Microorganisms of the San Francisco Sour Dough Bread Process: II. Isolation and Characterization of Undescribed Bacterial Species Responsible for the Souring Activity

A medium was developed which permitted isolation, apparently for the first time, of the bacteria responsible for the acid production in the 100-year-old San Francisco sour dough French bread process. Some of the essential ingredients of this medium included a specific requirement for maltose at a high level, Tween 80, freshly prepared yeast extractives, and an initial pH of not over 6.0. The bacteria were gram-positive, nonmotile, catalase-negative, short to medium slender rods, indifferent to oxygen, and producers of lactic and acetic acids with the latter varying from 3 to 26% of the total. Carbon dioxide was also produced. Their requirement for maltose for rapid and heavy growth and a proclivity for forming involuted, filamentous, and pleomorphic forms raises a question as to whether they should be properly grouped with the heterofermentative lactobacilli.     

Staining Paraffin Sections with Protargol: 1. Experiments with Bodian's Method. 2. Use of Jvpropyl and N-Butyl Alcohol in Hofker's Fixative:

Paraffin sections of nervous tissue, which had been fixed in Hofker's fluid, stained readily with protargol solution without the addition of metallic copper or other activator. Amidolsulfite mixtures reduced the protargol more rapidly and completely than hydroquinone-sulfite. Intensification of the stain could be secured by reducing with 0.5% amidol (or pyrogallol) solution after gold toning. The completeness of staining of unmyelinated fibers of the dorsal roots of cat spinal nerves was checked by estimating the number of fibers in a root and the cells of its associated ganglion. A fiber cell ratio of 1:1 was found hi 4 specimens, indicating within limits of error that all fibers were stained. An improvement of die original Hofker's mixture as a fixative was obtained by using a mixture of formic acid, 5 cc.; trichloracetic acid, 10 g.; n-propyl alcohol, 20 cc.; and n-butyl alcohol, 60 cc. (instead of the acetic, trichloracetic, ethyl alcohol mixture used hi the original formula). The following arbitrary method is suggested. Fix 12 to 24 hours, pass to water thru graded ethyl alcohol, wash several hours, dehydrate and embed in paraffin. Cut, mount, and remove the paraffin, pass to water and impregnate 2 or 3 days at 27 to 30$$C. in a 0.5% aqueous solution of protargol (Winthrop Chemical Co.). Rinse 2 or 3 seconds and reduce with 0.5% amidol (Agfa brand used) in 5% sodium sulfite solution. Wash, tone with 0.1% gold chloride, wash and reduce with 0.5% amidol (no sulfite), wash, dehydrate and cover. The method works well on spinal nerve roots, cerebrum, cerebellum, and spinal cord, and moderately well on nerve trunks including sympathetic nerves. Tissues from cat and guinea pig were used.     

TREATMENT OF RAT PROXIMAL AND DISTAL COLONIC CELLS WITH SODIUM ORTHOVANADATE ENHANCES THEIR ADHESION AND SURVIVAL IN PRIMARY CULTURE

We have studied the effect of sodium orthovanadate, an inhibitor of protein tyrosine phosphatases, on primary cultures of colonocytes and stromal cells. Everted proximal and distal colonic tissue of adult rats were disintegrated by a collagenase/dispase solution for 60 min at 37°C to prepare viable gland fragments and isolated cells. Cell preparations were inoculated onto plastic substratum or cytodex-3 microcarriers in a defined maintenance medium or in 1% fetal calf serum media. Incorporation of sodium orthovanadate (≥50 μm) in these media constantly enhanced the survival (cell enumeration and trypan blue exclusionP<0.05) and the adhesion (up to four-fold by crystal violet staining,P<0.01) of colonocytes (characterized by cytokeratin-18, transforming growth factor-α or alkaline phosphatase expression) and stromal cells. Removal of sodium orthovanadate from culture media restored cellular death processes. Incorporation of 10 mmn-butyric acid did not promote cell adhesion and survival except for distal cells exposed to 2 mm sodium orthovanadate. Besides studies in the regulation of anoikis in primary culture, the model will help to assay the influences of dietary and growth factors on the biology of non-cancerous colonic cells.     

Skewed X Chromosome Inactivation and Trisomic Spontaneous Abortion: No Association

Several studies suggest that highly skewed X chromosome inactivation (HSXI) is associated with recurrent spontaneous abortion. We hypothesized that this association reflects an increased rate of trisomic conceptions due to anomalies on the X chromosome that lead both to HSXI and to a diminished oocyte pool. We compared the distribution of X chromosome inactivation (XCI) skewing percentages (range: 50%–100%) among women with spontaneous abortions in four karyotype groups—trisomy (n = 154), chromosomally normal male (n = 43), chromosomally normal female (n = 38), nontrisomic chromosomally abnormal (n = 61)—to the distribution for age-matched controls with chromosomally normal births (n = 388). In secondary analyses, we subdivided the nontrisomic chromosomally abnormal group, divided trisomies by chromosome, and classified women by reproductive history. Our data support neither an association of HSXI with all trisomies nor an association of HSXI with chromosomally normal male spontaneous abortions. We also find no association between HSXI and recurrent abortion (n = 45).     

Understanding Fluctuations in Bobcat Harvest at the Northern Limit of Their Range

ABSTRACT In Quebec, Canada, harvest of bobcats (Lynx rufus) started to decline in 1985 and by 1991, harvest seasons were closed due to concerns of a perceived population decline. Since the closing of harvest season in 1991, the average temperature has increased, snow quantity has decreased, and important changes in agriculture and forest management have occurred. In light of changing conditions, the situation of Quebec bobcats needed reassessment. Thus, we analyzed harvest data to clarify the current status of bobcat populations in Quebec. From 1980 to 1991, bobcat harvest in Quebec was strongly correlated with bobcat harvest in Maine (USA), Nova Scotia (Canada), Ontario (Canada), and Vermont (USA). Extrapolations of harvest in Quebec relative to harvest in Maine, Ontario, Vermont, and Nova Scotia suggested an increase in number of bobcats after 1991. Mass of male and female bobcats before 1991 was less than mass of animals captured after 1991. Percentage of juveniles in the reported harvest before 1991 was higher than after 1991. However, percentage of males and litter sizes in the harvest did not differ before and after 1991. The geographic distribution of bobcats captured has gradually expanded after the closure of the harvest season. Our findings suggest that bobcat populations in Quebec have recovered from the 1985–1991 decline, and that the harvest season for this species could resume. This study also illustrates how managers can rely on data from neighboring jurisdiction to manage species when local harvest data is unavailable.     

Micropropagation by tissue culture triggers differential expression of infectious endogenous Banana streak virus sequences (eBSV) present in the B genome of natural and synthetic interspecific banana plantains

The genome of Musa balbisiana spp. contains several infectious endogenous sequences of Banana streak virus (eBSV). We have shown previously that in vitro micropropagation triggers the activation of infectious eBSOLV (endogenous sequences of Banana streak Obino l'Ewai virus ) in the synthetic tetraploid interspecific hybrid FHIA21 (AAAB). In this work, we show that another synthetic tetraploid (AAAB) hybrid and two natural triploid (AAB) plantains are equally prone to the activation of infectious eBSOLV during tissue culture. These results are a strong indication that such activation is a general phenomenon in interspecific Musa cultivars, whether synthetic or natural. We also report the first in-depth study of the correlation between the duration of tissue culture and the level of activation of infectious eBSOLV, and show that specific and common activation patterns exist in these banana plants. We hypothesize that these patterns result from the concomitant activation of infectious eBSOLV and a decrease in the virus titre in neoformed plantlets, resulting from cell multiplication outcompeting virus replication. We provide experimental data supporting this hypothesis. No activation of infectious eBSGFV (endogenous sequences of Banana streak Goldfinger virus) by tissue culture was observed in the two natural AAB plantain cultivars studied here, whereas such activation occurred in the AAAB synthetic hybrid studied. We demonstrate that this differential activation does not result from differences in the structure of eBSGFV, as all banana genomes harbour eaBSGFV-7.