Effective antiretroviral (ARV) regimens for the treatment of HIV infection have increased life expectancy, and many individuals Selleckchem Ipilimumab infected with HIV now live for decades with chronic illness [1]. Long-term complications are emerging as the greatest challenges facing HIV-infected individuals. Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading comorbidity and cause of mortality among HIV-infected adults [2]. Several studies have shown that HIV-infected children, compared with their healthy peers, have higher rates of CVD risk factors, including dyslipidaemia, insulin resistance, obesity

and central adiposity [3-7]. HIV infection also results in prolonged chronic inflammation, thereby increasing CVD risk. Exogenous obesity, which is common among perinatally HIV-infected children and adolescents, can also contribute to CVD risk [8, 9]. For perinatally infected children, these exposures

start in utero and continue through critical periods of growth, puberty and development. Inflammation, which is now considered the primary mechanism leading to atherosclerosis, can initiate a complex sequence of events that eventually produce http://www.selleckchem.com/products/Roscovitine.html detectable arterial changes and symptomatic CVD [10]. A host of cellular pathways are activated through inflammation, with most being initiated through injury to the endothelium [10]. Factors associated with endothelial injury include oxidized cholesterol, hyperglycaemia, lifestyle (smoking), and familial/genetic risks [11]. In HIV-infected patients, the effects of chronic immune activation from HIV infection [12, 13] and potential oxidative stress (induced by mitochondrial dysfunction) caused by highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) also come into play [14, 15]. These factors initiate a cascade of events that can increase inflammation and produce changes in endothelial function and/or coagulation status. Although HIV-infected children carry risk factors that

are associated with premature atherosclerotic N-acetylglucosamine-1-phosphate transferase CVD, it is currently difficult to ascertain whether the adverse CVD outcomes attributed to HIV infection in adults will be observed as HIV-infected children age. Emerging evidence from large, long-term and prospective studies on CVD risk in non-HIV-infected healthy children [16, 17] shows that risk factors tracked from early childhood are associated with adverse CVD outcomes in adulthood. Studies that show direct evidence of vascular inflammation may provide further proof of increased CVD risk that, in turn, may ultimately lead to new, preventive interventions for these children. C-reactive protein (CRP) is one of the best-studied measures of systemic inflammation and high levels can predict adverse CVD outcomes in adults [18]. A number of other biomarkers are associated with more specific changes in these inflammatory pathways in both HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected populations [19-21].

A near 100% specificity has been reported

with the combination of both techniques.[10] Although we cannot rule out the possibility of the IHA result being a false negative, we believe that artemisinin treatment delayed our patient’s seroconversion to 7.5 months, reflecting an absence of active ova-directed immune response at 5.5 months and likely Daporinad molecular weight a low level of ova production at this time. To our knowledge, seroconversion after 6 months has not been previously reported, and thus, it may be reasonable to consider longer seroconversion windows for returning travelers exposed to other active antiparasitic medications. In conclusion, returning travelers with Schistosoma infection can be asymptomatic and late seroconversion (>6 months) may occur, as was the case in our patient. In these circumstances, a negative serology should not exclude the diagnosis. Epidemiological history of fresh water contact as well as previous antiparasitic treatment is highly relevant. Invasive

techniques for diagnosis should not be routinely considered, especially in asymptomatic patients. Final diagnosis can be difficult, and thus if suspicion is strong, an empirical therapeutic test should be considered. We thank Dr Carlos Chaccour for his input on the development of Akt inhibitor this manuscript. We also thank Prof Paul Miller for help with the language editing of the manuscript. The authors state they have no conflicts of interest to declare. “
“Background. Hepatitis A vaccination is recommended to people traveling to countries where the disease is endemic. Until recently, people originating from developing countries were considered to be “naturally” immunized. Because of improving socioeconomic conditions, hepatitis A incidence has decreased ioxilan in most previously highly endemic countries during the last three decades, especially in the younger age groups. Methods. We analyzed hepatitis

A seroprevalence of 989 travelers who had been born and lived at least 1 year in a developing country, wanted to travel to a hepatitis A endemic area, and consulted at the vaccination center of the Institut Pasteur of Paris between September 1, 2008 and February 28, 2010. Results. Hepatitis A serology results were available for 646 subjects. Overall seroprevalence was 82.4%. A total of 90, 82.6, 81.2, 68.4, 56.9, and 50% of people of sub-Saharan African, Near and Middle Eastern, North African, Asian, Latin American, and Eastern European origin had hepatitis A antibodies, respectively. The difference in seroprevalence according to the continent of origin, age, and length of stay in an endemic country was significant (p < 0.0001). More than 75% of seronegatives and less than 50% of seropositives were younger than 36 years. Almost three quarters of the positive group (while less than half of the negative group) lived longer than 18 years in a developing country.

These BIBW2992 two mutants also were defective at associating the presence of nicotine with butanone under starvation conditions and acr-5 mutation could obviate the effect of pairing nicotine with salts. Furthermore, the approach

deficit in acr-15 mutants was rescued by selective re-expression in a subset of neurons, but not in muscle. Caenorhabditis elegans may therefore serve as a useful model organism for nicotine-motivated behaviors that could aid in the identification of novel nicotine motivational molecular pathways and consequently the development of novel cessation aids. “
“Musicianship is associated with neuroplastic changes in brainstem and cortical structures, as well as improved acuity for behaviorally relevant sounds including speech. However, further advance in the field depends on characterizing how neuroplastic changes in brainstem and cortical speech processing relate to one another and

to speech-listening behaviors. Here, we show that subcortical and cortical neural plasticity interact to yield the linguistic advantages observed find more with musicianship. We compared brainstem and cortical neuroelectric responses elicited by a series of vowels that differed along a categorical speech continuum in amateur musicians and non-musicians. Musicians obtained steeper identification functions and classified speech sounds more rapidly than non-musicians. Behavioral advantages coincided with more robust and temporally coherent brainstem phase-locking to salient speech cues (voice pitch and formant information) coupled with increased amplitude in cortical-evoked responses, implying an overall enhancement in the nervous system’s responsiveness to speech. Musicians’ subcortical and cortical neural enhancements (but not behavioral measures) were correlated with their years of formal music training. Associations between multi-level

neural responses were also Proteases inhibitor stronger in musically trained listeners, and were better predictors of speech perception than in non-musicians. Results suggest that musicianship modulates speech representations at multiple tiers of the auditory pathway, and strengthens the correspondence of processing between subcortical and cortical areas to allow neural activity to carry more behaviorally relevant information. We infer that musicians have a refined hierarchy of internalized representations for auditory objects at both pre-attentive and attentive levels that supplies more faithful phonemic templates to decision mechanisms governing linguistic operations. “
“All brain functions, ranging from motor behaviour to cognition, depend on precise developmental patterns of synapse formation between the growth cones of both pre- and postsynaptic neurons.

The mean percentage for accurate responses to malaria questions was 67.3% (range, 16.8%–90.5%). The accuracy was lowest for the two questions: (1) duration of mefloquine use as prophylaxis for malaria, and (2) the longest incubation period of malaria due to the dormant phases of Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium ovale. The most often chosen, incorrect Fulvestrant order answer (21.2% physicians and 33.5% nurses)

regarding the duration of prophylactic mefloquine use was one week before travel and continue using until one week after leaving malarious area. The chosen answers to the question about malaria’s incubation period were distributed evenly: 1 month (23.2%), 3 months (26.7%), 6 months (16.5%), 1 year (16.5%), and not sure (16.8%). The mean percentage of accurate responses for the yellow fever questions was 65.4% (range, 39.6%–79.3%), and Table 2 demonstrates the results of the two groups. There were four questions with an accuracy between 70 and 80%, and two questions with an accuracy less than 60%. Only 39.6% of health professionals knew the revaccination interval for the yellow fever vaccine. Approximately 22% of health-care providers reported 5 years as the current suggested revaccination interval, and 24% answered not sure. Table 3 shows the items surveyed and accurate response percentages for both groups regarding knowledge about dengue fever. The mean percentage

of accurate GDC-0199 supplier responses to the dengue fever questions was 74.4% (range, 14.4%–96.5%). One item (the behavior of the vector Aedes aegypti mosquito) had a very low accuracy (14.4%). Approximately 60% of physicians and 58% of nurses selected the answer that the mosquito is only active at dusk. Figure 1 shows physicians had statistically significant, higher scores for all three diseases. The average score was highest for knowledge about dengue fever in both the physician (dengue fever vs yellow fever vs malaria = 0.83 vs 0.76 vs 0.73) and

nurse (0.71 vs 0.61 vs 0.65) groups. This study represents one of the first nationwide surveys focusing on health-care professionals’ knowledge of travel medicine and provides valuable information for the burgeoning travel medicine profession in Taiwan, as well as other countries looking to improve the quality of medical care for their traveling citizens. Understanding the behavior of disease vectors can help health-care professionals provide appropriate Molecular motor suggestions to travelers and help create a safe travel schedule.16 Advising travelers to protect against vector-borne diseases is a crucial component of any pre-travel consultation. This advice is especially important in situations where there are no effective vaccines or prophylactic drugs available (eg, dengue fever). Travelers may be able to modify their schedules according to peak biting activity, such as twilight periods for malaria or daylight hours for dengue fever. Knowledge regarding the Anopheles mosquito was high (82.8% accuracy), while knowledge about the A aegypti mosquito was quite low (14.4%).

An anonymous questionnaire was distributed online to all members of the two largest Spanish scientific medical societies for family and community medicine. The study took place

between 15th June and 31st October 2010. Completed questionnaires were returned by 1308 participants. The majority (90.8%) of respondents were General Practitioners (GP). Among all respondents, 70.4% were aware of the existence of rapid tests for the diagnosis of HIV but they did not know how to use them. Nearly 80% of participants would be willing to offer rapid HIV testing in their practices and 74.7% would be confident of the results obtained by these tests. The barriers most commonly identified by respondents were a lack find more of time and a need for training, both in the use of rapid tests (44.3% and 56.4%, respectively) and required pre- and post-test counselling (59.2% and 34.5%, respectively). This study reveals a high level of acceptance and willingness on the part of GPs to offer rapid HIV testing in their practices. Nevertheless, the implementation Small molecule library of rapid HIV testing in primary

care will not be possible without moving from comprehensive pre-test counselling towards brief pre-test information and improving training in the use of rapid tests. In Spain in 2011, 2763 new HIV diagnoses were reported. The rate of new cases of HIV infection was 8.4 per 100 000 population, similar to that of MycoClean Mycoplasma Removal Kit other countries in Western Europe but higher than the European Union (EU) average (5.7 per 100 000 population) [1, 2]. Approximately 30% of HIV infections

in the EU are undiagnosed [3]. Delayed diagnosis is associated with higher morbidity and mortality [4]. Early diagnosis of HIV infection allows early preventive intervention to reduce risk behaviours. Delayed presentation among new HIV diagnoses in Spain continues to be seen at high levels. In 2010 45.4% of all new diagnoses were delayed (CD4 count < 350 cells/μL) and 27.7% of people with a new diagnosis of HIV infection had advanced disease (CD4 count < 200 cells/μL) [1]. Identifying patients at risk of infection and offering them counselling and testing for HIV is the most important contribution to be made by general practitioners (GPs) to improve early diagnosis of HIV infection. Every consultation is an opportunity to perform risk assessment for HIV infection and to offer counselling and testing to those patients who are at risk. Despite this, several studies have shown that GPs frequently miss testing opportunities [5, 6]. The availability of rapid HIV testing in GP consulting rooms could increase the uptake and acceptance of HIV testing among patients. Studies in the USA have shown that rapid HIV tests are acceptable to patients attending emergency departments [7] but there is little information on the use of such tests in primary health care either in the USA or in Europe.

The total population examined within the study period was from March 2006 to August 2009.

In the total population examined, the prevalence of BIBF 1120 research buy PE was 2.2% [11]. In addition to the 76 HIV-positive cases included in the study, there were three HIV-positive women who developed PE (3.9%) and who were excluded from the study because this number was too small to allow valid comparisons of the prevalence of PE to be made between HIV-positive and HIV-negative women. None of the selected controls developed PE and all pregnancies resulted in the live birth of phenotypically normal neonates. In normal pregnancy the measured UtA-PI is affected by fetal crown–rump length, maternal age, body mass index, racial group and parity. In comparing normal with pathological pregnancies, the values of UtA-PI are expressed as multiples of the median (MoM) of the normal after appropriate adjustment for the above variables [11]. Normality of the data distribution was examined with the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test and probability plots. Data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation or as median and interquartile range (IQR) for normally and non-normally distributed data, respectively. Comparisons between groups were performed using the t-test or Mann–Whitney U-test for numerical data and the χ2 test for categorical data. Univariate regression analyses were performed where appropriate.

Power analysis indicated

that a sample of 76 HIV-positive and 2280 HIV-negative women would have more than 80% power (α 0.05) for PD0325901 order the detection of a mean difference of 0.26 in the mean UtA-PI (MoM) between the groups. As there are no previous data in pregnant women with HIV infection, the effect size was estimated from data presented in previous publications for pregnant women with known increased resistance in the uterine arteries, such as those who eventually develop PE [11]. The statistical analyses were performed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (Version 12.0; Palbociclib datasheet SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA). The demographic and pregnancy characteristics and outcomes for the 76 HIV-positive and 2280 HIV-negative women are given in Table 1. In the HIV-positive group, 33 women (43.4%) were on antiretroviral treatment, including 14 (42.4%) on nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) and a protease inhibitor, 18 (54.5%) on NRTIs and a nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) and one (3.1%) on monotherapy. The median duration of treatment prior to the first trimester ultrasound scan was 22 months (IQR 7.5–39.5 months) and the majority of the women (n=29) were on antiretroviral treatment at the time of conception. Compared with the HIV-negative women, the HIV-positive women were more likely to be heavier, to be of African racial origin, to be nonsmokers and to deliver earlier and have smaller neonates.

51  Limketkai BN, Mehta SH, Sutcliffe CG et al. Relationship of liver disease stage and antiviral therapy with liver-related events and death in adults coinfected with HIV/HCV. JAMA 2012; 308: 370–378. 52  Jain MK, Seremba E, Bhore R et al. Change in fibrosis score as a predictor of mortality among HIV-infected patients

with viral hepatitis. AIDS Patient Care STDS 2012; 26: 73–80. 53  Cozzi Lepri A, Prosperi M, LoCaputo S et al. Fib4 is an independent predictor find more of serious liver disease among HIV-infected patients with or without HBV/HCV co-infection in the Icona foundation study. Infection 2010; 38: 73–74. 54  Vu TM, Sutcliff C, Mehta S et al. Baseline liver stiffness measured by transient elastography is independently associated with risk of end-stage liver disease and death among HIV/HCV co-infected adults. J Hepatol 2011; 54(Suppl 1): S470. 55  Martinez SM, Crespo G, Navasa M, Forns X. Noninvasive assessment of liver fibrosis. Hepatology 2011; 53: 325–335.

56  Lin ZH, Xin YN, Dong QJ et al. Performance of the aspartate aminotransferase-to-platelet ratio index for the staging of hepatitis C-related fibrosis: an updated meta-analysis. Hepatology 2011; 53: R428 in vivo 726–736. 57  Sebastiani G, Castera L, Halfon P et al. The impact of liver disease aetiology and the stages of hepatic fibrosis on the performance of non-invasive fibrosis biomarkers: an international study of 2411 cases. Aliment Pharmacol Ther 2011; 34: 1202–1216. 58  Resino S, Asensio C, Bellón JM et al. Diagnostic accuracy of the APRI, FIB-4, and the Forns index for predicting liver fibrosis in HIV/HCV-coinfected patients: a validation study. J Infect 2011; 63: 402–405. 59  Boursier J, Salmon D, Winnock P et al. Non-invasive diagnosis of liver fibrosis by fibroscan, blood tests, and their combination in HIV-HCV co-infected patients. Baricitinib J Hepatol 2012; 56(Suppl 2): S408. 60  Peters

M, Bacchetti R, Boylan A et al. Utility of enhanced liver fibrosis (ELF) marker as a predictor of mortality in HIV/HCV co-infected women from the Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS). 6th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention. Rome, Italy. July 2011 [Abstract WEABO103]. 61  Sanchez-Conde M, Miralles P, Bellon JM et al. Use of transient elastography (FibroScan) for the noninvasive assessment of portal hypertension in HIV/HCV-coinfected patients. J Viral Hepat 2011; 18: 685–691. 62  Friedrich-Rust M, Ong MF, Martens S et al. Performance of transient elastography for the staging of liver fibrosis; a meta-analysis. Gastroenterology 2008; 134: 960–974. 63  Castera L, Vergniol J, Foucher J et al. Prospective comparison of transient elastography, Fibrotest, APRI, and liver biopsy for the assessment of fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C. Gastroenterology 2005; 128: 343–350. 64  Stebbing J, Farouk L, Panos G et al. A meta-analysis of transient elastography for the detection of hepatic fibrosis.

In addition, Dr Grietje Holtrop (Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland) provided valuable input in the statistical analysis of data. The work described in this manuscript was supported by a grant received from the Food Standards Agency (FSA; G03031). The Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health receives support from the Scottish Government (Rural and Environment Science and Bortezomib concentration Analytical Services; RESAS). “
“Regulated antisense RNA (asRNA) expression has been employed successfully in Gram-positive bacteria for genome-wide essential gene identification and drug target determination. However, there have been no published

reports describing the application of asRNA gene silencing for comprehensive analyses Gefitinib of essential genes in Gram-negative bacteria. In this study, we report the first genome-wide identification of asRNA constructs for essential genes in Escherichia coli. We screened 250 000 library transformants for conditional growth inhibitory recombinant clones from two shotgun genomic libraries of E. coli using a paired-termini expression vector (pHN678). After sequencing plasmid inserts of 675 confirmed inducer sensitive cell clones, we identified 152 separate asRNA constructs of which 134 inserts came from essential genes, while 18 originated from nonessential genes (but share operons with essential

genes). Among the 79 individual essential genes silenced by these asRNA constructs, 61 genes (77%) engage in processes related to protein synthesis. The cell-based assays of an asRNA clone targeting fusA (encoding elongation factor G) showed that the induced cells were sensitized 12-fold to fusidic acid, a known specific inhibitor. Our results demonstrate the utility of the paired-termini expression vector and feasibility of large-scale gene silencing in E. coli using regulated asRNA expression. During the past few decades, bacterial pathogens have become

increasingly resistant to antibiotics, limiting treatment options for infections caused by drug-resistant bacterial pathogens (Boucher et al., 2009). As we face growing antibiotic resistance, the development of novel antibiotics continues to stagnate. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the discovery of new antibacterial agents to target drug-resistant bacteria, especially GPX6 Gram-negative pathogens (Boucher et al., 2009). Regulated antisense RNA (asRNA) expression has been used effectively to study gene functions in different bacterial systems, including Streptococcus mutans (Wang & Kuramitsu, 2005), Staphylococcus aureus (Ji et al., 2001; Forsyth et al., 2002), and Escherichia coli (Nakashima & Tamura, 2009). By blocking the expression of its target gene, an asRNA increases the sensitivity of bacteria only to specific inhibitors for a protein encoded by that target gene (Forsyth et al., 2002; Young et al., 2006).

Importantly, the PTS permeases, which are involved in sugar transport, were shown to control the activity of transcription regulators by phosphorylating them in the absence of the specific substrate (Stulke et al., 1998). Moreover, the oligopeptide permease Opp3 affected the expression of genes encoding three major extracellular proteases in Staphylococcus aureus (Borezee-Durant et al., 2009). Based on all the information gathered to date, we propose

the following molecular mechanism of CadC activation in S. Typhimurium. Upon acid stress (low pH and lysine), the dormant membrane-bound CadC is first proteolytically CH5424802 mw cleaved at the periplasmic domain as a result of a low pH signal. This proteolytic event generates Enzalutamide manufacturer a transmembrane signal that switches on expression of the cadBA operon. The lysine signal represses expression of the lysine permease LysP, which normally blocks transmission of the conformational signal to the cytoplasmic DNA-binding domain. In addition, the PTS permease STM4538 is positively involved in regulation of CadC proteolysis through an unknown mechanism. However, details of the functional interactions between CadC,

LysP, STM4538 and unidentified proteases have not yet been elucidated. In summary, our findings suggest a novel mode of transcriptional control by bacterial enzymes. The identification of STM4538 as a positive modulator of CadC function provides important information for uncovering the molecular basis of the proteolytic activation of CadC. It will be interesting to investigate how STM4538 affects the expression or activity of the unidentified protease. This work was supported by a grant from the Korea Research Foundation funded by the Korean Government (MOEHRD, Basic Research Promotion Fund) (KRF-2008-314-C00328). Y.H. Lee and S. Kim contributed Idelalisib research buy equally to this work. “
“Oxygen is a limiting factor in the production of γ-PGA by the glutamic acid-independent strain Bacillus amyloliquefaciens LL3 because of the high viscosity of the culture broth. The vgb gene encoding Vitreoscilla hemoglobin (VHb) was introduced into LL3 to overcome the low concentration

of dissolved oxygen (DO). First, recombinant plasmid pWHV was constructed by cloning vgb into the Bacillus expression vector pWH1520 and transformed into LL3. Carbon monoxide difference spectral analysis confirmed the expression of VHb. The γ-PGA yield of LL3 (pWHV) under the optimized fermentation conditions increased by 9.56%. To overcome the instability of pWH1520 and to establish stable expression of VHb, the engineered strain LL3-PVK was constructed by homologous recombination between the integration vector pKSVPVK and the 16S rRNA gene of LL3. The temperature-sensitive plasmid was used to perform the integration, which successfully circumvented the obstacle of the low transformation efficiency of B. amyloliquefaciens LL3. Bacillus amyloliquefaciens LL3-PVK showed an increase of 30% in γ-PGA production, while the biomass was increased by 7.9%.

Importantly, the PTS permeases, which are involved in sugar transport, were shown to control the activity of transcription regulators by phosphorylating them in the absence of the specific substrate (Stulke et al., 1998). Moreover, the oligopeptide permease Opp3 affected the expression of genes encoding three major extracellular proteases in Staphylococcus aureus (Borezee-Durant et al., 2009). Based on all the information gathered to date, we propose

the following molecular mechanism of CadC activation in S. Typhimurium. Upon acid stress (low pH and lysine), the dormant membrane-bound CadC is first proteolytically VX-809 manufacturer cleaved at the periplasmic domain as a result of a low pH signal. This proteolytic event generates www.selleckchem.com/products/CP-690550.html a transmembrane signal that switches on expression of the cadBA operon. The lysine signal represses expression of the lysine permease LysP, which normally blocks transmission of the conformational signal to the cytoplasmic DNA-binding domain. In addition, the PTS permease STM4538 is positively involved in regulation of CadC proteolysis through an unknown mechanism. However, details of the functional interactions between CadC,

LysP, STM4538 and unidentified proteases have not yet been elucidated. In summary, our findings suggest a novel mode of transcriptional control by bacterial enzymes. The identification of STM4538 as a positive modulator of CadC function provides important information for uncovering the molecular basis of the proteolytic activation of CadC. It will be interesting to investigate how STM4538 affects the expression or activity of the unidentified protease. This work was supported by a grant from the Korea Research Foundation funded by the Korean Government (MOEHRD, Basic Research Promotion Fund) (KRF-2008-314-C00328). Y.H. Lee and S. Kim contributed of equally to this work. “
“Oxygen is a limiting factor in the production of γ-PGA by the glutamic acid-independent strain Bacillus amyloliquefaciens LL3 because of the high viscosity of the culture broth. The vgb gene encoding Vitreoscilla hemoglobin (VHb) was introduced into LL3 to overcome the low concentration

of dissolved oxygen (DO). First, recombinant plasmid pWHV was constructed by cloning vgb into the Bacillus expression vector pWH1520 and transformed into LL3. Carbon monoxide difference spectral analysis confirmed the expression of VHb. The γ-PGA yield of LL3 (pWHV) under the optimized fermentation conditions increased by 9.56%. To overcome the instability of pWH1520 and to establish stable expression of VHb, the engineered strain LL3-PVK was constructed by homologous recombination between the integration vector pKSVPVK and the 16S rRNA gene of LL3. The temperature-sensitive plasmid was used to perform the integration, which successfully circumvented the obstacle of the low transformation efficiency of B. amyloliquefaciens LL3. Bacillus amyloliquefaciens LL3-PVK showed an increase of 30% in γ-PGA production, while the biomass was increased by 7.9%.