The Journal of General and Applied Microbiology
Online ISSN : 1349-8037
Print ISSN : 0022-1260
ISSN-L : 0022-1260
Volume 44, Issue 3
Displaying 1-8 of 8 articles from this issue
  • Dong Gun Lee, Ikuko Nishimura-Masuda, Akira Nakamura, Makoto Hidaka, H ...
    1998 Volume 44 Issue 3 Pages 177-181
    Published: 1998
    Released on J-STAGE: August 10, 2005
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    We have transformed an industrial strain, Aspergillus niger GN-3, with the α-glucosidase gene (aglA) from the same strain. Southern hybridization analysis revealed that transformants had multiple copies of the cloned DNA inserted into the host genome. An 11-fold improvement of enzyme production was achieved by transformation with a DNA fragment composed of 1.11 kb of the 5′ noncoding region, 3.12 kb of the coding region containing three introns, and 1.2 kb of the 3′ noncoding region. It was found that the 3′ noncoding region (1.2 kb) was preferable for maximum production of the enzyme in the transformant.
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  • Luu Phan-Thanh, Annick Montagne
    1998 Volume 44 Issue 3 Pages 183-191
    Published: 1998
    Released on J-STAGE: August 10, 2005
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The physiological aspects of the response to acidic conditions and the correlated protein synthesis were studied by using Listeria monocytogenes grown in a chemically defined synthetic medium. This growth was greatly affected by pH of the medium. It decreased when pH declined and was arrested at pH 4. When pH went under 4, the bacteria began to die. If the bacteria had been adapted to an intermediary sublethal pH before imposition of lethal pH stress, they would have resisted better lethal pH. A prolonged treatment at intermediary pH, however, rendered the bacteria more sensitive to subsequent lethal pH. Organic volatile acids exerted a more deleterious effect on L. monocytogenes than inorganic acids at the same stressing pH. The acquired acid tolerance was conserved after several weeks of storage of the adapted bacteria at 4°C. Acid stress and acid adaptation (tolerance) affected the synthesis patterns of bacterial proteins: Many proteins were repressed and several others increased in expression level. These acid-induced proteins were separated by two-dimensional (2D-) electrophoresis and analyzed by a computer-aided 2D-gel analysis system. The results obtained suggested that acid tolerance and acid stress responses require the synthesis of a certain number of shared proteins and that additional acid-induced proteins are needed when the bacteria must face more severe acidic pH.
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  • Somboon Tanasupawat, Sanae Okada, Kazuo Komagata
    1998 Volume 44 Issue 3 Pages 193-200
    Published: 1998
    Released on J-STAGE: August 10, 2005
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Forty-seven strains of homofermentative rod-shaped and 5 heterofermentative sphere-shaped lactic acid bacteria were isolated from 4 kinds of fermented fish (pla-ra, pla-chom, kung-chom, and hoi-dong) in Thailand. These bacteria were separated into four groups by phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics, including fluorometric DNA-DNA hybridization. Five strains (Group I) contained meso-diaminopimelic acid in the cell wall. Four strains were identified as Lactobacillus pentosus, and one strain was L. plantarum. Tested strains of this group produced DL-lactic acid. The rest of the rod-shaped bacteria, 23 strains (Group II) and 19 strains (Group III), lacked meso-diaminopimelic acid in the cell wall and were identified as L. farciminis and Lactobacillus species, respectively. The tested strains of these groups produced L-lactic acid. The amount of cellular fatty acids of C16:0 and C18:1, and the DNA base compositions were significant for differentiating the strains in Groups II and III. Five strains of cocci in chains (Group IV) produced gas from glucose. The tested strains of this group produced D-lactic acid. They were identified as a Leuconostoc species. The distribution of these bacteria in fermented fish in Thailand is discussed.
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  • Yoshihito Uchino, Aiko Hirata, Akira Yokota, Junta Sugiyama
    1998 Volume 44 Issue 3 Pages 201-210
    Published: 1998
    Released on J-STAGE: August 10, 2005
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The bootstrapped 16S rDNA sequence-based neighbor-joining phylogeny has suggested that the marine species of the genus Agrobacterium have no relation to the terrestrial Agrobacterium species. Agrobacterium atlanticum IAM 14463T (a superscript T=type strain), Agrobacterium ferrugineum IAM 12616T, Agrobacterium gelatinovorum IAM 12617T, Agrobacterium meteori IAM 14464T, Agrobacterium stellulatum IAM 12621T and IAM 12614, and the invalidly published marine species “Agrobacterium kieliense” IAM 12618 occupy an independent position in the α-subclass of the Proteobacteria. Based on 16S rDNA sequencing and on chemotaxonomic, morphological, and physiological studies, we propose the transfer of A. atlanticum, A. gelatinovorum, and Roseobacter algicola to the genus Ruegeria gen. nov. as Ruegeria atlantica comb. nov., Ruegeria gelatinovora comb. nov., and Ruegeria algicola comb. nov., respectively; of strains of A. stellulatum to the genus Stappia gen. nov. as Stappia stellulata comb. nov. and Stappia aggregata sp. nov., nom. rev., respectively; and of “A. kieliense” to the genus Ahrensia gen. nov. as Ahrensia kieliense sp. nov., nom. rev. Agrobacterium meteori is assigned to be a synonym of A. atlanticum.
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  • Hiroshi Morita, Mayumi Matsunaga, Kouhei Mizuno, Yusaku Fujio
    1998 Volume 44 Issue 3 Pages 211-216
    Published: 1998
    Released on J-STAGE: August 10, 2005
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Maximum growth for Rhizopus sp. A-11 was obtained at a zinc ion concentration of 0.7 ppm in a liquid medium. Glucoamylase (GA, EC 3.2.1.3) production in Rhizopus sp. A-11 was maximized at 710 U/ml, at the presence of 75 ppm for calcium and 0.7 ppm of zinc ions in liquid medium. Zinc ion is known as an essential biometal for Rhizopus growth; however, growth was inhibited by the zinc ion concentration, not maximized. Although calcium ion was not necessary to Rhizopus growth, GA production using Rhizopus sp. A-11 was markedly stimulated by calcium ion concentration over 75 ppm in the liquid medium. The GA productivity of the present liquid culture was about 4.4 times higher than that of the solid state culture, based on the unit starch amount in the liquid and solid media carbon source. The characteristics of the GA produced by the Rhizopus sp. A-11 liquid culture were interesting; that is, almost all the GA produced was classified as raw starch-digesting GA (GA-I). Secreted protein in the culture liquid after 30 h was nearly GA, and had a limited amount of impure protein. As a result, it was found that using a Rhizopus culture in a specified metal-ion regulated medium was an effective method for producing GA. Thus the present culture method was renamed the “metal-ion-regulated liquid culture method.”
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  • Abdul Gafur, Chihiro Tanaka, Kiminori Shimizu, Seiji Ouchi, Mitsuya Ts ...
    1998 Volume 44 Issue 3 Pages 217-223
    Published: 1998
    Released on J-STAGE: August 10, 2005
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Cochliobolus heterostrophus Tub1 described here is the first β-tubulin gene characterized from a naturally occurring benomyl-resistant ascomycete plant pathogen. The gene encodes a protein of 447 amino acids. The coding region of Tub1 is interrupted by three introns, of 116, 55, and 56 nt, situated after codons 4, 12, and 53, respectively. As a result of the preference for pyrimidines in the third position of the codons when a choice exists between purines and pyrimidines, codon usage in the Tub1 gene is biased. Tub1 shows high homology with β-tubulin genes of other ascomycete species. However, Tub1 is exceptional in having Tyr167, compared with Phe167, possessed by β-tubulin genes of other ascomycetes sequenced thus far. The Tyr167 residue has been associated with benomyl resistance in other organisms. In contrast, all other benomyl-implicated residues of Tub1 correspond to sensitivity. Based on these results, we suggest that benomyl resistance in the fungus probably is attributed to Tyr167.
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