Disinfection of sewage waters from rendering plants with peracetic acid]

In our experiments, peracetic acid--known in commerce as "Wolfasteril" was tested as a new and efficient disinfectant to disinfect sewage waters from rendering plants. Peracetic acid was used in experiments in concentration of 0.1 to 1.0% for 30 sec. to 60 min. As a comparative agent, 5% chloramine was used. Results obtained in preliminary and main experiments proved that peracetic acid is fully appropriate to disinfect biologically cleaned sewage waters in rendering plants. Sewage waters supplying the main stream has to pass mostly a short section after having left the water clarifier. Consequently, the concentration of 1% peracetic acid acting for 30 sec. is the optimum one. The recommendation of this application norm for peracetic acid in water clarifiers from rendering plants being at least suitable in controlling disasters.     

Inhibition of nucleic acid synthesis by maleic hydrazide

Maleic hydrazide (MH), which causes chromosome breakage, inhibitionof cell division and retardation of plant growth, inhibits nucleicacid synthesis in corn and pea seedling roots. DNA synthesisin corn roots is affected sooner than RNA synthesis; the lagtimes for inhibition are 4 hr and 8–12 hr respectively.MH inhibits nucleic acid synthesis in the root apices most rapidly,while it acts on the subapical portions only after a much longerdelay and sometimes not at all. Likewise, certain fractionsof RNA synthesis are inhibited preferentially (ribosomal RNA),and others are relatively unaffected (transfer RNA). Proteinsynthesis is not affected during the early stages of MH treatment;however, it too may be reduced after a long exposure. Since0.2% colchicine does not inhibit DNA synthesis in corn rootswithin 24 hr, it seems unlikely that MH inhibits DNA synthesisindirectly through an effect on cell division. Although MH mayalso interfere with solute uptake, there is evidence that itis fairly selective in its action, i.e. it does not inhibitrespiration or cell expansion in corn roots. (Received February 22, 1972; )     

Interaction of calcium ion and maleic acid copolymer

Interaction between Ca2+ ion and poly(styrene-alt-maleic acid) was studied by using a Ca2+ ion sensitive electrode. The Ca2+ activity had a peak at a degree of neutralization of 0.5 and decreased with increasing Ca(OH)2 concentration beyond it when the polymer solution was neutralized with Ca(OH)2. The decrease in the Ca2+ activity was not observed when the polymer concentration was very low. The counter ion condensation theory did not hold for this solution except in the case of an extremely dilute solution. The additivity rule for Ca2+ was confirmed for this solution. When the maleic acid copolymer was neutralized with both Ca(OH)2 and KOH, the Ca2+ activity had a peak at a degree of neutralization of 0.5 when neutralization with KOH was less than 0.3 and the Ca2+ activity decreased more drastically than that neutralized with only Ca(OH)2. The appearance of the peak of the Ca2+ activity at a degree of neutralization of 0.5 was independent of the ratio of Ca2+ concentration to polymer concentration or absolute Ca2+ concentration, but depended on the degree of ionization, i.e., linear electric charge density on the polymer because of ionization of the carboxyl groups. Interpretations of the behavior of the Ca2+ activity are discussed.     

Dielectric dispersion of alternating copolymers of maleic acid

Dielectric dispersions of three kinds of copolymers of maleic acid, poly (maleic acid-co-methyl vinyl ether) (PMAMVE), poly(maleic add-co-ethyl vinyl ether) (PMAEVE) and poly (maleic acid-co-styrene) (PMAST), were measured by use of a pseudorandom noise dielectric spectrometer. A large dielectric increment was observed in the low frequency region (10-20 Hz), and was explained in terms of our theory of ion fluctuation. When these copolymers were neutralized with mixtures of NaOH and Ca(OH)2 by changing their ratio, enhancement of the static dielectric increment was observed in the intermediate ratios of both ion species. This phenomenon was analyzed by modifying our. theory of ion fluctuation to the case of alternating copolymers. Quantitative agreement with experimental results was obtained by using values of parameters representing binding energies and mutual repulsion, which are chosen to fit the calculated degree of ion binding to the experimental data on activities of Na+ and Ca2+ ions. At large fractions of divalent ions, the increment, relaxation time and specific viscosity were found to decrease sharply due to chelation by divalent ions.     

Microorganisms synthesizing enzymes with thrombolytic action]

The literary and experimental data obtained by the authors concerning the ability of various microorganisms to synthesize exoproteases lysing the thrombi of human blood are presented in the article. Various methods of enhancing the thrombolytic activity of microorganisms cultures, the properties of some isolated and purified preparations, methods of enlarging the specificity of the enzymes to fibrin and of reduction of their toxicity are considered.     

Studies on the Metabolism of D-amino acid in Microorganisms

Several strains of bacteria belonging to genus Aerobacter were found to oxidize D-glutamate rapidly, while tbey show feeble oxidative activity toward the L-form even when they were grown in the medium containing DL-glutamate.

The isolation of L-glutamate, a natural amino acid, from its DL-form was achieved by the degradation of D-glutamic acid using one of these strains.

This may be the first observation on a natural amino acid obtained from the racemic one by the metabolic action of the organism.

A new enzyme, D-glutamic acid oxidase, which is responsible for D-glutamate degradation in this organism and differs from Krebs’ D-amino acid oxidase, has been postulated.     

Ab initio and dielectric studies of succinic acid and maleic acid in 1,4-dioxane

In a continuing effort to understand the hydrogen bond through the study of dielectric and computational conformal studies of dilute solutions, succinic acid and maleic acid are studied in solutions of 1,4-dioxane solvent. Dielectric studies give an account of the net dipole moment of the system under study, which is then compared with the values obtained from conformal analysis. The dielectric measurements were made at 303 K at a frequency of 9.83 GHz using a X-band microwave test bench in order to determine the relaxation times and the dipole moments. The static dielectric permittivity and the high frequency dielectric permittivity were measured using a LCR meter and an Abbe's refractometer, respectively. The results are inspected in comparison with the dipole moment results of ab initio calculations of some of the conformers in gas phase and in liquid phase. Gaussian-03 software package with 6–31G(d) basis set optimisation was used for this purpose. Onsager's reaction field model is used to study the solvation of the dicarboxylic acids in 1,4-dioxane. The results are interpreted in terms of the intermolecular and intramolecular hydrogen bond interactions in the dilute systems.     

D-malic acid production from maleic acid using microorganism: Screening of microorganism

Summary Some bacteria belonging to Arthrobacter, Brevibacterium, Corynebacterium, Pseudomonas, Bacillus, and Acinetobacter produced D-malic acid from maleic acid when the cells grown in a medium containing citraconic acid were reacted aerobically with maleic acid in the pH 7.0 phosphate buffer containing 0.1% sodium chloride.     

Comparison of pH-sensitive degradability of maleic acid amide derivatives

We synthesized five maleic acid amide derivatives (maleic, citraconic, cis-aconitic, 2-(2′-carboxyethyl) maleic, 1-methyl-2-(2′-carboxyethyl) maleic acid amide), and compared their degradability for the future development of pH-sensitive biomaterials with tailored kinetics of the release of drugs, the change of charge density, and the degradation of scaffolds. The degradation kinetics was highly dependent upon the substituents on the cis-double bond. Among the maleic acid amide derivatives, 2-(2′-carboxyethyl) maleic acid amide with one carboxyethyl and one hydrogen substituent showed appropriate degradability at weakly acidic pH, and the additional carboxyl group can be used as a pH-sensitive linker.     

Use of maleic acid by mixed cultures of microorganisms

In a mixed batch culture, Alcaligenes xylosoxidans subsp. xylosoxidans 260 transformed maleic acid into malic acid. Bacillus subtilis 271 used malic acid as a substrate, thus stimulating further transformation of maleic acid. Both bacterial cultures dissociated with the formation of R, S, and M forms. At a concentration of 5.0 g/l, maleic acid was utilized maximally by RS and SS forms of the association A. xylosoxidans and Bacillus subtilis. At concentrations 15.0 and 25.0 g/l, maleic acid was utilized maximally by SS and MS forms of the mixed culture, respectively. Association of bacteria A. xylosoxidans and B. subtilis was not stable under flow conditions water.     

Nonmutagenicity of maleic acid and its sodium salts in salmonella assays

Maleic acid (cis-butenedioic acid) and its mono- and disodium salts are shown to be non-mutagenic in the standard Ames Salmonella/mammalian microsome assay in the absence and presence of Aroclor-1254-induced rat liver S9. This lack of activity occurred despite depression of top agar pH in accordance with the degree of protonation of this polybasic acid. These results indicate that when chemical compounds which are maleate salts show activity in this assay, the effect is attributable to the base moiety rather than maleate or pH depression per se.     

Spheroplasts of Torulopsis candida yeasts and their oxidizing activity]

The paper describes the conditions in which the spheroplasts of the yeast Torulopsis candida IBFM-Y-127 with a high respiration rate can be isolated. The preliminary incubation of the cells with SH-reagents has to be carried out in a buffer without an osmotic stabilizer, and the incubation in a medium containing 0.6 M KCL, 0.1 M MgSO4, 0.1 MKH2PO4, pH 5.2. In these conditions the cells are incubated with the enzyme from Helix pomatia during 15 to 20 minutes, and the yield of the spheroplasts is 95 to 100 per cent. The spheroplasts oxidize various substrates (glucose, acetate, ethanol) at the same, or even higher, rate as the intact cells.     

Cytochromes of paraffin oxidizing yeast Candida guillermondii K-5]

The cytochrome group of the enzymes-electron carriers in the terminal site of the respiratory chain of paraffin-oxidizing yeast C. guilliermondii K-5 has been identified. Spectral peaks of their reduced form correspond to the following wave lengths: c-412, a1-510 and a2-546nm. Variations in the content of cytochrome C of the accumulative culture have been studied. Reduced forms are predominant in the lag-phase and in the phase of exponential growth. This predominance disappears in the phase with negative acceleration and the dying culturt contains a greater number of oxidized forms.     

Fatty acid oxidizing activity in a red marine alga, Porphyra sp

A crude enzyme solution prepared from fronds of Porphyra sp. showed remarkable oxygen uptake activity when linoleic acid was added as a substrate. Fatty acid oxidizing activity was mainly present in the soluble fraction of the crude homogenate. The activity was purified 769-fold from mature fronds by ammonium sulfate fractionation, ion-exchange and hydrophobic chromatography. SDS-PAGE analysis of the purified proteins indicated that its subunit size was about 13 kDa. Gel filtration chromatography equipped with a photodiode array detector revealed that the activity was associated with a protein having a molecular weight of 12,500-13,000. It eluted with a chromophore having the maximum absorbance at 417 nm, thus, the protein was suggested to be a heme protein. The spectrophotometric property of the protein was highly similar to that of cytochrome c suggesting that it has heme c as a prosthetic group. The protein showed highest oxygenation activity against linoleic acid, and alpha-linolenic acid and arachidonic acid followed, but oleic acid could not be oxidized. From linoleic acid the protein formed 9- and 13-hydroperoxides to the same extent, and both were shown to be racemic. These results showed that the oxidizing activity is accountable to a cytochrome, but not to a typical lipoxygenase.