One step partial purification of β-D-galactosidase from Kluyveromyces marxianus CDB 002 using STREAMLINE-DEAE

The intracellular enzyme -D-galactosidase provides interesting applications in the dairy industry, which are able to solve problems related to product processing, or can alleviate lactose intolerance in some populations. In order to obtain a technical enzyme, yeast cells of Kluyveromyces marxianus CDB 002 were disrupted by high pressure homogenization and an innovative chromatographic technique was tested for the recovery of -D-galactosidase. A STREAMLINE 25 column, containing 65 ml STREAMLINE-DEAE was equilibrated with 50 mM potassium phosphate buffer pH 7.5 at an upward flow of 250 cmh^–1. 100–200 ml cell homogenate were applied onto the expanded gel. After unbound proteins and cellular debris were washed out, the bed was allowed to sediment and -D-galactosidase was eluted with a downward flow of 0.2 M NaCl in the same buffer. A 6-fold purification factor was achieved with 63% activity recovery, while removing cell debris at a single step, thus avoiding a centrifugation step. Concentration and volume of the applied sample affected purification and gel performance. The results presented show STREAMLINE-DEAE chromatography to be an interesting method for the production of -D-galactosidase as a technical enzyme, since it can also be applied on a large scale without much modification.     

Kinetic modulation of bacterial hydrolases by microbial community structure in coastal waters

In this study, we hypothesized that shifts in the kinetic parameters of extracellular hydrolytic enzymes may occur as a consequence of seasonal environmental disturbances and would reflect the level of adaptation of the bacterial community to the organic matter of the ecosystem. We measured the activities of enzymes that play a key role in the bacterial growth (leucine aminopeptidase, β- and α-glucosidases) in surface coastal waters of the Eastern Cantabrian Sea and determined their kinetic parameters by computing kinetic models of distinct complexity. Our results revealed the existence of two clearly distinct enzymatic systems operating at different substrate concentrations: a high-affinity system prevailing at low substrate concentrations and a low-affinity system characteristic of high substrate concentrations. These findings could be the result of distinct functional bacterial assemblages growing concurrently under sharp gradients of high-molecular-weight compounds. We constructed an ecological network based on contemporaneous and time-delayed correlations to explore the associations between the kinetic parameters and the environmental variables. The analysis revealed that the recurring phytoplankton blooms registered throughout the seasonal cycle trigger the wax and wane of those members of the bacterial community able to synthesize and secrete specific enzymes.     

Differential elimination of enteric bacteria by protists in a freshwater system

J. IRIBERRI, I. AZÚA, A. LABIRUA-ITURBURU, I. ARTOLOZAGA AND I. BARCINA. 1994. The short-term (1 h) and long-term (3 d) elimination of low and high densities of five enteric bacteria, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Aeromonas hydrophila, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis and Staphylococcus epidermidis, by flagellate and ciliate protists were measured in a freshwater system. In addition, the two processes, ingestion and digestion, which cause the disappearance of those enteric bacteria as time passes, were quantified.
The results showed that the elimination of these enteric bacteria by protists depends on their initial density, which confirms that the lower the bacterial density the more difficult is their elimination. On the other hand, the short-term and long-term elimination rates of each enteric bacteria were different, and moreover, the order of priority for elimination in the two cases was not the same. Escherichia coli showed the highest elimination rate in short-term experiments, while Aer. hydrophila disappeared at highest rates in long-term experiments. This different order of priority in the elimination rates and the different digestion rates on the five enteric bacteria by phagotrophic protists indicated that the elimination in time is very much influenced by the digestive capacity on each enteric bacteria of those protists. Thus, the low digestion rates of Ent. faecalis and Staph. epidermidis by flagellates and ciliates as well as their low disappearance percentages in the long-term experiments confirm that enteric Gram-positive bacteria are eliminated from the aquatic systems at lower rates, because their digestion is difficult.     

Grazing on allochthonous vs autochthonous bacteria in river water

The disappearance of bacteria through grazing was studied. Five allochthonous and eight autochthonous bacterial strains, and the bacterioplankton of the Butrón River were tested. There were differences in the susceptibility of different strains. These differences seemed to be related to intrinsic characteristics of the bacteria rather than to their origin.