New in vitro colonic fermentation model for Salmonella infection in the child gut

In this study, a new in vitro continuous colonic fermentation model of Salmonella infection with immobilized child fecal microbiota and Salmonella serovar Typhimurium was developed for the proximal colon. This model was then used to test the effects of two amoxicillin concentrations (90 and 180 mg day⁻¹) on the microbial composition and metabolism of the gut microbiota and on Salmonella serovar Typhimurium during a 43-day fermentation. Addition of gel beads (2%, v/v) colonized with Salmonella serovar Typhimurium in the reactor resulted in a high and stable Salmonella concentration (log 7.5 cell number mL⁻¹) in effluent samples, and a concomitant increase of Enterobacteriaeceae, Clostridium coccoides–Eubacterium rectale and Atopobium populations and a decrease of bifidobacteria. During amoxicillin treatments, Salmonella concentrations decreased while microbial balance and activity were modified in agreement with in vivo data, with a marked decrease in C. coccoides–E. rectale and an increase in Enterobacteriaceae . After interruption of antibiotic addition, Salmonella concentration again increased to reach values comparable to that measured before antibiotic treatments, showing that our model can be used to simulate Salmonella shedding in children as observed in vivo . This in vitro model could be a useful tool for developing and testing new antimicrobials against enteropathogens.     

水-有机溶剂介质中固定化不动杆菌细胞催化拆分(RS)-环戊烯酮乙酸酯的研究

不动杆菌CGMCC 0789的海藻酸凝胶包埋固定化细胞可高对映选择性地水解拆分环戊烯酮(简称HMPC)乙酸酯.异丙醇对固定化细胞的活力和对映选择性有显著提高.反应体系中异丙醇浓度为10%(体积分数,全文同)时,固定化细胞的活力最高,为6.22 mmol/(L·min·g)细胞干重,是未添加异丙醇的对照组的150%.此时E值为94±6,是对照组的1.7倍.以光学纯环戊烯酮乙酸酯为底物,对部分纯化的不动杆菌酯酶进行了动力学考察.通过动力学参数推算,10%异丙醇存在时,酯酶的对映选择性(E值)为36.5,是空白的2.3倍.10%异丙醇存在下,固定化细胞仍具有良好的操作稳定性.连续反应10批,固定化细胞的活力保持良好.     

Three-dimensional numerical approach to investigate the substrate transport and conversion in an immobilized enzyme reactor

This numerical study evaluates the momentum and mass transfer in an immobilized enzyme reactor. The simulation is based on the solution of the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equation and a scalar transport equation with a sink term for the transport and the conversion of substrate to product. The reactor consists of a container filled with 20 spherical enzyme carriers. Each of these carriers is covered with an active enzyme layer where the conversion takes place. To account for the biochemical activity, the sink term in the scalar transport equation is represented by a standard Michaelis-Menten approach. The simulation gives detailed information of the local substrate and product concentrations with respect to external and internal transport limitations. A major focus is set on the influence of the substrate transport velocity on the catalytic process. For reactor performance analysis the overall and the local transport processes are described by a complete set of dimensionless variables. The interaction between substrate concentration, velocity, and efficiency of the process can be studied with the help of these variables. The effect of different substrate inflow concentrations on the process can be seen in relation to velocity variations. The flow field characterization of the system makes it possible to understand fluid mechanical properties and its importance to transport processes. The distribution of fluid motion through the void volume has different properties in different parts of the reactor. This phenomenon has strong effects on the arrangement of significantly different mass transport areas as well as on process effectiveness. With the given data it is also possible to detect zones of high, low, and latent enzymatic activity and to determine whether the conversion is limited due to mass transfer or reaction resistances.     

尿苷二磷酸糖固定化酶合成法研究

利用生物酶进行体外催化反应合成不同种类的尿苷二磷酸糖（uridine diphosphate sugar,UDP-糖）,生物酶的重复利用率较低。为提高尿苷二磷酸糖的合成效率及增加产物种类,以镍螯合聚丙烯酸酯树脂为载体,对带有HIS标签的N-乙酰己糖胺激酶（N-acetylhexosamine kinase,NahK）和尿苷转移酶（uridine transferase,GlmU）进行固定化。以固定化NahK和固定化GlmU为催化酶,不同单糖作为底物,研究尿苷二磷酸糖的一锅法合成情况。利用Q柱对产物进行纯化,通过高效液相色谱法、质谱法、核磁共振氢谱法对反应产物进行检测。确定了镍螯合聚丙烯酸酯树脂对游离NahK和GlmU的实际载量分别为10和20 mg·g^-1。固定化酶量的最优配比为5.5 g固定化NahK和2.5 g固定化GlmU。固定化酶的最适pH和温度分别为8.0和35℃,且能在重复反应中稳定反应5个批次。葡萄糖、N-乙酰氨基葡萄糖和甘露糖可以参与一锅法反应,生成UDP-糖的相对分子质量分别为566、607、566,而葡萄糖醛酸、半乳糖和果糖在该体系下不能合成相应的UDP-糖。基于固定化酶技术,一锅法可合成UDP-葡萄糖、UDP-N-乙酰氨基葡萄糖、UDP-甘露糖。     

Removal of nitrate from water by foam-immobilizedPhormidium laminosum in batch and continuous-flow bioreactors

Cells of the non-N₂-fixing cyanobacteriumPhormidium laminosum were immobilized in polyurethane (PU) foams either by absorption or by entrapment in the PU prepolymer followed by polymerisation and by adsorption onto polyvinyl (PV) foams. Although entrapment caused toxicity problems which lead to rapid death of the immobilized cells, they were immobilized successfully by adsorption onto PU or PV foams and maintained their photosynthetic electron transport activities (PS I, II, I + II) for at least 7 weeks. Changes in the morphology resulting from immobilization, as revealed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and low temperature-SEM, were investigated. Batch cultures and a continuous-flow packed bed photobioreactor were used to study nitrate removal from water. The effects of light intensity and CO₂ concentration on bioreactor performance were studied with respect to the nitrate uptake efficiency of the system. It was concluded thatP. laminosum immobilized on polymer foams is of potential value for biological nitrate removal in a continuous-flow system. author for correspondence     

在无溶剂系统中固定化脂肪酶合成聚乙二醇400月桂酸酯

在无溶荆反应系统中,研究了固定化假丝酵母(Candida sp)-1619脂肪酶催化合成聚乙二醇400(PEG400)月桂酸酯的酯化条件。在反应过程中不断脱水和使月桂酸的量高于化学计量值的方法,使酯化率明显提高。分批补加PEG₄₀₀使产量进一步增加。在5．0mmol月桂酸．2．5mmolPEG400,20mg同定化脂肪酶(200u),O．2ml水组成的反应体系中,40℃,锥形瓶敞口振荡反应48h。醑化率达91％;在负压条件下反应．酯化率达98．9％;反应体系中月桂酸的董增加到6．0mmol时,PEG₄₀₀完全被酯化。用己烷提取产物的收率为95％．通过薄层色谱鉴定酯化产物为双酯。     

树干毕赤酵母和酿酒酵母混合糖发酵产乙醇

以树干毕赤酵母和酿酒酵母为发酵菌株,酸性蒸汽爆破玉米秸秆预水解液和纯糖模拟液为C源,采用固定化酵母细胞的方法,研究了酸爆玉米秸秆预水解液初始pH、N源种类及其浓度、3种发酵模式对树干毕赤酵母戊糖发酵的影响。结果表明:玉米秸秆预水解液适合发酵的初始pH范围为6.0～7.0;1.0 g/L的(NH4)2SO4作为N源,在40 g/L葡萄糖和25 g/L木糖培养基中发酵24 h,糖利用率达到99.47%,乙醇质量浓度为24.72 g/L,优于尿素和蛋白胨作为N源;3种模式的发酵体系中,以游离树干毕赤酵母和固定化酿酒酵母发酵性能最好,糖利用率和乙醇得率分别为99.43%和96.39%。     

Analytical and preparative isoelectric focusing of peptides in immobilized pH gradients

A new method for peptide analysis and purification is described, based on isoelectric focusing in immobilized pH gradients. On the analytical scale, the peptide zones can now be revealed by an stain for primary and secondary amino group (e.g. ninydrin, fluorescamine, dansyl chloride) since the buffering species, unlike conventional carrier ampholytes, contain only carboxyl and tertiary amino groups. For preparative purposes, conditions have been described to remove most contaminants (e.g. unreacted monomers, non-cross-linked, short polyacrylamide chains) from the gel matrix before the electrophoretic run. However, ca. 2% of the gel dry mass is still present as extractable material. The focused peptides can be recovered in higly yields (ca. 90%) with a fairly high degree of purity (75%), the contaminants being mostly components eluted from the polyacrylamide gel.     

A novel Aurora-A-mediated phosphorylation of p53 inhibits its interaction with MDM2

Purpose: Crosstalk between Aurora-A kinase and p53 has been proposed. While the genetic amplification of Aurora-A has been observed in many human cancers, how p53 is regulated by Aurora-A remains ambiguous. In this study, Aurora-A-mediated phosphorylation of p53 was analyzed by mass spectrometry in order to identify a new phosphorylation site. Subsequently, the functional consequences of such phosphorylation were examined. Experimental design: In vitro phosphorylation of p53 by Aurora-A was performed and the phosphorylated protein was then digested with trypsin and enriched for phosphopeptides by immobilized metal affinity chromatography. Subsequently, a combination of β-elimination and Michael addition was applied to the phosphopeptides in order to facilitate the identification of phosphorylation sites by MS. The functional consequences of the novel phosphorylation of p53 on the protein–protein interactions, protein stability and transactivation activity were then examined using co-immunoprecipitation, Western blotting and reporter assays. Results: Ser-106 of p53 was identified as a novel site phosphorylated by Aurora-A. A serine-to-alanine mutation at this site was found to attenuate Aurora-A-mediated phosphorylation in vitro. In addition, phosphate-sensitive Phos-tag SDS-PAGE was used to confirm that the Ser-106 of p53 is in vivo phosphorylated by Aurora-A. Finally, co-immunoprecipitation studies suggested that Ser-106 phosphorylation of p53 decreases its interaction with MDM2 and prolongs the half-life of p53. Conclusions: The inhibition of the interaction between p53 and MDM2 by a novel Aurora-A-mediated p53 phosphorylation was identified in this study and this provides important information for further investigations into the interaction between p53 and Aurora-A in terms of cancer biology.     

Application of green analytical chemistry to a green chemistry process: Magnetic resonance and Raman spectroscopic process monitoring of continuous ethanolic fermentation

Compact ¹H NMR and Raman spectrometers were used for real-time process monitoring of alcoholic fermentation in a continuous flow reactor. Yeast cells catalyzing the sucrose conversion were immobilized in alginate beads floating in the reactor. The spectrometers proved to be robust and could be easily attached to the reaction apparatus. As environmentally friendly analysis methods, ¹H NMR and Raman spectroscopy were selected to match the resource- and energy-saving process. Analyses took only a few seconds to minutes compared to chromatographic procedures and were, therefore, suitable for real-time control realized as a feedback loop. Both compact spectrometers were successfully implemented online. Raman spectroscopy allowed for faster spectral acquisition and higher quantitative precision, NMR yielded more resolved signals thus higher specificity. By using the software Matlab for automated data loading and processing, relevant parameters such as the ethanol, glycerol, and sugar content could be easily obtained. The subsequent multivariate data analysis using partial linear least-squares regression type 2 enabled the quantitative monitoring of all reactants within a single model in real time.