Production of tetanolysin preparations and characteristics of their properties

As the result of the study of tetanolysin-producing Clostridium tetani strains, their populations have been found to be markedly heterogeneous with respect to the hemolytic activity of clone cultures. On the basis of normal and dialyzed cultures of selected variants with maximum activity the preparations of tetanolysin have been obtained, and their hemolytic activity and antigenic properties have been studied. Antihemolytic rabbit sera have also been obtained and characterized. Partially purified preparations of tetanolysin with high hemolytic activity have been obtained by the fractionation of C. tetani dialyzed cultures with ammonium sulfate.     

Activity of the natural algicide, cyanobacterin, on eukaryotic microorganisms

Abstract The natural product cyanobacterin has been shown to be toxic to most cyanobacteria at a concentration of approx. 5 μM. We demonstrate here that cyanobacterin will also inhibit the growth of most eukaryotic algae at a similar concentration. Some algae, such as Euglena gracilis , are resistant because they are able to maintain themselves by heterotrophic nutrition. Others, such as Chlamydomonas reinhardtii , can apparently induce a detoxification mechanism to maintain photosynthesis in the presence of low concentrations of the inhibitor. Non-photosynthetic microorganisms are not affected by cyanobacterin.     

Cloning and expression of the Erwinia chrysanthemi asparaginase gene in Escherichia coli and Erwinia carotovora

A genomic library of Erwinia chrysanthemi DNA was constructed in bacteriophage lambda 1059 and recombinants expressing Er. chrysanthemi asparaginase detected using purified anti-asparaginase IgG. The gene was subcloned on a 4.7 kb EcoRI DNA restriction fragment into pUC9 to generate the recombinant plasmid pASN30. The position and orientation of the asparaginase structural gene was determined by subcloning. The enzyme was produced at high levels in Escherichia coli (5% of soluble protein) and was shown to be exported to the periplasmic space. Purified asparaginase from E. coli cells carrying pASN30 was indistinguishable from the Erwinia enzyme on the basis of specific activity [660-700 units (mg protein)-1], pI value (8.5), and subunit molecular weight (32 X 10(3]. Expression of the cloned gene was subject to glucose repression in E. coli but was not significantly repressed by glycerol. Recombinant plasmids, containing the asparaginase gene, when introduced into Erwinia carotovora, caused increased synthesis of the enzyme (2-4 fold higher than the current production strain).     

Increased near-ultraviolet induced DNA fragmentation in xeroderma pigmentosum variants.

Immediate fragmentation of parental DNA by near-ultraviolet irradiation at 313 nm was measured in cultured skin fibroblasts from normal individuals, patients with Xeroderma pigmentosum of complementation group A (XPA) and Xeroderma pigmentosum variants (XPV) by the alkaline elution procedure. For a dose of 2.25 KJm^?2 given at O^o fragmentation was comparable in all cell strains. However, fragmentation was strongly increased relative to O^o in XPV but not in normal fibroblasts and the XPA strains when irradiation was carried out at 37^o. From our results it appears that a step in the repair of $\text{parental}$ DNA is abnormal in XPV.     

Predator detection and avoidance by starlings under differing scenarios of predation risk

Practically all animals must find food while avoiding predators.An individual's perception of predation risk may depend on manyfactors, such as distance to refuge and group size, but it isunclear whether individuals respond to different factors ina similar manner. We tested whether flocks of foraging starlingsresponded in the same way to an increased perception of predationrisk by assessing three factors: (1) neighbor distances, (2)habitat obstruction, and (3) recent exposure to a predator.We found that in all three scenarios of increased risk, starlingsreduced their interscan intervals (food-searching bouts), whichincreased the frequency of their vigilance periods. We thenexamined how one of these factors, habitat obstruction, affectedescape speed by simulating an attack with a model predator.Starlings were slower to respond in visually obstructed habitats(long grass swards) and slower when they had their head downin obstructed habitats than when they had their head down inopen habitats. In addition, reaction times were quicker whenstarlings could employ their peripheral fields of vision. Ourresults demonstrate that different sources of increased riskcan generate similar behavioral responses within a species.The degree of visibility in the physical and social environmentaffects both the actual and perceived risk of predation.