An acoustic method for the analysis of bacterial cells

The application of a biological electroacoustic sensor based on a lateral electric-field-excited piezoelectric resonator for the study of bacterial cells that interact with specific bacteriophages, mini-antibodies, and polyclonal antibodies was successfully demonstrated. The determined lower limit of microbialcell detection was approximately of 10³ to 10⁴ cells/mL for the duration of the assay of 10 min. The possibility of bacterial-cell detection via interaction with specific agents in the presence of extraneous microbiota was shown. The method allowed us to determine the spectrum of lytic activity of bacteriophages and the sensitivity of microbial cells to bacteriophages. The results of the study showed that application of a sensor piezoelectric lateral-field resonator is a promising technique for the detection and identification of microbial cells and determination of their phage resistance in microbiology, medicine, and veterinary medicine. Furthermore, the results of the experiments made it possible to understand the mechanisms of the processes that occur in a suspension of bacterial cells in the presence of various biological agents. The method also may provide useful information regarding biophysical mechanisms of interactions that occur in microbial populations.     

A new method for immobilizing microbial cells by crosslinking

A method for immobilization of microbial cells was developed designed. The method uses based on generation of reactive aldehyde groups on the cell wall surface under conditions of periodate oxidation. The linking of aldehyde groups by various bifunctional aromatic diamines and then by glutaraldehyde produced immobilized cells, which are promising for the use in biocatalysis with high-molecular-weight substrates of high molecular weight.     

A new method for immobilization of microbial cells by cross-linking

A method for immobilization of microbial cells was designed. The method uses generation of reactive aldehyde groups on the cell wall surface under conditions of periodate oxidation. The linking of aldehyde groups by various bifuctional aromatic diamines and then by glutaraldehyde produced immobilized cells, which are promising for use in biocatalysis with high-molecular-weight substrates.     

A method for S-adenosylmethionine determination in extracts of microbial cells

A technique for quantification of S-adenosylmethionine in microbial cell-free extracts is proposed that involves dilution of S-adenosyl-L-(methyl-3H)methionine with non-labelled S-adenosylmethionine followed by DNA-cytosine-methyltransferase reaction. The content of S-adenosylmethionine and the activity of S-adenosylmethionine synthetase in yeasts and E. coli MRE-600 are in good agreement with the results obtained with labelled L-methionine and consistent with literature data. The sensitivity of the technique is about 0.1 nmol/0.1 ml of the reaction mixture (10(-6) M). The error was about 5% in every series of experiments. However, the combined use of different DNA-methyltransferase preparations resulted in a higher experimental error (up to 15%), which should be taken into consideration.     

VIPR: A probabilistic algorithm for analysis of microbial detection microarrays

Background  

All infectious disease oriented clinical diagnostic assays in use today focus on detecting the presence of a single, well defined target agent or a set of agents. In recent years, microarray-based diagnostics have been developed that greatly facilitate the highly parallel detection of multiple microbes that may be present in a given clinical specimen. While several algorithms have been described for interpretation of diagnostic microarrays, none of the existing approaches is capable of incorporating training data generated from positive control samples to improve performance.     

Design of acoustic cell settler for filtering and recycling microbial cells

An acoustic cell settler (ACS) using ultrasound at cells of 3 MHz was used to recycle Saccharomyces cerevisiae in a fermenter. The locations of both the inlet and outlet in the acoustic cell settler, which have a relatively long distance between the transducer and reflector, were optimized. A tilted settler was designed to make up for the defect in the horizontal ACS, which has a low recovery ratio. The tilted ACS gave a recovery ratio of yeast cells of about 5 during the most period of operation, which was twice that of the horizontal ACS.     

A decomposition method for the stability analysis of large microbial systems

The primary objective of this paper is to present a method for the stability analysis of microbial systems consisting of a large number of different populations of microorganisms. The overall system is decomposed into easily analyzable subsystems and its stability characteristics are deduced from those of a properly constructed linear system of lower dimension. Several examples are provided which demonstrate the use of the method in studying the dynamics of some interacting microbial populations which grow under continuous flow conditions and, after a parametric analysis, the regions of the parameters which guarantee coexistence are found.     

微生物活细胞快速检测的新技术研究

微生物活菌分为繁殖能力的活菌和有代谢活动但没有繁殖能力的活菌。传统的平板计数方法无法对有代谢活动但没有繁殖能力的活菌进行准确定量分析。本文综述了微生物活细胞检测新技术的研究进展,包括以PCR为基础的新技术和荧光活化细胞分选术与流式细胞术结合的新技术。     

Microarrays for bacterial detection and microbial community analysis

Several types of microarrays have recently been developed and evaluated for bacterial detection and microbial community analysis. These studies demonstrated that specific, sensitive and quantitative detection could be obtained with both functional gene arrays and community genome arrays. Although single-base mismatch can be differentiated with phylogenetic oligonucleotide arrays, reliable specific detection at the single-base level is still problematic. Microarray-based hybridization approaches are also useful for defining genome diversity and bacterial relatedness. However, more rigorous and systematic assessment and development are needed to realize the full potential of microarrays for microbial detection and community analysis.     

A novel method for autophagy detection in primary cells

Autophagy is a conserved constitutive cellular process, responsible for the degradation of dysfunctional proteins and organelles. Autophagy plays a role in many diseases such as neurodegeneration and cancer; however, to date, conventional autophagy detection techniques are not suitable for clinical samples. We have developed a high throughput, statistically robust technique that quantitates autophagy in primary human leukocytes using the Image stream, an imaging flow cytometer. We validate this method on cell lines and primary cells knocked down for essential autophagy genes. Also, using this method we show that T cells have higher autophagic activity than B cells. Furthermore our results indicate that healthy primary senescent CD8⁺ T cells have decreased autophagic levels correlating with increased DNA damage, which may explain features of the senescent immune system and its declining function with age. This technique will allow us, for the first time, to measure autophagy levels in diseases with a known link to autophagy, while also determining the contribution of autophagy to the efficacy of drugs.     

两种微生物法测定食品中叶酸含量的比较

比较酪乳酸杆菌(Lactobacillus casei,L.casei ATCC 7469)、粪链球菌(Streptococcus faecalis,S.aecalisATCC 8043)测定强化食品中叶酸的含量,结果表明,S.faecalis比L.casei检测时限短1d,实验操作容易把握,分别对两种菌检测结果重现性进行比较,P＞0.05,差异无统计学意义,两种方法实验结果比较,P＞0.05,差异无统计学意义.     

一种高效可直接用于PCR分析的土壤总微生物DNA抽提方法

以CTAB-溶菌酶-蛋白酶K-冻融裂解法直接抽提土壤总微生物的基因组DNA,利用G8000沉淀和纯化DNA.结果表明,该方法是一种简便、有效可直接应用于PCR分析的土壤总微生物基因组DNA的抽提方法.采用含聚乙烯吡咯烷酮(PVP)的缓冲液预洗,添加CaCl₂和BSA,可以去除腐殖酸;用PEG8000沉淀DNA,可以提高DNA质量;采用冻融法破碎细胞,CTAB、溶菌酶和蛋白质酶K共同作用以裂解细胞,可以保证获得大片段的DNA,提高DNA产率.用该方法抽提的七子花林下土壤总微生物DNA产率为9.22 μg·g^-1,A260/A280为1.65,可适用于 PCR扩增及扩增rDNA限制酶切分析(ARDRA)技术,适宜的模板DNA浓度为0.67 ng·μl^-1.快速、有效、可直接用于PCR分析的土壤总微生物DNA提取方法的建立,为大规模的土壤微生物分子生态学研究提供了可能.     

A novel minimally invasive method for monitoring oxygen in microbial fuel cells

Oxygen availability is a potential rate-limiting step in the bioelectrochemical process catalyzed by microbes in microbial fuel cells (MFC). Determination of oxygen availability using a minimally invasive oxygen sensor is advantageous in terms of ease of usage, maintenance and cost-effectiveness as compared to using conventional probe-type oxygen sensors. The utility of this method is substantiated by using this sensor to demonstrate the relationship between oxygen availability and current density. 10 % drop in oxygen concentration resulted in a concomitant drop in current density by about 36 %, further establishing the criticality of monitoring oxygen levels in the MFC. The detachable sensor membrane of the minimally invasive sensor confers multiple advantages. The novel method would enable real-time monitoring of oxygen in MFCs, simplify process optimization and validation and more importantly, provide an impetus for development of more efficient MFC designs.     

Combined membrane filtration-electrochemical microbial detection method.

The electrochemical method was used successfully to detect Escherichia coli cells retained on membrane filters. Preliminary results suggest that the combined technique could be used to predict the microbial loading of water samples.     

A one-step dual-labeling method for antigen detection in mast cells

This paper describes a one-step light microscopy method for demonstrating the antigen contents of unequivocally identified mast cells. It is based on the differential metachromatic properties of proteoglycans, mostly heparin and chondroitin sulfate, and 1-naphthol in the presence of toluidine blue in an acidic medium. Proteoglycans occur in all mast cells and 1-naphthol is used to demonstrate the peroxidase activity of the sections treated by the horseradish peroxidase-labeled avidin–biotin complex method for antigen detection. Granules containing proteoglycans present the classical metachromatic reaction by appearing purplish-red, while granules containing antigen appear a brilliant green. When both types of granules are distinct inside the cell, single- and double-stained cells can be accurately separated and counted. We hope that this new procedure will contribute to a further identification of mast cell mediator contents and to a better understanding of the physiology of this cellular population.     

A sensitive chromatographic method for the detection of pyruvyl groups in microbial polymers from sediments

A method was developed for the quantitation of pyruvyl groups in microbial polymers using mild acid hydrolysis, o-phenylenediamine labeling, reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC), and fluorescence detection. The method was used to determine the pyruvate content of various microbial exopolysaccharides and to estimate the abundance of polymeric pyruvate in freshwater sediments. The results of this method were compared with those of several other pyruvate assays. The detection limit of the method was 1.6 nmol pyruvate. As little as 3.7g of the bacterial polysaccharide xanthan gum, or from 5 to 22 mg of sediment (depending on polymeric pyruvate content), were needed for detection and quantitation of polymeric pyruvate. The results should be useful in determining the contribution of polymeric pyruvate to total metal-binding ligands in sediments.     

A modified method for the detection of microbial proteases on agar plates using tannic acid

In routine assay for the screening of microbes producing proteases, 10% trichloroaceticacid (TCA) is flooded on the milk agar plates after inoculation and required incubation to precipitate the protein. However, the clarity of the hydrolyzed zone is not very sharp and distinct. We herein present an improved assay for detecting the presence of extracellular protease from microorganisms on agar plates. In this method 10% tannic acid is flooded on the milk agar plate (in place of, TCA) to observe the zone of hydrolysis. Tannic acid sharply increases the colour intensity of the plate, as it favours the precipitation of the unhydrolyzed protein in the plate, thereby improving the contrast between the intact zones and the enzymatic lyses zones of the substrate. Our results indicate that this method is useful to detect extracellular proteases produced by both fungi as well as bacteria. The method used in the present study is sensitive, and can be easily performed for screening of large number of microbial cultures. This is the first report on the use of tannic acid for the detection of microbial proteases.     

A modified method for the detection of microbial proteases on agar plates using tannic acid

In routine assay for the screening of microbes producing proteases, 10% trichloroaceticacid (TCA) is flooded on the milk agar plates after inoculation and required incubation to precipitate the protein. However, the clarity of the hydrolyzed zone is not very sharp and distinct. We herein present an improved assay for detecting the presence of extracellular protease from microorganisms on agar plates. In this method 10% tannic acid is flooded on the milk agar plate (in place of, TCA) to observe the zone of hydrolysis. Tannic acid sharply increases the colour intensity of the plate, as it favours the precipitation of the unhydrolyzed protein in the plate, thereby improving the contrast between the intact zones and the enzymatic lyses zones of the substrate. Our results indicate that this method is useful to detect extracellular proteases produced by both fungi as well as bacteria. The method used in the present study is sensitive, and can be easily performed for screening of large number of microbial cultures. This is the first report on the use of tannic acid for the detection of microbial proteases.