Two Bacillus species were studied which produced bioemulsifiers; however, they were distinctly different compounds. Bacillus sp. strain IAF 343 produced unusually high yields of extracellular biosurfactant when grown on a medium containing only water-soluble substrates. The yield of 1 g/liter was appreciably better than those of most of the biosurfactants reported previously. This neutral lipid...

In this Commentary, we discuss the paper Quantitative Determination of Size and Shape of Surface-Bound DNA Using an Acoustic Wave Sensor [Tsortos et al., Biophys. J. 94(7), 2706-2715 (2008)]. The paper under discussion presents a novel theory that uses the response of a Shear-Horizontal Surface Acoustic Wave device to characterize surface-attached double- and triple-strand DNA. The authors rela...

Aflatoxins are secondary metabolites produced by Aspergillus flavus, A. parasiticus, A. tamari, A. bombycis and A. nomius species. Relative humidity (RH) is one of the most important parameters influencing the development of aflatoxins in pistachio orchards by Aspergillus species. The type of irrigation system affects density and frequency of the Aspergillus species in the soil. In the current ...

Predictive modeling of habitat distribution of range plant species and identification of their potential habitats play important roles in the restoration of disturbed rangelands. This study aimed to predict the geographical distribution of Artemisia sieberi and find the influential variables in the distribution of A. sieberi in the desert rangelands of central Iran. Maps of environmental variab...