Bacterial Population Levels Research Articles

Alteration of intestinal microbial ecology in mice by recombinant interleuken-2

In addition to its beneficial immunostimulatory properties, interleukin-2 (IL-2) has many significant side effects including gastrointestinal (GI) toxicities. Preliminary studies of the effects of IL-2 on GI bacterial translocation suggested that IL-2 altered intestinal bacterial population levels. In order to further define the effects of IL-2 on intestinal microecology, groups of specific pathogen-free C57BL/6 mice were injected subcutaneously twice daily for 5 days with various dosages of human recombinant IL-2 (up to a maximum of 1.6 mg/kg injection) or an equal volume of sterile buffer. One day after the final injections, IL-2 had significantly (P<.05) increased in a dose-dependent fashion the mean cecal population levels of indigenousEscherichia coli, other gram-negative bacilli, streptococci, and staphylococci. Maximum increases above control cecal population levels were more than 10,000-fold forE. coli and streptococci, 209-fold for gram-negative bacilli other thanE. coli, and 93-fold for staphylococci. These changes were completely reversible, with normal cecal population levels 12 days after the last IL-2 injection. IL-2 did not change the total cecal population levels of strictly anaerobic bacteria. Ileal and cecal structures, as assessed by light microscopy, were not altered by the highest dose of IL-2. When incubated in vivo with 1.6 mg/ml of IL-2, the growth of an indigenous strain ofE. coli was not different from growth in broth alone. Thus, IL-2 treatment caused the intestinal overgrowth of common opportunistic aerobic and facultatively anaerobic bacterial pathogens, without altering total population levels of strict anaerobes or affecting intestinal histology.

Bulk Prevents Bacterial Translocation Induced by the Oral Administration of Total Parenteral Nutrition Solution

The effects of a fat and glutamine-free orally administered total parenteral nutrition (TPN) solution on intestinal mucosal mass, morphology, barrier function, and cecal bacterial population levels were measured in CD-1 mice. Ileal mucosal protein content decreased by 63% (p less than 0.01) in the oral TPN-fed mice, although they gained weight on this diet. These TPN-fed mice also exhibited changes in mucosal structure and the normal ecology of their cecal microflora was disrupted leading to overgrowth with Gram-negative enteric bacilli. These changes in intestinal mucosal mass, morphology, and gut bacterial ecology were associated with an increased incidence of bacterial translocation (BT) (TPN group 70% BT vs control group 15% BT: p less than 0.01). The administration of cellulose fiber or kaolin (bulk-forming agents), but not of citrus-pectin (a fully-fermentable, nonresidue fiber) reduced the incidence of BT in the TPN-fed mice to control levels. The beneficial effects of these bulk-forming agents appeared to be due to their ability to prevent TPN-induced disruption of the intestinal microflora and alterations in intestinal morphology, even though they did not prevent ileal mucosal protein levels from decreasing. These results suggest that the administration of bulk forming agents will prevent the loss of intestinal barrier function against luminal bacteria that occurs in mice fed an oral TPN solution.

Microbial Ecophysiology of Whey Biomethanation: Comparison of Carbon Transformation Parameters, Species Composition, and Starter Culture Performance in Continuous Culture

Changes in lactose concentration and feed rate altered bacterial growth and population levels in a whey-processing chemostat. The bacterial population and methane production levels increased in relation to increased lactose concentrations comparable to those in raw whey (6%) and converted over 96% of the substrate to methane, carbon dioxide, and cells. Sequential increases in the chemostat dilution rate demonstrated excellent biomethanation performance at retention times as low as 25 h. Retention times shorter than 25 h caused prevalent bacterial populations and methane production to decrease, and intermediary carbon metabolites accumulated in the following order: acetate, butyrate, propionate, lactate, ethanol, and lactose. Bacterial species dominated in the chemostat as a function of their enhanced substrate uptake and growth kinetic properties. The substrate uptake kinetic properties displayed by the mixed chemostat population were equivalent to those of individual species measured in pure culture, whereas the growth kinetic properties of species in mixed culture were better than those measured in pure culture. A designed starter culture consisting of Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Desulfovibrio vulgaris, Methanosarcina barkeri, and Methanobacterium formicicum displayed biomethanation performance, which was similar to that of a diverse adapted mixed-culture inoculum, in a continuous contact digestor system to which 10 g of dry whey per liter was added. Preserved starter cultures were developed and used as inocula for the start-up of a continuous anaerobic digestion process that was effective for biomethanation of raw whey at a retention time of 100 h.

Dynamics of RP4 plasmid transfer between Xanthomonas campestris pv. corylina and Erwinia herbicola in hazelnut tissues, in planta

We have shown that the transfer of plasmid RP4 took place between two strains of Xanthomonas campestris pv. corylina and from Xanthomonas campestris pv. corylina to Erwinia herbicola and vice versa when the strains were inoculated in hazelnut tissues in an experimental orchard. Transfer occurred throughout all seasons and was independent of the physiological conditions of the host tissues. The main factor governing transfer in planta appeared to be the frequency of contacts among donors and recipients. The frequency of transfer was correlated with the level of bacterial populations. RP4 was stable in the inoculated strains of Xanthomonas campestris pv. corylina as well as in Erwinia herbicola in hazelnut tissue. RP4 was detected in two isolates of resident epiphytic microflora, Pseudomonas fluorescens and Erwinia herbicola.

Translocation of mercury and microbial adaptation in a model aquatic system.

Higher levels of mercury-resistant bacteria have been found in mercury-contaminated sediments than in sediments containing low levels of mercury. The work described in this report was undertaken to investigate the movement of mercury (initially as Hg/sup 0/) through components of an aquarium model aquatic system. Changes in mercury-resistant levels of bacterial populations were followed with increasing sediment mercury load.

Translocation of Certain Indigenous Bacteria from the Gastrointestinal Tract to the Mesenteric Lymph Nodes and Other Organs in a Gnotobiotic Mouse Model

Viable bacteria were not cultured from the mesenteric lymph nodes, spleens, or livers of specific-pathogen-free (SPF) mice. Viable enteric bacteria, primarily indigenous Escherichia coli and lactobacilli, were present in the mesenteric lymph nodes of gnotobiotic mice inoculated intragastrically with the whole cecal microflora from SPF mice but not in the nodes of control SPF mice similarly inoculated. These indigenous E. coli also were cultured from the mesenteric lymph nodes of 96% of gnotobiotic mice monoassociated with E. coli but from none of the mesenteric lymph nodes of SPF mice inoculated with the E. coli. Furthermore, viable E. coli were detected in the mesenteric lymph nodes of these monoassociated gnotobiotes for as long as 112 days after inoculation. Indigenous Lactobacillus acidophilus also translocated to the mesenteric lymph nodes of gnotobiotic mice monoassociated with L. acidophilus. Apparently, there are mechanisms active in SPF mice inhibiting translocation of indigenous bacteria from the gastrointestinal tract to the mesenteric lymph nodes, spleens, and livers, whereas these mechanisms are either absent or reduced in gnotobiotic mice. Indigenous E. coli maintained higher population levels in the gastrointestinal tracts of the gnotobiotes compared with their population levels in SPF mice, suggesting that high bacterial population levels might promote translocation of certain bacteria from the gastrointestinal lumen to the mesenteric lymph nodes. Gnotobiotic and SPF mice, therefore, provide experimental models for determining the nature of the mechanisms operating to confine indigenous bacteria to the gastrointestinal tract in normal, healthy animals.

Bacterial Populations in the Beaufort Sea

Spatial and seasonal variation patterns were studied for bacterial populations in Beaufort Sea ice, water and sediment. Bacterial populations in the Beaufort Sea were found in concentrations as high as are found in temperate oceans. Bacterial populations, especially viable bacteria, were lower in surface water during winter than summer, but not in sediment. Beaufort Sea bacterial populations are mainly psychrotrophic and are clearly adapted to growth at low temperatures. Ice conditions appear to be important in determining levels of bacterial populations in water.

Genetic Control of Reaction to Common Blight Bacterium in Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) as Influenced by Plant Age and Bacterial Multiplication1

Abstract Reaction to Xanthomonas phaseoli (E.F. Smith) Dowson, cause of common blight disease in beans, Phaseolus vulgaris L., was inherited quantitatively in the cross early flowering susceptible cv. Great Northern (GN) 1140 × late flowering tolerant line ‘GN Nebr. #1, sel. 27’. F1 populations showed partial dominance for susceptibility at 25 days and nearly complete dominance at 43 days after inoculation. Genes controlling delayed flowering, under long photoperiod and high temp, and tolerant reaction were linked. Early, blight tolerant advanced lines were not obtained by pedigree selection. They were obtained, however, by the backcross method, using ‘GN Nebr. #1, sel. 27’ as the recurrent parent. Different photoperiod × temp regimes in growth chambers induced flowering at the same or different times in nearly-isogenic lines of the same age. Vegetative plants exhibited higher levels of tolerance and lower bacterial populations than did plants in the pod stage. The bacterial population in susceptible ‘GN 1140’ was higher than in early and late tolerant lines.

Quantitative Analyses of Certain Enteric Bacteria and Bacterial Extracts

Bacterial extracts prepared by ultrasonic disruption were reacted with both narrow- and broad-spectrum reference (homologous) and cross-reacting (heterologous) precipitins produced in rabbits. Quantitation of the reaction was obtained by densitometry of the antigen-antibody interface. Comparisons were made of sonic extracts from various starting populations all equated to the same nitrogen concentrations, and of various nitrogen levels derived from five bacterial population levels prepared separately. Sources of error are probed to show under what circumstances cross-reactions would be of greater magnitude than reference ones. The feasibility was shown of using quantitative densitometry of the interface combined with broadly reacting precipitins to identify bacteria on an intergeneric and interspecies scale. Problems associated with the use of absorbed or monospecific precipitins are explained.

Action of Antibiotics in Stimulating Growth of Poultry: 1. Effect of Feeding Lysed E. Coli and Fecal Preparations

A NUMBER of investigators have attempted to correlate the growth stimulation effect from feeding antibiotics with the presence or level of specific intestinal bacterial populations within the digestive tract of poultry or animals. Thus far, such efforts have not proven particularly fruitful in explaining the exact mechanisms of action of antibiotics.Johansson et al. (1948) and Johansson and Sarles (1949) studied the gut microflora change in the presence of bacitracin and penicillin and found that the ceca are an important site for the synthesis of B-vitamins and probably other unknown nutritional entities. They concluded that antibiotic growth stimulation appeared to be related to the presence of particular organisms in the digestive tract. Rhodes et al. (1954) showed that coliform organisms accumulated in the ceca of antibiotic-fed birds. However, Dixon and Thayer (1951) demonstrated that growth responses could occur with penicillin and aureomycin in chicks whose ceca had been removed.Several …