The Journal of General and Applied Microbiology
Online ISSN : 1349-8037
Print ISSN : 0022-1260
ISSN-L : 0022-1260
Volume 59, Issue 6
Displaying 1-7 of 7 articles from this issue
Full Papers
  • Maegala Nallapan Maniyam, Fridelina Sjahrir, Abdul Latif Ibrahim, Anth ...
    2013 Volume 59 Issue 6 Pages 393-404
    Published: 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: January 31, 2014
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    A Rhodococcus sp. UKMP-5M isolate was shown to detoxify cyanide successfully, suggesting the presence of an intrinsic property in the bacterium which required no prior cyanide exposure for induction of this property. However, in order to promote growth, Rhodococcus sp. UKMP-5M was fully acclimatized to cyanide after 7 successive subcultures in 0.1 mM KCN for 30 days. To further shorten the lag phase and simultaneously increase the tolerance towards higher cyanide concentrations, the bacterium was induced with various nitrile compounds sharing a similar degradatory pathway to cyanide. Acetonitrile emerged as the most favored inducer and the induced cells were able to degrade 0.1 mM KCN almost completely within 18 h. With the addition of subsequent aliquots of 0.1 mM KCN a shorter period for complete removal of cyanide was required, which proved to be advantageous economically. Both resting cells and crude enzyme of Rhodococcus sp. UKMP-5M were able to biodegrade cyanide to ammonia and formate without the formation of formamide, implying the identification of a simple hydrolytic cyanide degradation pathway involving the enzyme cyanidase. Further verification with SDS-PAGE revealed that the molecular weight of the active enzyme was estimated to be 38 kDa, which is consistent with previously reported cyanidases. Since the recent advancement in the application of biological methods in treating cyanide-bearing wastewater has been promising, the discovery of this new bacterium will add value by diversifying the existing microbial populations capable of cyanide detoxification.
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  • Xin Yin, Yan-Yan Gong, Jun-Qing Wang, Cun-Duo Tang, Min-Chen Wu
    2013 Volume 59 Issue 6 Pages 405-415
    Published: 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: January 31, 2014
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    A full-length cDNA sequence of Aoxyn10, a gene encoding a glycoside hydrolase (GH) family 10 xylanase from Aspergillus oryzae, was amplified from the total RNA by 3′ and 5′ rapid amplification of cDNA ends. The cDNA sequence is 1,689 bp, containing 5′, 3′ untranslated regions and a 1,422 bp open reading frame (ORF) that encodes a 21-aa signal peptide and a 452-aa mature peptide (designated AoXyn10). Multi-alignment revealed that AoXyn10 contains two regions: a catalytic domain (CD) and a family 1 carbohydrate-binding module (CBM1). The three-dimensional (3-D) structure of the CD was predicted by multiple template-based homology modeling. A 2,308-bp complete DNA sequence of Aoxyn10 was obtained from the genomic DNA by both pUCm-T vector-mediated and conventional PCRs, harboring 5′, 3′ flanking regulatory regions, five exons and four introns. Moreover, Aoxyn10 was extracellularly expressed in Pichia pastoris. One transformant labeled as P. pastoris GS/Xyn4-11 was selected, expressing the highest recombinant AoXyn10 (named reAoXyn10) activity of 45.0 U/ml. SDS-PAGE analysis revealed that reAoXyn10, a glycoprotein with an apparent molecular weight (M.W.) of about 56.0 kDa, was secreted into the cultured medium. The purified reAoXyn10 displayed the maximum activity at pH 5.5 and 60°C. It was stable at a pH range of 4.0−7.0, and at 50°C or below. Its activity was not affected by an array of metal ions or EDTA, but was inhibited by Mn2+ and Ba2+. The Km and Vmax of reAoXyn10 were 1.7 mg/ml and 817 μmol/min/mg, respectively.
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  • Dev Kumar Verma, Gaurav Rathore
    2013 Volume 59 Issue 6 Pages 417-424
    Published: 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: January 31, 2014
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Flavobacterium columnare is currently one of the important bacterial pathogens causing columnaris disease in several farmed fish species across diverse geographies. A presumptive columnaris disease outbreak in farmed catla, Catla catla (Hamilton), was investigated with the aim of isolating and identifying the causative pathogen. F. columnare (strain RDC-1) was isolated from gills of infected fish and identified by conventional biochemical methods, and through species specific polymerase chain reaction and sequencing of the 16S rDNA for molecular identification. Strain RDC-1 belonged to genomovar II with 99% similarity to available 16S rDNA sequences of F. columnare, and also shared 70% DNA-DNA relatedness with known strains of F. columnare. Bath immersion studies of RDC-1 showed development of columnaris disease in catla fingerlings within 7 days, with a cumulative mortality of 83.3%. This is the first molecular confirmation of Flavobacterium columnare as a fish pathogen of farmed Catla catla in India.
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  • Eman Zakaria Gomaa
    2013 Volume 59 Issue 6 Pages 425-436
    Published: 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: January 31, 2014
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    This study aimed to investigate the antimicrobial and anti-adhesive properties of biosurfactant extracted from ten lactobacilli species isolated from Egyptian dairy products. The produced biosurfactants showed distinct antimicrobial and anti-adhesive activities against several pathogenic microorganisms. Furthermore, lactobacilli isolates were studied for biofilm formation and lactic acid production in different growth media. All lactobacilli isolates produced biofilm on polystyrene surface in all media tested to different degrees. L. acidophilus showed the highest biofilm formation in Rogosa medium. However, the highest lactic acid production was recorded by L. brevis (39.63 g/L), followed by L. reuteri (33.32 g/L) in MRS medium. Evaluation based on in vitro studies including auto-aggregation and co-aggregation with three pathogenic bacterial strains was further analyzed. All lactobacilli isolates tested were able to auto-aggregate (ranging from 51.12% to 78.17% assessed at 5 h of incubation). The lactobacilli isolates co-aggregate with the tested bacterial strains to different degrees; among them L. delbrueckii showed the highest scores of co-aggregation with Candida albicans ATC70014, reaching 59.37%. The aggregation ability exhibited by the isolated lactobacilli, together with the antimicrobial and anti-adhesive properties observed for their biosurfactants, opens future prospects for their use against microorganisms responsible for diseases and infections and as effective probiotic strains.
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  • Ming-An Tsai, Pei-Chi Wang, Thanh-Trung Cao, Pei-Chih Liao, Li-Ling Li ...
    2013 Volume 59 Issue 6 Pages 437-449
    Published: 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: January 31, 2014
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    In this study, the gene encoding 40 kDa GAPDH of L. garvieae was determined and overexpressed by using the Escherichia coli expression system. Analysis results indicated that the sequences of GAPDH of L. garvieae nucleotide and its amino acid are highly homologous (80.4−100%) to several products of GAPDH from L. garvieae and other Streptococcus-related bacteria. According to Western blotting results, rabbit antiserum and tilapia infection serum reacted strongly to the recombinant GAPDH protein. In another experiment, tilapia were immunized intraperitoneally with formalin-killed L. garvieae whole cells, recombinant GAPDH (50 μg fish−1) from L. garvieae or both. ISA 763A was used as an adjuvant for vaccine and saline was used as a negative control. The fish challenged at 4 weeks after immunization with GAPDH+WC+ISA had the highest survival rate at 100%, followed by fish immunized with WC+ISA or GAPDH+ISA, which had RPS values of 87.5% and 50%, respectively. Additionally, specific antibody responses against L. garvieae whole cells and GAPDH were based on enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Following 4 weeks of immunization, the specific antibody level of all vaccine groups significantly increased, except for antibody responses against L. garvieae GAPDH of those immunized with formalin-killed L. garvieae whole cells. Our results further demonstrated that GAPDH from L. garvieae protected tilapia from experimental L. garvieae infection, implying the potential use of L. garvieae GAPDH as a vaccine against L. garvieae.
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  • Yanping Chang, Xiangpan Bu, Weibo Niu, Yu Xiu, Huafang Wang
    2013 Volume 59 Issue 6 Pages 451-461
    Published: 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: January 31, 2014
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Supplementary material
    Relatively little information is available regarding the variability of microbial communities inhabiting deeper soil layers. We investigated the distribution of soil microbial communities down to 1.2 m in 5-year-old Robinia pseudoacacia ‘Idaho’ soil by 454 sequencing of the 16S RNA gene. The average number of sequences per sample was 12,802. The Shannon and Chao 1 indices revealed various relative microbial abundances and even distribution of microbial diversity for all evaluated sample depths. The predicted diversity in the topsoil exceeded that of the corresponding subsoil. The changes in the relative abundance of the major soil bacterial phyla showed decreasing, increasing, or no consistent trends with respect to sampling depth. Despite their novelty, members of the new candidate phyla OD1 and TM7 were widespread. Environmental variables affecting the bacterial community within the environment appeared to differ from those reported previously, especially the lack of detectable effect from pH. Overall, we found that the overall relative abundance fluctuated with the physical and chemical properties of the soil, root system, and sampling depth. Such information may facilitate forest soil management.
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  • Jian-Hang Qu, Jian-Ying Qu, Xiao-Bing He, Hai-Feng Li, Yu Luo, Yan-Li ...
    2013 Volume 59 Issue 6 Pages 463-468
    Published: 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: January 31, 2014
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    A polyphasic study was carried out to clarify the taxonomic position of a novel strain R-30T isolated from the surficial layer of sediment from Taihu Lake of China. The strain formed pink colored colonies comprising coccodial cells on R2A agar. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain R-30T clustered with the strains of genus Roseococcus and strain Rubritepida flocculans, with Roseococcus suduntuyensis SHETT as the closest relative, sharing 95.6% similarity. The major fatty acids (>5%) were 18:1ω7c (66.7%), 16: 1ω7c/16:1ω6c (10.2%) and 16:0 (8.0%). The major polar lipids were diphosphatidyl glycerol (DPG), phosphatidyl methylethanolamine (PME), phosphatidyl ethanolamine (PE) and phosphatidyl choline (PC). The genomic DNA G+C content was 73.9 mol%. On the basis of the phylogenetic analysis and physiological and biochemical characteristics, we conclude that strain R-30T represents a novel genus and species of the family Acetobacteraceae, for which we propose the name Sediminicoccus rosea gen nov. sp. nov. with R-30T (= CGMCC 1.12302T = NBRC 109675T) as the type species and type strain.
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