- Volume 112, Issue 2, 1979

SUMMARY: Ca2+-ATPase activity has been characterized in Streptomyces griseus. The enzyme has a pH optimum of 8·5 at 37°C. Its Ca2+ requirement can be substituted by Cd2+, Zn2+ and Mn2+. Mg2+ inhibits the enzyme non-competitively.

SUMMARY: Wall fragments were prepared from two strains of Pseudomonas cepacia and from P. aeruginosa, and their contents of readily extractable lipid, pronase-digestible protein and lipo-polysaccharide were measured. Lipopolysaccharide extracted from P. cepacia, although biologically active, contained no detectable 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonic acid, but contained phosphate, rhamnose, glucose, heptose and hexosamine in concentrations comparable to those found in P. aeruginosa.

SUMMARY: Strains of Peptostreptococcus, Streptococcus and of a Gram-positive coccus, which was initially isolated as an anaerobe but grew subsequently as a facultative organism, were isolated from subcutaneous abscesses in cats. The cat strains of Peptostreptococcus gave metabolic fermentation products in combinations described for P. anaerobius. The Streptococcus strains conformed to the group S. intermedius. The facultative organism described had the metabolic products of P. anaerobius but the distinctly different biochemical characteristics of S. intermedius and fits neither of the genera strictly.

SUMMARY: Rhizobium leguminosarum WU163 and WU235 did not release extracellular proteins into the environment but did synthesize periplasmic proteins, including alkaline phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.1), cyclic phosphodiesterase (EC 3.1.4.d) and inorganic pyrophosphatase (EC 3.6.1.1). Fourteen periplasmic proteins, recognized by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, were released by lysozyme/EDTA treatment. Four of these proteins, including the alkaline phosphatase, were repressed by phosphate.

SUMMARY: Cultivation of Methanospirillum hungatii GP1 at 35°C in low PO4 3- (3·0 mm) medium resulted in growth as motile curved rods (6 to 8 × 0·5 μm). However, predominantly long filaments averaging 70 to 300 μm were observed in the presence of high concentrations of PO4 3- (43·7 mm) or Na+ (225 mm) or after incubation at 25°C in low PO4 3- medium. These conditions also resulted in decreased growth rates. Tests with cell-free extracts of long and short form filaments indicated that long filament formation is probably related to a deficiency in heat-labile factor(s) required for cell separation.