Provided are methods of mitigating, reversing or eliminating in a subject one or more symptoms associated with cognitive impairment associated with amyloid deposits in the brain (e.g., olfactory dysfunction as a risk factor of dementia, mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's Disease) by detecting and targeting gram negative bacteria in the brain.

A method for determining the susceptibility of a bacteria to an antibiotic, comprising transferring one portion of a sample containing living bacterial cells into a bacterial growth medium to create a control sample; transferring another portion of the sample into a bacterial growth medium to which a predetermined amount of antibiotic or predetermined amount of a library of antibiotics has been added to create a test sample; adding an alkyne-modified non-canonical amino acid to both the control sample and test sample during bacterial growth, wherein the alkyne-modified non-canonical amino acid incorporates into surface proteins, internal proteins, or both; reacting the alkyne-containing proteins with an azide-modified detection molecule using click-chemistry to label the cells; detecting the labeled cells using a method that generates a detectable signal; and comparing the signal generated by the control sample to the signal generated by the test sample, wherein a decrease in detectable signal between the control sample and the test sample is indicative of susceptibility of the living bacteria to the predetermined antibiotic or predetermined library of antibiotics.

The present disclosure provides a method for detecting L-serine based on cysteine desulfurase-containing living Escherichia coli cells, and belongs to the technical field of amino acid detection. The method includes the following steps: incubating an unknown sample with the cysteine desulfurase-containing living E. coli cells to produce a red substance, and qualitatively or semi-quantitatively detecting L-serine content in the unknown sample according to color changes of the red substance of the living E. coli cells, or quantitatively detecting L-serine content in the unknown sample by measuring absorbance of a lysate of the living E. coli cells. The detection method provided by the present disclosure is simple and convenient in process, few in reaction steps and stable in enzymatic activity of living cells.

The present invention is directed to methods for the growth, enrichment and isolation of microbes within a sample for further use in presumptive identification of pathogenic bacteria that may therein be contained.

Provided are methods for determining the health status of subject considered as a potential intestinal microflora donor, and to compositions including bacteria obtained from healthy subjects. Further provided are methods of identifying individuals of exceptional health suitable to be donors of bacteria of the intestinal microflora, and methods for producing reproducibly effective probiotic compositions, and probiotic compositions derived from such bacteria.

A generic inert bio-vector Salmonella sp. S9H and potential uses thereof are provided. The generic inert bio-vector Salmonella sp. S9H is derived from a continuous in-vitro culture of an inert bio-vector bacterium Salmonella sp. S9 by using LB solid and liquid culture media for passage to the fortieth generation. With a quantity of bacteria at a working concentration, the S9H does not cause non-specific agglutination reactions in sera or whole blood derived from humans, mice, cattle, pigs and poultry (including chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, pigeons and quails); moreover, S9H has a property of carrying, and expressing and displaying different antigen factors derived from humans, mice, cattle, pigs and poultry (including chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, pigeons and quails) on the surface thereof .

Antigen binding proteins that interact with class 5 ETEC adhesins, compositions comprising said antigen binding proteins, and methods of preventing or treating ETEC related disorders in a subject in need thereof comprising administering to said subject a therapeutically effective amount of one or more of said compositions are described.

A biomass containment device (BCD) and methods of measuring microbial growth or enzyme activity in the presence of insoluble substrates using the BCD is described. The BCD is compatible with microbial growth and enzyme assays, is sterilizable, is reusable, and the size can be varied to fit any container.

Methods of detecting target bacteria are provided. In some embodiments the methods comprise exposing the sample to a phage capable of infecting a set of target bacteria and comprising a heterologous nucleic acid sequence encoding a marker. In some embodiments the target bacteria comprise Listeria. In some embodiments the target bacteria are all Listeria. Recombinant Listeria phage comprising a heterologous nucleic acid sequence encoding a marker are also provided as are useful combinations of such phage and articles of manufacture comprising such phage, among other things.

Provided herein, inter alia, are methods and compositions for removing a phosphopantethiene analog moiety from an ACP-phosphopantetheine conjugate thereby providing Apo-ACP proteins.