Microcalorimetric study of the anaerobic growth of Escherichia coli: growth thermograms in a synthetic medium.

A microcalorimetric technique was used for studying the growth of Escherichia coli during anaerobiosis. The growth thermograms obtained are complex and the shape of curves is dependent on the hydrogen lyase activity of the cells. Fermentation balances are given for different culture conditions, and simple growth thermograms are obtained when the hydrogen lyase activity is inhibitied.     

限制性条件下药物对细菌抑制作用微量量热法研究

用微量量热计测定了福氏志贺氏菌(Shipella flexneri)中7株菌(6、2b、3b、sb、la、x、y)在合成药物抑制作用下生长的热谱图,按限制性条件下微生物生长的模型进行了数学处理,得出了比生长速率(μ),由此确定了各细菌比生长速率(μ)与药物浓度?之间的定量关系,求出了比生长速率(μ)为零时的用药浓度,并对该合成药对各细菌的抑菌效果进行了分析．     

Transition from exponential to linear photoautotrophic growth changes the physiology of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Synechocystis</Emphasis> sp. PCC 6803

Phototrophic microorganisms like cyanobacteria show growth curves in batch culture that differ from the corresponding growth curves of chemotrophic bacteria. Instead of the usual three phases, i.e., lag-, log-, and stationary phase, phototrophs display four distinct phases. The extra growth phase is a phase of linear, light-limited growth that follows the exponential phase and is often ignored as being different. Results of this study demonstrate marked growth phase-dependent alterations in the photophysiology of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 between cells harvested from the exponential and the linear growth phase. Notable differences are a gradual shift in the energy transfer of the light-harvesting phycobilisomes to the photosystems and a distinct change in the redox state of the plastoquinone pool. These differences will likely affect the result of physiological studies and the efficiency of product formation of Synechocystis in biotechnological applications. Our study also demonstrates that the length of the period of exponential growth can be extended by a gradually stronger incident light intensity that matches the increase of the cell density of the culture.     

微量量热法研究酸奶菌种的适宜生长温度及最佳生长温度

测定酸奶菌种保加利亚孔杆菌、嗜热链球菌及二者混合菌在乳中生长的热谱图曲线,确定了各菌种及混合菌的适宜生长温度范围,计算出了各菌种在不同温度下的生长速率常数。用计算机拟合k-T方程,求出各菌种的最佳生长温度。     

Studies on the growth metabolism of Bacillus thuringiensis and its vegetative insecticidal protein engineered strains by microcalorimetry

The metabolic power-times curves of Bacillus thuringiensis and its vegetative insecticidal protein engineered strains were determined at 30 degrees C by using a thermal activity monitor air Isothermal Microcalorimeter, ampoule method. From the power-times curves, the maximum power (Pmax) in the log phase, the growth rate constant (k), the generation times (tG), the time of the maximum power (tmax), the heat effects (Qlog) for log phase, and the total heat effect in 45 h (Qtotal) of B. thuringiensis strains can be obtained. The results indicate that their power-times curves are different. The relationship between their metabolic power-times curves and character of bacteria metabolism, and thermokinetics and gene expression were analyzed and discussed. The character of the bacteria power-times curves reflected the physiologic character of gene expression. The microcalorimetric method proved to be a reliable and sensitive tool for the assessment of the growth metabolism, the heat output in bacteria and its engineered strains. The determination of the thermokinetic character is beneficial to the control of fermentation.     

Growth Curves of Anaerobic Bacteria in Solid Media

Simple pour plate and spectrophotometric techniques for the evaluation of growth curves of several anaerobic bacteria on solid media are described. Three basic patterns of anaerobic growth were observed. The curves obtained were very reproducible when studied on separate occasions. The curves obtained by spectrophotometric measurement were comparable to those obtained by the pour plate method, especially when a large bacterial inoculum was used. Limitations in the interpretation of the results are discussed. The methods and principles reported could provide the basis for the determination of bacterial growth on solid media using other organisms and different experimental conditions.     

Statistical analysis of plasma thermograms measured by differential scanning calorimetry

Melting curves of human plasma measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), known as thermograms, have the potential to markedly impact diagnosis of human diseases. A general statistical methodology is developed to analyze and classify DSC thermograms to analyze and classify thermograms. Analysis of an acquired thermogram involves comparison with a database of empirical reference thermograms from clinically characterized diseases. Two parameters, a distance metric, P, and correlation coefficient, r, are combined to produce a 'similarity metric,' ρ, which can be used to classify unknown thermograms into pre-characterized categories. Simulated thermograms known to lie within or fall outside of the 90% quantile range around a median reference are also analyzed. Results verify the utility of the methods and establish the apparent dynamic range of the metric ρ. Methods are then applied to data obtained from a collection of plasma samples from patients clinically diagnosed with SLE (lupus). High correspondence is found between curve shapes and values of the metric ρ. In a final application, an elementary classification rule is implemented to successfully analyze and classify unlabeled thermograms. These methods constitute a set of powerful yet easy to implement tools for quantitative classification, analysis and interpretation of DSC plasma melting curves.     

The impact of abiotic factors (temperature and glucose) on physicochemical properties of lipids from Yersinia pseudotuberculosis

The impact of the availability of glucose in nutrition medium and growth temperature on the composition and thermotropic behavior of lipids from Yersinia pseudotuberculosis (Enterobacteriaceae) was studied. Y. pseudotuberculosis was grown in nutrition broth (NB) with/without glucose at 8 and 37 degrees C, corresponding to the temperatures of saprophytic and parasitic phases of this bacterium life. The decrease of phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol and unsaturated fatty acids and the parallel increase of lysophosphatidylethanolamine and diphosphatidylglycerol and saturated and cyclopropane acids were the most significant changes with temperature in bacterial phospholipid (PL) classes and fatty acids, respectively. Glucose did not effect the direction of temperature-induced changes in the contents of PLs, fatty acids, however it enhanced (for PLs) or diminished (for fatty acids) intensity of these changes. The thermally induced transitions of lipids were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). It was revealed that the addition of glucose to NB induced a sharp shift of DSC thermograms to lower temperatures in the "warm" variants of bacteria. The peak maximum temperature (Tmax) of thermal transitions dropped from 50 to 26 degrees C that is the optimal growth temperature of Y. pseudotuberculosis. Tmax of total lipids of the cells grown at 8 degrees C without glucose in NB was equal to growth temperature that corresponded to the classical mechanism of homeoviscous adaptation of bacteria. An addition of glucose to NB at this growth temperature caused the subsequent reduction of Tmax to -8 degrees C, while the temperature ranges of thermograms were not substantially changed. So, not only the temperature growth of bacteria, but also the presence of glucose in NB can modify the physical state of lipids from Y. pseudotuberculosis. In this case, both factors affect additively. It is suggested that glucose influences some membrane-associated proteins and then the fluidity of lipid matrix through temperature-inducible genes.     

Parity models of cell proliferation

Models of the cell cycle are developed and simulated for renewing and for exponentially growing populations. Type A corresponds to the author's previous model (Barrett, 1966, Barrett, 1966). Type B incorporates a resting or regenerating phase, recurring regularly every few cycles, with an endogeneous rhythm. The parity of a cell is the number of cycles since the phase occurred in an ancestral cycle. Type C incorporates asymmetric cell division. Type B leads to novel features in calculated and simulated labelled mitoses curves, since increasing amplitudes of successive waves are permitted, and accords with certain tumour data that previously seemed anomalous. Type B leads also to correlations between cycle times for different generations, in accordance with patterns reported in bacteria. Some mathematical properties of models Type A and B are noted.     

Radiosensitivity ofEscherichia coli B bacteria containing different amounts of nucleic acids and proteins

Escherichia coli B bacteria cultivated under aerobic and anaerobic conditions were irradiated with X-rays at different phases of growth of the culture (at the outset and end of the logarithmic phase and in the stationary phase). Changes in the nucleic acid and protein content and in the number of nuclear equivalents per cell were determined in irradiated bacteria. The extrapolation number of the survival curves increased proportionately to the increase in the cell components. It was not in direct agreement with the increase in any of the individual components, however. The slope of the survival curves changed simultaneously with the extrapolation number, showing that radiosensitivity changes were probably of a complex character and that they might be the function of at least two factors, manifested as a change in the number and size of the targets (evaluated from the aspect of the target theory).