Adsorption of bacterial surface polysaccharides on mineral oxides is mediated by hydrogen bonds

Adhesion of bacterial cells to solid surfaces is often largely affected by bacterial surface polymers. In this study, we investigated the adsorption of three different O-antigens isolated from bacterial lipopolysaccharides on TiO₂, Al₂O₃, and SiO₂. The O-antigens of Escherichia coli 08 DSM 46243 and Citrobacter freundii PCM 1487 had high affinity for TiO₂ and low affinity for Al₂O₃, whereas the O-antigens of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia 70401 had low affinities for both surfaces. Adsorption on SiO₂ was low for all polysaccharides. The dependence of the adsorption on the molecular mass of polysaccharides was investigated with dextrans of various chain lengths. The affinity increased with the molecular mass. The affinity of the dextrans was reduced compared with the O-antigen of E. coli, which had similar chemical composition and molecular mass. The adsorption of the E. coli and C. freundii O-antigens on Al₂O₃ and TiO₂ was irreversible, whereas for the S. maltophilia O-antigen it was partially reversible. The reversibility of dextran adsorption decreased with increasing molecular mass.

Infrared spectroscopy showed that all bacterial O-antigens and the dextrans formed hydrogen bonds with surface hydroxyl groups or interacted with surface-bound water of TiO₂, Al₂O₃, and SiO₂. A concentration-dependent mechanism of adsorption was observed with TiO₂. At low polysaccharide concentrations, the surface water molecules ware replaced by the polysaccharides, and at increased concentration the surface hydroxyl groups were involved in the formation of hydrogen bonds. At higher surface coverages, the adsorbed polysaccharides formed loops between the few adsorbed units.     

Fast cleavage kinetics of a natural hammerhead ribozyme

The hammerhead ribozyme is a small RNA motif that catalyzes the cleavage and ligation of RNA. The well-studied minimal hammerhead motif is inactive under physiological conditions and requires high Mg(2+) concentrations for efficient cleavage. In contrast, natural hammerheads are active under physiological conditions and contain motifs outside the catalytic core that lower the requirement for Mg(2+). Single-turnover kinetics were used here to characterize the Mg(2+) and pH dependence for cleavage of a trans-cleaving construct of the Schistosoma mansoni natural hammerhead ribozyme. Compared to the minimal hammerhead motif, the natural Schistosoma ribozyme requires 100-fold less Mg(2+) to achieve a cleavage rate of 1 min(-1). The improved catalysis results from tertiary interactions between loops in stems I and II and likely arises from increasing the population of the active conformation. Under optimum pH and Mg(2+) conditions this ribozyme cleaves at over 870 min(-1) at 25 degrees C, further demonstrating the impressive catalytic power of this ribozyme.     

A simple plant-location model for quantity-setting firms subject to price uncertainty

The uncapacitated plant location problem under uncertainty is formulated in a mean-variance framework with prices in various markets correlated via their response to a common random factor. This formulation results in a mixed-integer quadratic programming problem. However, for a given integer solution, the resulting quadratic programming problem is amenable to a very simple solution procedure. The simplicity of this algorithm means that reasonably large problems should be solvable using existing branch-and-bound techniques.     

Evaluation of the assurance GDS for E. coli O157:H7 method and assurance GDS for shigatoxin genes method in selected foods: collaborative study

A multilaboratory collaborative study was conducted to compare the Assurance GDS for E. coli 0157:H7 method and the reference culture methods for the detection of E. coli 0157:H7 in orange juice, raw ground beef, and fresh lettuce. A separate companion assay, the Assurance GDS for Shigatoxin Genes method was also evaluated with the same test portions. Fifteen laboratories participated in the study. A Chi square analysis of each of the 3 food types at the high, low, and uninoculated control levels was performed. For all foods, the Assurance GDS for E. coli O157:H7 method and the Assurance GDS for Shigatoxin Genes method were equivalent to or better than the reference methods.