Beginning Of Exponential Phase Research Articles

Multi-time series RNA-seq analysis of Enterobacter lignolyticus SCF1 during growth in lignin-amended medium.

The production of lignocellulosic-derived biofuels is a highly promising source of alternative energy, but it has been constrained by the lack of a microbial platform capable to efficiently degrade this recalcitrant material and cope with by-products that can be toxic to cells. Species that naturally grow in environments where carbon is mainly available as lignin are promising for finding new ways of removing the lignin that protects cellulose for improved conversion of lignin to fuel precursors. Enterobacter lignolyticus SCF1 is a facultative anaerobic Gammaproteobacteria isolated from tropical rain forest soil collected in El Yunque forest, Puerto Rico under anoxic growth conditions with lignin as sole carbon source. Whole transcriptome analysis of SCF1 during E.lignolyticus SCF1 lignin degradation was conducted on cells grown in the presence (0.1%, w/w) and the absence of lignin, where samples were taken at three different times during growth, beginning of exponential phase, mid-exponential phase and beginning of stationary phase. Lignin-amended cultures achieved twice the cell biomass as unamended cultures over three days, and in this time degraded 60% of lignin. Transcripts in early exponential phase reflected this accelerated growth. A complement of laccases, aryl-alcohol dehydrogenases, and peroxidases were most up-regulated in lignin amended conditions in mid-exponential and early stationary phases compared to unamended growth. The association of hydrogen production by way of the formate hydrogenlyase complex with lignin degradation suggests a possible value added to lignin degradation in the future.

A comparison of three pH control methods for revealing effects of undissociated butyric acid on specific butanol production rate in batch fermentation of Clostridium acetobutylicum

pH control has been essential for butanol production with Clostridium acetobutylicum. However, it is not very clear at what pH level the acid crash will occur, at what pH level butanol production will be dominant, and at what pH level butyric acid production will be prevailing. Furthermore, contradictory results have been reported about required acidic conditions for initiation of solventogenesis. In this study, with the aim of further understanding the role of undissociated butyric acid in butanol production, we investigated the correlation between undissociated butyric acid concentration and specific butanol production rate in batch fermentation of Clostridium acetobutylicum by comparing three pH control approaches: NaOH neutralization (at 12, 24 or 36 h), CaCO3 supplementation (2, 5, or 8 g/l) and NaOAc buffering (pH 4.6, 5.0 or 5.6). By neutralizing the fermentation pH to ~5.0 at different time, we observed that neutralization should take place at the beginning of exponential phase (12 h), and otherwise resulting in lower concentrations of undissociated butyric acid, cell biomass and final butanol. CaCO3 supplementation extended cell growth to 36 h and resulted in higher butyrate yield under 8 g/L of CaCO3. In the NaOAc buffering, the highest specific butanol rate (0.58 h−1) was associated with the highest undissociated butyric acid (1.92 g/L). The linear correlation of the undissociated butyric acid with the specific butanol production rates suggested the undissociated butyric acid could be the major driving force for butanol production.

Pediococcus damnosus JNU 534가 생산하는 박테리오신의 특성 및 정제

여러 원천에서 분리한 유산균을 대상으로 신규 bacteriocin 생산 유산균을 선발하고 API 당 발효성과 16S rDNA를 분석한 결과 P. damnosus 로 동정되어 JNU 534로 명명하였다. P. damnosus JNU 534에 의해 생산된 bacteriocin은 다수의 유산균과 L. monocytogenes의 생육을 억제하였지만, Gram음성균을 포함한 다른 병원성균들은 저항성을 나타냈다. Bacteriocin의 생산은 대수기 초반에 시작되어 정지기 초기에 최대 활성에 이르렀다. Bacteriocin은 pH 2-9의 넓은 범위와 <TEX>$100^{\circ}C$</TEX>에서 15분간의 열처리에 대해서도 안정성을 유지하였다. 또한 각종 단백질 분해효소에 의해 활성을 상실함으로써 본 연구에서 정제한 항균 물질이 단백질성 물질임을 확인할 수 있었으며 30% ammonium sulfate 침전과 <TEX>$C_{18}$</TEX> chromatography를 통하여 bacteriocin을 정제 할 수 있었다. Tricine-SDS-PAGE에 의해 bacteriocin의 분자량을 약 3.4 kDa으로 추정하였으며, 지시균의 생육 저지환의 위치가 bacteriocin band와 일치하였다. 정제된 bacteriocin으로부터 분석한 N-terminal 아미노산 부분 서열은 <TEX>$NH_2$</TEX>-ILLEELNV로 나타났다. A new bacteriocin-producing lactic acid bacteria (LAB) which has been isolated from kimchi was identified as Pediococcus damnosus by use of API kit and 16S rDNA sequencing, and designated as P. damnosus JNU 534. The bacteriocin produced by P. damnosus JNU 534 markedly inhibited the growth of some of LAB and Listeria monocytogenes, whereas other pathogens including Gram negative bacteria were not susceptible. The production of bacteriocin started at the beginning of exponential phase and reached maximum activity at the early stationary phase. The bacteriocin was stable on the wide pH range of 2-9 and heat treatment up to <TEX>$100^{\circ}C$</TEX> for 15 min. The antimicrobial compound was inactivated by treatments of proteolytic enzymes indicating its proteinaceous in nature. The bacteriocin was purified by 30% ammonium sulfate precipitation followed by hydrophobic interaction column and <TEX>$C_{18}$</TEX> column chromatography. The estimated molecular weight of the bacteriocin using tricine SDS-PAGE was approximately 3.4 kDa and the identified N-terminal amino acid sequence was <TEX>$NH_2$</TEX>-ILLEELNV.

Polyamine metabolism during the growth cycle of tobacco BY-2 cells

We studied polyamine (PA) biosynthesis, oxidation and conjugation in asynchronously dividing cells of tobacco BY-2 cell suspension culture ( Nicotiana tabacum L.) during 7-day growth cycle. We analyzed the levels of free and conjugated PAs and the activities of biosynthetic and catabolic enzymes during the subculture interval. The contents of free spermidine and spermine started to increase after the inoculation into the fresh medium, positively correlated with the mitotic activity of BY-2 cells and reached their maxima at the beginning of exponential phase on day 3. On the contrary, the endogenous level of free Put showed a transient decline in the lag-phase, and then increased till the end of exponential phase (day 5). The time–course of the content of PCA-soluble conjugates showed a trend similar to that of the free PAs. The inoculation of BY-2 cells into the fresh medium resulted in a sharp increase in the activities of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC, EC 4.1.1.17) and S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (SAMDC; EC 4.1.1.50). Arginine decarboxylase (ADC; EC 4.1.1.19) activity remained low during the whole subculture interval. The rise of diamine oxidase (DAO; EC 1.4.3.6) in the first day after subculture coincided with the decrease in free Put level. De novo synthesis of PAs in BY-2 cells after inoculation into the fresh medium and the participation of both PA conjugation with hydroxycinnamic acids and Put oxidative degradation in maintaining of free PA levels during the growth cycle are discussed.

Changes of cell size distribution during the batch culture of Arthrobacter strain PI/1-95.

The size distributions of an arthrobacter, approximately 1 microm in diameter, were analysed using a Coulter Multisizer II instrument thereby making it possible to distinguish between the different stages in the morphological cycle. The results indicated that at the beginning of exponential phase a shift occurred from large to smaller cells, the cell size distributions in both categories were asymmetric, skewed towards higher values than the means. During the course of the batch culture the cells in the larger class decreased in size and the two classes coalesced. The size distribution of the smaller class exhibited an additional shift towards smaller cells. After which neither the number of classes nor the size distribution changed. It was concluded that the Coulter Multisizer II instrument provides a feasible method to extract information not only about mean cell size but also about cell size distributions.