Purification of Soil from Oil Pollutants with the Use of Denitrifying Hydrocarbon-Oxidizing Microorganisms

The efficiency of an oil-oxidizing microbial community in the bioremediation of oil-polluted soil was studied under laboratory conditions. A specific feature of the community was its ability to oxidize oil hydrocarbons under both aerobic and anoxic conditions. The degree of oil-hydrocarbon degradation in various bioremediation modes increased as follows: self-remediation (40%) < nitrate application (42%) < introduction of the denitrifying oil-oxidizing community (50%) < introduction of the denitrifying oil-oxidizing community plus nitrate application (60%). The intensification of bioremediation is related to the increase in the population of the hydrocarbon-oxidizing microorganisms, first of all, denitrifying ones, resulting from the introduction of the community.     

The effect of immunotherapy with cell-free vaccines made from the antigens of opportunistic microorganisms on the dynamics of DNA antibody formation]

The sera of patients subjected to immunotherapy with staphylococcal vaccine and with multicomponent vaccine (i.e. the mixture of the antigenic preparations of Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus vulgaris, Escherichia coli) were studied by the method of the enzyme immunoassay on the basis of cattle spleen DNA. Immunotherapy with staphylococcal vaccine was given to patients with dermal diseases, chronic obstructive bronchitis and pulmonary abscess. Multicomponent vaccine was introduced to patients with the infectious allergic form of bronchial asthma, moderate or severe. Immunotherapy with both preparations under study was shown to produce no accumulation of antibodies to native and denatured DNA.     

Increased efficiency in the disinfection of sewage by lactic acid bacteria

The antimicrobic properties have been studied in 30 strains of lactobacilli. As a result a strain, the strongest antagonist relative to choleric vibrios and other enteropathogenic microorganisms, is selected. Lactobacilli are found to retain their viability and biological activity in the activated sludge during the whole period of observation (6 months). Biological disinfection of sewage is shown possible to be intensified using the activated sludge inoculated by the culture of the selected lactobacilli strain.     

RAPD Analysis of Maize Somaclones

The genetic difference between maize line A188 and A188-derived somaclones was assessed via analysis of randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD). In total, 17 decanucleotide primers used each allowed amplification of 2–17 fragments ranging 200–2000 bp. The RAPD patterns did not differ between individual plants of line A188, which demonstrated again its high genetic homogeneity. The difference between the initial line and the somaclones was high, ranging 64–74%. On evidence of the genetic divergence, the somaclones formed two clusters. The distribution of somaclones between these clusters was consistent with their origin.     

Intraspecific variability and phylogenetic relationships of the Pleistocene shrewSorex runtonensis (Soricidae)

Intraspecific variability of the Pleistocene speciesSorex runtonensis Hinton, 1911 from different Polish and Russian (Caucasus Mts.) localities and its relationships to Recent red-toothed shrews of similar body size and mandibular morphology,S. caecutiens Laxmann, 1788 andS. tundrensis Merriam, 1990, are explained on the grounds of multivariate statistics. The remains ofS. runtonensis from different localities form a single group and differ fromS. caecutiens. They resembleS. tundrensis by the first canonical root related to a mandibular size and proportions. This may indicate thatS. runtonensis andS. tundrensis are closely related but separated components of the species complextundrensis.     

The main difference between the repertoire of receptors of effector T-killers and their secondary precursors (memory cells)

Receptor repertoire analysis of in vivo induced secondary cytotoxic T lymphocyte precursors (pCTL-2) was performed, using the technique of their specific adherence to macrophage monolayers with subsequent elution of the adherent pCTL-2 and their activation by heat-killed donor stimulator cells. The capacity of anti-H-2Kb pCTL-2 receptors to contact H-2Kbm has been revealed only in a minor pCTL-2 component whose progenitors were able to lyse mutant bm1 target cells (TC). Unlike poor cross-reactivity of CTL descended from anti-Kb, pCTL-2 which were eluted from the donor monolayer, CTL-progenitors of anti-Kb pCTL-2 eluted from bm 1 or B10. A (4R) third-party monolayers lyse in equal quantities the donor TC and those third-party TC from which they have been eluted, but fail to lyse other TC. Enrichment of pCTL-2 eluted from bm 1 or B10. A (4R) monolayers is 6- or 12-fold lower, respectively, than after their elution from the donor monolayer. The findings indicate that anti-class I MHC pCTL-2 are separated into fractions, with their receptors being strongly specific (with high affinity) to the particular fragment of the same complex epitope without cross-reactivity to other fragments. These data differentiate pCTL-2 receptors from effector CTL ones which are homogenous in specificity to a whole (single) complex epitope with variable degree of complementarity. A cardinal distinction of receptor repertoire between CTL, pCTL-2 and suppressor T cells specific to the same class I MHC molecule and alteration of the active site during pCTL-2 differentiation have been suggested.