Zoogloea ramigera 115 synthesized large amounts of matrix polymer from fructose, galactose, glucose, lactose, mannose, soluble starch, and sucrose when these carbohydrates were used as supplements to a chemically defined medium. All of them supported polymer synthesis to the extent that cultures thickened to a gel. Concentration of carbohydrate nutrients in the range 0.5 to 2.0% was not a criti...

We describe an automated kinetic assay for acetoacetate in blood. Acetoacetate is enzymatically reduced to D-beta-hydroxybutyrate and the reaction is monitored for 60 s with a reaction-rate analyzer. This technique allows low concentrations of acetoacetate to be measured with good precision and overcomes many of the problems associated with other automated techniques. Our studies on the stabili...

Feast and famine cycles are common in activated sludge wastewater treatment systems, and they select for bacteria that accumulate storage compounds, such as poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate (PHB). Previous studies have shown that variations in influent substrate concentrations force bacteria to accumulate high levels of rRNA compared to the levels in bacteria grown in chemostats. Therefore, it can be ...

Azospirillum brasilense Sp7 and its ntrA (rpoN), ntrBC, and ntrC mutants have been evaluated for their capabilities of poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) accumulation in media with high and low ammonia concentrations. It was observed that the ntrBC and ntrC mutants can produce PHB in both low- and high-C/N-ratio media, while no significant PHB production was observed for the wild type or the ntrA mut...

Glycerol, a byproduct of the biodiesel industry, can be used by bacteria as an inexpensive carbon source for the production of value-added biodegradable polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). Burkholderia cepacia ATCC 17759 synthesized poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) from glycerol concentrations ranging from 3% to 9% (v/v). Increasing the glycerol concentration results in a gradual reduction of biomass, PH...

In hepatocytes from overnight-fasted rats incubated with glucose, palmitate decreased the production of lactate, the detritiation of [2-3H]- and [3-3H]-glucose, and the concentration of fructose 2,6-bisphosphate. Similarly, perfusion of hearts from fed rats with beta-hydroxybutyrate resulted in an inhibition of the detritiation of [3-3H]glucose and a fall in fructose 2,6-bisphosphate concentrat...

These proposed self-powered, autonomously operating systems combines a number of microand nanotechnologies including biosensors, microfluidics, drug delivery, energy harvesters with living animal and will enable online monitoring of blood metabolites such as uric acid and beta-hydroxybutyrate in birds. We will measure the bird’s physiological status and store those data on flash for transmissio...

Ion-exclusion high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to measure poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) in Rhizobium japonicum bacteroids. The products in the acid digest of PHB-containing material were fractionated by HPLC on Aminex HPX-87H ion-exclusion resin for organic acid analysis. Crotonic acid formed from PHB during acid digestion was detected by its intense absorbance at 210 nm. T...

Chromatography on controlled pore glass in combination with chaotropic buffers makes possible, in a single step, protein purifications of several hundredfold. The new emphasis is on highly selective controllable adsorption. The method is useful for the purification and concentration of proteins from large volumes of complex media and for the purification of proteins that are poorly soluble or t...

Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biopolymers are widely recognised as outstanding candidates to replace conventional petroleum-derived polymers. Their mechanical properties are good and can be tailored through copolymer composition, they are biodegradable, and unlike many alternatives, they do not rely on oil-based feedstocks. Further, they are the only commodity polymer that can be synthesised intra...