The occurrence of d-Ala : d-Lac ligase genes homologous to glycopeptide resistance vanA was studied in samples of agricultural (n=9) and garden (n=3) soil by culture-independent methods. Cloning and sequencing of nested degenerate PCR products obtained from soil DNA revealed the occurrence of d-Ala : d-Ala ligase genes unrelated to vanA. In order to enhance detection of vanA-homologous genes, a...

Laboratory experiments investigated the comparative degradation of six organophosphorus insecticides in soil as affected by enhanced microbial degradation. The degradation rates and product distributions of chlorpyrifos, fonofos, ethoprop, terbufos, and phorate were not dramatically altered in soils containing microbial populations adapted to rapidly degrade isofenphos. An Arthrobacter sp. isol...

The bacterial communities of 1- to 6-year ginseng rhizosphere soils were characterized by culture-independent approaches, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), and amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis (ARDRA). Culture-dependent method (Biolog) was used to investigate the metabolic function variance of microbe living in rhizosphere soil. Results showed that significant genetic and met...

Since its introduction in 1940, the plaster of Paris block method of measuring soil moisture by means of electrical resistance (4) has been widely employed in agricultural fields. Hydrologic research2 (16), war production problems involving guayule culture (11, 12), and many other investigations ranging from field irrigation to greenhouse studies have made use of this technique. Briefly, the me...

This study investigated the development of fungal community composition in arable soil during the degradation of straw residue. We explored the short-term responses of the fungal community over 28 days of decomposition in soil using culture-independent polymerase chain reaction in combination with a clone library and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Fungal cellobiohydrolase I (cb...

A screening method was established for new specific inhibitors of folate metabolism. Culture broths of soil isolates were selected based on relative microbial activity. A culture, to be retained, must be active against Enterococcus faecium grown in a medium which contains a limited amount of pteroic acid but lacks activity against the microorganism grown in a medium supplemented with thymidine....

Global occurrences of herbicide resistant weed populations have increased the demand for development of new herbicides targeting novel mechanisms of action. Metagenomic approaches to natural drug discovery offer potential for isolating weed suppressive compounds from microorganisms. In past research, traditional techniques entailed isolating compounds from living organisms, whereas metagenomic ...

DNA detection and analysis has become a common way to identify organisms in many different types of samples, including soils that contain organisms potentially capable of biodegrading pollutants. Such analytical procedures, known as DNA diagnostic techniques, generally start with the extraction of DNA from organisms grown under culture conditions in the laboratory. The sequence of the DNA provi...

Microbial treatment of bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (BEHP) contaminated soil was evaluated in batch and sequencing batch reactors (SBR) using a mixed bacterial culture isolated from a BEHP-contaminated site. The BEHP-degrading mixed culture had three predominant component strains, Bre ibacterium iodinum, Rhodococcus luteus and Bacillus bre is. For soil slurry SBR studies, the hydraulic residence ...