A High-Throughput Method for Screening of Rapamycin-Producing Strains of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Streptomyces hygroscopicus</Emphasis> by Cultivation in 96-Well Microtiter Plates

A novel high-throughput cultivation method was developed to rapidly screen large numbers of rapamycin-producing mutants of Streptomyces hygroscopicus by duplicate culturing of isolates on the surfaces of agar-solidified 96 wells in microtiter plates. One copy of the cultures was used for the rapamycin bioassay and the other identical copy, representing potentially high yielding strains, was preserved for further study. By integrating 96-well solid cultivation and the bioassay, we screened more than 7000 isolates and found 10 high-yielding strains. From these, one mutant produced 420 μg rapamycin/ml, which was double the yield of parent strain used in the submerged fermentation process.     

高产不饱和油脂海鞘真菌桔青霉Asc-2-4的诱变选育

诱变育种是获得高产菌株,实现微生物工业化生产油脂的重要措施。以前期获得的高产不饱和油脂菌株桔青霉（Penicillium citrinum）Asc-2-4为出发菌株,利用丙二酸建立快速筛选高产不饱和脂肪酸突变菌的方法,通过紫外线 氯化锂复合诱变得到1株高产油脂突变菌Asc-2-4-1,油脂含量比出发菌株提高了92.98%。经过初步的培养基无机盐优化,其油脂得率和不饱和脂肪酸产量达到了7.10 g/L和3.84 g/L,与Asc-2-4相比,分别提高了84.42%和77.78%。结果表明,通过复合诱变选育技术可选育出高产突变菌株,选育的Asc-2-4-1可望作为产油微生物被开发利用。     

雷帕霉素菌株的常压室温等离子体(ARTP)诱变选育

雷帕霉素由放线菌次级代谢产生,具有抗真菌、抗肿瘤以及免疫抑制等生理活性,是临床重要的器官移植、抗肿瘤原料药物。为了获得具有高发酵潜力的工业用菌株,对雷帕霉素菌株的摇瓶发酵工艺进行了优化。采用常压室温等离子体(ARTP)的方法对高产雷帕霉素菌株的单孢子悬液进行诱变处理,通过高压液相的方法对诱变菌株的发酵代谢产物进行检测,成功地从诱变菌株中筛选获得了发酵产量提高30%以上的诱变菌株,建立了ARTP诱变选育高产雷帕霉素菌株的方法,为后期进行该菌株的选育研究工作以及中试发酵工艺优化提供了方法和物质的基础。     

Screening the Fusarium graminearum inhibitory mutant strain from Bacillus subtilis by atmospheric-pressure plasma jet

Aims:  The aim of this study was to improve the antagonistic activity of Bacillus subtilis JA towards Fusarium graminearum by screening high-yielding mutant using the atmospheric-pressure plasma jet (APPJ).
Methods and Results:  Atmospheric-pressure plasma jet was applied as mutagenic source for breeding high-yielding mutant strain. Helium was used as APPJ operating gas. The mutation effects of different treatment times of APPJ were studied. The mutant strain designated as B. subtilis B06 was successfully screened out, which showed higher antagonistic activity against F. graminearum in vitro . Its inhibition zone against the indicator fungus increased by 23% compared to the original one. HPLC and ESI (electrospray ionization) mass spectrometry analysis indicated that antifungal compounds produced by the mutant and original strain belonged to the lipopeptide, surfactin and iturin families. The mutant strain showed favourable properties of faster growth in the fermentation process and higher production of antibiotics. The lipopeptide production of the mutant was 2·3-fold as that of the original strain.
Conclusions:  A mutant strain with strong antagonistic activity and high yielding of antibiotics was obtained by APPJ in this study. The mutant could be used as a promising biocontrol agent in agriculture.
Significance and Impact of Study:  This study provides a novel mutagenic source for breeding high-yielding microbial mutant, which would be very useful in the application of some valuable metabolites from micro-organism.     

From isolates to a synthetic laboratory population: maintenance of variability in the nematode Haemonchus contortus

Haemonchus contortus isolates were collected from goats of five locations with different climatic characteristics in Guadeloupe archipelago. They were investigated for morphology, morphometrics and allozyme diversity after passage in immunosuppressed lambs using long acting corticoids. The basic aim of the work was to construct a synthetic strain in laboratory conditions which was representative of the isolates. The isolates were only slightly different although climatic conditions were very different. The resemblance of isolates might be due to the practice of goat exchanges between farms or to their insular origin. However the isolate from a smaller island (Les Saintes) was different (mostly on morphometrics) from all the others originating from Guadeloupe main Island. The first assemblage in laboratory resulting from the installation from a mixture of the five isolates was not very representative, whereas the next generation (synthetic strain) resembled all the isolates as shown from allozyme study. Female fecundity and length in established synthetic strain were lower than that recorded in isolates, indicating a decrease in fitness, possibly due to the stability of experimental environment. The representativity of the synthetic strain was good but the strain could still evaluate on further passages and should be evaluated on a large number of generations maintained in laboratory.     

液体发酵法筛选樟芝优良诱变新菌株的研究

对3个樟芝野生菌株和5个物理诱变菌株进行液体发酵,通过测定发酵液黏度变化情况,观测培养性状、菌球及粗提物产量和多糖、蛋白质及三萜含量,从中筛选出适宜液体发酵的多糖、三萜及蛋白质高产优良菌株。试验结果显示：供试的8个樟芝菌株生长曲线基本一致,其中,菌株327和Gg生长速度较快,培养的第9–10天开始出现菌丝自溶现象;经过筛选,327菌株为多糖和蛋白质高产菌株,多糖和蛋白质的产量分别比出发菌株提高238.20%和10.33%;Gg为三萜高产菌株,三萜产量比出发菌株提高57.86%。野生樟芝菌株经物理诱变效果明显。     

阿维菌素B1a组分高产菌株的定向选育

以阿维链霉菌(Streptomyces avermitilis)1-17为出发菌株,分别使用紫外线及亚硝基胍并结合L-异亮氨酸诱导手段进行诱变处理,得到AVMB1a组分摇瓶发酵水平较出发菌株提高12.86%的突变株3-6.传代实验表明该菌株的高产性能稳定.结果表明,采用UV、NTG诱变结合L-Ile诱导的手段可以获得B1a组分显著提高的菌株.     

Application of RAPD analysis for identification of Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris strains isolated from artisanal cultures

Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was used for identification of Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris strains isolated 40 years ago from various dairy homemade products. Total genomic DNAs from six randomly chosen isolates and the reference strain Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris NIZO B64 were amplified using four different 10-mer primers. Although most RAPD fragments were common to all six isolates, a sufficient number of polymorphic fragments were also detected that allowed clear distinction of the isolates and the reference strain. The results indicate that RAPD analysis could be a useful and efficient method to distinguish Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris at the strain level and to detect genetic diversity.     

The presence of embedded bacterial pure cultures in agar plates stimulate the culturability of soil bacteria

Traditional methods for bacterial cultivation recover only a small fraction of bacteria from all sorts of natural environments, and attempts have been made to improve the bacterial culturability. Here we describe the development of a cultivation method, based on the embedment of pure bacterial cultures in between two layers of agar. Plates containing either embedded Pseudomonas putida or Arthrobacter globiformis resulted in higher numbers of CFUs of soil bacteria (21% and 38%, respectively) after 833 h of incubation, compared to plates with no embedded strain. This indicates a stimulatory effect of the bacterial pure cultures on the cultivation of soil bacteria. Analysis of partial 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed a phylogenetical distribution of the soil isolates into 7 classes in 4 phyla. No difference was observed at the phylum or class level when comparing isolates grouped according to embedded strain. The number of isolates belonging to the same class as the embedded strain was reduced in comparison to that of plates with no embedded strain, indicating that intercellular signalling was unlikely to cause the observed stimulatory effect. Significantly higher fractions of isolates with less than 97% sequence homology to known sequenced isolates in GenBank were recovered from plates with embedded strains than from those without, which indicate a higher number of potential novel soil isolates. This approach for cultivation is therefore a feasible alternative or supplement to traditional cultivation on agar plates in order to enhance bacterial culturability.     

Improvement in amyloglucosidase production following genetic recombination of Aspergillus niger strains

Summary Recombination has been demonstrated in amyloglucosidase-producing strains of Aspergillus niger. A high-yielding strain has been crossed, parasexually, with a low-yielding strain from the same genealogy. Recombinants have been produced, having the efficient broth filtration characteristics of the low-yielding strain. One such segregant was superior, for the industrial production of amyloglucosidase, to the best parent strain previously used for that purpose.     

等离子体作用结合氧限制模型选育利福霉素SV高产菌株

利福霉素SV毒性低、疗效高、抗菌谱广,主要由地中海拟无枝酸菌发酵生产,其发酵过程属于耗氧发酵,供氧直接影响产物形成.为减少发酵过程氧限制影响,进一步提高利福霉素发酵产量,通过构建定向氧限制模型,将常温常压等离子体诱变和无水亚硫酸钠氧限制筛选模型相结合,建立了利福霉素生产菌株24孔板快速培养的高通量筛选方法,高效选育出能...     

常压室温等离子体诱变选育L-精氨酸生产菌及发酵条件优化

【目的】通过常压室温等离子体诱变技术选育L-精氨酸高产菌株,利用响应面设计探索突变菌株生产L-精氨酸的最佳发酵条件。【方法】采用常压室温等离子体生物诱变系统对实验室保藏的Corynebacterium glutamicum GUI089进行系列诱变,选育L-高精氨酸和8-氮鸟嘌呤抗性菌株。在单因子实验的基础上,应用Plackett-Burman设计从7个因素中筛选出对L-精氨酸合成具有显著效应的(NH4)2SO4、葡萄糖和尿素3个因素。基于上述结果,进一步采用响应面设计优化出主要影响因素的最佳参数水平。【结果】经过一系列的诱变和筛选,选育出一株L-高精氨酸(15 g/L)和8-氮鸟嘌呤(0.7 g/L)抗性菌株,并将此菌株命名为C.glutamicum ARG 3-16。此菌株的L-精氨酸产量比出发菌株提高了49.79%,且发酵液中杂酸的浓度明显降低,特别是L-脯氨酸、L-谷氨酸和L-缬氨酸。在经响应面优化后的最佳发酵条件下,L-精氨酸的产量达到39.72±0.75 g/L,比优化前提高了10.49%。【结论】通过常压室温等离子体诱变技术成功选育出一株L-精氨酸高产菌株,利用响应面法有效地优化了发酵条件,实验结果表明突变株ARG 3-16具有潜在的生产应用价值。     

链霉菌11371原生质体的制备与再生

为选育链霉菌11371的高产Tetramycin菌株,摸索该菌株的原生质体的制备与再生。结果表明,链霉菌11371原生质体制备和再生的最佳条件为菌丝生长培养液中甘氨酸浓度为0．7％,培养温度为28℃,培养时间为42h,溶菌酶浓度为3mg／mL,酶解温度为37℃,酶解时间为90min。最佳再生培养基为R2YE培养基。     

Colonization of root tissues and protection against Fusarium wilt of rye (Secale cereale) by nonpathogenic rhizosphere strains of Fusarium culmorum

Colonization of rye (Secale cereale) tissues by nonpathogenic rhizosphere Fusarium culmorum isolates DEMFc2 and DEMFc5 and a pathogenic strain DEMFc37, and their effect on plant fresh weight were studied in pot experiments. Both rhizosphere isolates colonized the epidermis and the cortex but were not found in vessels, while the pathogen colonized all three layers of root cells. The numbers of pathogen CFU isolated from plant tissues were much higher than those of the rhizosphere isolates in spite of the same number of macroconidia used as inoculum (1 × 10⁵ g⁻¹ of soil). Inoculation of seedlings with DEMFc2 resulted in a 20% increase, with DEMFc5 in more than a 20% reduction, and with DEMFc37 in a 38% reduction of shoot fresh weight of 14-day-old plants. Pre-colonization of plants with (either of) the rhizosphere isolates and subsequent inoculation with the pathogen resulted in plant weights the same as those observed in plants inoculated with the rhizosphere strain alone. The disease severity index for shoots of plants pre-colonized with DEMFc2 was reduced from class 4 (86% diseased plants) observed for plants inoculated with the pathogen alone to class 2 (average of 8% diseased plants) when pre-treated with the rhizosphere strain. The CFU number of the pathogen isolated from the interior of roots of plants pre-colonized with the rhizosphere isolates was as low as 10% of the number isolated from plants inoculated with the pathogen alone. A study of in vitro interactions between the rhizosphere isolates and the pathogen suggests that changes in plant colonization by the pathogen and its effect on fresh weight of plants pre-colonized with the rhizosphere isolates were not connected with inhibition of its growth by a direct action of the rhizosphere isolates. The results suggest that strain DEMFc2 can be considered as a potential biocontrol agent.     

Resistogram Method for Differentiation of Strains of Candida albicans

This method is based on differences in the resistance of strains of Candida albicans to a number of selected chemicals used at critical concentrations. The method was applied to isolates from patients undergoing treatment for vaginal infection and it was found that particular strains were consistently present in individual patients, both in different specimens and on different occasions. It was also found that some patients harboured more than one strain of C. albicans . Inconsistencies in the resistograms of certain isolates tested on a number of occasions were resolved when the amount of inoculum used in the test was further standardized.     

Microevolution of pandemic Vibrio parahaemolyticus assessed by the number of repeat units in short sequence tandem repeat regions

The emergence of the pandemic strain Vibrio parahaemolyticus O3:K6 in 1996 caused a large increase of diarrhea outbreaks related to seafood consumption in Southeast Asia, and later worldwide. Isolates of this strain constitutes a clonal complex, and their effectual differentiation is possible by comparison of their variable number tandem repeats (VNTRs). The differentiation of the isolates by the differences in VNTRs will allow inferring the population dynamics and microevolution of this strain but this requires knowing the rate and mechanism of VNTRs' variation. Our study of mutants obtained after serial cultivation of clones showed that mutation rates of the six VNTRs examined are on the order of 10(-4) mutant per generation and that difference increases by stepwise addition of single mutations. The single stepwise mutation (SSM) was deduced because mutants with 1, 2, 3, or more repeat unit deletions or insertions follow a geometric distribution. Plausible phylogenetic trees are obtained when, according to SSM, the genetic distance between clusters with different number of repeats is assessed by the absolute differences in repeats. Using this approach, mutants originated from different isolates of pandemic V. parahaemolyticus after serial cultivation are clustered with their parental isolates. Additionally, isolates of pandemic V. parahaemolyticus from Southeast Asia, Tokyo, and northern and southern Chile are clustered according their geographical origin. The deepest split in these four populations is observed between the Tokyo and southern Chile populations. We conclude that proper phylogenetic relations and successful tracing of pandemic V. parahaemolyticus requires measuring the differences between isolates by the absolute number of repeats in the VNTRs considered.     

离子注入结合紫外线及~(60)Co-γ射线诱变选育碱性果胶酸裂解酶高产菌株的研究

以碱性果胶酸裂解酶产生菌芽孢杆菌WZ008为出发菌株,经形态鉴定和16S鉴定为类芽孢杆菌,命名为Paenibacillus sp.WZ008,通过N~+注入诱变、紫外线诱变、~(60)Co-γ射线诱变等多次反复诱变,选育得到一株产碱性果胶酸裂解酶性能稳定且酶活明显提高的突变株,其酶活为97.8U/mL,比出发菌株产碱性果胶酸裂解酶能力提高了1.04倍。     

Joint Distribution of Insertion Elements Is4 and Is 5 in Natural Isolates of ESCHERICHIA COLI

A reference collection of natural isolates of Escherichia coli has been studied in order to determine the distribution, abundance and joint occurrence of DNA insertion elements IS4 and IS5. Among these isolates, 36% were found to contain IS4 and 30% were found to contain IS5. Among strains containing IS4 the mean number of copies per strain was 4.4 +/- 0.8; the comparable figure for IS5 was 3.7 +/- 1.0. Although the presence of the elements among the isolates was independent, among those isolates containing both IS4 and IS5, there was a significant negative correlation in the number of copies of the elements. The reference collection was also studied for the presence of the DNA sequences flanking the single copy of IS4 in the chromosome of E. coli K12. Homologous sequences were found in only 26% of the isolates. The sequences flanking the IS4 invariably occur together, and their presence is significantly correlated with the presence of IS4. In eight of the strains that carry these flanking sequences, an IS4 is located between them, and the sequences are present at the homologous position as in the K12 strain. We suggest that IS4 and its flanking sequences share a common mechanism of dissemination, such as plasmids, and we present evidence that they are included in a much larger transposable element.     

Populational structure of Schistosoma mansoni assessed by DNA microsatellites

DNA microsatellites were used as molecular markers to analyse the population structure of the laboratory LE strain and of 10 field isolates of Schistosoma mansoni, the aetiologic agent of schistosomiasis. Out of 16,000 DNA sequences analysed in databases, 622 microsatellite loci were identified in 481 sequences (3.0%). The AT repetitions were the most frequent, followed by AAT and AC. Six loci showing perfect repetitions were selected and used in the polymerase chain reaction to evaluate polymorphisms in the number of repeats. Two groups of worms were studied. The first group consisted of 78 individuals, 39 of each sex, of the LE strain. The second group of worms consisted of 10 field isolates: seven from humans and three from snails. Four of the six loci were polymorphic, containing 11-17 alleles per locus. No linkage disequilibrium was observed among loci and none of the loci was sex linked. In both groups of worms, a significant deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was observed. The observed heterozygosity was always lower than the expected one. The polymerase chain reaction primers were S. mansoni specific. The LE strain showed a lower total number of alleles or a lower average number of alleles/polymorphic locus than the field isolates, suggesting that 41 years of laboratory maintenance exerted selective pressure on the LE strain. The S. mansoni populations from the field were most genetically undifferentiated (R(ST)<0.027), suggesting a high gene flow among them. Our results showed the usefulness of microsatellites for population analysis of S. mansoni, offering a new alternative for a better understanding of schistosomiasis epidemiology.     

Clonality and Micro-Diversity of a Nationwide Spreading Genotype of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Japan

Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission routes can be estimated from genotypic analysis of clinical isolates from patients. In Japan, still a middle-incidence country of TB, a unique genotype strain designated as ‘M-strain’ has been isolated nationwide recently. To ascertain the history of the wide spread of the strain, 10 clinical isolates from different areas were subjected to genome-wide analysis based on deep sequencers. Results show that all isolates possessed common mutations to those of referential strains. The greatest number of accumulated single nucleotide variants (SNVs) from the oldest coalescence was 13 nucleotides, indicating high clonality of these isolates. When an SNV common to the isolates was used as a surrogate marker of the clone, authentic clonal isolates with variation in a reliable subset of variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) genotyping method can be selected successfully from clinical isolates populations of M. tuberculosis. When the authentic clones can also be assigned to sub-clonal groups by SNVs derived from the genomic comparison, they are classifiable into three sub-clonal groups with a bias of geographical origins. Feedback from genomic analysis of clinical isolates of M. tuberculosis to genotypic markers will be an efficient strategy for the big data in various settings for public health actions against TB.