观察细菌的形态和运动的好材料——螺旋菌

细菌基本形态的观察是原中学植物学实验必作内容之一。螺旋菌具鞭毛,运动快速,且形态较大,用它作为细菌运动性及鞭毛的观察材料比用杆菌好,还可用于细菌三型的观察,而且螺旋菌的取材方便,不必事先配制培养基培养。具体方法如下。 1.取材取厕所中表面呈白膜状的陈尿,其中含有大量的螺旋菌杆菌和少量球菌。 2.染色液的配制     

果蝇唾液腺染色体的制片、染色和封固

在制备果蝇唾液腺染色体的过程中,我们吸取前人经验,在制片方法上加以改进并采用复合染料染色,结果染色体分散,横纹清楚,可长期保存,为学生提供了理想的教学切片。现将方法介绍如下: 取材取体型大、行动缓慢,爬在培养瓶壁上的三     

“鸟类的多样性和鸟类的迁徙”的探索法教学

(一)目的通过观察、记录、分析、讨论和教师的必要说明,使学生了解:(1)鸟类的多样性;(2)鸟类的形态结构和生活习性(包括食性)各异,这都是同其适应性相联系的;(3)关于鸟类中的留鸟、候鸟和迁徙的知识。 (二)过程 1.准备尽可能多准备一些形态不同的活鸟和鸟类剥制标本。 (1)鸟类标本室:备有家鸽、鹦鹉、鹌鹑、黑尾蜡嘴雀、锡嘴雀、燕雀、麻雀、蒙古百灵,太平鸟、黄胸鹀、三道眉草鹀、大山雀、朱顶雀、黄     

小鼠腹腔巨噬细胞制片法

巨噬细胞是机体保卫系统的细胞,当外界异物入侵以后它可向异物集中进行吞噬活动。在小鼠腹腔内塞入异物(圆形盖片)后可见巨噬细胞集中爬满盖片上,再注入墨汁。巨噬细胞即吞噬炭末微粒,其形态更为清晰可辨。本方法可作为教学示范或课外活动用以启发学生理解机体的保卫反应。其方法步骤如下: (1)将小白鼠放入瓶内用乙醚麻醉(勿麻醉致死)后取出小鼠使仰位,四肢用绳子固定于解剖板上。     

Effect of a broad-host range plasmid on growth dynamics of Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas putida

Host-plasmid interactions were studied for the broad-host range plasmid, pTJS26, a derivative of RK2. To isolate host and plasmid contributions to the growth dynamics and plasmid stability, separate experiments were performed with host and recombinant cells for two different gram-negative hosts, Pseudomonas putida and Escherichia coli, at two different temperatures, 30 and 37 degrees C. At the lower temperature (30 degrees C) the growth kinetics were not affected by the plasmid, but plasmid instability was observed. At the higher temperature (37 degrees C) growth rates and yields were lower than that for the hosts, but the plasmid was stable. This behavior can be explained by a combination of two phenomena. First, the copy number control mechanism may be temperature sensitive and, second, plasmid segregation may be inefficient. For both E. coli and P. putida the growth dynamics of the recombinant system was dictated by the presence of the plasmid.     

Production of ethanol by immobilized Saccharomyces bayanus in an extractive fermentation system

An extractive fermentation system using immobilized yeast cells was developed to study the ethanol production at high sugar concentrations. Organic acids were used as extracting solvents of ethanol and their toxicity was tested in free and k-carrageenan entrapped cell preparations. Immobilization seems to protect cells against solvent toxicity, when long-chain organic acids, e.g., oleic acid, were used, probably due to steric and diffusional limitations, the free cells not being viable at high oleic acid concentrations. The entrapped cells also present a higher metabolic activity than their free counterparts at high glucose concentrations. A solution of 300 g/L of glucose was totally fermented by the immobilized yeast cells, which when free cannot normally convert more than 200 g/L. In situ recovery of ethanol by oleic acid in a batch immobilized cell system led to higher ethanol productivities and to the fermentation of 400 g/L, when an oleic acid/medium ratio of 5 was used.     

Economic assessment of plant cell culture for the production of ajmalicine

Cost estimates have been prepared for commercial-scale production of ajmalicine-rich Catnaranthus roseus biomass using plant cell culture. At the current state of the technology the cost would be approximately $7.30/lb dry biomass ($3215/kg ajmalicine). Naturally-grown C. roseus roots have a 50% lower ajmalicine concentration but would cost only ca. $0.70/lb ($619/kg ajmalicine). The principal reason for the high cost of the plant cell culture route is not the slow specific growth rate (0.35 day(-1)), but rather the slow specific product accumulation rate (0.26 mg/g day). This rate will have to be increased by a factor of 40 to make the process competitive.     

Growth dynamics of a methylotroph (Methylomonas L3) in continuous cultures. II. Growth inhibition and comparison against an unstructured model

High methanol concentrations have a negative effect on the growth rate and the biomass yield of growth transients induced by methanol pulses in continuous cultures of Methylomonas L3. The physiological basis of this effect is investigated by measuring the effect of the methanol pulse on the cell energy charge (EC) and ATP, ADP, and AMP concentrations, and by comparing the results of the pulse transients against an unstructured model. The methanol pulse is shown to lead to increased values of the cell EC and ATP concentration, and thus, inhibition and reduced availability of biosynthetic energy are excluded as causes of inhibition. When the biomass and methanol profiles of the transient experiments are compared in phase-plane diagrams against computer simulations based on the model, satisfactory agreement between experimental data and model predictions is found in single-substrate, high-dilution-rate experiments. Conversely, poor agreement between experimental data and simulation results indicates a more severe growth inhibition than the model predicts at low dilution rates and a less severe one in mixed-substrate experiments. Based on these findings and other relevant physiological information, we propose that the large variations in the negative effect of methanol on growth result from the fact that cells accumulate methanol to widely different concentrations depending on their physiological state. In their effort to detoxify from the high intracellular methanol and formaldehyde concentrations, cells oxidize considerably more methanol than they can incorporate into biomass. This leads to a useless ATP surplus, which the cells must hydrolyze without doing any useful biosynthetic work, and this results in lower biomass yields.     

Growth of the extreme thermophile Sulfolobus acidocaldarius in a hyperbaric helium bioreactor

The relationship between pressure and temperature as it affects microbial growth and metabolism has been examined only for a limited number of bacterial species. Because many newly-discovered, extremely thermophilic bacteria have been isolated from pressurized environments, this relationship merits closer scrutiny. In this study, the extremely thermophilic bacterium, Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, was cultured successfully in a hyperbaric chamber containing helium and air enriched with 5% carbon dioxide. Over a pressure range of approximately 1-120 bar and a temperature range of 67-80 degrees C, growth was achieved in a heterotrophic medium with the air mixture at partial pressures up to 3.5 bar. Helium was used to obtain the final, desired incubation pressure. No significant growth was noted above 80 degrees C over the same range of hyperbaric pressures, or at 70 degrees C when pressure was applied hydrostatically. Growth experiments conducted under hyperbaric conditions may provide a means to study these bacteria under simulated in situ conditions and simultaneously avoid the complications associated with hydrostatic experiments. Results indicate that hyperbaric helium bioreactors will be important in the study of extremely thermophilic bacteria that are isolated from pressurized environments.