BACKGROUND There is an increasing interest in the study of microorganisms that inhabit extreme environments for reasons that vary from gaining insight into the origin of life to the searching of new biotechnological applications. AIMS In this work, we studied the tolerance of fungi isolated from the Aguas Agrias Stream (AAS; Tharsis, Huelva, Spain), an acidic metal-rich environment, to a cult...

In the 1960s-1980s, determination of bacterial growth rates was an important tool in microbial genetics, biochemistry, molecular biology, and microbial physiology. The exciting technical developments of the 1990s and the 2000s eclipsed that tool; as a result, many investigators today lack experience with growth rate measurements. Recently, investigators in a number of areas have started to use ...

Norman Wells crude oil was fractionated by sequential alumina and silicic acid column chromatography methods. The resulting nitrogen-rich fraction was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and showed 26 alkyl (C(1) to C(5)) carbazoles to be the predominant compounds. An oil-degrading mixed bacterial culture was enriched on carbazole to enhance its ability to degrade nitrogen heterocy...

Filamentous fungi are a good source of hemicellulolytic enzymes for biomass degradation. Enzyme preparations were obtained as culture supernatants from 78 fungal isolates grown on wheat straw as carbon source. These enzyme preparations were utilized in the hydrolysis of insoluble wheat straw and corn fiber xylan rich fractions. Up to 14% of the carbohydrates in wheat straw and 34% of those in c...

A 32P-labeling strategy was developed to study the interaction(s) in tissue culture cells between proteins and nucleic acids. Interphase and mitotic nuclear lamins were studied in Drosophila Kc cells. After bromodeoxyuridine incorporation and in vivo photo-crosslinking with 366 nm light, it was found that interphase lamins were associated with nucleic acid. Interactions with DNA as well as RNA ...

Yeast extract was treated with tyrosine decarboxylase and used to prepare a rich, complex medium virtually free of tyrosine. The medium supported maximal growth rates for Escherichia coli prototrophs, as well as for defined and undefined auxotrophs. It has made possible the efficient radiochemical labeling of cells growing optimally in complex medium and the characterization of mutants with und...

In this paper we investigate the effect of power on prosocial decision-making. While previous research has thoroughly investigated this relation in Western cultures, we focus our research on the role of power in an understudied MiddleEastern culture. Existing literature suggest an inverse relationship between feeling of power and prosocial behavior, where generally people in high levels of powe...

forests are biologically diverse systems, representing some of the richest biological areas on earth. they offer a variety of habitats for plants, animals and micro-organisms. however, forest biodiversity is increasingly threatened as a result of deforestation, fragmentation, climate change and other stressors. biodiversity is the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or on t...

Tissue culture of pancreatic B cells has been a matter of increasing interest during recent years and a number of problems related to the biosynthesis and release of insulin are now being approached with the aid of this technique (1-8) . By comparison, little is known about the behavior in tissue culture of the At and A 2 cells, mainly because of the small number of these cells in normal mammal...

Regarding the inadequate healing capability of cartilage tissue, cell-based therapy is making the future of cartilage repair and regeneration. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) have shown great promise in cartilage regeneration. However, a yet-unresolved issue is the emergence of hypertrophic and pathologic markers during in vitro MSC chondrogenesis. Articular chondrocytes (AC) can suppress the unde...