Pseudomonas fluorescens strain CL0145A was discovered at the New York State Museum Field Research Laboratory as an effective agent against the environmentally destructive zebra mussel, which has ...contaminated US waters. Dried cells of the microbe are being commercialized as an environmentally friendly solution to the problem. We found that antibiotic activity against the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis is produced and excreted by this strain. We have carried out studies to optimize production of the antibiotic. Studies were begun in a complex corn meal medium. Activity was found in both cells and culture supernates and was maximal after one day of fermentation. Static fermentation conditions were found to be superior to shaken culture. Production of extracellular antibiotic in complex medium was found to be dependent on the content of sucrose and enzymehydrolyzed casein. Indeed, production was greater in sucrose plus enzyme-hydrolyzed casein than in the complex medium. Of a large number of carbon sources studied as improvements over sucrose, the best was glycerol. An examination of nitrogen sources showed that production was improved by replacement of enzymehydrolyzed casein with soy hydrolysates. Production in the simple glycerol-Hy-Soy medium was not improved by addition of an inorganic salt mixture or by complex nitrogen sources, with the exception of malt extract. In an attempt to keep the medium more defined, we studied the effect of amino acids and vitamins as replacements for malt extract. Of 21 amino acids and 7 vitamins, we found tryptophan, glutamine, biotin, and riboflavin to be stimulatory. The final medium contained glycerol, Hy- Soy, tryptophan, glutamine, biotin, and riboflavin.
The results of an international collaborative effort to prepare a recommended list of scientific names for the small strongyles (Nematoda: Strongyloidea: Cyathostominea) of horses, donkeys and zebras ...are reported. Fifty-one valid species are recognized in 13 genera, including
Cyathostomum,
Coronocyclus,
Cylicodontophorus,
Cylicocyclus,
Cylicostephanus,
Skrjabinodentus,
Tridentoinfundibulum,
Petrovinema,
Poteriostomum,
Parapoteriostomum,
Hsiungia,
Cylindropharynx and
Caballonema. In addition, 42 other species level names are listed as synonyms of the 51 recognized species or as species inquirendae (10 species) or nomen nudum (one species). Numerous annotations provide information on the nomenclatural and systematics history, current status and additional studies needed.
Equid herpesvirus 9 (EHV-9) was isolated from a herd of Thomson's gazelles affected by encephalitis. The natural host of EHV-9 is unknown, but zebras are suspected to be the source of infection in ...gazelles. To prove this hypothesis, we analyzed 43 sera from Burchell's zebras (Equus burchelli) and 21 Thomson's gazelles (Gazella thomsoni) from the Serengeti ecosystem for neutralizing antibodies. Seven zebra sera were positive for EHV-1, EHV-9 and EHV-1 from Grevy's zebra strains T965 and T616. The trigeminal ganglia of 17 other Burchell's zebras and one Thomson's gazelle were tested by EHV-9 gB and EHV-1 ICP0-specific nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR). PCR sequencing confirmed that one zebra ganglion was positive for EHV-9. These results suggest that the Burchell's zebras were exposed to EHV-9 and latently infected.
Parasites were collected from 20 Burchell's zebra, Equus burchelli antiquorum, from Isiolo district, Kenya. 10 were ranched animals from the Lewa Downs Ranch and 10 free ranging from the areas ...adjacent to the ranch to the north. The animals were culled from 4th to 18th June 1995. The gastrointestinal tract was removed from the carcass and separated as stomach, small and large intestines and searched for parasites. The abdominal cavity was scrutinized for Setaria species.
Equid herpes virus 1 (EHV-1) related isolates from a captive blackbuck (strain Ro-1) and Grevy's zebra (strain T965) behaved similarly to EHV-1 and EHV-9 in respect to their host cell range. ...Restriction enzyme analysis and a phylogenetic tree confirmed that Ro-1 and T965 were identical and more closely related to EHV-1 than to EHV-9. Differences from EHV-1 became obvious firstly, by amino acid alignments revealing two unique substitutions in the gB protein of Ro-1 and T965. Secondly, an EHV-1 type-specific monoclonal antibody did not detect its antigen on Ro-1, T965 or EHV-9 infected cells by immunohistochemistry. The results support the view that Ro-1 and T965 isolates represent a distinct, previously unrecognized species of equid herpesviruses.
The article summarizes the history and activities of the Werner Stamm Foundation established in Switzerland in 1975 as a breeding center for endangered species of Equides. The foundation has two main ...principles in the breeding programme: 1) to breed Equides that could one day be released to freedom and to keep them as wild as possible; 2) whenever possible to brought the animals to places where they would have even bigger paddocks and more freedom than on the grounds of the foundation at Muellerhaegli near Basilej. The foundation cooperates with zoological gardens all over the world and has already contributed to the preservation of several endangered species as some of them have successfully reproduced there (Przewalski horses, Onagers, Somali Wild Asses, Kiangs). From 1995 to 1997, almost all the herd of Przewalski horses was transported to Tachi Tal station in the Gobi desert and three groups of horses were released to freedom.
The noncoding region between tRNAPro and the large conserved sequence block is the most variable region in the mammalian mitochondrial DNA D-loop region. This variable region (ca. 270 bp) of four ...species of Equus, including Mongolian and Japanese native domestic horses as well as Przewalskii's (or Mongolian) wild horse, were sequenced. These data were compared with our recently published Thoroughbred horse mitochondrial DNA sequences. The evolutionary rate of this region among the four species of Equus was estimated to be 2-4 X 10(-8) per site per year. Phylogenetic trees of Equus species demonstrate that Przewalskii's wild horse is within the genetic variation among the domestic horse. This suggests that the chromosome number change (probably increase) of the Przewalskii's wild horse occurred rather recently.
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