Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:3.1.30.2 (endonuclease)
 18,621 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

As the incidence of invasive fungal disease-particularly nosocomial candidal infection-has increased significantly over the past two decades, molecular typing has become increasingly important for the development of rational infection-control measures and therapeutic strategies. Numerous molecular methods have been used to subtype Candida species, including restriction endonuclease analysis of genomic DNA, Southern hybridization analysis, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and polymerase chain reaction-based approaches. Increasingly, typing techniques are being applied to other fungal organisms as well. Although an ideal epidemiological typing technique applicable to a wide range of fungal pathogens is not yet available, several molecular-typing methods may permit rapid, simple, and sensitive discrimination of specific strains among the most clinically important species of fungi.
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PMID:Epidemiology of fungal infections: the promise of molecular typing. 754 5

Aspergillus fumigatus isolates (n = 6) from a lung transplant recipient, one isolate from a patient who had been on the same ward and a reference strain (NCPF 2140) were compared using three typing methods: SDS-PAGE, immunoblotting with serum from the transplant patient and random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) assay. Neither the SDS-PAGE, immunoblot nor RAPD assay with single primers revealed differences between the eight isolates. Digestion of one primer product with the endonuclease EcoRI discriminated between the six patient isolates and the other two strains. The RAPD assay using pairwise combined primers showed identical patterns for the patient's strains but differentiated between the two other strains. It is concluded that any single technique may fail to detect strain differences and that a spectrum of typing methods is necessary in order to reveal or to exclude cross-infections with Aspergillus fumigatus.
Mycoses
PMID:Use of phenotypic and genotypic fingerprinting methods in the strain identification of Aspergillus fumigatus. 872 Jan 91

Coccidioides immitis causes coccidioidomycosis, a fungal disease of both immuno-compromised and otherwise healthy people; it is capable of causing large epidemics and the disease is often refractory to chemotherapy. To quantify the magnitude of population differentiation and estimate levels of gene flow in C. immitis, multilocus genotypes were scored for 20-25 clinical isolates from each of Bakersfield (California), Tucson (Arizona), and San Antonio (Texas). The molecular markers used were PCR products with polymorphic restriction endonuclease sites, found and characterized in a previous study of the Tucson population. The data show very highly significant differences in allele frequencies between all three populations, and suggest very low levels of migration between populations. One isolate in the San Antonio sample was an outlier, showing the California-specific allele at all four of the loci distinguishing the two populations, and subsequent inquiries indicated that the infection had indeed been acquired in California. Thus, genetic information can be used to infer the geographical origin of a fungal infection.
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PMID:Molecular markers reveal differentiation among isolates of Coccidioides immitis from California, Arizona and Texas. 926 14

Species-related discrimination limits of electrophoretic karyotyping (EK) and restriction endonuclease analysis of genomic DNA (REAG), using pulse-field gel electrophoresis, in typing Candida albicans (CA) and Candida parapsilosis (CP) were compared. Eleven CA and 12 CP isolates from individual neonates and three CA and three CP control isolates were used. For CA, EK and REAG with sfiI displayed seven and six banding-patterns, respectively. One karyotype and two SfiI banding-patterns were observed among the control-isolates. Combining EK/REAG (SfiI) demonstrated nine composites and three distinct control-composites. For CP, EK displayed nine karyotypes, REAG (SfiI) demonstrated four banding-patterns, and REAG (BssHII) yielded six banding-patterns. EK and REAG/SfiI failed to distinguish any CP-controls whereas REAG/BssHII distinguished 2/3 CP-controls. Combining EK/REAG (SfiI) showed 10 composites indistinguishable from CP-controls whereas EK/REAG (BssHII) demonstrated 11 composites and three distinct control-composites. These results illustrate that singly, EK and REAG have significant limitation in typing Candida species though EK is more precise. Combining both methods yields better results but the appropriate restriction endonuclease may vary by strains or species. These findings underscore the importance of combining multiple typing methods, testing several control isolates, and correlating the results with careful epidemiological assessment.
Mycoses 1998 Nov
PMID:Typing of Candida albicans and Candida parapsilosis: species-related limitations of electrophoretic karyotyping and restriction endonuclease analysis of genomic DNA. 991 63

This study investigates the epidemiology of Candida albicans strains isolated from oral and rectal swabs obtained before and after treatment with antifungal drugs in hospitalized AIDS patients. Twenty-one health care workers from the hospital unit were also studied. Samples were obtained from the oral cavity and hands. The molecular fingerprinting restriction endonuclease-digested genomic DNA technique was used. A total of 94 C. albicans strains were isolated: 76 from patients and 18 from the health care workers. Each sample was digested independently with EcoRI and HinfI restriction enzymes, electrophoresed on 0.8% agarose gels and stained with ethidium bromide. The strains were sorted into groups according to patterns. Analysis of the different restriction patterns suggests that most of the infective strains had an endogenous source, whereas the recurrences of candidosis, after antifungal therapy, could be considered as persistence or reinfection by a different strain. Our data show that horizontal transmission by strains carried by health care workers does not play an important role in the overall epidemiology of candidosis.
Mycoses 1999 Apr
PMID:Oropharyngeal candidosis in AIDS patients: an epidemiological study using restriction analysis of Candida albicans total genomic DNA. 1039 47

Infections caused by fungi (mycoses) are increasingly reported in many countries owing to greater life expectancy associated with an increase in quality of medical and surgical procedures, as well as the emergence of diseases or infections that affect the immune system such as AIDS. Nosocomial outbreaks of fungal infections are sometimes reported, and typing is then necessary to find the reservoirs, analyze the modes of transmission, study the antifungal susceptibility patterns, and investigate the susceptibility of the host. In addition, the food industry is increasingly demanding typing methods that could help in selection of the best fungal strains, in order to incorporate them in the productive chains and augment the quality and security of food. This is the case for Saccharomyces cerevisiae in the wine industry: the selection and characterization of indigenous or autochthonous strains is an important objective for the production of high-quality certified wines.Several genotyping methods are now widely used for strain delineation of medically or economically important microorganisms belonging to the kingdom Fungi. Most molecular typing methods are comparable to those already described for bacteria, although the peculiarities of their nucleic acids increase the number of available methods. Although typing procedures based on the analysis of nucleic acid sequences have been developed, most genotyping methods currently in use are electrophoretically based, and the procedures include the visual comparison of nucleic acid band profiles or their reading with the help of computerized software. Here we describe some of the most frequently used genotyping methods for fungi, based on polymerase chain reactions (PCR), the isolation of chromosomal or mitochondrial DNA, and their restriction using endonuclease enzymes. The latter methods are exclusive for typing eukaryotic organisms and are based on the expected polymorphism obtained from the separation of large chromosomes using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and the restriction of mitochondrial or chromosomal DNA. More sophisticated methods, such as those that combine endonuclease restriction with hybridization, are also available, although their use is less extensive and is limited mostly to research laboratories.
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PMID:Typing fungal isolates: molecular methods and computerized analysis. 1515 23

This review discusses how extracellular DNA (exDNA) might function in plant defense, and at what level(s) of innate immunity this process might operate. A new role for extracellular factors in mammalian defense has been described in a series of studies. These studies reveal that cells including neutrophils, eosinophils, and mast cells produce 'extracellular traps' (ETs) consisting of histone-linked exDNA. When pathogens are attracted to such ETs, they are trapped and killed. When the exDNA component of ETs is degraded, trapping is impaired and resistance against invasion is reduced. Conversely, mutation of microbial genes encoding exDNases that degrade exDNA results in loss of virulence. This discovery that exDNases are virulence factors opens new avenues for disease control. In plants, exDNA is required for defense of the root tip. Innate immunity-related proteins are among a group of >100 proteins secreted from the root cap and root border cell populations. Direct tests revealed that exDNA also is rapidly synthesized and exported from the root tip. When this exDNA is degraded by the endonuclease DNase 1, root tip resistance to fungal infection is lost; when the polymeric structure is degraded more slowly, by the exonuclease BAL31, loss of resistance to fungal infection is delayed accordingly. The results suggest that root border cells may function in a manner analogous to that which occurs in mammalian cells.
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PMID:Extracellular DNA: the tip of root defenses? 2149 9