Coordination polymers of Ln(III): Synthesis, characterization, catalytic and antimicrobial aspects

Coordination polymers of HEAP-ED with La(III), Pr(III), Nd(III), Sm(III), Gd(III), Tb(III) and Dy(III) metal ions have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analyses, electronic spectra, magnetic susceptibilities, FTIR, NMR, scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and thermogravimetric analyses. Catalytic activity of selected coordination polymers was examined for pharmaceutical important organic synthesis. Antimicrobial activity of isolated Ln(III) coordination polymers against Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus (bacteria) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast) were measured. It was observed from the study that the Ln(III) coordination polymers acted as an efficient and effective catalysts and antimicrobial agents.     

Soil and plant tests for available sulfur in wetland rice soils

Summary Soil tests, plant performance, and plant tissue analyses were used to study the availability of sulfur to wetland rice in 30 Philippine soils. The critical concentrations of available sulfur by the calcium phosphate, lithium chloride, ammonium acetate, and hydrochloric acid extractions were 9, 25, 30, and 5 mg/kg, respectively. The critical total sulfur limits were 0.11% in the shoot at maximum tillering 0.055% in the straw at maturity, and 0.065% in the grain. The critical N:S ratio was 15 in the shoot at maximum tillering, 14 in the straw at maturity, and 26 in the grain. The critical sulfate-sulfur limit was 150 mg/kg in the shoot at maximum tillering and 100 mg/kg in the straw at maturity. The critical sulfate-sulfur/total sulfur percentage ratio was 15% in the shoot at maximum tillering and the straw at maturity. Plant performance, judged by appearance and yield of dry matter, straw, and grain, was generally poorer in the sulfur deficient soils than in the other soils. Although the calcium phosphate and ammonium acetate methods gave a better correlation between plant performance and available sulfur than the others, all four methods separated sulfur-deficient soils from non-deficient ones. The hydrochloric acid method merits further study because it is simple and versatile.     

7. Global support and coordination: conserving germplasm of world crop species and their relatives

The awareness of the importance of plant biodiversity has been considerably raised in both developed and developing countries over the last decade. Some of the debate has not been helpful in fostering collaboration or progress towards a more rational support network. The paper attempts to identify and categorize existing efforts in operation in a wide range of institutions and bodies ranging from essentially environmentally orientated to crop-based organizations. Current funding and training initiatives are discussed.     

Obligately phototrophic Chloroflexus: primary production in anaerobic hot spring microbial mats

Microbial mats which lack cyanobacteria occur at 50° to 65° C in the sulfide-containing Mammoth Springs of Yellowstone National Park. The principal organisms within these mats are filamentous bacteria which resemble Chloroflexus aurantiacus. The incorporation of [¹⁴C]-HCO ₃ ^- into mat material depended upon both light and sulfide, and was not inhibited when complete natural light was replaced with far-red and infra-red radiation. [¹⁴C]-acetate was incorporated in a light-dependent reaction which was stimulated by, but did not require, sulfide. In situ experiments with microelectrodes demonstrated net sulfide uptake by the mat in the light, and net sulfide production by the mat in the dark, suggesting the operation of a sulfur cycle.Filamentous phototrophic bacteria isolated from the mat were incapable of sustained growth in the presence of O₂.Simultaneous exposure of cultures to light and O₂ caused degradation of bacteriochlorophyll c. The stimulation of light-dependent [¹⁴C]-HCO ₃ ^- -uptake by sulfide was more pronounced in these isolates than in strains of Chloroflexus aurantiacus.     

Search for polythionates in cultures of Chromatium vinosum after sulfide incubation

Cultures of Chromatium vinosum, devoid of sulfur globules, were supplemented with sulfide and incubated under anoxic conditions in the light. The concentrations of sulfide, polysulfides, thiosulfate, polythionates and elemental sulfur (sulfur rings) were monitored for 3 days by ion-chromatography and reversed-phase HPLC. While sulfide disappeared rapidly, thiosulfate and elemental sulfur (S₆, S₇ S₈ rings) were formed. After sulfide depletion, the concentration of thiosulfate decreased fairly rapidly, but elemental sulfur was oxidized very slowly to sulfate. Neither polysulfides (S _x ^2– ), polythionates (S_nO ₆ ^2– , n=4–6), nor other polysulfur compounds could be detected, which is in accordance with the fact that sulfide-grown cells were able to oxidize polysulfide without lag. The nature of the intracellular sulfur globules is discussed.     

Respiratory oxidation of reduced sulfur compounds by intact cells of Thiobacillus tepidarius (type strain)

Thiobacillus tepidarius (type strain) was grown in microaerophilic conditions, on tetrathionate, thiosulfate or crystalline S^o. The rates of tetrathionate, thiosulfate, elemental sulfur (S^o) and sulfite oxidation of the different cultures were measured respirometrically, using exponentially growing cells, with an oxygen electrode. Cells growing on the three different sulfur compounds retain thiosulfate-, tetrathionate, and S^o-oxidizing activities (SOA), but lack respiratory sulfite-oxidizing activity. The SOA for all the cultures was almost totally inhibited by 50 M myxothiazol, an inhibitor of the quinone-cytochrome b region, and by 10 M of the uncoupler carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP). Tetrathionate- and thiosulfate-oxidizing activities were moderately and weakly inhibited by 50 M totally inhibited (>95%) all respiratory activities. This study suggests that electrons released by S^o oxidation enter the respiratory chain in the quinone-cytochrome b region.Abbreviation SOA sulfur-oxidizing activity     

Serotonin in the leech central nervous system: anatomical correlates and behavioral effects

Summary Stridulation of grasshoppers is controlled by hemisegmental pattern generator subunits which probably are restricted to the metathoracic ganglion complex (TG3-complex). The coordination of left and right pattern generator subunits depends on commissures of the TG3-complex (Ronacher 1989). The coordination of the stridulatory movements was studied in Chorthippus dorsatus males with partial mediosagittal incisions in the TG3-complex.Animals bearing anterior incisions in the TG3-complex, by which all commissures of the metathoracic neuromere and the first abdominal neuromere were transected, were still able to produce bilaterally coordinated species-specific stridulatory movements. Commissures of the T3- and A1-neuromere, thus, are not necessary, and the A2-, A3-commissures are sufficient for this coordination (Figs. 3, 4).Animals with partial posterior incisions, extending until A1, had deficits in their stridulation pattern; the coordination between the hindlegs was impaired though not completely lost (Fig. 6). This is discussed in view of the structure of stridulation interneurons identified in a related grasshopper species (Omocestus viridulus).These results indicate an unexpected substantial contribution of the abdominal neuromeres A2 and A3 to the control of stridulatory movements. This constitutes an interesting parallel to the flight control system of locusts where interneurons located in the first 3 abdominal neuromeres also appear to contribute to the flight pattern generator (Robertson et al. 1982).Abbreviations A1–A3 abdominal neuromeres 1–3 - T3 metathoracic neuromere - TG3-complex metathoracic ganglion complex including A1–A3     

Alkylsulfonic acids and some S-containing detergents as sulfur sources for growth of Chlorella fusca

Chlorella fusca can utilize the following substances as sole sulfur sources for growth: C₁ to C₈ n-alkane-1-sulfonates, linear alkylbenzenes sulfonates (LAS), -sulfonated fatty acid esters, polyethylene glycol sulfate and alkylsulfates. Good sulfur sources are alkylsulfonic acids, which are comparable to sulfate. Ethanesulfonic acid was used for comparison of the growth on sulfate and on a sulfonic acid, because best growth was achieved on this C₂-sulfonic acid.Growth data of Chlorella on the enviromental important detergents linear alkylbenzene sulfonic acids, -sulfonated fatty acid methylester, Texapon and Sulfopon are presented. So far only microorganisms have been discussed as a source for degradation of sulfonic acids and detergents. It is suggested that green algae could be of similar importance for the biodegradation of these compounds.Abbreviations LAS Linear alkylbenzene sulfonate - ES -sulfonated fatty acid methylester - DTE dithiocrythritol     

Fate of elemental sulfur in an intertidal sediment

Abstract: Sediment from a tidal flat at Wedderwarden, near the mouth of the Weser estuary, northern Germany, was amended with elemental sulfur, and concentrations of metabolic end products were monitored. The production of both sulfate and sulfide was consistent with disproportionation as the most important fate of the added elemental sulfur. A population of bacteria conducting active elemental sulfur disproportionation was also enriched from the sediment. In the enrichments, containing both elemental sulfur and Fe oxides as a sulfide 'scrub', sulfide and sulfate were produced in a ratio of     , somewhat lower than the predicted ratio of     . The mismatch between predicted and observed production ratios is explained by the channelling of electrons into autotrophic or mixotrophic CO₂ fixation rather than sulfide formation. The production of organic carbon, in the correct amount to explain the observed sulfide to sulfate production ratio, was verified by organic carbon analysis. Finally, rates of sulfate reduction were identical in the elemental sulfur amended sediment, and in control sediment with no added sulfur. Hence, the heterotrophic bacterial community was completely unaffected by an active metabolism conducting elemental sulfur disproportionation.     

Photosynthetic activity and population dynamics of Amoebobacter purpureus in a meromictic saline lake

Abstract A dense population of the purple sulfur bacterium Amoebobacter purpureus in the chemocline of meromictic Mahoney Lake (British Columbia, Canada) underwent consistent changes in biomass over a two year study period. The integrated amount of bacteriochlorophyll reached maxima in August and declined markedly during early fall. Bacteriochlorophyll was only weakly correlated with the light intensity and water temperature in the chemocline. In the summer, bacterial photosynthesis was limited by sulfide availability. During this period the intracellular sulfur concentration of A. purpureus cells decreased. A minimum concentration was measured at the top of the bacterial layer in August, when specific photosynthetic rates of A. purpureus indicated that only 14% of the cells were photosynthetically active. With the exception of a time period between August and September, the specific growth rates calculated from CO₂ fixation rates of A. purpureus were similar to growth rates calculated from actual biomass changes in the bacterial layer. Between August and September 86% of the A. purpureus biomass disappeared from the chemocline and were deposited on the littoral sediment of Mahoney Lake or degraded within the mixolimnion. This rise of cells to the lake surface was not mediated by an increase in the specific gas vesicle content which remained constant between April and November. The upwelling phenomenon was related to the low sulfur content of A. purpureus cells and a low resistance of surface water layers against vertical mixing by wind.