The primary aim of this investigation was to identify and assess the interactions (synergies and antagonisms) that exist between 20 minute detergent and 5 minute disinfectant treatments upon three factory isolated strains of surface adhered (1-hour attached) and surface adapted …
Properties of Escherichia coli considered to be of importance in overcoming host defence mechanisms against urinary tract infection (OTI) were investigated. These were: 1) 0 and H serotype 2) K antigen content 3) Sensitivity to the bactericidal activity of human serum 4) Haemoly…
Extra-intestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) are a significant cause of urinary tract infections and bacteraemia in the UK and around the world. These E. coli primarily belong to phylogenetic groups B2 and D, with the clones ST131, ST127, ST95, ST73 and ST69 responsible …
Typically, systems biology focuses on the form and function of networks of biochemical interactions. Questions inevitably arise as to the evolutionary origin of those networks' properties. Such questions are of interest to a growing number of systems biologists, and several grou…
The production of silver-loaded zeolites either by ion exchange method or by isomorphous substitution of silver ions into zeolites frameworks and their antimicrobial activity is presented. Silver-loaded zeolites produced by ion-exchange in this work include silver-exchanged zeol…
The extracellular human pathogens enterohemorrhagic and enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EHEC and EPEC) and the related mouse pathogen Citrobacter rodentium inject type III secretion system (T3SS) effector proteins to promote their replication, survival and transmission. The m…
Burkholderia DNT dioxygenase in this study (from recombinant E. coli strain PFJS39) is probably a multicomponent enzyme system that oxidizes 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT) to 4-methyl-5-nitrocatechol (MNC). DNT dioxygenase was purified by a four-step procedure that utilized consecutiv…
Chemotaxis is the movement of a cell or an organism towards or away from a chemical. The movement of bacteria like Escherichia coli is done by flagella-driven swimming. The mode of swimming is dependent on the direction of flagellar rotation, which is controlled by a switch at t…
A novel technology has been presented for the removal of Escherichia Coli (E. coli) bacteria from water using Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs), modified CNTs and impregnated CNTs with and without heating effect from microwave radiation. The presented microbiological treatment in this stu…
Five essential spice oils and a major constituent from each oil were tested for antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli 0157:H7, Salmonella typhimurium, Yersinia enterocolitica, Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus using a paper disk assay. With this methodology, 2.…
Phytases catalyze the hydrolysis of inorganic phosphate from phytic acid (myo-inositol 1,2,3,4,5,6-hexakis dihydrogen phosphate) and are able to improve the nutritional quality of phytate-rich diets. Escherichia coli phytase, a member of the histidine acid phosphatase family has…
Sea water samples were collected from different sampling stations along the Lebanese coast in the summer of 1994. Chemical, biological and physical analysis were conducted to assess the recreational water quality in Lebanon. Some 125 samples were then analyzed for the presence o…
Wetlands containing aquatic plants have been found to economically provide a mechanism for improving the microbial and other quality of wastewater. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the effect of vegetation and sedimentation on the survival of enteric microorganisms in …
Adhesion of bacteria to host epithelial cells is a critical primary step in the pathogenesis of diarrheal disease. Bacteria demonstrating attaching and effacing (AE) adhesion include enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC), Verocytotoxin-producing E. coli (VTEC), and certain is…
Escherichia coli synthesizes and secretes the iron-chelating siderophore enterobactin under conditions of iron stress. Six genes for enterobactin biosynthesis, entABCDEF, five genes for the transport of ferrienterobactin, fepABCDG, and the gene for ferrienterobactin hydrolysis, …
A fermented sausage process that achieves a five-log reduction of Escherichia coli O157:H7 meets current USDA/FSIS requirements. The objectives of this study were: (1) to determine the effects of representative Lebanon bologna fermentation and thermal processing temperatures and…
Many sources of pollution, including agricultural, industrial, and urban sources, can increase a stream or lake's nutrient and bacterial concentrations. In order to improve water quality, these sources must be identified, and microbial source tracking (MST) methods are currently…
The Escherichia coli promoter, pBAD, under the control of the dimeric AraC protein, drives the expression of the AraB, AraA and AraD gene products of the arabinose operon. In this work, I have used the arabinose system to: (1) Study the recognition of overlapping nucleotides by …
Three different fluorescence-based rapid detection assays were developed for the detection of pathogenic bacteria in food. The following research focuses on both the capabilities of each assay, as well as on the development of an idea into a working assay. A solid phase fluoresc…