed an observed difference of −2.1% (95% CI −8.9, 4.6) for TDF + FTC; −3.0% (95% CI −11.8, 5.8) for 3TC + ZDV, and 11.2% (95% CI −0.7, 23.1) for 3TC + ABC, when comparing NVP XR with NVP IR (Table 2a). To determine if the large difference in the virological suppression rate of 11.2% between NVP XR and NVP IR in patients in the 3TC + ABC treatment stratum could be attributable to the length of time the patient received ARV therapy, the duration of ARV therapy prior to study enrolment was examined. However, no clear relationship was found between prior treatment duration and failure (data not shown). We must, however, bear in mind that the numbers of patients in each ARV treatment stratum

were small. Results of analysis of TLOVR are shown in Figure 2. The Kaplan–Meier curves were similar for the NVP XR and NVP IR treatment groups, with no significant difference. Using the Cox model adjusted for background ARV therapy, the TLOVR hazard ratio for loss of virological response of NVP XR versus NVP IR was 0.88 (95% CI 0.42, 1.86) for the Amplicor-corrected profile and 0.89 (95% CI 0.47, 1.68) for the TaqMan-only profile. The SNAPSHOT approach was used to (-)-p-Bromotetramisole Oxalate analyse both the Amplicor and TaqMan profiles (Table 2b). Using the SNAPSHOT approach and results from the Amplicor assay with LLOQ = 50 copies/mL, the observed difference was 1.3% (95% CI −3.5, 6.1), and continued virological response was observed in 95.3% of patients in the NVP XR group and 93.9% in the NVP IR group (Table 2b). Analysis of the secondary endpoint of the proportion of patients with continued virological response using the TaqMan assay and LLOQ = 400 copies/mL, based on the TLOVR algorithm, revealed that 96.6% of those in the NVP XR group and 94.

1). Addition of 0.15 M sodium chloride, which reduces biofilm formation, had no effect on reporter expression from the mucR promoter (Fig. 1). These observations suggest that the ability of

S. meliloti Rm1021 to sense nutritional and environmental conditions, with the consequent transition from a planktonic to a sessile mode, and formation of biofilms (Rinaudi et al., 2006), is not mediated by changes in mucR expression. Because expression of the mucR promoter was slightly increased selleck products in the presence of 25 mM phosphate as compared with the regular RDM medium (12.5 mM phosphate) (Fig. 1), we evaluated mucR expression in biofilms from the Rm1021 mucR::lacZ strain under a range of phosphate concentrations (0.1–100 mM). The increase in phosphate availability was correlated with increased β-galactosidase activity (Fig. 2). The presence of mucR is necessary for EPS I production (Zhan et al., 1991; Keller et al., 1995; Bertram-Drogatz et al., 1998). EPS I production is dramatically

enhanced at high phosphate concentrations (Mendrygal & González, 2000). Our results suggest that this enhancement is mediated by increased KU-57788 solubility dmso mucR expression. β-Galactosidase assays showed that mucR expression is maximal during the exponential phase of planktonic growth (OD600 nm 0.8). Intermediate values of β-galactosidase activity were observed in the lag Casein kinase 1 phase (OD600 nm 0.2) and the stationary phase of growth (OD600 nm 1.2). The expression of mucR was lower in a 3-day-old biofilm than at any stage of growth (Fig. 3), consistent with the results described above. To further elucidate the role of MucR in biofilm development, attachment of a mucR mutant to polyvinylchloride wells was evaluated by CV staining. Biomass of 2-day-old biofilms of the mutant grown in RDM medium was not different from that of wild-type Rm1021 (data not shown). Similar observations for these two

strains were obtained in MGM medium with high (10 mM) and low (0.1 mM) phosphate (Rinaudi & González, 2009). The mucR mutant produces the HMW fraction of EPS II (González et al., 1996), suggesting that the nonsymbiotically active fraction of EPS II of S. meliloti is not involved in attachment to polyvinylchloride under these conditions. To assess the contribution of EPS II and EPS I to biofilm formation of Rm1021 in RDM medium, we analyzed the polyvinylchloride attachment ability of exoY and expA mutants, which are defective in the biosynthesis of EPS I and EPS II, respectively. Biofilm biomass of both the mutants in RDM medium was similar to that of Rm1021, indicating that these polysaccharides are not crucial for polyvinylchloride attachment under our conditions (Fig. 4). An additional mutation in expA on the exoY mutant background did not result in a further decrease in biofilm formation (Fig.