Flourene and phenanthrene are organic compounds with high hydrophobicity and toxicity. Being recalcitrant in nature they are accumulating in the environment at an alarming concentration, posing serious threat to living beings. Thus in the present study, microorganisms were screened for their ability to degrade these contaminants at high concentrations in least period of time. Two out of fifteen...

A laboratory study was undertaken to assess the optimal conditions for biodegradation of Bombay High (BH) crude oil. Among 130 oil degrading bacterial cultures isolated from oil contaminated soil samples, Micrococcus sp. GS2-22, Corynebacterium sp. GS5-66, Flavobacterium sp. DS5-73, Bacillus sp. DS6-86 and Pseudomonas sp. DS10-129 were selected for the study based on the efficiency of crude oil...

Phenols (aromatic organic compounds) are commonly occurring organic pollutants in the environment. Some of the toxic effects of phenol in humans are corrosive to eyes, skin and respiratory track, in addition also causes lethal effects in animal and plant community when discharged even in low concentrations. The problem associated with phenol in the environment, is in need to removal such hazard...

Eight Bacillus strains isolated from Sonoran Desert soil were shown to belong to a previously unidentified species, for which the name Bacillus sonorensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is strain L87-10T (= NRRL B-23154T). On the basis of phenotypic and genetic data, B. sonorensis is most closely related to Bacillus licheniformis. B. sonorensis can be distinguished from B. licheniformis ...

The compatible solute mannosylglucosylglycerate (MGG), recently identified in Petrotoga miotherma, also accumulates in Petrotoga mobilis in response to hyperosmotic conditions and supraoptimal growth temperatures. Two functionally connected genes encoding a glucosyl-3-phosphoglycerate synthase (GpgS) and an unknown glycosyltransferase (gene Pmob_1143), which we functionally characterized as a m...

We measured gastric slow wave activity simultaneously with magnetogastrogram (MGG), mucosal electromyogram (EMG) and electrogastrogram (EGG) in human subjects with varying body mass index (BMI) before and after a meal. In order to investigate the effect of BMI on gastric slow wave parameters, each subject's BMI was calculated and divided into two groups: subjects with BMI ≤ 27 and BMI > 27. Sig...

A phage, designated CP-51, that carries out generalized transduction in Bacillus cereus and B. anthracis, has recently been isolated from soil. Transducing phages for members of the genus Bacillus have been described previously for B. subtilis and B. licheniformis (2-6). Those that have been best characterized are PBS-1 for B. subtilis (4) and SP-10 and SP-15 for both B. subtilis and B. licheni...

Strain EB01(T) sp. nov. is the type strain of Bacillus massilioalgeriensis, a new species within the genus Bacillus. This strain, whose genome is described here, was isolated from sediment sample of the hypersaline lake Ezzemoul sabkha in northeastern Algeria. B. massilioalgeriensis is a facultative anaerobic Gram-positive bacillus. Here we describe the features of this organism, together with ...