Recovery of a bacterial sub-population from sewage using immunofluorescent flow cytometry and cell sorting

Abstract The effectiveness of immunofluorescence flow cytometry and cell sorting to detect, quantify and separate indigenous bacterial populations present in low concentrations in sewage outflow was investigated. Preparatory experiments for targeted recovery revealed indigenous, immunoglobulin-G-binding particles present at low levels in sewage outflow samples taken from Coniston Water. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting of this population was employed to enrich for these particles, which were confirmed as bacterial cells. This cell population comprised approximately 23% of the total plate count on MacConkey agar before cell sorting, rising to approximately 95% after sorting. These results corresponded to cell densities of less than 5% of the total plate count on R2A agar. Taxonomic tests suggested the bacterium to be Ochrobactrum anthropi .     

Tissue elastic properties of eight Hawaiian Dubautia species that differ in habitat and diploid chromosome number

Summary Eight Hawaiian Dubautia species grow in habitats as varied as exposed lava, dry scrub, mesic forest, wet forest, and bog. These species also differ in diploid chromosome number, with four species having 13 pairs of chromosomes and four species having 14 pairs. This ecological and chromosomal variation is paralleled by significant interspecific variation in tissue elastic properties. The four 13-paired species from dry habitats exhibit significantly lower tissue elastic moduli near full hydration (E _i) than the four 14-paired species from mesic to wet habitats. Values of E _i range from 2 to 4 MPa among the former species and from 9 to 18 MPa among the latter species. The turgor dependence of the elastic modulus also differs markedly between the two groups of species. As a result of these differences in tissue elastic properties, the capacity for maintaining high turgor pressures as tissue water content decreases is much greater in the 13-paired species from dry habitats than in the 14-paired species from mesic to wet habitats. These results indicate that the evolutionary diversification of the Dubautia species has been accompanied by a significant degree of change at the physiological level.     

The Escherichia coli dnaW mutation is an allele of the adk gene

Summary A dnaW mutant, isolated on the basis of inability to effect conjugal DNA transfer at high temperature, has been shown by complementation and enzyme assay to be defective in the adk (adenylate kinase; EC 2.7.4.3) locus. The adk mutant, known to have reduced ATP concentration at the nonpermissive temperature (Cousin and Belaich 1966), was used to demonstrate a donor energy requirement for stable aggregate formation and for chromosome transfer in conjugation.     

Fourth-derivative spectrophotometry of proteins

Fourth-derivative spectrophotometry offers several advantages over classical absorption or difference spectrophotometry in examining the characteristics of aromatic amino acids in proteins. The basic principles of the technique and its applications are outlined.     

Asymmetry of the phospholipid bilayer of rat liver endoplasmic reticulum

The phospholipids of intact microsomal membranes were hydrolysed 50% by phospholipase C of Clostridium welchii, without loss of the secretory protein contents of the vesicle, which are therefore not permeable to the phospholipase. Phospholipids extracted from microsomes and dispersed by sonication were hydrolysed rapidly by phospholipase C-Cl. welchii with the exception of phosphatidylinositol. Assuming that only the phospholipids of the outside of the bilayer of the microsomal membrane are hydrolysed in intact vesicles, the composition of this leaflet was calculated as 84% phosphatidylcholine, 8% phosphatidylethanolamine, 9% sphingomyelin and 4% phosphatidylserine, and that of the inner leaflet 28% phosphatidylcholine, 37% phosphatidylethanolamine, 6% phosphatidylserine and 5% sphingomyelin. Microsomal vesicles were opened and their contents released in part by incubation with deoxycholate (0.098%) lysophosphatidylcholine (0.005%) or treatment with the French pressure cell. Under these conditions, hydrolysis of the phospholipids by phospholipase C-Cl. welchii was increased and this was mainly due to increased hydrolysis of those phospholipids assigned to the inner leaflet of the bilayer, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylserine. Phospholipase A₂ of bee venom and phospholipase C of Bacillus cereus caused rapid loss of vesicle contents and complete hydrolysis of the membrane phospholipids, with the exception of sphingomyelin which is not hydrolysed by the former enzyme.     

The phytate and mineral content of some cereals,cereal products,legumes, legume products,snack bars,and nuts available in New Zealand

Analyses for phytate by an indirect precipitation method and for the minerals calcium (Ca), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), and manganese (Mn) by atomic absorption spectrophotometry were carried out on 100 foods available in New Zealand. Foods with 1% phytate (dry weight basis) included untoasted muesli, rolled oats, wheat germ, wheat bran, soybean, and some soy products. Most breads contained between 0.35 and 0.60% phytate; legumes on average had 0.62% phytate, as did snack bars. There was a wide variation in Ca and Zn contents: There was a tenfold variation in Ca content among the legume products, whereas there was a seventyfold variation in Zn content among the cereals. The phytate: Zn molar ratio, which is presumed to indicate the biovailability of Zn, was above 20∶1 for two-thirds of the cereals and almost all of the snack bars; it was above 15∶1 for one-third of the breads, almost all of the legumes, and half of the legume products. These high phytate: Zn molar ratios, as well as some Ca: phytate molar ratios above 6∶1, indicate that there might be a reduced biovailability of Zn in many of the foods analyzed in this study.     

Homeotic gene function in the muscles of Drosophila larvae

The segmental musculature of Drosophila melanogaster larvae consists of 24-30 muscles per segment. Unique patterns of muscles are found in the three thoracic segments and the first and last abdominal segments; the remaining abdominal segments share the same pattern. Mutations in Ultrabithorax (Ubx) cause partial transformation of the muscle pattern of larval abdominal segments towards metathorax. The muscles of the thorax are not affected. In the first two abdominal segments the changes include the loss of at least 11 `abdominal' muscles and the gain of 11 `thoracic' muscles. Less extensive transformations are seen in more posterior abdominal segments. Anterobithorax, bithorax, postbithorax and bithoraxoid mutations also induce transformations of the larval musculature. Each allelic group affects a domain that is a subset of the entire Ubx domain but these domains are not restricted to compartments or segments and may extend through as many as five segments. In the muscles the segmental distribution of Ubx antigen correlates with the segments affected by Ubx mutations. The different domains of Ubx in mesoderm and ectoderm argue that the segmental diversity of the muscle pattern is not simply induced by the overlying epidermis and that Ubx function in the mesoderm is required for the correct development of abdominal segments.