The In Vitro Flowering of Kalanch?e blossfeldiana Poellniz. II. The Effects of Growth Regulators and Gallic Acid

Nodal explants of Kalanch?e blossfeldiana Poellniz. were culturedin vitro on a low nutrient hormone-free medium. Flowering wasachieved in response to short-day inductive cycles. This systemwas used to test a variety of culture conditions and media onthe flowering response. Plant hormones added to the medium influencedvarious facets of the flowering response when induction occurredby short-day photoperiods. No hormone treatment resulted inflower induction under non-inductive conditions, although vegetativegrowth was affected. The phenolic gallic acid appears not tobe a specific inhibitor of flowering. (Received February 19, 1990; Accepted May 15, 1990)     

The Production of β-Fructofuranosidase from Bifidobacterium spp.

The productions of β-fructofuranosidase from Bifidohacterium longum A1, B. adolescentis G1, and four other strains of Bifidobacteria were investigated. All strains used in this study were grown in modified BL broth containing a mixture of fructooligosaccharides [1^F (1-β-D-fructofuranosyl)_n-1sucrose, GF_n (n = 2 – 5)] as the only carbon source. Hydrolyses of 1-kestose, sucrose, and inulin were detected in the extract of the cell. The highest activity on 1-kestose was detected in the extract of B. longum A1 followed by B. adolescentis G1. The other extracts weakly attacked 1-kestose. The relative activities of the extract of B. adolescentis G1 for 1-kestose, nystose, 1^F-fructosylnystose, sucrose, and inulin were 100, 82.5, 50.8, 28.3, and 15.0, respectively. The relative activities for various substrates differed from invertases (yeast β-fructofuranosidases) and exo-inulinase from Penicillium trzehinskii.