Amylenes are unsaturated hydrocarbons (C5H10), such as 1-pentene, 2-pentene, 2-methyl-but-1-en (3-methyl-1-butene), 2-methyl-but-2-en (isopentene), and 3-methyl-but-1-en. We investigated bacterial mutagenicity of 1-pentene, 2-pentene, and 3-methyl-but-1-en in the Ames test. 2-Pentene was investigated as racemate and as pure diastereomers. We included the methyltransferase deficient Salmonella T...

The structure of biofilms in drinking water systems is influenced by the interplay between biological and physical processes. Bacterial aggregates in bulk fluid are important in seeding biofilm formation on surfaces. In simple pure and co-cultures, certain bacteria, including Methylobacterium, are implicated in the formation of aggregates. However, it is unclear whether they help to form aggreg...

male guinea pigs show high susceptibility to burkholderia mallei and have been used as animal models in glanders studies. the purpose of our study was to elucidate glanders comparative pathogenesis in guinea pigs. we present here the histological changes and bacterial isolation that develop over time in guinea pigs inoculated intraperitoneally (ip) with two strain of b. mallei. ten male guinea ...

The ability to isolate an organism in pure culture from the environment is a manageable task for undergraduate students; the identification of that organism requires integration of both genotypic and phenotypic data and illustrates the challenges inherent in contemporary bacterial taxonomy. In this ten-laboratory period series of exercises, students isolate a strain of Pseudomonas from soil and...

Rhizonin is a hepatotoxic cyclopeptide isolated from cultures of a fungal Rhizopus microsporus strain that grew on moldy ground nuts in Mozambique. Reinvestigation of this fungal strain by a series of experiments unequivocally revealed that this "first mycotoxin from lower fungi" is actually not produced by the fungus. PCR experiments and phylogenetic studies based on 16S rRNA gene sequences re...