Properties of acetate kinase activity inClostridium thermocellum cell extracts

Acetate kinase (EC 2.7.2.1) is involved in the wasteful production of acetate during conversion of cellulose to ethanol byClostridium thermocellum. The properties of this enzyme activity inC. thermocellum cell extracts were determined. Optimum enzyme activity was at 60 degrees C and between pH 7.5 and 9.0. In the presence of air, acetate kinase was stable to temperatures up to 60 degrees C, retaining 90% activity after 2 h, and was inactivated rapidly at higher temperatures. The enzyme exhibited a wide range of stability to pH (5.0-9.0) when incubated at 50 degrees C for 2 h. As with other acetate kinases, a divalent cation, such as Mg(2+), was required for enzyme activity. Optimum activity was observed at 20mM MgCl(2) when ATP was held constant at 10 mM. Acetate kinase activity was adversely affected by KCl, a salt commonly used in ion-exchange or affinity chromatography, with 0.3M KCl inhibiting by 50%. These results will be important in optimizing the direct microbial conversion process of cellulose to ethanol usingC. thermocellum in coculture withClostridium thermosaccharolyticum.     

Microbial transformation of isocoronarin D by Cunninghamella echinulata NRRL 1386

The diterpene isocoronarin D (1) is a bioactive major constituent of labdane diterpene from the aerial parts of Curcuma comosa Roxb. (Zingiberaceae), the Thai medicinal plant. Microbial transformation of 1 was performed by the fungus Cunninghamella echinulata NRRL 1386 to yield three new metabolites, 3β-hydroxyisocoronarin D (2), 6α-hydroxyisocoronarin D (3) and 3β,7α-dihydroxyisocoronarin D (4). The structures of the new compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic techniques.

     

聚中性红修饰电极对微生物燃料电池（MFC)脱氮产电性能的影响

利用电聚合方法制备了聚中性红修饰电极,通过扫描电子显微镜（SEM）、能谱仪（EDS）、傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）等表征手段对电极材料的微观结构与组成进行研究。为进一步考察聚中性红修饰电极对微生物燃料电池（MFC）脱氮产电性能的影响,构建了各种不同微生物燃料电池。实验表明,聚中性红修饰阴极微生物燃料电池（CPNR-MFC）具有最强的脱氮和产电性能,其次为聚中性红修饰阳极微生物燃料电池（APNR-MFC)。在不同进水硝氮浓度下,实验组MFCs对硝氮的去除率均达到90%以上,CPNR-MFC具有0.040kg ·m^-3·d^-1的最大硝氮去除速率和15.29 W·m^-3的最大功率密度,较对照组分别提高14.29%和82.51%,而APNR-MFC仅分别提高5.71%和31.93%。通过对比MFCs的电化学特性和微生物特征,探究了聚中性红修饰电极对MFCs性能影响的机理。     

3种滩涂贝类对凡纳滨对虾养殖尾水净化效果的比较研究

以文蛤、缢蛏和泥蚶3种滩涂贝类为研究对象, 评估了3种滩涂贝类不同处理模式下的尾水处理效果. 在流水模式下比较不同贝类及密度对水质指标影响的结果表明 所有实验组均显著降低了水体总悬浮物; 泥蚶对氨氮和亚硝酸盐去除效果较好, 文蛤对弧菌有良好的去除效果. 静水模式下的结果表明 滩涂贝类对尾水处理效果与流水模式趋势相似, 静水模式下高密度(?m-2)贝类更能有效净化水质, 而适当降低贝类密度(?m-2)有利于去除养殖尾水中的弧菌总数. 静水模式下对水体菌群研究结果表明 高密度(?m-2)文蛤组和高密度(?m-2)缢蛏组水体菌群Chao1、可观测物种指数升高, 泥蚶组菌群丰度和多样性方面更趋于稳定.     

Accelerated Microbial Degradation of Poly(L-lactide)

Acceleration of the biodegradation of poly(L -lactide) (PLA) was studied. We found that the degradation rate of high molecular weight (1.3×10⁵) PLA film was greatly increased by the addition of gelatin into the culture medium of the microorganisms. 100 mg of PLA film was almost completely degraded by the fungus, Tritirachium album (eukaryotic microorganisms), and by an actinomycete, Saccharothrix waywayandensis (prokaryotic microorganisms). In addition to gelatin, various insoluble proteins, peptides and amino acids also accelerate the biodegradation of PLA. Silk fibroin was the best inducer for the production of PLA-degrading enzymes of an actinomycete, Amycolatopsis orientalis.     

近期工业微生物关键技术和应用

近年来,随着宏基因组学、蛋白质组学和代谢组学等技术的发展,工业微生物技术在资源、医药和手性合成等领域已经成为热点技术,并开拓了电子和纳米技术等新的应用领域.本文综述了几项最新的工业微生物技术,主要包括:微生物环氧化水解酶催化合成手性二醇、微生物甲酸脱氢酶用于再生氧化还原反应的辅因子、通过噬菌体展示技术得到纳米级金属丝、代谢网络改造和重建用于传统发酵生产以及有机溶剂耐受菌和宏基因组技术的应用.     

GNPS-Guided Discovery of Madurastatin Siderophores from the Termite-Associated Actinomadura sp. RB99**

In this study, we analyzed if Actinomadura sp. RB99 produces siderophores that that could be responsible for the antimicrobial activity observed in co-cultivation studies. Dereplication of high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (HRMS/MS) and global natural product social molecular networking platform (GNPS) analysis of fungus-bacterium co-cultures resulted in the identification of five madurastatin derivatives (A1, A2, E1, F, and G1), of which were four new derivatives. Chemical structures were unambiguously confirmed by HR-ESI-MS, 1D and 2D NMR experiments, as well as MS/MS data and their absolute structures were elucidated based on Marfey's analysis, DP4+ probability calculation and total synthesis. Structure analysis revealed that madurastatin E1 ( 2 ) contained a rare 4-imidazolidinone cyclic moiety and madurastatin A1 ( 5 ) was characterized as a Ga³⁺-complex. The function of madurastatins as siderophores was evaluated using the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans as model organism. Based on homology models, we identified the putative NRPS-based gene cluster region of the siderophores in Actinomadura sp. RB99.     

A systematic insight into fouling propensity of soluble microbial products in membrane bioreactors based on hydrophobic interaction and size exclusion

Soluble microbial products (SMPs) contained in membrane bioreactor (MBR) supernatant have been proved to be main foulants. To obtain a comprehensive understanding of the fouling potential of SMPs on the basis of both hydrophilic/hydrophobic properties and molecular size, MBR supernatant of a pilot-scaled system treating municipal wastewater was partitioned into different hydrophilic/hydrophobic fractions by DAX-8 resins, with joint size partition of hydrophilic fraction also undertaken. A series of stirred dead-end filtration tests were conducted to investigate the flux decline. Hydrophilic fraction was found the dominant foulant responsible for flux deterioration, which was mainly attributed to the subclass of molecular weight above 100 kDa. The molecular weight distribution and atomic force microscopy images indicated that large molecules in hydrophilic fraction plugged the membrane pores. The backwash tests showed the flux decline caused by hydrophilic fraction was much less recoverable by hydraulic cleaning. It can be inferred that steric factor, i.e. size exclusion was the primary cause in the initial stage of fouling, while the role of hydrophobic interaction was of less significance. Additional modeling work indicates that the main fouling mechanism was complete blocking, further confirming the predominance of size exclusion contributing to membrane fouling by SMPs in MBR supernatant.     

阳极底物对微生物燃料电池处理秸秆水解物性能的影响

以双室微生物燃料电池为反应器,铁氰化钾为阴极液,研究污水处理厂活性污泥菌液和玉米秸秆水解液对MFC的产电性能的影响。结果表明,随着阳极中活性污泥菌液体积（1.5、3.0、4.5、6.0 mL）增加,MFC的产电量逐渐增加,当活性污泥的体积增加至7.5 mL时,产电量开始呈下降趋势;玉米秸秆水解液在底物中的浓度为0、10、15、20、30、40 g/L时,电池的稳定电压分别为54、157、248、208、170、146 mV。当阳极活性污泥菌液体积为6 mL、玉米秸秆水解液浓度为15 g/L时,微生物燃料电池的产电性能最佳,此时MFC的功率密度为54.6 mW/m²,内阻为496 Ω。同时,循环伏安曲线（C-V）和交流阻抗曲线（EIS）测试可知,MFC的电极过程由电荷传递和扩散过程共同控制,反应过程受电子传递控制。     

镧对红壤微生物碳、氮及呼吸强度的影响

室内培养试验表明,La对红壤微生物碳氮及呼吸强度均表现为抑制作用,并随浓度增加,抑制作用增强,在100mg/kg^-1时达到显著水平,随着培养时间的延长,La对微生物碳氮和呼吸强度的有减少的趋势,但短期内抑制作用难以消除,水稻盆栽试验表明,在低浓度时,La对土壤微生物碳氮和呼吸强度有少量刺激作用,但随着浓度的增加,则产生抑制作用并不断增强,在300mg.kg^-1时达到显著水平,土壤微生物量和呼吸强度可以作为评价稀土污染土壤的重要指标。