On the left are indicated the names of MLST clonal complexes. A different coloured square is used to indicate clusters of two or more isolates, using the same colour code www.selleckchem.com/products/Flavopiridol.html as in Figure 1. Spa typing The spa repeats were sequenced in 61 selected isolates on the basis of their distribution into the different clusters and of their polymorphism within these clusters. The sequence was submitted to the Ridom Spaserver

in order to identify the spa type. Seven new spa types were given a number by the Ridom Spaserver. The result confirmed the correct clustering of strains by MLVA, as shown by the almost perfect correlation between the two genotyping techniques (Figures 2 and 3). Strain RG7112 price TrSa109 was positioned near CC30 strains and its spa type was characteristic of ST34 strains (CC30 members) a bacterial population resulting from a large chromosomal rearrangement between CC30 and CC8 [24]. Three identical isolates from patient CFU_79 which spa type corresponded to CC8 were branched in an ancestral position to the CC8 cluster. Interestingly,

in CC45 a larger diversity was observed for spa (10 alleles from 2 to 14 repeats), as compared to the other large clusters, CC5 (5 alleles) and CC8 (2 alleles). Longitudinal survey In 62 patients (80%), isolates that were repeatedly recovered over the 30 months study period belonged selleck chemical to the same lineage, i.e. they were www.selleckchem.com/products/PD-0332991.html either identical or differed at only one VNTR. In the other patients the isolates belonged to 2, 3 or even 4 different CCs. For example isolates belonging to 4 different CCs were found in patient CFU_64 and only one of them was observed more than once. Table 2 shows the number

of CCs and genotypes from patients for which at least 4 isolates were recovered. One example of stability is observed in patient CFU_41 for which 16 MOD-SA CC5 isolates with the same genotype were recovered from January 2006 to July 2008. Patient CFU_40 had 9 isolates with two different spa alleles. In 2006 and early 2007, a single genotype with seven repeats at the spa locus was observed, whereas after March 2007, isolates with two repeats at the spa locus were also found. On several occasions, both were present in equal amounts giving rise to two products upon PCR amplification (data not shown). From March 2006 to January 2008, 16 CC5 isolates were recovered from patient CFU_48, with three variants differing at VNTRs Sa1213 and Sa1132: one genotype was found in 7 isolates in 2006 and early 2007, another one in 8 isolates from 2006 to 2008 and the third corresponded to a single isolate in 2007.

Criteria for laboratory investigations were highly variable between Trichostatin A mw FLSs and were performed MEK162 according to age, gender, and BMD as criteria. This variability can be the result of the lack of specific guidelines on the role of laboratory investigations in fracture patients [12]; however,

several studies indicate that contributors to secondary osteoporosis are often present in patients with osteoporosis, with and without a history of recent fracture [19, 20]. Clearly, more data are necessary about the prevalence of contributors to secondary osteoporosis and bone loss in fracture patients with and without osteoporosis to specify which laboratory examinations should be performed. The age and sex of patients and fracture location were significantly different between FLSs, but less significant from a clinical point of view (differences of 4.5 years for age, 5.7% for females, 4.7% for major fractures), indicating that patient selection was quite similar between FLSs. Of interest is the finding that most fractures resulted from a fall (77.2%) PS341 and a minority as a result of a traffic or sport accident, as found by others [20]. In spite of the exclusion of HET, 11% to 27% of traffic accidents were still interpreted as a low-energy trauma. There is a need to specify which traumas are considered minor or major. On the one hand, the definition of ‘fragility’

or ‘osteoporotic’ fractures is heterogeneous in the literature [21]. On the other hand, however, high-energy trauma fractures are as predictive for

subsequent fracture risk as low-trauma fractures [22]. In addition, a 5-year subsequent fracture risk is similar after a finger or hip fracture but a 5-year mortality is different, being higher after a hip fracture than after a finger fracture [10]. Thus, in the context of case findings of subsequent fracture risk in patients with a recent fracture, there is presumably no need for distinction between high- and low-energy fractures and fracture Montelukast Sodium locations. Prevalence There was a high variability in the reporting of several CRFs between FLSs. The reason for this is unclear. For example for immobility, the variance between centres was very high and could reflect the absence of a clear definition of this CRF in the guideline [12]. Clearly, to prevent confusion about definitions in daily practice, risk factors should be specified as concrete as possible in guidelines. Differences between FLSs were also found in T-scores and fall risks of the included patients per centre. In our study, the range of prevalence of osteoporosis was 22.2% to 40.7% between centres and for fall risk (fracture due to fall from standing height or less) 51.0% to 91.1%. Presumably, not all centres had the same interest of formally evaluating fall risk or did not include such evaluation in their protocol, in spite of a guideline on fall prevention in the Netherlands.

Samples were cooled and neutralized with 4 mL of potassium carbonate (100 mg/L in H2O). The samples were vortex mixed and Niraparib centrifuged at 3500 RPMs for 10 minutes. The top layer of the biphasic sample solution was extracted into amber auto-sampler vials and loaded on instrument. The samples were analyzed using an Agilent 6890N GC with autosampler and an Agilent

5973N mass spectrometer. The analytical separation was performed on a HP-23 (Cis/Trans FAME capillary column) 60 m × 0.25 mm × 0.25 mm film thickness. The instrumental and data analysis were performed using MSD Chem Station. We also examined plasma lipids and hepatorenal function, with a particular interest in triacylglycerols as a surrogate clinical feature reflective of the physiologic activity of N3 supplementation. In order to examine dietary intake, we used

the FIAS INCB028050 system (version 3.9, 2000) developed at the Human Nutrition Center, University of Texas Health Science Center School of Public Health. SN-38 One reason we have selected the FIAS is that it is linked with the Pyramid Serving Database (PSDB). The USDA food codes generated after the analysis of the dietary recalls in FIAS are linked to the PSDB to determine the number of servings of each major food groups consumed. This database was developed to analyze the number of servings of each of the Food Guide Pyramid’s major food groups and the amounts of discretionary fat and sugars consumed [7, 8]. As a tertiary area of interest we interviewed participants after the trial to examine their tolerability

of the MicroN3 foods they ingested. As this was a tertiary measure, we did not use a standardized or validated questionnaire to examine tolerability parameters. Specific questions included: (1). Were you able to distinguish the foods you ingested by a fishy odor (Y/N)? If yes, on how many occasions did you notice this phenomenon?   (2). Did the foods you ingest cause you any gastrointestinal distress such as stomach pain, diarrhea, or belching (Y/N)? If yes, on how many occasions did you selleck chemicals notice this phenomenon?   (3). Did you notice any fishy aftertaste following the consumption of your breakfast meal (Y/N)? If yes, on how many occasions did you notice this phenomenon?   (4). Did you notice any fishy odor on your breath or with belching (Y/N)? If yes, on how many occasions did you notice this phenomenon?   Statistical Procedures We compared all baseline characteristics for demographics and dietary characteristics using a paired t-test. We further examined our participant’s baseline dietary intake of N3 fatty acids to the national average of the United States using a one-sample t-test. This was predicated on reports detailing the N3 intake within the United States where total N3 accounts for 1.6 g/d (0.7% of energy intake), 1.4 g/d is plant derived α-linolenic acid (ALA) and 0.1 to 0.2 g/d comes from EPA and DHA [2].

Figure 2 Immunohistochemical staining of VEGF-C in the gastric carcinoma: the positive expression of VEGF-C protein was stained as yellow or brownish yellow CH5424802 mw in the cytoplasm of carcinoma cells (LsAB, ×400). Immunoreactivity of D2-40 proteins was found in the cytoplasm and cellular membrane of lymphatic endothelial cells. The distribution of D2-40-positive cells was frequently located in peritumoral tissue (hot spot) (Figure 3A). The means of LVD in peritumoral, intratumoral and normal tissue of

the 56 gastric carcinomas were 9.24 ± 4.51, 2.88 ± 2.04, 2.69 ± 1.78, respectively. The LVD in peritumoral, intratumoral (Figure 3B) and normal tissue (Figure 3C) was significantly different by variance analysis of randomized block design. When compared to each other by least significant difference (LSD) test, there was a significant difference between the peritumoral LVD and both the intratumoural LVD and the LVD of normal tissue. There was no significant difference between the intratumoral LVD and the LVD of normal tissue. When the mean

peritumoral LVD of 9.24 was chosen as the cut-off point for discrimination of Kinesin inhibitor the 56 patients, 32 patients were categorized in the low LVD group and 24 in the high LVD group. Figure 3 Immunohistochemical staining of D2-40: Immunoreactivity of D2-40 proteins was found in the cytoplasm and cellular membrane of lymphatic endothelial cells. A. Detection of lymphatic vessels in the peritumoral tissue of gastric carcinoma was highlighted by immunostaining against D2-40 (LsAB,×200). B. Immunohistochemical staining of D2-40 in the intratumoral tissue of gastric carcinoma (LsAB, ×200). C. Immunohistochemical staining

of D2-40 the normal gastric mucosal tissue (LsAB, ×200). Correlation between COX-2, VEGF-C and LVD and find more clinicopathologic characteristics The correlation of COX-2, VEGF-C and peritumoral LVD with clinicopathologic factors in gastric carcinoma is shown in Table 1. There was no significant correlation between COX-2 expression and any clinicopathologic characteristics, including gender, age, lymph node metastasis, histological differentiation, invasion depth and TNM stage (P > 0.05, chi-square test). Similarly, ADAMTS5 VEGF-C expression was not correlated with any clinicopathologic characteristics (P > 0.05, chi-square test). The peritumoral LVD was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis and invasion depth. It was higher in the lymph node metastasis group (10.37 ± 4.61) than in the no lymph node metastasis group (6.64 ± 3.01) (P = 0.003, t-test) and was higher in the T3,T4 group (10.80 ± 5.24) than in the T1,T2 group (8.37 ± 3.85) (P = 0.05, t-test). No significant correlation was observed with the rest of the clinicopathologic parameters (P > 0.05, t-test).

No signal was detected

for the Fnr sample as isolated, but a broad signal with main g values at 2.04, 1.93 was observed upon reduction (Figure 2). These data indicate the presence of a [4Fe-4S]2+cluster, which upon one-electron reduction, converted to a paramagnetic [4Fe-4S]1+ cluster with an electronic spin S = 1/2. However, the EPR signal differed from that of typical [4Fe-4S] proteins in that the resonance lines were relatively broad and showed additional features, especially at high field. As a consequence of this broadening, the g x component of the tensor was not well resolved. This might reflect some heterogeneity in the vicinity of the cluster, and could be related to the instability of holoFnr upon reduction (see below). In addition, the intensity of the EPR signal was low compared to the protein concentration, although we could not give an accurate estimation of the electronic spin due to the broadening and weakness PX-478 supplier of the signal. This suggested that the protein was partially reduced, consistent with the observation that dithionite reduction caused a relatively small decrease of the chromophore absorption (data not shown). Attempts to further reduce the protein by using photoreduced 5-deazaflavin were unsuccessful, likely because of the instability of the cluster

in the reduced state (data not shown). Taken together, these results suggest that holoFnr contains a redox-responsive [4Fe-4 S] cluster, which is unstable upon reduction. Figure 2 EPR spectrum of B. cereus holoFnr after reduction with dithionite. The spectrum was acquired under the following conditions: microwave Savolitinib datasheet power 0.1 mW, modulation amplitude 1 mT, receiver gain 2.10, temperature 10 K. Relevant g values are indicated. Exposure of reconstituted holoFnr to air resulted in decreased intensity of the 416 nm absorption band associated with the [4Fe-4 S] cluster over 60 min (Figure 3). Based on the absorbance decay at 416 nm, which followed first-order kinetics, the half-life of holoFnr in air was estimated to be 15 min. We conclude that the [4Fe-4S]2+

cluster of holoFnr was extremely Methocarbamol oxygen-labile. Figure 3 Changes in the ultraviolet/visible spectrum of reconstituted B. cereus Fnr in response to O 2 . Spectra of B. cereus holoFnr [0.56 g/L] were recorded before and 10 min, 15 min, 30 min, 60 min after exposure to oxygen. Arrow indicates the trend of the spectral changes. buy 3-MA DNA-binding properties of B. cereus holoFnr The DNA-binding properties of holoFnr were investigated with electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA) under strict anoxic conditions. Figure 4 shows the EMSA results obtained using holo- and apoFnr and the promoter regions of fnr (Figure 4A), nhe (Figure 4B) and hbl. Because of its large size (1,157 bp), the promoter region of hbl was divided into two overlapping fragments of 636 bp (hbl1, Figure 4C) and 610 bp (hbl2, Figure 4D).

They can also be bilateral as seen in this case. It was reported that coexistence of lumbar hernia and other abdominaal wall Hernia is observed in 13% of patients. These reports suggest that a patient presenting with a lumbar hernia should be explored for the presence of a coexisting hernia, such as inguinal, femoral or find more obturator hernia [1]. In our case, except the controlateral

lumbar hernia, no other type of abdominal wall hernia was seen. Preoperative diagnosis of lumbar hernia is common. Because specific physical findings are obvious, They are usually confused with lipoma or other superficial

selleck swelling of the flank. Unfortunately the diagnosis can be delayed and done after bowel obstruction. This was the case in our patient who was presenting signs of bowell obstruction before the lumbar hernia was identified. In some cases it is during diagnostic laparotomy for bowel obstruction that the diagnosis is done as also for abdominal wall hernias [1, 2]. Modern radiological modalities such as CT Scan, ultrasonography (US) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can reliably make the early diagnosis of lumbar hernia, especially in elderly and frail patients having other abdominal

wall hernias [1]. X-ray films may be usefull only in case of bowel obstruction as in our case, But CT and US can be applied to intestinal obstructions in which the origin is obscure [11–13]. Modern hernia repair using synthetic graft is recommended in lumbar hernia. But in case of strangulation, an BAY 63-2521 clinical trial incision for exploration or diagnostic laparoscopy should Immune system be preferred. In this patient, we perfomed a laparotomy since the patient presented late. Actually there are enough evidence that in abdominal wall hernias mortality is most often associated with delay in presentation and diagnosis [2]. This can probably apply to lumbar hernia even though there is no specific study addressing that specific issue. Intestinal obstruction and bowel necrosis, require emergency laparotomy with a midline incision. This approach gives the best exposure, allows reduction of the hernial content and facilitates bowel resection and abdominal toilet, if necessary. Other herniation sites can also be evaluated with this incision.

Selected-area electron diffraction (SAED), bright field (BF) transmission electron selleck products microscopy (TEM), and HRTEM were carried out to determine crystal structure and to examine microstructures of the grown InP NWs using a JEOL JEM2100F TEM (JEOL Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) operating at 200 kV. The incident electron beam was along the direction. Specimens

for HRTEM examinations were prepared by peeling off the InP NWs from the surface of the substrate, Tucidinostat chemical structure ultrasonicating them into anhydrous ethanol for several seconds, and dispersing the finished solution onto a holey-carbon-film-coated copper grid. Results and discussion Figure 1a shows a low-magnification SEM image of InP NWs prepared by 0.5-nm-thick Au catalyst film. It is observed that different kinds of kinks exist in the grown InP NWs. Interestingly, in most cases the bending angles are close to approximately 110° as indicated by white arrows. Magnified SEM image (Figure 1b) exhibits a clear morphology of InP NWs. It is shown that despite there exists VS-4718 concentration some kinks, the overall morphology of grown InP NWs is relatively straight and smooth. As observed from TEM images, InP NWs with kinks can be clearly

seen and the diameter of InP NWs is uniform and ranges from 20 to 40 nm. In order to systematically understand the characteristics of the different kinks, initially, a comprehensive statistical analysis was carried out using typical BF TEM images (Figure 1c), which are mainly concentrated in the range of 20 to 30 nm. In this work, the bending angles of more than 180 kinks in different NWs were measured and the statistical result is presented in Figure 1d. It is noted that the angles and frequency of kinks are found independent of the nanowire diameter and four dominant groups of kinks with the bending angles of approximately 70°, 90°, 110°, and 170° are clearly displayed, with the relative percentage of them observed being 17%, 11%, 35%, and 6%, respectively. Except the four dominant groups, the kinked InP NWs with other angles are scarce. Furthermore, the bending angles less than 30° are not observed. Figure 1 SEM images depict

the morphology of InP NWs along with the statistical mafosfamide graph of kinks. (a) Low-magnification SEM image of InP NWs prepared by 0.5-nm-thick Au film. Kinks with different angles are clearly observed. Approximately 110° kinks indicated by white arrows show frequently. (b) Magnified SEM image shows clear morphology of InP NWs. (c) Typical BF image for angle distribution statistic. (d) Kink angle statistics of grown InP NWs observed by TEM images. Four dominant groups of kinks with angles of approximately 70°, 90°, 110°, and 170° are clearly displayed. To shed light in exploring the formation mechanism of these kinks with different angles, HRTEM technique was exploited to examine the microstructures of these grown InP NWs.

PubMedCrossRef 23. Epstein E: Does intermittent “”pulse”" topical 5-fluorouracil therapy allow destruction of actinic keratoses without significant inflammation? J

Am Acad Dermatol 1998, 38:77–80.PubMedCrossRef 24. Yesudian PD, King CM: Allergic contact dermatitis from stearyl alcohol in Efudix cream. Contact Dermatitis 2001, 45:313–314.PubMedCrossRef 25. Sánchez-Pérez J, Bartolomé B, del Río MJ, García-Díez A: Allergic contact dermatitis from 5-fluorouracil with positive intradermal test and doubtful patch test reactions. Contact Dermatitis 1999, 41:106–107.PubMedCrossRef 26. Degen A, Alter M, Schenck F, Satzger I, Völker B, Kapp A, Gutzmer R: The CCI-779 solubility dmso hand-foot-syndrome associated with medical tumor therapy – classification and management. J Dtsch Dermatol Ges 2010, 8:652–661.PubMed 27. Yen-Revollo JL, Goldberg RM, McLeod HL: Can inhibiting dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase limit hand-foot syndrome caused by fluoropyrimidines? Clin Cancer Res 2008, 14:8–13.PubMedCrossRef 28. Chiara S, Nobile MT, Barzacchi C, Sanguineti O, Vincenti M, Di Somma C,

Meszaros P, Rosso R: Hand-foot syndrome induced by high-dose, short-term, continuous 5-fluorouracil infusion. Eur J Cancer 1997, 33:967–969.PubMedCrossRef Competing interests The author declares that they have no competing interests. Authors’ contributions KK, AK, MY, and TS made conception, designed and coordinated the study. YO and JB carried out calculations and statistical analysis. KK, JB and TS prepared the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.”
“Michelle Adams United States of LY2606368 mouse America Jose Antonio United States of America George Aphamis Cyprus Alan Aragon United Erastin States of America Todd Astorino United States of America Michelle Barrack United States of America Pedro Bastos Portugal Jenna Becker United States of America Dan Benardot United States of America Sandeep Bhale United States of America Wilhelm Bloch Germany Leigh Breen United Kingdom Aurelien Bringard Switzerland Grant David Brinkworth Australia Luke Bucci United States of America Bill Campbell United States

of America Erico Caperuto Brazil Amanda Carlson-Phillips United States of America Michael Carlston Interleukin-3 receptor United States of America Amelia Carr Australia Chantal Charo United States of America Hamdi Chtourou Tunisia Amanda Claassen-Smithers South Africa Pablo Costa United States Minor Outlying Islands Paul Cribb Australia Maria Daglia Italy Vincent Dalbo Australia Lance Dalleck New Zealand Barbara Dao Canada Ben Dascombe Australia Patrick Davitt United States of America Jay Dawes United States of America Felipe Donatto Brazil Inna Dumova United States of America Christopher Dunbar United States of America Travis Dutka Australia Joan Eckerson United States of America Chris Fahs United States of America Andrew Foskett New Zealand David Fukuda United States of America Jeffrey Godin United States of America Joanna Gromadzka-Ostrowska Poland G.

2011BAI08B10), the Shanghai Natural Science Foundation (11ZR1429300 and 12ZR1424900), the NVP-BGJ398 order medical Guiding Program of Shanghai Science and Technology Committee (Grant No. 114119a0800), the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Medical Engineering Crossover Fund Project (No. YG2011MS47), the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University,

State Education Ministry, the Fund of the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (11 nm0506400 and 11JC1410500), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (for MS and XS). KL thanks the Shanghai Songjiang Medical Climbing Program (2011PD04). LZ thanks the State Scholarship Fund by the China Scholarship Council Selleck Cisplatin and Award for the best youth medical scholars of Shanghai First People’s Hospital. XS gratefully acknowledges the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) and Santander bank for the Chair in Nanotechnology. References 1. Arbab AS, Janic B, Haller J, Pawelczyk E, Liu W, Frank JA: In vivo Acalabrutinib concentration cellular

imaging for translational medical research. Curr Med Imaging Rev 2009, 5:19–38.CrossRef 2. Artemov D, Mori N, Ravi R, Bhujwalla ZM: Magnetic resonance molecular imaging of the HER-2/neu receptor. Cancer Res 2003, 63:2723–2727. 3. Moore A, Medarova Z, Potthast A, Dai G: In vivo targeting of underglycosylated MUC-1 tumor antigen using a multimodal imaging probe. Cancer Res 2004, 64:1821–1827.CrossRef 4. Wang J, Xie J, Zhou X, Cheng Z, Gu N, Teng G, Hu Q, Zhu F, Chang S, Zhang F, Lu G, Chen X: Ferritin enhances SPIO tracking of C6 rat glioma cells by MRI. Mol Imaging Biol 2011, 13:87–93.CrossRef 5. Baricitinib Arbab AS, Yocum GT, Wilson LB, Parwana A, Jordan EK, Kalish H, Frank JA: Comparison of transfection

agents in forming complexes with ferumoxides, cell labeling efficiency, and cellular viability. Mol Imaging 2004, 3:24–32.CrossRef 6. Zhang Z, Dharmakumar R, Mascheri N, Fan Z, Wu S, Li D: Comparison of superparamagnetic and ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide cell labeling for tracking green fluorescent protein gene marker with negative and positive contrast magnetic resonance imaging. Mol Imaging 2009, 8:148–155. 7. Balakumaran A, Pawelczyk E, Ren J, Sworder B, Chaudhry A, Sabatino M, Stroncek D, Frank JA, Robey PG: Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles labeling of bone marrow stromal (mesenchymal) cells does not affect their “stemness”. PLoS One 2010, 5:e11462.CrossRef 8. Arnold LJ Jr, Dagan A, Gutheil J, Kaplan NO: Antineoplastic activity of poly(L-lysine) with some ascites tumor cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1979, 76:3246–3250.CrossRef 9. Xie J, Chen K, Lee H-Y, Xu C, Hsu AR, Peng S, Chen X, Sun S: Ultrasmall c(RGDyK)-coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles and their specific targeting to integrin alpha(v)beta3-rich tumor cells.

However, CL depletion had no effect on susceptibility to the antimicrobial peptides ASABF-α and nisin. It is possible that the net negative charge is compensated for by other membrane components such as selleck inhibitor PG. In fact, the PG level was increased in the mutants that did not

accumulate CL. The importance of positively charged lysyl-phosphatidylglycerol (LPG) (or MprF protein) in resistance to cationic antimicrobial peptides has been reported [43, 44], and the LPG level was not different between wild-type S. aureus and cls mutants. In addition to the probable effect of cell surface charge, we have previously reported that cell wall thickness is an important factor affecting resistance to the antimicrobial peptide ASABF-α [33]. Furthermore, in the present study, ASABF-α-resistant strains had cell walls that interfered with CL extraction (Additional file 1, Mdivi1 Figure S1). Cell wall thickness may also be related to resistance

against other antimicrobial peptides in S. aureus [45, 46]. Our data indicate that lysostaphin treatment is critical for the efficient extraction of CL from S. aureus. Previous reports have suggested that CL is not readily extractable from B. subtilis and other Gram-positive bacteria without lysozyme treatment [47]. This may be attributable to its large molecular mass (~1500 Da) relative to that of other phospholipids, owing to its four acyl residues. However, ~25-kDa globular hydrophilic molecules can pass freely through the ~2-nm holes in the peptidoglycan polymer that forms the cell wall of Gram-positive bacteria [48]. Instead, the efficiency selleck Meloxicam of CL extraction is likely reduced by its physical interactions with cell wall components; for example, when CL is bound to cell wall components, it will not efficiently enter the organic phase during extraction. The membrane of the L-form variants of S. aureus is thought to express certain features that support cell growth and survival in the absence of a rigid cell wall. One study reported that a particular L-form strain had an increased CL level [36].

Our data demonstrate that the cls2 gene is important for normal L-form generation. However, the cls1/cls2 double mutant still produced L-form cells, suggesting the existence of a CL-independent mechanism. Thus, multiple mechanisms may function in cooperation to generate L-form variants. The production of a number of factors such as carotenoids, catalase, coagulase, lipase, fibrinolysin, hemolysin, and enterotoxin changes upon L-form generation and reversion [49–52]. However, none of these represents a common L-form variant phenotype, suggesting that L-form generation is associated with a drastic phenotypic conversion. The increase in CL content may be important, but not essential, for membrane stabilization. In this study, both cls1 and cls2 were shown to encode functional CL synthases.