An attempt was made to find out the favorable culture conditions for fermentative cyclic AMP production from inosine by Microbacterium sp. No. 205 (ATCC 21376).
(1) The pH of fermentation had to be at first adjusted at 6.4 to 6.6 and to be maintained at those pH for cyclic AMP production until 12 to 16 hr after incubation, and after that, 7 to 8 of pH was favorable; The optimum temperature of fermentation was 28 to 30°C; The favorable Kd values (O₂ gas supplying rate to culture medium) was 5 to 10 (×10⁶ mole/ml•min•atm) in the medium containing 5% glucose and 7 to 11 (×10⁶ mole/ml•min•atm) in 10% glucose; And the favorable culture phase of seed culture for inoculum was from the late logarithmic phase to the beginning of stational phase.
(2) Cyclic AMP production decreased extremely when the growth of the bacterium was inhibited, for example, at initial pH of fermentation above 7 or at temperature of fermentation above 33°C, etc., and cyclic AMP hardly produced when the cells of bacterium changed morphologically from elongated types to short rod or coccus types. That morphological changes happened, for example, in cases of controlling pH of fermentation below 6.0 befor the stational growth phase, some strains that lowered pH of fermentation below 6.0 by themselves, or inoculating cells from accelerating growth phase to the middle of logarithmic phase in seed culture into fermentative medium.
(3) It was conceived that the morphological changes of elongated cells to short rod or coccus cells that caused by various culture conditions were resulted in the inhibition of formation of cyclic AMP from ATP.

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Five strains of spore lytic microorganisms, which formed clear zones around the colonies on plate agar containing bacterial spores, were isolated from soil and identified as Streptomyees candidus.
The supernatant of broth obtained from shaking culture of strain No. 107 had a ability to lyse the heated spores (121°C, 20min) of Bacillus licheniformis, B. cereus, B. polymyxa, B. megaterium and B. subtilis. Moreover, intact spores of B. cereus were lysed by the supernatant broth, and it was observed that a loss of refractility of spores and a decreasing of whole spore population occurred.
The supernatant broth showed proteolytic, keratinolytic and lysozyme-like activities. It was considered that there was a enzymatic system to lyse whole spores in the supernatant broth from strain No. 107.

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The thermal behaviors of water in powdered soy sauce and its sugar components were investigated using a differential scanning calorimeter. Different patterns of water behavior were observed between the powders equilibrated in the atmospheres of less and more than 20% relative humidity. The neutral sugar fraction separated from spray-dried soy sauce contained pentoses, hexoses and oligosaccharides, showing significantly different thermograms from those of an acidic polysaccharide isolated from the same specimen. The former was similar in patterns to those of the powdered soy sauce which were humidified in above 35% relative humidity with regard to their thermograms and vapor pressure isotherms.
The spray-dried soy sauce added with 10% (w/v) of any oligosaccharide or hexose tested increased its hygroscopicity, while the powders added with any pentose, dextrin, soluble starch or oxidized starch decreased it as revealed by using the BET and Harkins-Jura plots. These results suggested that the hygroscopic materials in the powdered soy sauce were incorporated into the structure hole of starch or other polysaccharides and consequently decreased the hygroscopicity of the powders.

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From the water-extract of wheat bran culture of Aspergillus aureus, an acid-stable α-amylase was purified by ethanol precipitation, column chromatography on DEAE-Sepha-dex A-50 and gel filtration on Sephadex G-100. The final preparation was homogeneous in polyacrylamide gel disc electrophoresis at pH 2.3, pH 4.0 and pH 9.4. The molecular weight and the isoelectric point of the enzyme were estimated to be about 60, 000 (by gel filtration method) and pH 3.55 (by isoelectric focusing method), respectively.
The stability of the enzyme under acidic circumstances was much higher than that of Taka-amylase A. The enzyme was stabilized to some extent by the addition of Ca²⁺ ion. In addition, the presence of Ca²⁺ ion influenced remarkably the pH-activity profile and the temperature-dependency of the enzyme activity. The enzyme was the most active at about pH 4.5 in the presence of Ca²⁺ ion and at about pH 5.5 in the absence of Ca²⁺ ion. The enzyme was inhibited by some metal ions such as A1³⁺, Fe³⁺ and Pb²⁺, but not inhibited by metal chelating agents, SH-reagents and oxidizing- or reducing-agents of S-S bond.
In the hydrolysis of soluble starch by the enzyme, the hydrolysis degree at the achromatic point in starch-iodine reaction was 16% and the limit of hydrolysis was 43% on the basis of calculation as glucose. The main products were glucose, maltose and maltotriose. The enzyme did not show any maltose activity.
Phenyl α-maltoside was hydrolyzed by the enzyme. Glucose, maltose and phenyl α-glucoside were detected in TLC of the hydrolyzate when the substrate concentration was 1mM. On the other hand, one spot of oligosaccharide (probably maltotriose) in addition to the above three products was detected in TLC of the hydrolyzate when the substrate concentration was 50mm, which suggested the occurrence of transglucosidation.

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The effects of various proteins on the gelatinization of various starches were investigated by amylograph. The effects were observed to be diverse in different combination of starch and protein, in variable protein-starch ratio, and with different starch concentrations. Heat denaturation of proteins also showed diverse effect on different starches.
Although any distinct principles were not found to explain these diversities, it seems likely that corn and potato starches are in direct opposition and waxy counterparts situate midway between them.

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In connection with the biogenesis of the interconvertible indole alkaloids, rugulovasine A and B, the authors have examined the whole alkaloids produced in the surface cultures of Penicillium concavo-rugulosum Abe for the existence of such alkaloids as agroclavine and elymoclavine by means of thin layer chromatography.
As a result, it has been found that in the said cultures there exist several indole alkaloids each of which agree well with isochanoclavine-(I), chanoclavine-(II), dihydrorugulovasine A or dihydrorugulovasine A-lactam both in color reaction and in chromatographic behavior, besides chanoclavine-(I) and rugulovasine A and B, in a small quantity. Contrary to expectation, the existence of agroclavine and the other known tetracyclic ergoline alkaloids in the test cultures could not, after all, be found.
Further, the state of increase and decrease of chanoclavines and rugulovasines (A and B) in the culturing process did not reveal any biogenetic relationship among these alkaloids.
Of the newly found indole alkaloids mentioned above, the one which was considered to be chanoclavine-(II) has been isolated exclusively as rac. chanoclavin-(II).

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A simplified and highly efficient still to produce purer water is introduced. This distilling apparatus consists of a flask, a cyclone, a hot spot and condensers. As the four parts consisting the apparatus are joined flexibly together through universal joints, the apparatus can be arranged to fit its location, and also some of its components can be easily exchanged.

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