The anti-fungal property of caprylic acid on C. albicans, particularly its fungicidal activity, has been studied by colony count using an ordinary plating method and a modification of an electrophoretic method.
Caprylic acid exhibits the most remarkable fungistatic and fungicidal properties of all the normal saturated fatty acids with even numbered carbon atoms studied. The fungicidal activity of caprylic acid depends upon the concentration of the acid, the period of contact and the pH of the media.
The fungicidal action of caprylic acid is considerably reduced by the simultaneous addition of several agents such as serum, carbohydrate, and polyhydric alcohol. This protective effect, however, disappears after the contact with the acid for 3 hr. Furthermore, when the cells of the organism are once exposed to caprylic acid, its fungicidal activity is not affected by washing them with distilled water. These quantitative and biochemical facts suggest that the adsorption of caprylic acid to the yeast cells must be extremely strong and specific.

View full abstract

It has been found that solutions of various colored substances, such as methyl red and phenolphthalein, are under the influence of an unknown physical factor (X-agent). The color intensities of dilute solutions of these substances are changed unsystematically by the agent, just like the turbidities of protein solutions or of kaolin suspensions with which a series of experiments have previously been performed.
The penetrating power of the X-agent involved in the color change proves to b extremely great. A 10-cm lead shield fails to inhibit the change of the color.
The X-agent which can affect the color intensity appears to be emitted from material substances, such as water and lead. The emission is frequently distinct on the north side of the substance.
The X-agent fluctuates remarkably in its intensity with time. The fluctuation tends to occur with periods of a few days not only in quantity but in quality. With such a fluctuation of periods of a few days, the agent seems to undergo a seasonal variation, exhibiting the highest peak of strength in the late spring or the early summer.

View full abstract

Antigenic analyses of seven species of the genus Saccharomyces were carried out by the slide agglutination methods, using monospecific and absorbed antisera prepared mainly with the antigens of the genus Candida. Saccharomyces species showed serological cross reactions with most of the species of the genus Candida. Furthermore, the antigenic structures of every species tested were confirmed by reciprocal absorptions and slide agglutination tests.
Saccharomyces oviformis possesses thermostable antigen 1, 2, 3, 10, 14, 18, 31 and no thermolabile antigen, and Saccharomyces steineri has thermolabile antigen e in addition to all of the antigens of Saccharomyces oviforanis. The antigenic structures of the two species are closely related to Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida robusta, and the antigenic structure of Saccharomyces oviformis is identical to that of Saccharomyces uvarurn.
Both Saccharomyces rouxii and Saccharomyces carlsbergensis possess thermostable antigens 1, 8, 10, 28, 32 and no thermolabile antigen. Saccharomyces mellis contains thermostable antigen 31 besides all of the antigens of the two species. They are closely related to Saccharomyces fragilis and Candida pseudotropicalis.
Saccharomyces chevaliers has thermostable antigens 1, 2, 3, 8, 10, 14, 18 and 31 but no thermolabile antigen. Saccharomyces italicus is different from the former only by the possession of antigen 28. The two species are related antigenically, in part, to Candida pseudotropicalis and partly to Candida robusta.

View full abstract

Partially purified cell walls of Streptococcus pyogenes and of antibiotic-resistant variants were prepared by prolonged shaking with glass beads. The antibiotic-resistant variants used were chloramphenicol-, penicillin-, tetracyclineor streptomycin-resistant, and former three had lost their reactivity in group specific carbohydrate which is characteristic of the original group A cocci.
1. The cell walls of the penicillin-resistant variants was considerably less rigid.
2. The ratio of reducing substances to the total N was smaller in the specific polysaccharide deficient variants when compared to the original strains.
3. The ratio of rhamnose to hexosamine was significantly small in the group A polysaccharide-deficient and antibiotic-resistant strains, but this was not true for the chloramphenicol-resistant variant from strain T-12.
4. The sugar present in the cell wall materials was identified by paper chromatography. It was observed that rhamnose was substituted by galactose and/or mannose or arabinose in the specific C polysaccharide deficient, antibiotic-resistant strains with one exception.

View full abstract

Cells of Coryne bacterium diphtheriae, grown in glucose-yeast extract-broth enriched with bovine serum under aerobic conditions, were fixed with osmium tetroxide in acetate-veronal buffer containing NaCl and CaCl2, followed by uranyl acetate treatment and embedding in methacrylates. The fine structure of the organism was observed on the sections with an electron microscope.
The cell wall is composed of three layers; dense outer and inner layers and the less-dense broad intermediate layer. The cytoplasmic membrane consists of a double layered membrane, i.e., dense inner and outer layers separated by a lighter interspace. At the process of cell division the cell wall associated with the cytoplasmic membrane grows centripetally to form the septum. The nuclear apparatus consists of the fine fibrils, about 20∼50 A width, in a low density matrix occupying the central area of the cytoplasm.
The cytoplasmic membrane enters the cytoplasm and appears to be reorganized into the intracytoplasmic membrane system, which is presented as a complex membranous organnelle, such as a cluster of vesicules and a lamellar structure, inside as well as outside the nuclear region. The organelle often can be seen on the inner rim of the developing septum. As the cell grows older, the membranous organelle seems to degenerate, while the metachromatic granules appear in the cytoplasm and gradually develop with age.

View full abstract

Mycobacterial cells are able to retain their viability in a phosphorus-deficient medium for a longer period than they can in a normal complete medium. However, the cells pre-incubated in the phosphorus-deficient medium for a long time (more than 8 weeks) loose their viability very rapidly when exposed to a phosphorus-rich condition.

View full abstract