Effects on microbial activity by extraction of indigenous cells from soil slurries

Abstract: Possible effects on the physiological activity and culturability of soil microorganisms by different soil dispersion procedures, and effects on activity caused by extracting bacteria from soil, were investigated. There was no apparent difference in cfu's with dispersion of a silty loam soil and a loamy sand soil with pyrophosphate as compared to dispersion in NaCl. Substrate-induced respiration was reduced in the silty loam soil, and methanol oxidation was reduced in the loamy sand soil with dispersion in pyrophosphate, and the soil pH was irreversibly increased by the treatment. Extracted bacterial fractions had lower numbers of culturable cells as percentage of the total number of bacteria in each fraction, lower respiration rates and no methanol oxidation activity as compared to the soil slurry both before and after extraction. The physiological activity was apparently not affected by the number of cells extracted. This indicates that the increased extraction rate of indigenous soil bacteria obtained by effective disruption of aggregates and detachment of cells from surfaces, only results in increased extraction of cells that have been physiologically changed as a result of the extraction process.     

A novel family of linear plasmids with homology to plasmid pAL2-1 of Podospora anserina

Three recently isolated wild-type strains of the ascomycete Podospora anserina were analyzed for the presence of linear mitochondrial plasmids. In one of these strains, designated Wa6, at least 12 distinct plasmid-like elements were identified. From molecular analyses a minimum number of 78 individual linear molecules with proteins bound to their 5′ ends was estimated. In addition, the different members of this family of typical linear plasmids were shown to possess a common central region and terminal sequences which differ from one plasmid to another due to the presence of different numbers of a 2.4 kb sequence module. Finally, the pWa6 plasmids share a high degree of sequence similarity with pAL2-1, a linear plasmid previously identified in mitochondria of a long-lived mutant of P.anserina. A mechanism is proposed which explains the generation of these distinct, closely related extrachromosomal genetic traits.     

Crystallization and preliminary crystallographic studies of the precursor and mature forms of a neutral lipase from the fungus Rhizopus delemar

A neutral lipase from the filamentous fungus Rhizopus delemar has been crystallized in both its proenzyme and mature forms. Although the latter crystallizes readily and produces a variety of crystal forms, only one was found to be suitable for X-ray studies. It is monoclinic (C2, a = 92.8 Å, b = 128.9 Å, c = 78.3 Å, β = 135.8) with two molecules in the asymmetric unit related by a noncrystallographic diad. The prolipase crystals are orthorhombic (P2₁2₁2₁, with a = 79.8 Å, b = 115.2 Å, c = 73.0 Å) and also contain a pair of molecules in the asymmetric unit. Initial results of molecular replacement calculations using the refined coordinates of the related lipase from Rhizomucor miehei identified the correct orientations and positions of the protein molecules in the unit cells of crystals of both proenzyme and the mature form. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

ThePenicillium chrysogenum andAspergillus nidulans wetA developmental regulatory genes are functionally equivalent

Aspergillus nidulans andPenicillium chrysogenum are related fungi that reproduce asexually by forming multicellular conidiophores and uninucleate conidia. InA. nidulans, spore maturation is controlled by thewetA (AwetA) regulatory gene. We cloned a homologous gene (PwetA) fromP. chrysogenum to determine if spore maturation is regulated by a similar mechanism in this species. ThePwetA andAwetA genes are similar in structure and functional organization. The inferred polypeptides share 77% overall amino acid sequence similarity, with several regions having > 85% similarity. The genes also had significant, local sequence similarities in their 5′ flanking regions, including conserved binding sites for the product of the regulatory geneabaA.PwetA fully complemented anA. nidulans wetA deletion mutation, demonstrating thatPwetA and its 5′ regulatory sequences function normally inA. nidulans. These results indicate that the mechanisms controlling sporulation inA. nidulans andP. chrysogenum are evolutionarily conserved.     

Inhibition of EGF-Induced Signal Transduction by Microgravity Is Independent of EGF Receptor Redistribution in the Plasma Membrane of Human A431 Cells

Epidermal growth factor (EGF)-induced c-fos and c-jun expression is strongly suppressed in microgravity. We investigate here whether this is due to inhibition of processes occurring during the initiation of EGF-induced signal transduction. For this purpose, EGF-induced receptor clustering is used as a marker. The lateral distribution of EGF receptors is directly visualized at an ultrastructural level by the label-fracture method. Quantification of the receptor distributions shows that EGF-induced receptor redistribution is similar under normal and microgravity conditions. This suggests that microgravity influences EGF-induced signal transduction downstream of EGF binding and EGF receptor redistribution, but upstream of early gene expression in human A431 cells.     

Polysulfide as a possible substrate for sulfur-reducing bacteria

Because of its low solubility it is unlikely that elemental sulfur serves as the direct substrate for sulfur-reducing bacteria. To test the hypothesis that polysulfide may represent a soluble intermediate of sulfur reduction, the maximal polysulfide concentrations formed from elemental sulfur in aqueous sulfide solutions were measured at near neutral pH and at temperatures up to 90°C. The saturation concentrations decreased by two orders of magnitude when the pH was lowered from 7 to 6 at a given temperature, and increased about tenfold when the temperature was raised from 37°C to 90°C at a given pH. The dissolution of 0.1 mM zerovalent sulfur in 1 mM sulfide (H₂S+HS^–) required a pH of 7.5 at 20°C and of only 6.1 at 100°C. A comparison with the growth optima of sulfur-reducers suggests that polysulfide is present at sufficient concentration at the growth conditions of the Bacteria and the moderately acidophilic Archaea. Polysulfide is apparently not available at the growth conditions of the extremely acidophilic Archaea. Alternative mechanisms for the sulfur utilization under these conditions are discussed.Abbreviations MOPS Morpholinopropanesulfonate - PIPES 1,4 piperazine-N,N-bis(2-ethanesulfonate) - HEPES N-2-hydroxy-ethylpiperazine-N-ethanesulfonate