The Journal of General and Applied Microbiology
Online ISSN : 1349-8037
Print ISSN : 0022-1260
ISSN-L : 0022-1260
Volume 45, Issue 6
Displaying 1-7 of 7 articles from this issue
  • Muthafar Hussain Al-Haddawi, Sabri Jasni, Radu Son, Abdul Rahim Mutali ...
    1999 Volume 45 Issue 6 Pages 269-275
    Published: 1999
    Released on J-STAGE: October 03, 2005
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Forty isolates of Pasteurella multocida from healthy (17 isolates) and diseased (23 isolates) rabbits were assayed for the presence of plasmids in seeking to determine whether any correlation exists between the presence of plasmids and health status, sensitivity to antimicrobial agents, capsular and somatic type, and the anatomic site of isolation. Six isolates were found harboring plasmids. A similar ladder pattern ranging from 18 to 3 megadalton (Mda) were found in three isolates recovered from diseased rabbits. One band of molecular weight 6.6 Mda was shared by four of five (4/5) isolates from the diseased rabbits. No correlation was found between the presence of the common plasmids and serotype, resistance to antimicrobial agents, and anatomic sites from which the bacteria were cultured. Random amplification polymorphic DNA was applied to subtype all the isolates of P. multocida. Two single primers were tested for their abilities to generate individual fingerprints by using PCR. Primer 1 grouped the isolates into 7 profiles, and primer 2 grouped them into 15. Random amplified polymorphic DNA-polymerase chain reaction (RAPD-PCR) results show the presence of a wide heterogeneity within P. multocida isolates. Therefore RAPD-PCR is an efficient technique to detect the DNA polymorphism and could be used to discriminate P. multocida of rabbit isolates together with serologic typing.
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  • Dušan Jalč, Peter Siroka, Július Feješ, Zuza ...
    1999 Volume 45 Issue 6 Pages 277-282
    Published: 1999
    Released on J-STAGE: October 03, 2005
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    This study was conducted to investigate changes in in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) and cell wall constituent degradation in wheat straw treated with 3 strains of the fungus Pleurotus tuber-regium (PT). The incubation of wheat straw for 30 days at 28°C improved IVDMD from 30.3% (UWS—untreated wheat straw) to 47.1% for strain PT1, to 48.5% for PT4, and was unchanged IVDMD—29.9%—for PT5. The growth of fungi was accompanied by the dry matter loss of wheat straw: 31.5% for PT1, 20.9% for PT4, and 4.8% for PT5. Fungal treatment was characterized by increased crude protein and ash contents (%) in all fungi-treated straws and reduced hemicellulose and lignin content. It is evident that enzymes of all 3 PT strains preferentially degraded hemicellulose and lignin over cellulose. Wheat straw treated with PT1 (TWS-PT1), PT4 (TWS-PT4), and PT5 (TWS-PT5) and barley (80% : 20%) were used as the experimental diets at the fermentation in the artificial rumen. UWS with barley (80% : 20%) served as the control diet. The fermentation of experimental diets was accompanied with increased IVDMD and a very low degree of hemicellulose degradation. Total gas and methane productions were similar in all diets. Moreover, total volatile fatty acid (VFA) production (mmol day−1), mol % of acetate, propionate, butyrate, isobutyrate, and isovalerate were not influenced during the fermentation of experimental diets. From the stoichiometric relations, production, utilization, and recovery of metabolic hydrogen and organic matter fermented were unchanged. Only the recovery of metabolic hydrogen in TWS-PT5 was significantly increased in comparison to control diet. Total microbial production showed the tendency of lower values in experimental diets, and it was accompanied with a significant decrease of ammonia nitrogen (mg L−1). Finally the results showed that the strains of Pleurotus tuber-regium can improve the quality of wheat straw, but the loss of dry matter (DM) (mainly hemicellulose) limits the effective utilization of fungi-treated straw in ruminant digestion.
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  • Sangeeta Lal, Rarn C. Rajak, Suresh K. Hasija
    1999 Volume 45 Issue 6 Pages 283-287
    Published: 1999
    Released on J-STAGE: October 03, 2005
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The ability of two species of Bacillus to degrade child's scalp hair, cow horn, cow hooves, and human nails in vitro under static conditions was studied by the determination of soluble sulphhydryl compounds as cysteine, disulphides as cystine, and release of extracellular keratinase along with changes in alkalinity of the culture filtrate. Child's scalp hair was found to be the most favored keratin substrate for Bacillus spp.
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  • Milan Certik, Jana Megova, Robert Horenitzky
    1999 Volume 45 Issue 6 Pages 289-293
    Published: 1999
    Released on J-STAGE: October 03, 2005
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Various inorganic and organic nitrogen sources were used to compare their effects on the lipogenesis and the activities of lipogenic enzymes (providing acetyl-CoA and donating NADPH) in γ-linolenic acid-producing fungus Cunninghamella echinulata. Lipid accumulation was enhanced by organic nitrogen, among them the presence of corn-steep led to almost 40% oil in the biomass. While organic nitrogen increased activities of acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) and malic enzyme (ME), ATP:citrate lyase (ACL) was rapidly enhanced by ammonium ion. The use of NaNO3 resulted in high activities of glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPD) and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (PGD). NADP-isocitrate dehydrogenase (NADP-ICD) was more active when the fungus utilized all inorganic N-compounds. The rise of nitrogen concentration in medium was accompanied with reduced lipid accumulation and a fall of ACL, ACC, and ME. In contrast, N-sufficient conditions favored biomass growth and elevated activities of GPD and PGD. Kinetic experiments also suggest that a significant portion of the required acetyl-CoA was being provided via ACL and ACC, and ME (probably coupled with GPD) channeled the NADPH into the fatty acid biosynthesis. The contribution of the lipogenic enzymes to metabolic pathways other than lipogenesis is also discussed.
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  • Richard R. Navarro, Tai Uchimura, Kazuo Komagata
    1999 Volume 45 Issue 6 Pages 295-300
    Published: 1999
    Released on J-STAGE: October 03, 2005
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The taxonomic standing of Gluconacetobacter hansenii was clarified through phenotypic characteristics, quinones, DNA base composition, DNA relatedness, and the production of gluconic and ketogluconic acids from glucose. All strains that Gosselé et al. (Syst. Appl. Microbiol., 4, 338–368, 1983) employed in the establishment of Acetobacter hansenii (=G. hansenii) were used in this study. Phenotypic differences were shown among the strains of G. hansenii, suggesting heterogeneity within the species. The major ubiquinone was Q-10 for all strains of G. hansenii, except for strain IFO 3296, which was characterized by Q-9. This excluded IFO 3296 from the species G. hansenii and placed it in the genus Acetobacter. DNA relatedness revealed four distinct homology groups (I, II, III, and IV) among strains of the species. Group I was distinguished from the other genomic groups by a lower G+C range from 58.9 to 59.2 mol%. Groups II, III, and IV showed higher G+C contents of 60.4 to 62.2, 60.8, and 61.7 mol%, respectively. Groups I and IV produced both 2- and 5-ketogluconic acids from glucose, and Group III produced only 2-ketogluconic acid. Group II included strains that produced both 2- and 5-ketogluconic acids and strains that produced only 2-ketogluconic acid. It is clear that G. hansenii consists of genotypically heterogeneous strains comprising four homology groups (I, II, III, and IV). Since group I contains the type strain (IFO 14820T=LMG 1527T) of the species, this group is designated as the species G. hansenii.
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