In vitro and in vivo characterization of alkyl hydroperoxide reductase mutant strains of Helicobacter hepaticus

Mutant strains in the tsaA gene encoding alkyl hydroperoxide reductase were more sensitive to O₂ and to oxidizing agents (paraquat, cumene hydroperoxide and t-butylhydroperoxide) than the wild type, but were markedly more resistant to hydrogen peroxide. The mutant strains resistance phenotype could be attributed to a 4-fold and 3-fold increase in the catalase protein amount and activity, respectively compared to the parent strain. The wild type did not show an increase in catalase expression in response to sequential increases in O₂ exposure or to oxidative stress reagents, so an adaptive compensatory mutation has probably occurred in the mutants. In support of this, chromosomal complementation of tsaA mutants restored alkyl hydroperoxide reductase, but catalase was still up-expressed in all complemented strains. The katA promoter sequence was the same in all mutant strains and the wild type. Like its Helicobacter pylori counterpart strain, a H. hepaticus tsaA mutant contained more lipid hydroperoxides than the wild type strain. Hepatic tissue from mice inoculated with a tsaA mutant had lesions similar to those inoculated with the wild type, and included coagulative necrosis of hepatocytes. The liver and cecum colonizing abilities of the wild type and tsaA mutant were comparable. Up-expression of catalase in the tsaA mutants likely permits the bacterium to compensate (in colonization and virulence attributes) for the loss of an otherwise important oxidative stress-combating enzyme, alkyl hydroperoxide reductase. The use of erythromycin resistance insertion as a facile way to screen for gene-targeted mutants, and the chromosomal complementation of those mutants are new genetic procedures for studying H. hepaticus.     

Enzymatic production of l-phenylalanine from acetamidocinnamic acid: breeding of an acetamidocinnamate amidohydrolase-hyperproducing mutant

To increase the productivity of l-phenylalanine from acetamidocinnamic acid, we screened bacteria containing high acetamidocinnamate amidohydrolase activity, and strain S-5 containing high activity was isolated from soil. The bacteria were identified as Corynebacterium sp. S-5.When strain S-5 was cultured in a medium containing acetamidocinnamic acid as the sole carbon source or enzyme inducer, the formation of acetamidocinnamate amidohydrolase was observed. This was controlled by catabolite repression. When the strain was cultured in a medium containing glucose and acetamidocinnamic acid as the sole nitrogen source, it showed low acetamidocinnamate amidohydrolase activity and an increased doubling time.To obtain acetamidocinnamate amidohydrolase-hyperproducing strain, we enriched cells growing faster than strain S-5 in a medium containing glucose and acetamidocinnamic acid by continuous culture of mutagenized cells. Mutant C-23 had 12-fold the enzyme production and 3-fold the growth rate of the wild-type strain in a medium containing glucose. Acetamidocinnamate amidohydrolase formation in the mutant did not require acetamidocinnamic acid as enzyme inducer and was resistant to catabolite repression.     

Isolation of mutants of Penicillium purpurogenum resistant to catabolite repression

 The strain Penicillium purpurogenum P-26 was subjected to UV irradiation and N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine treatment and mutants were isolated capable of synthesizing cellulase under the conditions of a high concentration of glucose. Initially mutants resistant to catabolite repression by 2-deoxy-D-glucose were isolated on Walseth’s cellulose/agar plates containing 15–45 mM 2-deoxy-D-glucose. These mutants were again screened for resistance to catabolite repression by glycerol or glucose on Walseth’s cellulose/agar plates containing 50 g/l glycerol or 50 g/l glucose respectively. Four mutants with different sizes of clearing zone on Walseth’s cellulose/agar plates containing 50 g/l glucose were selected for flask culture. Among them, the mutant NTUV-45-4 showed better carboxymethylcellulase activity in flask culture containing 1% Avicel plus 3% glucose than did the parental strain. Received: 9 October 1995/Received revision: 27 November 1995/Accepted: 8 January 1996     

Improved production of (<Emphasis Type="Italic">S</Emphasis>)-ketoprofen ester hydrolase by a mutant of<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Trichosporon brassicae</Emphasis> CGMCC 0574

An efficient screening method following UV mutagenesis yielded a high frequency of improved mutants of Trichosporon brassicae CGMCC 0574, a wild-type esterase-producer capable of enantioselectively hydrolyzing the ethyl ester of ketoprofen [2-(3-benzoylphenyl) propionic acid]. The mutant had an activity 1.8-fold higher than the wild type and was stable in its enzyme production for ten serial transfers. As the best single carbon source, isopropanol improved the specific activity of the enzyme 5-fold; and this did not result from the effect of cell permeabilization. An 18-h culture grown on a medium containing 0.5% glucose plus 0.5% isopropanol produced 3-fold as much esterase as a culture grown on 1% glucose.     

Induction and regulation of cellulase synthesis in Trichoderma pseudokoningii mutants EA3-867 and N2-78

Two mutants, EA₃-867 and N₂-78, with high cellulase yields were obtained from wild strains of Trichoderma pseudokoningii Rifai, 1096 and Mo₃, respectively, by mutagenic treatments with a linear accelerator, ⁶⁰Co, u.v., nitrosoguanidine (NTG) and diethylsulphate (DTS). The mutants grew slowly to produce small colonies on agar plates with synthetic medium. On agar plates of peptone-yeast extract, the small colonies were as large as those of wild strains. The cellulase activities of these mutants in Koji extracts, shake flask culture filtrates, and enzyme preparations were markedly higher than those of their parents. The mutant N₂-78 reached quite high cellulase activity level when cultured for 60 h in shake flasks in a simple medium containing milled straw, wheat bran, mineral salts plus waste glucose molasses. The cellulase saccharifying activities on CMC, filter paper and cotton, were 255, 8.2 and 13.4 mg glucose/ml enzyme, respectively, or 11, 4.3 and 6 times more than those of its parent Mo₃.The cellulase synthesis of EA₃-867 and N₂-78 was strongly induced by sophorose, isolated from pods of Sophora japonica L., and was inhibited by glucose, sugar phosphates, glycerol and organic acids. We conclude that cellulase synthesis of the mutants is regulated by catabolite repression as well as by induction. The increase in cellulase production by both mutants results from changes in the regulatory systems for cellulase synthesis, i.e. the mutants showed higher sensitivity to inducer and lower susceptibility to catabolite repression than did the wild types.A cellulase preparation of Trichoderma pseudokoningii Rifai N₂-78 induced by sophorose was fractionated by DEAE-Sephadex A-50 and Sephadex G-100 column chromatography, selective inactivation and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The components C₁(exo-β1,4-glucanase), C_x(endo-β1,4-glucanase) and β-glucosidase were separated, and their molecular weights were estimated to be 67 000, 62 000 and 42 000 respectively. The homogeneity of C₁ was verified by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, immunoelectrophoresis and ultracentrifugal analysis. It is a glycoprotein and is rich in glycine, aspartic acid, threonine, serine and glutamic acid. The C₁ showed a strong synergistic action with C_x in the degradation of cotton, Avicel and Walseth cellulose.A poly(A)-RNA, induced by sophorose in N₂-78 mycelium, was isolated by oligo(dT)-cellulose affinity chromatography.     

Temperature-dependent and amber copy mutants of plasmid R1drd-19 in Escherichia coli.

The isolation of conditional mutants with an altered copy number of the R plasmid R1drd-19 is described. Temperature-dependent as well as amber-suppressible mutants were found. These mutant plasmids have been named pKN301 and pKN303, respectively. Both types of mutations reside on the R plasmid. No difference in molecular weight could be detected by neutral sucrose gradient centrifugation for any of the mutant plasmids when compared with the wild-type plasmid. The number of copies of the plasmids was determined by measurement of the specific activity of the R plasmid-mediated β-lactamase and by measurement of covalently closed circular (CCC) DNA in alkaline sucrose gradients and dye-CsCl density gradients. Below 34 °C the temperature-dependent mutant, pKN301, had the same copy number as the wild type, while this was four times that of the wild type above 37 °C. The amber mutant pKN303 had a copy number indistinguishable from that of the wild-type plasmid in a strain containing a strong amber suppressor and a copy number about five times that of the wild-type plasmid in a strain lacking an amber suppressor. In a strain containing a temperature-sensitive amber suppressor, the amber mutant's copy number increased with the decrease in amber suppressor activity. Thus, the existence of the temperature-dependent and the amber-suppressible R-plasmid copy mutants indicates that the system that controls the replication of plasmid R1drd-19 contains an element with a negative function and that this element is a protein.     

Phosphoenolpyruvate: Sugar Phosphotransferase Systems and Sugar Metabolism in Brevibacterium flavum

Brevibacterium flavum mutants defective in the phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP)-dependent glucose phosphotransferase system (PTS) were selected with high frequency by 2-deoxyglucose-resistance. Most of them (DOG^r) still had the fructose-PTS and grew not only on fructose but also on glucose like the wild-type strain. A mutant having 1 /8th the fructose-PTS activity of the wild strain but normal glucose-PTS activity was isolated as a xylitol-resistant mutant. It grew on glucose but not on fructose. The glucose-PTS was active on glucose, glucosamine, 2-deoxyglucose and mannose, and slightly on methyl-a-glucoside and N-acetylglucosamine, but not on fructose or xylitol. The fructose-PTS acted on fructose and xylitol, and to some extent on glucose but not on glucosamine or 2-deoxyglucose. Mutants unable to grow on glucose (DOG^rGlc^-) derived from a DOG^r mutant were all defective in the fructose-PTS. All revertants able to grow on glucose derived from a DOG^rGlc“ mutant had the fructose-PTS. The glucokinase activity was about 2/3rds the glucose activity of the fructose-PTS. All the DOG^rGlc^- mutants had normal levels of glucokinase. One of these mutants grew on maltose and sucrose, which were hydrolyzed to glucose. Thus, glucokinase seems to contribute to the phosphorylation of glucose liberated inside the cell. The fructose-PTS was induced by fructose and repressed by glucose. The glucose repression was not observed in a mutant defective in the glucose-PTS.     

Enhancement of Biocontrol Activities and Cyclic Lipopeptides Production by Chemical Mutagenesis of Bacillus subtilis XF-1, a Biocontrol Agent of Plasmodiophora brassicae and Fusarium solani

Bacillus subtilis XF-1 has been used as a biocontrol agent of clubroot disease of crucifers infected by Plasmodiophora brassicae, an obligate pathogen. In order to maximize the growth inhibition of the pathogen, random mutagenesis using N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine was applied to strain XF-1. The efficacy of 226 selected mutants was assessed against the growth of an indicator fungal pathogen: Fusarium solani using agar plate assay and the disruptive effects on the resting spores of P. brassicae. Four mutants exhibited inhibition activity significantly higher than the wild type. The cell extracts of these mutants and the XF-1 were subjected to matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectra analysis, and three families of cyclic lipopeptides (CLPs) fengycin, surfactin and iturin were identified from the parental strain and the screened mutants. However, the relative contents and compound diversity changed after mutagenesis, and there was slight variation in the surfactin and fengycin. Notably, only 5 iturin components were discovered from the wild strain XF-1, but 13 were obtained from the mutant strains, and the relative CLPs contents of all mutant strains increased substantially. The results suggested that CLPs might be one of main biocontrol mechanisms of the clubroot disease by XF-1. The 4 mutants are far more effective than the parental strain, and they would be promising biocontrol candidates not only against P. brassicae but probably other plant diseases caused by fungi.     

The rb Mutation of Peas Causes Structural and Regulatory Changes in ADP Glucose Pyrophosphorylase from Developing Embryos

A mutation at the rb locus of pea (Pisum sativum L.) alters the shape, reduces the starch content, and increases the lipid and sucrose contents of the seed. These effects are probably all consequences of a reduction of up to 40-fold in the maximum catalytic activity of ADP glucose pyrophosphorylase in the developing embryo of the mutant relative to the wild type. We have investigated how the mutation brings about this reduction in activity. The purified enzyme from mutant embryos has a specific activity about 10-fold lower than that from wild-type embryos, and it is much more sensitive to the effectors inorganic phosphate and 3-phosphoglycerate than the wild-type enzyme. Both wild-type and mutant enzymes consist of polypeptides of around 50 kilodaltons. One of the polypeptides of the purified wild-type enzyme is missing from the mutant enzyme. We deduce that in the wild-type embryo this protein may interact with other subunits to confer a high specific activity and a low susceptibility to effectors on the enzyme.     

Regulation and genetic enhancement of beta-amylase production in Clostridium thermosulfurogenes.

We studied the general mechanism for regulation of beta-amylase synthesis in Clostridium thermosulfurogenes. beta-Amylase was expressed at high levels only when the organism was grown on maltose or other carbohydrates containing maltose units. Three kinds of mutants altered in beta-amylase production were isolated by using nitrosoguanidine treatment, enrichment on 2-deoxyglucose, and selection of colonies with large clear zones on iodine-stained starch-glucose agar plates. beta-Amylase was produced only when maltose was added to cells growing on sucrose in wild-type and catabolite repression-resistant mutant strains, but the differential rate of enzyme synthesis in constitutive mutants was constant regardless of the presence of maltose. In carbon-limited chemostats of wild-type and catabolite repression-resistant mutant stains, beta-amylase was expressed on maltose but not on glucose or sucrose. beta-Amylase synthesis was immediately repressed by the addition of glucose. Therefore, we concluded that beta-amylase synthesis in C. thermosulfurogenes was inducible and subject to catabolite repression. The addition of cAMP did not eliminate the repressive effect of glucose. The mutants were generally characterized in terms of beta-amylase production, growth properties, fermentation product formation, and alterations in glucose isomerase and glucoamylase activities. A hyperproductive mutant produced eightfold more beta-amylase on starch medium than the wild type and more rapidly fermented starch to ethanol.     

Microbial strain improvement for enhanced polygalacturonase production by Aspergillus sojae

Strain improvement is a powerful tool in commercial development of microbial fermentation processes. Strains of Aspergillus sojae which were previously identified as polygalacturonase producers were subjected to the cost-effective mutagenesis and selection method, the so-called random screening. Physical (ultraviolet irradiation at 254 nm) and chemical mutagens (N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine) were used in the development and implementation of a classical mutation and selection strategy for the improved production of pectic acid-degrading enzymes. Three mutation cycles of both mutagenic treatments and also the combination of them were performed to generate mutants descending from A. sojae ATCC 20235 and mutants of A. sojae CBS 100928. Pectinolytic enzyme production of the mutants was compared to their wild types in submerged and solid-state fermentation. Comparing both strains, higher pectinase activity was obtained by A. sojae ATCC 20235 and mutants thereof. The highest polygalacturonase activity (1,087.2?±?151.9 U/g) in solid-state culture was obtained by mutant M3, which was 1.7 times increased in comparison to the wild strain, A. sojae ATCC 20235. Additional, further mutation of mutant M3 for two more cycles of treatment by UV irradiation generated mutant DH56 with the highest polygalacturonase activity (98.8?±?8.7 U/mL) in submerged culture. This corresponded to 2.4-fold enhanced polygalacturonase production in comparison to the wild strain. The results of this study indicated the development of a classical mutation and selection strategy as a promising tool to improve pectinolytic enzyme production by both fungal strains.     

Improvement of Erythrose Reductase Activity,Deletion of By-products and Statistical Media Optimization for Enhanced Erythritol Production from Yarrowia lipolytica Mutant 49

The purpose of the present investigation was to produce erythritol by Yarrowia lipolytica mutant without any by-products. Mutants of Y. lipolytica were generated by ultra-violet for enhancing erythrose reductase (ER) activity and erythritol production. The mutants showing the highest ER activity were screened by triphenyl tetrazolium chloride agar plate assay. Productivity of samples was analyzed by thin-layer chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography equipped with the refractive index detector. One of the mutants named as mutant 49 gave maximum erythritol production without any other by-products (particularly glycerol). Erythritol production and specific ER activity in mutant 49 increased to 1.65 and 1.47 times, respectively, in comparison with wild-type strain. The ER gene of wild and mutant strains was sequenced and analyzed. A general comparison of wild and mutant gene sequences showed the replacement of Asp²⁷⁰ with Glu²⁷⁰ in ER protein. In order to enhance erythritol production, we used a three component-three level-one response Box–Behnken of response surface methodology model. The optimum medium composition for erythritol production was found to be (g/l) glucose 279.49, ammonium sulfate 9.28, and pH 5.41 with 39.76 erythritol production.     

Mutagenesis of Protoplasts and Regeneration of Mycelium in the Mushroom Volvariella volvacea

Regenerating protoplasts were obtained from mycelial culture of the mushroom Volvariella volvacea by the action of the lytic enzyme Novozym 234 in the presence of 0.01 M phosphate buffer (pH 6.0) containing 0.6 M NaCl. Regeneration was found to be poor in liquid medium, but more than 50% regeneration was achieved on solid 2% agar medium overlaid with 0.5% agar. Protoplasts of V. volvacea were found to be highly sensitive to the killing action of both UV irradiation and N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine. However, no morphological or auxotrophic mutants could be obtained from protoplasts by chemical mutagenesis. Four types of morphological mutants and one auxotrophic (adenine-negative) mutant were obtained from UV-irradiated protoplasts. The adenine-negative mutant of V. volvacea was found to be stable, not losing auxotrophy on repeated subculture.     

Isolation and Characterization of a Bacillus cereus Mutant Strain Hyperproductive of Exo-β-Amylase

Starting with a strain of Bacillus cereus excreting about 40-fold more β-amylase than does the original wild-type strain, we isolated, after mutagenesis with N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine, a strain designated BQ10-S1 SpoIII which showed under optimal conditions a further 5.5-fold increase in β-amylase activity. The amylase production of this strain was observed to increase in the presence of 0.5% glucose or 1% maltose and, more markedly, in the presence of 2% soluble starch in the culture medium. The enzyme produced by this strain was immunologically identical to the wild-type enzyme, suggesting that either the copy number of the gene or the efficiency of enzyme synthesis from it, or both, are altered in this strain.     

Isolation of mutants of Aspergillus awamori with enhanced production of extracellular xylanase and β-xylosidase

Plate screening tests were designed for the selection and isolation of mutant strains of the fungus Aspergillus awamori CMI 142717 showing over-production and constitutive synthesis of xylanase and -xylosidase. Following mutation by N-methyl-N-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine, nitrous acid and UV (254 nm), two generations of mutants were isolated and cultured in shake fiasks containing glucose, ball-milled oat straw or oat speit xylan as carbon source. Growth of a number of selected mutants in shake flask culture on medium containing oat spelt xylan produced the highest titres of xylanase and -xylosidase. Thus, xylanase producton by mutant AANTG43 was 132 U/ml when the Somogyl-Nelson (alkaline copper) method of measuring reducing sugar released was used, or 1160 U/ml using the dinitrosalicylic acid method of reducing sugar analysis. These values were 8-fold higher than those produced by the wild type. A 20-fold improvement in -xylosidase production was produced by mutant AANO19 (3.51 U/ml). The titres for these two enzyme activities are the highest recorded so far in the literature. Mutant AANTG43 also produced high levels of xylanase (49.8 U/ml) in submerged culture in a fermenter and showed a substantial improvement in the overall productivity of enzyme compared to the wild type strain.The authors are with the Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB2 9SB, UK.     

Evidence for a Second Nitrate Reductase Activity That Is Distinct from the Respiratory Enzyme in Salmonella typhimurium

Significant nitrate reductase activity was detected in mutants of Salmonella typhimurium which mapped at or near chlC and which were incapable of growth with nitrate as electron acceptor. The same mutants were sensitive to chlorate and performed sufficient nitrate reduction to permit anaerobic growth with nitrate as the sole nitrogen source in media containing glucose. The mutant nitrate-reducing protein did not migrate with the wild-type nitrate reductase in polyacrylamide electrophoretic gels. Studies of the electrophoretic mobility in gels of different polyacrylamide concentration revealed that the wild-type and mutant nitrate reductases differed significantly in both size and charge. The second enzyme also differed from the wild-type major enzyme in its response to repression by low pH and its lack of response to repression by glucose. The same mutants were found to be derepressed for nitrite reductase and for a cytochrome with a maximal reduced absorbance at 555 nm at 25°C. This cytochrome was not detected in preparations of the wild type grown under the same conditions. Extracts of these mutants contained normal amounts of the b-type cytochromes which, in the wild type, were associated with nitrate reductase and formate dehydrogenase, respectively, although they could not mediate the oxidation of these cytochromes with nitrate. They were capable of oxidizing the derepressed 555-nm peak cytochrome with nitrate. It is suggested that these mutants synthesize a nitrate-reducing enzyme which is distinct from the chlC gene product and which is repressed in the wild type during anaerobic growth with nitrate.     

Beta-fructofuranosidase production by 2-deoxyglucose resistant mutants of aspergillus niger in submerged and solid-state fermentation

Aspergillus niger produces extracellular beta-fructofuranosidase under submerged (SmF) and solid state fermentation (SSF) conditions. After UV mutagenesis of conidiospores of A. niger, 2-deoxyglucose (10 g/l) resistant mutants were isolated on Czapek's minimal medium containing glycerol as a carbon source and the mutants were examined for improved production of beta-fructofuranosidase in SmF and SSF conditions. One of such mutant DGRA-1 overproduced beta-fructofuranosidase in both SmF and SSF conditions. In SmF, the mutant DGRA-1 showed higher beta-fructofuranosidase productivity (110.8 U/l/hr) than the wild type (48.3 U/l/hr). While in SSF the same strain produced 322 U/l/hr of beta-fructofuranosidase, 2 times higher than that of wild type (154.2 U/l/hr). In SmF, both wild type and mutants produced relatively low level of beta-fructofuranosidase in medium containing sucrose with glucose than from the sucrose medium. However in SSF, the DGRA-1 mutant grown in sucrose and sucrose+ glucose did not show any difference with respect to beta-fructofuranosidase production. These results indicate that the catabolite repression of beta-fructofuranosidase synthesis is observed in SmF whereas in SSF such regulation was not prominent.     

Nitrate and Nitrite Reduction in Relation to Nitrogenase Activity in Soybean Nodules and Rhizobium japonicum Bacteroids

Soybean (Glycine max L. cv Williams) seeds were sown in pots containing a 1:1 perlite-vermiculite mixture and grown under greenhouse conditions. Nodules were initiated with a nitrate reductase expressing strain of Rhizobium japonicum, USDA 110, or with nitrate reductase nonexpressing mutants (NR⁻ 108, NR⁻ 303) derived from USDA 110. Nodules initiated with either type of strain were normal in appearance and demonstrated nitrogenase activity (acetylene reduction). The in vivo nitrate reductase activity of N₂-grown nodules initiated with nitrate reductase-negative mutant strains was less than 10% of the activity shown by nodules initiated with the wild-type strain. Regardless of the bacterial strain used for inoculation, the nodule cytosol and the cell-free extracts of the leaves contained both nitrate reductase and nitrite reductase activities. The wild-type bacteroids contained nitrate reductase but not nitrite reductase activity while the bacteroids of strains NR⁻ 108 and NR⁻ 303 contained neither nitrate reductase nor nitrite reductase activities.

Addition of 20 millimolar KNO₃ to bacteroids of the wild-type strain caused a decrease in nitrogenase activity by more than 50%, but the nitrate reductase-negative strains were insensitive to nitrate. The nitrogenase activity of detached nodules initiated with the nitrate reductase-negative mutant strains was less affected by the KNO₃ treatment as compared to the wild-type strain; however, the results were less conclusive than those obtained with the isolated bacteroids.

The addition of either KNO₃ or KNO₂ to detached nodules (wild type) suspended in a semisolid agar nutrient medium caused an inhibition of nitrogenase activity of 50% and 65% as compared to the minus N controls, and provided direct evidence for a localized effect of nitrate and nitrite at the nodule level. Addition of 0.1 millimolar sucrose stimulated nitrogenase activity in the presence or absence of nitrate or nitrite. The sucrose treatment also helped to decrease the level of nitrite accumulated within the nodules.

     

Visual detection of β-fructofuranosidase (inulase) —Regulatory mutants ofKluyveromyces fragilis

Summary Inulase constitutive mutant cells of the yeastKluyveromyces fragilis were enumerated in continuous culture cell populations. After cloning and growth on glycerol agar plates, mutant colonies stained red when exposed to a mixture of sucrose and a chromogenic reagent for glucose.Mutants with improved inulase production on glucose were isolated from opaque agar plates containing undissolved inulin. Mutant colonies were surrounded with clearing zones. Attempts to isolate similar mutants by selection for 2-deoxyglucose resistance proved unsuccessful withK. fragilis.