Applied Microbiology and BiotechnologyThis is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader, such as GoogleReader, or to display this data on your own website or blog. Subscribe to this data using MyMedWorm.Subscribe to this data using GoogleReader.Subscribe to this data using Bloglines.Subscribe to this data using MyYahoo.

This page shows you the latest items in this publication.

642 records returned

Very early acetaldehyde production by industrial Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains: a new intrinsic character.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
During a general survey of the acetaldehyde-producing properties of commercially available wine yeast strains, we discovered that, although final acetaldehyde production cannot be used as a discriminating factor between yeast strains, initial specific acetaldehyde production rates were of highly interest for classifying yeast strains. This parameter is very closely related to the growth- and fermentation-lag phase durations. We also found that this acetaldehyde early production occurs with very different extent between commercial active dry yeast strains during the rehydration phase and could partially explain the know...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 18, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Cheraiti N, Guezenec S, Salmon JM Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Description of the novel perchlorate-reducing bacteria Dechlorobacter hydrogenophilus gen. nov., sp. nov. and Propionivibrio militaris, sp. nov.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Novel dissimilatory perchlorate-reducing bacteria (DPRB) were isolated from enrichments conducted under conditions different from those of all previously described DPRB. Strain LT-1(T) was enriched using medium buffered at pH 6.6 with 2-(N-morpholino)ethanesulfonic acid (MES) and had only 95% 16S rRNA gene identity with its closest relative, Azonexus caeni. Strain MP(T) was enriched in the cathodic chamber of a perchlorate-reducing bioelectrical reactor (BER) and together with an additional strain, CR (99% 16S rRNA gene identity), had 97% 16S rRNA gene identity with Propionivibrio limicola. The use of perchlorate and o...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 18, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Thrash JC, Pollock J, Torok T, Coates JD Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

A downstream process for production of a viable and stable Bacillus cereus aquaculture biological agent.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study examines the development of suitable spore recovery, drying, formulation and tablet production from the fermentation product. Key criteria used for such downstream process unit evaluation included spore viability, recovery, spore balance, spore re-germination, product intermediate stability, end product stability and efficacy. A process flow sheet comprising vertical tube centrifugation, fluidised bed agglomeration and tablet pressing yielded a suitable product. The formulation included corn steep liquor and glucose to enhance subsequent spore re-germination. Viable spore recovery and spore balance closure acros...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 18, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Lalloo R, Maharajh D, Görgens J, Gardiner N Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Oxygen-induced expression of (6)-, (9)- and (12)-desaturase genes modulates fatty acid composition in Mucor rouxii.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The effect of oxygen availability on the molecular mechanisms of fatty acid biosynthesis was investigated in Mucor rouxii, a Mucorale fungus capable of producing gamma-linolenic acid through perturbation of the gaseous environment. Shifting of the M. rouxii culture from anaerobic to aerobic conditions resulted in an increase of the biomass and total fatty acid content of the M. rouxii culture. In addition, the levels of unsaturated fatty acids were enhanced accompanied by a decrease in the levels of medium- and long-chain saturated fatty acids. These results correspond to the levels of expressions of the (9)-, (12)- an...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 17, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Ruenwai R, Cheevadhanarak S, Rachdawong S, Tanticharoen M, Laoteng K Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Engineering lower inhibitor affinities in beta-D: -xylosidase.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
We report here the development of a two-tier high-throughput screen where the 1 degrees screen selects for activity (active/inactive screen) and the 2 degrees screen selects for a higher K (i(d-xylose)) and its subsequent use in screening approximately 5,900 members of an SXA enzyme library prepared using error-prone PCR. In one variant, termed SXA-C3, K (i(d-xylose)) is threefold and K (i(d-glucose)) is twofold that of wild-type SXA. C3 contains four amino acid mutations, and one of these, W145G, is responsible for most of the lost affinity for the monosaccharides. Experiments that probe the active site with ligands that ...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 17, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Fan Z, Yuan L, Jordan DB, Wagschal K, Heng C, Braker JD Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Identification in Agrobacterium tumefaciens of the D: -galacturonic acid dehydrogenase gene.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
There are at least three different pathways for the catabolism of D: -galacturonate in microorganisms. In the oxidative pathway, which was described in some prokaryotic species, D: -galacturonate is first oxidised to meso-galactarate (mucate) by a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)-dependent dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.203). In the following steps of the pathway mucate is converted to 2-keto-glutarate. The enzyme activities of this catabolic pathway have been described while the corresponding gene sequences are still unidentified. The D: -galacturonate dehydrogenase was purified from Agrobacterium tumefaciens, and the...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 17, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Boer H, Maaheimo H, Koivula A, Penttilä M, Richard P Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

An L-arabinose isomerase from Acidothermus cellulolytics ATCC 43068: cloning, expression, purification, and characterization.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The araA gene encoding an L-arabinose isomerase (L-AI) from the acido-thermophilic bacterium Acidothermus cellulolytics ATCC 43068 was cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli. The open reading frame of the L-AI consisted of 1,503 nucleotides encoding 501 amino acid residues. The recombinant L-AI was purified to homogeneity by heat treatment, ion-exchange chromatography, and gel filtration. The molecular mass of the enzyme was estimated to be approximately 55 kDa by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The purified enzyme was optimally active at 75 degrees C and pH 7.5. It required divalent me...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 17, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Cheng L, Mu W, Zhang T, Jiang B Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Microbial conversion of ruscogenin by Gliocladium deliquescens NRRL1086: glycosylation at C-1.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The glycosylation of ruscogenin (1) by Gliocladium deliquescens NRRL 1086 was observed and gave a regioselectively glycosylated product identified as ruscogenin 1-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (2) by infrared, mass spectrometry, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectra. Time-course studies indicated that it appeared to be favorable to accumulate 2 when ruscogenin was added to the 24-h-old stage II culture, and the yield of 2 was about 20.1% during 120 approximately 168 h. It was noted that additional carbohydrates could significantly increase glycoside formation and the yield of 2 even reached as high as 68% compared with the...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 17, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Chen ND, Zhang J, Liu JH, Yu BY Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Characterization of modification enzyme NukM and engineering of a novel thioether bridge in lantibiotic nukacin ISK-1.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The lantibiotic nukacin ISK-1 is an antimicrobial peptide containing unusual amino acids such as lanthionine and dehydrobutyrine. The nukacin ISK-1 prepeptide (NukA) undergoes posttranslational modifications, such as the dehydration and cyclization reactions required to form the unusual amino acids by the modification enzyme NukM. We have previously constructed a system for the introduction of unusual amino acids into NukA by coexpression of NukM in Escherichia coli. Using this system, we describe the substrate specificity of NukM by the coexpression of a series of NukA mutants. Our results revealed the following chara...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 14, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Shioya K, Harada Y, Nagao JI, Nakayama J, Sonomoto K Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Light regulation of metabolic pathways in fungi.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Light represents a major carrier of information in nature. The molecular machineries translating its electromagnetic energy (photons) into the chemical language of cells transmit vital signals for adjustment of virtually every living organism to its habitat. Fungi react to illumination in various ways, and we found that they initiate considerable adaptations in their metabolic pathways upon growth in light or after perception of a light pulse. Alterations in response to light have predominantly been observed in carotenoid metabolism, polysaccharide and carbohydrate metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, nucleotide and nucl...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 14, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Tisch D, Schmoll M Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Nitrification in fixed-bed reactors treating saline wastewater.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Halophilic nitrifiers belonging to the genus Nitrosomonas and Nitrospira were enriched from seawater and marine sediment samples of the North Sea. The maximal ammonia oxidation rate (AOR) in batch enrichments with seawater was 15.1 mg N L(-1) day(-1). An intermediate nitrite accumulation was observed. Two fixed-bed reactors for continuous nitrification with either polyethylene/clay sinter lamellas (FBR A) or porous ceramic rings (FBR B) were run at two different ammonia concentrations, three different ammonia loading rates (ALRs), +/- pH adjustment, and at an increased upflow velocity. A better overall nitrification wi...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 14, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Sudarno U, Bathe S, Winter J, Gallert C Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Molecular genetic tools to infer the origin of forest plants and wood.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Most forest tree species exhibit high levels of genetic diversity that can be used to trace the origin of living plants or their products such as timber and processed wood. Recent progress to isolate DNA not only from living tissue but also from wood and wood products offers new opportunities to test the declared origin of material such as seedlings for plantation establishment or timber. However, since most forest tree populations are weakly differentiated, the identification of genetic markers to differentiate among spatially isolated populations is often difficult and time consuming. Two important fields of "forensi...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 13, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Finkeldey R, Leinemann L, Gailing O Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Carbohydrate-binding domains: multiplicity of biological roles.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Insoluble polysaccharides can be degraded by a set of hydrolytic enzymes formed by catalytic modules appended to one or more non-catalytic carbohydrate-binding modules (CBM). The most recognized function of these auxiliary domains is to bind polysaccharides, bringing the biocatalyst into close and prolonged vicinity with its substrate, allowing carbohydrate hydrolysis. Examples of insoluble polysaccharides recognized by these enzymes include cellulose, chitin, beta-glucans, starch, glycogen, inulin, pullulan, and xylan. Based on their amino acid similarity, CBMs are grouped into 55 families that show notable variation ...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 12, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Guillén D, Sánchez S, Rodríguez-Sanoja R Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Purification and characterization of acetophenone reductase with excellent enantioselectivity from Geotrichum candidum NBRC 4597.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
NADH-dependent enzyme reducing acetophenone derivatives with high stereoselectivities and wide substrate specificities from Geotrichum candidum NBRC 4597 was isolated, purified, characterized, and used for asymmetric synthesis. Through five-step purification including ammonium sulfate fractionation and a series of chromatographies, the enzyme was purified about 150-fold with a yield of 5.6%. The active enzyme has a molecular mass of 73 kDa determined by gel filtration chromatography, and the SDS-PAGE result reveals that the molecular size of the subunit is 36 kDa. These results indicate that the enzyme consists of a ho...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 12, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Nakata Y, Fukae T, Kanamori R, Kanamaru S, Matsuda T Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Cloning, overexpression, and characterization of recombinant heparinase III from Bacteroides stercoris HJ-15.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Recombinant heparinase III (rHepIII) from Bacteroides stercoris HJ-15 was cloned, expressed, and characterized. The full-length heparinase III gene from B. stercoris HJ-15 was identified by Southern blotting, and the sequence was deposited in GenBank. The heparinase III gene, which is 2,001-bp long, was cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli; highly active rHepIII was easily purified using only one step of immobilized Ni(2+) affinity column chromatography. Enzymatic properties and substrate specificities of rHepIII were assessed, and its kinetic constants were calculated. rHepIII was most active in 50 mM sodium p...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 12, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Hyun YJ, Lee JH, Kim DH Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

A novel expression system for intracellular production and purification of recombinant affinity-tagged proteins in Aspergillus niger.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
A set of different integrative expression vectors for the intracellular production of recombinant proteins with or without affinity tag in Aspergillus niger was developed. Target genes can be expressed under the control of the highly efficient, constitutive pkiA promoter or the novel sucrose-inducible promoter of the beta-fructofuranosidase (sucA) gene of A. niger in the presence or absence of alternative carbon sources. All expression plasmids contain an identical multiple cloning sequence that allows parallel construction of N- or C-terminally His(6)- and StrepII-tagged versions of the target proteins. Production of ...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 12, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Roth AH, Dersch P Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Genetic engineering of macrolide biosynthesis: past advances, current state, and future prospects.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Polyketides comprise one of the major families of natural products. They are found in a wide variety of bacteria, fungi, and plants and include a large number of medically important compounds. Polyketides are biosynthesized by polyketide synthases (PKSs). One of the major groups of polyketides are the macrolides, the activities of which are derived from the presence of a macrolactone ring to which one or more 6-deoxysugars are attached. The core macrocyclic ring is biosynthesized from acyl-CoA precursors by PKS. Genetic manipulation of PKS-encoding genes can result in predictable changes in the structure of the macrola...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 10, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Park SR, Han AR, Ban YH, Yoo YJ, Kim EJ, Yoon YJ Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Halophilic beta-lactamase as a new solubility- and folding-enhancing tag protein: production of native human interleukin 1alpha and human neutrophil alpha-defensin.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The amino acid composition of halophilic enzymes is characterized by an abundant content of acidic amino acid, which confers to the halophilic enzymes extensive negative charges at neutral pH and high aqueous solubility. This negative charge prevents protein aggregation when denatured and thereby leads to highly efficient protein refolding. beta-Lactamase from periplasmic space of moderate halophile (BLA), a typical halophilic enzyme, can be readily expressed as a native, active form in Escherichia coli cytoplasm. Similar to other halophilic enzymes, BLA is soluble upon denaturation by heat or urea treatments and, henc...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 10, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Tokunaga H, Saito S, Sakai K, Yamaguchi R, Katsuyama I, Arakawa T, Onozaki K, Arakawa T, Tokunaga M Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

The inhibitory effects of mushroom extracts on sucrose-dependent oral biofilm formation.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Mushrooms contain large quantities of alpha-glucans. Shiitake (Lentinula edodes), Japan's most popular edible mushroom, has been reported to contain about 6% (weight/dried weight) of alpha-(1,3)-glucan. This glucan is one of the major components of oral biofilm formed by the cariogenic bacteria Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus. We found that extracts from shiitake and other edible mushrooms could reduce preformed biofilms of S. mutans and S. sobrinus in the presence of dextranase. We also investigated the alpha-glucanase activities of shiitake mushroom extracts and their effects on biofilm formation. The...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 10, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Yano A, Kikuchi S, Yamashita Y, Sakamoto Y, Nakagawa Y, Yoshida Y Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Degrading high-strength phenol using aerobic granular sludge.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Aerobic granules were adopted to degrade high-strength phenol wastewater in batch experiments. The acclimated granules effectively degraded phenol at a concentration of up to 5,000 mg l(-1) without severe inhibitory effects. The biodegradation of phenol by activated sludge was inhibited at phenol concentrations >3,000 mg l(-1). The granules were composed of cells embedded in a compact extracellular matrix. After acid or alkaline pretreatment, the granules continued to degrade phenol at an acceptable rate. The polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis technique was employed to monitor the micr...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 10, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Ho KL, Chen YY, Lin B, Lee DJ Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Continuous 2-Keto-L: -gulonic acid fermentation by mixed culture of Ketogulonicigenium vulgare DSM 4025 and Bacillus megaterium or Xanthomonas maltophilia.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The fermentation process of 2-keto-L-gulonic acid (2KGA) from L-sorbose was developed using a two-stage continuous fermentation system. The mixed culture of Ketogulonicigenium vulgare DSM 4025 and Bacillus megaterium DSM 4026 produced 90 g/L of 2KGA from 120 g/L of L-sorbose at the dilution rate of 0.01 h(-1) in a single-stage continuous fermentation process. But after the production period was beyond 150 h, the significant decrease of 2KGA productivity was observed. When the non-spore forming bacteria Xanthomonas maltophilia IFO 12692 was used instead of B. megaterium DSM 4026 as a partner strain for K. vulgare DSM 40...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 10, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Takagi Y, Sugisawa T, Hoshino T Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Isolation of an unusual metabolite 2-allyloxyphenol from a marine actinobacterium, its biological activities and applications.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
A marine actinobacterium isolated from the Bay of Bengal, India and previously found to be producing an antimicrobial and cytotoxic terpenoid was further investigated for antimicrobial metabolites. The bacterium was preliminarily identified as a new species of the genus Streptomyces (strain MS1/7). The cell-free culture broth was extracted with n-butanol and purified using silica gel column chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography. Molecular characterization was done using ESI mass, IR and (1)H and (13)C NMR spectrometry. 2-Allyloxyphenol (MW 150; C(9)H(10)O(2)), a synthetic drug and chemical intermedi...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 10, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Arumugam M, Mitra A, Jaisankar P, Dasgupta S, Sen T, Gachhui R, Kumar Mukhopadhyay U, Mukherjee J Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Monitoring Escherichia coli growth in M63 media by ultrasonic noninvasive methods and correlation with spectrophotometric and HPLC techniques.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
A low-intensity ultrasonic technique (that is noninvasive, nondestructive, and online) has been developed to monitor the growth of Escherichia coli in glucose minimal media under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Ultrasonic time of flight (TOF) variations were correlated with microorganism growth and the disappearance of nutrients and their subsequent conversion into different metabolites. Spectrophotometric growth data and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis of released and consumed metabolites were compared with the ultrasonic data demonstrating that the ultrasound device presented can provide supp...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 7, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Sierra C, Elvira L, García JL, Resa P, Galán B Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Lactic acid bacteria display on the cell surface cytosolic proteins that recognize yeast mannan.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Fluorescent-labeled invertase, a hyperglycosylated mannoprotein from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, was found to bind to Lactococcus lactis IL1403 at acidic pH. Proteins on the cell wall of the bacterium affinity-purified using invertase as a ligand were identified to be heat shock proteins such as DnaK and GroEL and glycolytic enzymes such as pyruvate kinase and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. DnaK bound to both the bacterium and yeast at pH 4 and aggregated them at above 0.1 mg/ml, whereas no significant difference between the circular dichroism spectra of DnaK at pH 4 and 7 was observed. These results indicate ...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 7, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Katakura Y, Sano R, Hashimoto T, Ninomiya K, Shioya S Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Application of oscillation for efficiency improvement of continuous ethanol fermentation with Saccharomyces cerevisiae under very-high-gravity conditions.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Compared with steady state, oscillation in continuous very-high-gravity ethanol fermentation with Saccharomyces cerevisiae improved process productivity, which was thus introduced for the fermentation system composed of a tank fermentor followed by four-stage packed tubular bioreactors. When the very-high-gravity medium containing 280 g l(-1) glucose was fed at the dilution rate of 0.04 h(-1), the average ethanol of 15.8% (v/v) and residual glucose of 1.5 g l(-1) were achieved under the oscillatory state, with an average ethanol productivity of 2.14 g h(-1) l(-1). By contrast, only 14.8% (v/v) ethanol was achieved unde...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 7, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Shen Y, Ge XM, Bai FW Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Substrate consumption and excess sludge reduction of activated sludge in the presence of uncouplers: a modeling approach.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
A mathematical model with a consideration of energy spilling is developed to describe the activated sludge in the presence of different levels of metabolic uncouplers. The consumption of substrate and oxygen via energy spilling process is modeled with a Monod term, which is dependent on substrate and inhibitor. The sensitivity of the developed model is analyzed. Three parameters, maximum specific growth rate (mu (max)), energy spilling coefficient (q (max)), and sludge yield coefficient (Y (H)) are estimated with experimental data of different studies. The values of mu (max), q (max), and Y (H) are found to be 6.72 day...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 7, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Xie WM, Ni BJ, Sheng GP, Yu HQ, Yang M Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Growth condition and bacterial community for maximum hydrolysis of suspended organic materials in anaerobic digestion of food waste-recycling wastewater.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This paper reports the effects of changing pH (5-7) and temperature (T, 40-60 degrees C) on the efficiencies of bacterial hydrolysis of suspended organic matter (SOM) in wastewater from food waste recycling (FWR) and the changes in the bacterial community responsible for this hydrolysis. Maximum hydrolysis efficiency (i.e., 50.5% reduction of volatile suspended solids) was predicted to occur at pH 5.7 and T = 44.5 degrees C. Changes in short-chain volatile organic acid profiles and in acidogenic bacterial communities were investigated under these conditions. Propionic and butyric acids concentrations increased rapidly ...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 6, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Kim MD, Song M, Jo M, Shin SG, Khim JH, Hwang S Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Molecular design of yeast cell surface for adsorption and recovery of molybdenum, one of rare metals.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In this study, ModE protein derived from Escherichia coli, which is a molybdate-dependent transcriptional regulator with the ability to bind molybdate as a form of soluble molybdenum, was displayed on the yeast cell surface by alpha-agglutinin-based cell surface display system for the adsorption and recovery of molybdate. Displayed ModE, confirmed by immunofluorescence labeling, caught molybdate more preferably at pH 3.0 than at basic pH. Yeast cells displaying C-terminal domain of ModE, which lacks N-terminal DNA binding domain, more effectively adsorbed molybdate than those displaying full-length ModE, suggesting that th...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 6, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Nishitani T, Shimada M, Kuroda K, Ueda M Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Collagenolytic subtilisin-like protease from the deep-sea bacterium Alkalimonas collagenimarina AC40(T).Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
A new alkaline protease (AcpII) was purified from a culture of the deep-sea bacterium Alkalimonas collagenimarina AC40(T). AcpII degraded collagen three times faster than it degraded casein. The optimal pH was 8.5-9, and the optimal temperature was 45 degrees C for the degradation of collagen. AcpII was completely inhibited by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride and partially by EDTA. Cloning and sequencing the gene for AcpII revealed a 2,283-bp open reading frame encoding a protein of 760 amino acids. AcpII comprises a prepropeptide, a catalytic domain that includes a protease-associated domain (PA domain), and tandem repea...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 4, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Kurata A, Uchimura K, Kobayashi T, Horikoshi K Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Engineered amadoriase II exhibiting expanded substrate range.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study suggests that it is possible to manipulate fructosyl amine oxidases to accommodate larger substrates, and that mutant SII-82 might serve as a template for further engineering. PMID: 19888573 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology)
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 4, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Zheng J, Guan H, Xu L, Yang R, Lin Z Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Potential cause of aerobic granular sludge breakdown at high organic loading rates.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study cultivated aerobic granules using acetate as the sole carbon and energy source in three identical sequencing batch reactors operated under OLR of 9-21.3 kg chemical oxygen demand (COD) m(-3) day(-1). The cultivated granules removed 94-96% of fed COD at OLR up to 9-19.5 kg COD m(-3) day(-1), and disintegrated at OLR of 21.3 kg COD m(-3) day(-1). Most tested isolates did not grow in the medium at >3,000 mg COD l(-1); additionally, these strains lost capability for auto-aggregation and protein or polysaccharide productivity. This critical COD regime correlates strongly with the OLR range in which granules starte...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 4, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Adav SS, Lee DJ, Lai JY Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Heterologous expression of an Agaricus meleagris pyranose dehydrogenase-encoding gene in Aspergillus spp. and characterization of the recombinant enzyme.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
We report here, for the first time, the heterologous expression of one of these genes, encoding the major PDH protein in Agaricus meleagris, in the filamentous fungi Aspergillus nidulans, and Aspergillus niger. PMID: 19888575 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology)
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 4, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Pisanelli I, Kujawa M, Gschnitzer D, Spadiut O, Seiboth B, Peterbauer C Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

An efficient method for N-acetyl-D: -neuraminic acid production using coupled bacterial cells with a safe temperature-induced system.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
N-Acetyl-D: -neuraminic acid (Neu5Ac) is a precursor for producing many pharmaceutical drugs such as zanamivir which have been used in clinical trials to treat and prevent the infection with influenza virus, such as the avian influenza virus H5N1 and the current 2009 H1N1. Two recombinant Escherichia coli strains capable of expressing N-acetyl-D: -glucosamine 2-epimerase and N-acetyl-D: -neuraminic acid aldolase were constructed based on a highly efficient temperature-responsive expression system which is safe compared to chemical-induced systems and coupled in Neu5Ac production. Carbon sources were optimized for Neu5A...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - November 4, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Zhang Y, Tao F, Du M, Ma C, Qiu J, Gu L, He X, Xu P Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Facilitation of polymerase chain reaction with thermostable inorganic pyrophosphatase from hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
An inorganic pyrophosphatase (PPases) was cloned from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii and was expressed in and purified from Escherichia coli. The recombinant inorganic pyrophosphatase (PhPPase) exhibited robust catalytic activity of the hydrolysis of pyrophosphate into two orthophosphates at high temperatures (70 degrees C to 95 degrees C). Thermostable pyrophosphatase activity was applied into polymerase chain reaction (PCR) due to its ability to push chemical equilibrium toward the synthesis of DNA by removing pyrophosphate from the reaction. A colorimetric method using molybdate and reducing ag...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - October 31, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Park SY, Lee B, Park KS, Chong Y, Yoon MY, Jeon SJ, Kim DE Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

DnaK/DnaJ-assisted recombinant protein production in Trichoplusia ni larvae.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The DnaK/DnaJ Escherichia coli chaperone pair, co-produced along with recombinant proteins, has been widely used to assist protein folding in bacterial cells, although with poor consensus about the ultimate effect on protein quality and its general applicability. Here, we have evaluated for the first time these bacterial proteins as folding modulators in a highly promising recombinant protein platform based on insect larvae. Intriguingly, the bacterial chaperones enhanced the solubility of a reporter, misfolding-prone GFP, doubling the yield of recombinant protein that can be recovered from the larvae extracts in a pro...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - October 30, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Martínez-Alonso M, Gómez-Sebastián S, Escribano JM, Saiz JC, Ferrer-Miralles N, Villaverde A Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Potential therapeutic efficacy of a bactericidal-immunomodulatory fusion peptide against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus skin infection.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
To enhance the potential therapeutic efficacy of an antimicrobial peptide human beta-defensin 3, two fusion peptides, a bactericidal-immunomodulatory fusion peptide human beta-defensin 3-mannose-binding lectin and a bactericidal-bactericidal fusion peptide human beta-defensin 3-lysozyme were synthesized and the bactericidal activities in vitro and in vivo against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus N315 were demonstrated in this study. Peptide human beta-defensin 3-lysozyme showed the best bactericidal activity in vitro, but human beta-defensin 3-mannose-binding lectin showed a significant improvement in angiog...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - October 28, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Li Q, Zhou Y, Dong K, Guo X Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Purification, characterization, and mode of action of a rhamnogalacturonan hydrolase from Irpex lacteus, tolerant to an acetylated substrate.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
A novel rhamnogalacturonase (RGase) acting on an acetylated substrate was detected in the commercial preparation Driselase, an enzymatic mixture derived from the basidiomycete Irpex lacteus. The activity was isolated by hydrophobic interaction chromatography, gel filtration, and preparative isoelectric focusing, resulting in the isolation of five different rhamnogalacturonan hydrolases exhibiting various isoelectric points from 6.2 to 7.7. Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry analyses after trypsin cleavage of the five fractions revealed that the five rhamnogalacturonases have...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - October 28, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Normand J, Ralet MC, Thibault JF, Rogniaux H, Delavault P, Bonnin E Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

An intracellular pH gradient in the anammox bacterium Kuenenia stuttgartiensis as evaluated by (31)P NMR.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study provides for the second time-after discovery of acidocalcisome-like compartments in Agrobacterium tumefaciens-evidence for an intracytoplasmic pH gradient in a chemotrophic prokaryotic cell. PMID: 19862513 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology)
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - October 28, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: van der Star WR, Dijkema C, de Waard P, Picioreanu C, Strous M, van Loosdrecht MC Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Genetic engineering of fungal biocontrol agents to achieve greater efficacy against insect pests.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Molecular biology methods have elucidated pathogenic processes in several fungal biocontrol agents including two of the most commonly applied entomopathogenic fungi, Metarhizium anisopliae and Beauveria bassiana. In this review, we describe how a combination of molecular techniques has: (1) identified and characterized genes involved in infection; (2) manipulated the genes of the pathogen to improve biocontrol performance; and (3) allowed expression of a neurotoxin from the scorpion Androctonus australis. The complete sequencing of four exemplar species of entomopathogenic fungi including B. bassiana and M. anisopliae ...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - October 28, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: St Leger RJ, Wang C Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Hyaluronic acid production is enhanced by the additional co-expression of UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase in Lactococcus lactis.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study shows that the insertion of uridine diphosphate (UDP)-glucose pyrophosphorylase (hasC) gene in addition to the HA synthase (hasA) and UDP-glucose dehydrogenase (hasB) genes has a significant impact on increasing HA production. The recombinant L. lactis NZ9000 strain transformed with the plasmid pSJR2 (co-expressing hasA and hasB genes only) produced a maximum of 107 mg/l HA in static flask experiments with varying initial glucose concentrations, while the corresponding experiments with the transformant SJR3 (co-expressing hasA, hasB, and hasC genes) gave a maximum yield of 234 mg/l HA. The plasmid cloned with th...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - October 28, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Prasad SB, Jayaraman G, Ramachandran KB Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Extraction of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) from anaerobic granular sludges: comparison of chemical and physical extraction protocols.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The characteristics of the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) extracted with nine different extraction protocols from four different types of anaerobic granular sludge were studied. The efficiency of four physical (sonication, heating, cationic exchange resin (CER), and CER associated with sonication) and four chemical (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, ethanol, formaldehyde combined with heating, or NaOH) EPS extraction methods was compared to a control extraction protocols (i.e., centrifugation). The nucleic acid content and the protein/polysaccharide ratio of the EPS extracted show that the extraction does not ...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - October 28, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: D'Abzac P, Bordas F, Van Hullebusch E, Lens PN, Guibaud G Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Erratum to: Characterization of two proline dipeptidases (prolidases) from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19859705 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology)
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - October 27, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Theriot CM, Tove SR, Grunden AM Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Increased product formation induced by a directed secondary substrate limitation in a batch Hansenula polymorpha culture.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
By the use of directed limitations of secondary substrates, the metabolic flux should be deflected from biomass production to product formation. In order to study the impact of directed limitations caused by various secondary substrates on the growth and product formation of the methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha, the cultivation systems respiration activity monitoring system (RAMOS) and BioLector were used in parallel. While the RAMOS device allows the online monitoring of the oxygen transfer rate in shake flasks, the BioLector enables in microtiter plates the monitoring of scattered light and the fluorescence ...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - October 27, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Kottmeier K, Müller C, Huber R, Büchs J Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Pentanol isomer synthesis in engineered microorganisms.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Pentanol isomers such as 2-methyl-1-butanol and 3-methyl-1-butanol are a useful class of chemicals with a potential application as biofuels. They are found as natural by-products of microbial fermentations from amino acid substrates. However, the production titer and yield of the natural processes are too low to be considered for practical applications. Through metabolic engineering, microbial strains for the production of these isomers have been developed, as well as that for 1-pentanol and pentenol. Although the current production levels are still too low for immediate industrial applications, the approach holds sign...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - October 27, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Cann AF, Liao JC Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Characterisation of hexane-degrading microorganisms in a biofilter by stable isotope-based fatty acid analysis, FISH and cultivation.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The hexane-degrading bacterial community of a biofilter was characterised by a combination of stable isotope-based phospholipid fatty acid analyses, fluorescence in situ hybridisation and cultivation. About 70 bacterial strains were isolated from a full-scale biofilter used for treatment of hexane containing waste gas of an oil mill. The isolation approach led to 16 bacterial groups, which were identified as members of the Alpha-, Beta- and Gammaproteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Firmicutes. Three groups showed good growth on hexane as the sole source of carbon. These groups were allocated to the genera Gordonia and Sp...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - October 21, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Friedrich MM, Lipski A Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Spaceflight and modeled microgravity effects on microbial growth and virulence.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
For unsuspecting bacteria, the difference between life and death depends upon efficient and specific responses to various stressors. Facing a much larger world, microbes are invariably challenged with ever-changing environments where temperature, pH, chemicals, and nutrients are in a constant state of flux. Only those that are able to rapidly reprogram themselves and express subsets of genes needed to overcome the stress will survive and outcompete neighboring microbes. Recently, low shear stress, emulating microgravity (MG) experienced in space, has been characterized in a number of microorganisms including fungi and ...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - October 21, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Rosenzweig JA, Abogunde O, Thomas K, Lawal A, Nguyen YU, Sodipe A, Jejelowo O Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Fermentative production of branched chain amino acids: a focus on metabolic engineering.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The branched chain amino acids (BCAAs), L-: valine, L-: leucine, and L-: isoleucine, have recently been attracting much attention as their potential to be applied in various fields, including animal feed additive, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals, increased. Strategies for developing microbial strains efficiently producing BCAAs are now in transition toward systems metabolic engineering from random mutagenesis. The metabolism and regulatory circuits of BCAA biosynthesis need to be thoroughly understood for designing system-wide metabolic engineering strategies. Here we review the current knowledge on BCAAs including thei...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - October 20, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Park JH, Lee SY Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

N- and O-linked oligosaccharides completely lack galactose residues in the gms1och1 mutant of Schizosaccharomyces pombe.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In this study, we constructed a gms1Deltaoch1Delta double mutant and determined the N- and O-linked oligosaccharide structures present on the cell surface. Oligosaccharides were liberated from glycoproteins by hydrazinolysis and labeled with the fluorophore, 2-aminopyridine. The pyridylaminated N-linked oligosaccharides were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography in combination with alpha1,2-mannosidase digestion and partial acetolysis. These analyses revealed that the N-linked oligosaccharides of gms1Deltaoch1Delta cells consisted of alpha1,2-linked Man-extended core oligosaccharides (Man(8-12)GlcNAc(2)) from ...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - October 20, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Ohashi T, Takegawa K Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Characterization of corrosive bacterial consortia isolated from petroleum-product-transporting pipelines.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Microbiologically influenced corrosion is a problem commonly encountered in facilities in the oil and gas industries. The present study describes bacterial enumeration and identification in diesel and naphtha pipelines located in the northwest and southwest region in India, using traditional cultivation technique and 16S rDNA gene sequencing. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA sequences of the isolates was carried out, and the samples obtained from the diesel and naphtha-transporting pipelines showed the occurrence of 11 bacterial species namely Serratia marcescens ACE2, Bacillus subtilis AR12, Bacillus cereus ACE4, Pse...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - October 20, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Rajasekar A, Anandkumar B, Maruthamuthu S, Ting YP, Rahman PK Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals

Analysis of extracellular alginate lyase and its gene from a marine bacterial strain, Pseudoalteromonas atlantica AR06.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Pseudoalteromonas atlantica AR06 is a marine bacterial strain that can utilize alginate as a sole source of carbon and energy. The extracellular protein fraction prepared from the AR06 cultivation media exhibited alginate lyase activity to depolymerize the alginate molecules having homopolymeric and heteropolymeric forms of mannuronate and guluronate so as to mainly convert into the dimer to tetramer. A DNA fragment encoding a portion of alginate lyase was amplified from AR06 genomic DNA by PCR using a set of degenerated primers, and then the whole alginate lyase gene, named alyA, and its flanking regions were obtained...
Source: Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - October 20, 2009 Category: Microbiology Authors: Matsushima R, Danno H, Uchida M, Ishihara K, Suzuki T, Kaneniwa M, Ohtsubo Y, Nagata Y, Tsuda M Tags: Appl Microbiol Biotechnol Source Type: journals