Cellulase production by Rhizobium

Summary The production of cellulase byRhizobium species was studied.Rhizobium trifolii cellulase was induced by a variety of polysaccharides, including celluloses and hemicelluloses. Cellobiose and myo-inositol also allowed enzyme expression but mannitol prevented it at concentrations higher than 0.25%. Both soluble and insoluble plant root substances moderately stimulated cellulase production byRhizobium trifolii.Most substances tested did not induce the production of cellulases by the slow-growing, cowpea type rhizobia strain CIAT 79. Effective inducers were carboxymethylcellulose, gluconate and myo-inositol.Cellulase production was very low under all conditions tested. In most cases the enzyme activity was loosely bound to the capsular material. The enzyme in fast-growers is an 1,4--D-glucan-4-glucanohydrolase (endo-glucanase EC 3.2.1.4) with specificity for high molecular weight polysaccharides.There was no correlation between infectiveness ofRhizobium trifolii strains and cellulase production. One strain, which lacks the nodulation plasmid, produced cellulase at the same rate as its parental infective strain.     

Epidemics in competition

When two or more epidemic agents are simultaneously present in a population, they may interact to increase or decrease each other's effectiveness. One form of interaction is competition where each agent confers immunity to the others. Such competition occurs, for example, between different strains of myxomatosis in rabbit populations. We consider some consequences of introducing competition into mathematical epidemic models. Both deterministic and stochastic simple epidemic models are examined. In either case the conclusions are similar: the faster spreading epidemic has a considerable advantage.     

A probability model for the number of births in an equilibrium birth process

A probability model for the number of complete conceptions (that is, live births) taking into account foetal wastages, occurring in a couple during a specified period of time (T₀, T₀+T) is developed assuming that the data was collected starting a long time after marriage. A method of estimating some of the underlying parameters is given. The model is applied to data obtained in a Varanasi Survey in 1969–70.     

Participation of the intracellular enzymes in the control of the mutation process

Summary The influence of repair and replication on the frequency of spontaneous chromosome aberrations and of those induced by gamma-irradiation is reported.Using the technique of labelling DNA with radioactive ³H-thymidine and measuring the radioactivity of DNA isolated from embryos, the time of initiation and the duration of DNA synthesis in barley seeds was studied after the soaking of the seeds had begun. The average duration of each phase of the first DNA synthesis cycle in soaking barley seeds was found to be as follows: pre-DNA synthesis stage, 10–11 hrs; DNA synthesis stage, 8 hrs. After gamma-irradiation, the intensity of DNA synthesis decreased and the beginning of DNA synthesis was delayed.It was found that the inhibition of repair by caffeine led to an increase in the frequency of both spontaneous and induced chromosome aberrations. Caffeine enhanced several times the frequency of chromosome and chromatid aberrations at the time of the maximal activity of repair enzymes. During DNA replication, caffeine had a lower effect on the realization of premutational lesions.An inhibitor of DNA replication — hydroxyurea — had no influence on the frequency of spontaneous chromosome aberrations during the replication period, whereas after gamma-irradiation, hydroxyurea enhanced the frequency of aberrations mainly at the stage of DNA replication.The relatively small mutagenic action of both agents (caffeine and hydroxyurea) was observed during all stages of the cell cycle of germinating barley seeds.     

The microbiological basis of process control in methanogenic fermentation of soluble wastes

The essential requirement for anaerobic digestion of industrial wastes is that the process should operate reliably at high performance. In the digestion of dilute, soluble wastes it is necessary to retain the active biomass within the digester at short liquid retention times for the process to be economically feasible and this is reflected in digester design. Performance of digesters can only be assessed by interpretation of measurable parameters such as pH₂, E_h, pH, volatile fatty acid concentrations, temperature, gas production, biomass content and feed rate and composition. The effects of changes in these parameters on the microbiology of methanogenic digestion and the application of this knowledge in control of the process is discussed.     

Enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic materials: II. Experimental investigations of theoretical hydrolysis--process models for an increased enzyme recovery

Stream pretreatment of wheat straw solubilized most of the xylan present. Xylose and other sugars were recovered by washing the substrate with water but only a minor part (34%) was monomeric. Treatment of this solutions with celulases and hemicellulases improved the yield of monomeric sugars to 69%, the main product being xylose. Some xylose was also obtained during enzymatic hydrolysis of the solid substrate although the pretreatment step contributed 64% (mean value) of total xylose formed. A reference model, No. 1, and two other models, Nos. 2 and 4, described in the first part of this article series (this issue) have been studied experimentally and results confirm the theoretical conclusions. An uninterrupted hydrolysis over a given time period leads to a lower degree of saccharification than when hydrolysate is withdrawn several times. Saccharification is also favored if the residue is removed at a late stage, i.e., at the end of the 24 h hydrolysis cycle. Extended recirculation of the enzymes during a 4 x 24-h experimental period gave the following average yields of saccharification on a 24-h basis: 65% (Reference), 73% (Model 2), and 79% (Model 4). It is concluded that enzyme recovery with model 4 is 70% or more, while the Reference and Model 2 attain a lower level of recovery. The design of an improved hydrolysis model is also discussed.     

Vegetation zonation in dune slacks on the Leba Bar,Polish Baltic Sea coast

Vegetation zones in dune slacks on the Leba Bar on the Polish Baltic Sea coast are described. Plant colonization starts on moist sand in eastern ends of slacks, in the wake of receding mobile dunes. Communities on deflation ribs, dominated by psammophytic grasses, sedges and lichens, are structurally simple. Communities in troughs, dominated by species of fresh habitats, become structurally more complex in a western direction and they culminate with the Pinus silvestris forest. The main lines of vegetation variation correlate with groundwa-ter depth, micro topography, soil profile build-up and substrate acidification.