A comparative study on the conditions of growth and sporulation of three strains of Clostridium petfringens type A

1996 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 298-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathilde Decaudin ◽  
Jean-Luc Tholozan

Different conditions of growth and sporulation of a strain of Clostridium perfringens type A (NCTC 8798) and two derived mutant strains, the lysozyme-germination dependent strain 8-6 and the revertant strain R3, have been determined. No sporulation was detected for the three strains in the Duncan and Strong (DS) medium; 100% sporulation was routinely obtained for the two mutant strains in the defined (D) medium. Factors promoting in vitro sporulation of C. perfringens type A were assayed: the volume of the culture, the type of preculture, and the addition of lysozyme in precultures. The paper also provides additional information on growth and sporulation of the mutant strains 8-6 and R3. Glucose concentrations up to 11 mM produced high percentages of sporulation. However, strain R3 still sporulated at 20% with 56 mM of glucose. A high volume of D medium led to slow growth kinetics and favoured sporulation. Faster kinetics of growth and the best percentage of sporulation were obtained with a young inoculum of the two mutant strains. On the other hand, the type of medium in the preculture (fluid thioglycollate (FTG) or basal carbonate yeast trypticase (BCYT)) did not influence the percentage of sporulation. However, while strain R3 was not affected by the addition of lysozyme in D medium, kinetics of growth were strongly influenced by this addition in strain 8-6, and the percentage of sporulation increased with a preculture in FTG medium and decreased when BCYT medium was used.Key words: Clostridium perfringens, medium, growth, sporulation.

1977 ◽  
Vol 55 (19) ◽  
pp. 2530-2534 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Maillard ◽  
J.-P. Zrÿd

Incubation of cell suspensions of sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) with β-indoyl-3-acetic acid (IAA) first led to the formation of IAA-glycosides, then to that of IAA-aspartate. Great differences are observed between the kinetics of IAA transformed by two distinct strains: one, auxin dependent (S), the other, auxin independent (MB). Other degradation products are only found in the culture medium. The localization of IAA-degrading systems in the cell wall is postulated. The auxin requirement of the S strain is discussed.


1972 ◽  
Vol 130 (4) ◽  
pp. 937-946 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Livingstone ◽  
C. A. Fewson

l-Mandelate is oxidized to benzoate by the enzymes l-mandelate dehydrogenase, phenylglyoxylate carboxy-lyase and benzaldehyde dehydrogenase I. Conditions have been established for measuring these three enzymes as well as benzyl alcohol dehydrogenase, benzaldehyde dehydrogenase II and catechol 1,2-oxygenase in a single cell-free extract prepared from bacterium N.C.I.B. 8250. The kinetics of induction of all these enzymes have been measured under a variety of conditions. l-Mandelate dehydrogenase, phenylglyoxylate carboxy-lyase and benzaldehyde dehydrogenase I appear to be co-ordinately regulated because (a) their differential rates of synthesis are proportional to one another under various conditions of induction and repression, (b) they are specifically and gratuitously induced by thiophenoxyacetate and a number of other compounds, and (c) mutant strains have been isolated that lack all three enzymes. Phenylglyoxylate is the primary inducer of the regulon as mutant strains lacking phenylglyoxylate carboxy-lyase form the other two enzymes in the presence of l-mandelate or phenylglyoxylate, whereas in mutant strains devoid of l-mandelate dehydrogenase activity only phenylglyoxylate induces phenylglyoxylate carboxy-lyase and benzaldehyde dehydrogenase I.


2000 ◽  
Vol 351 (1) ◽  
pp. 233-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong-Hui CHEN ◽  
Rong-Qiao HE ◽  
Ying LIU ◽  
Yang LIU ◽  
Zhi-Gang XUE

Human neuronal tau-40 (htau-40) has been used to study denaturation and renaturation of rabbit muscle D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH, EC 1.2.1.12). Inactivation of GAPDH incubated with tau was more distinguishably detected than that of control GAPDH during thermal and guanidine hydrochloride (GdnHCl) denaturation. However, tau did not influence the activity of GAPDH at room temperature or in solution without GdnHCl. A marked change in both the emission intensity and emission maximum of the intrinsic fluorescence at 335nm of GAPDH with tau was observed when GdnHCl concentration was 0.8M, but that of the control without tau occurred in 1.2M GdnHCl. The first-order rate of the decrease in the fluorescence intensity of the enzyme with tau was approximately twice as great as that of GAPDH without tau. Kinetics of inactivation of GAPDH with tau in 0.2M GdnHCl was a monophasic procedure, instead of the biphasic procedure followed by the control, as described before [He, Zhao, Yan and Li (1993) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1163, 315–320]. Similar results were obtained when the enzyme was thermally denatured at 45°C. It revealed that tau bound to the denatured GAPDH but not the native molecule. On the other hand, tau suppressed refolding and reactivation of GAPDH when this enzyme was reactivated by dilution of GdnHCl solution. Furthermore, tau improved the aggregation of the non-native GAPDH in solutions. It suggested that tau acted in an anti-chaperone-like manner towards GAPDH in vitro. However, tau lost that function when it was aggregated or phosphorylated by neuronal cdc2-like protein kinase. It showed that tau's anti-chaperone-like function depended on its native conformation.


1984 ◽  
Vol 67 (5) ◽  
pp. 541-549 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. M. Matthews ◽  
D. Burston

1. This paper is the last of a set reporting an investigation of the kinetics of jejunal uptake and inhibitory ability of a series of neutral dipeptides, glycylglycine, l-ananyl-l-alanine, l-valyl-l-valine and l-leucyl-l-leucine, with progressively longer and more lipophilic side chains. 2. The results suggested that at pH 5, uptake of l-alanyl-l-alanine, like that of l-valyl-l-valine and l-leucyl-l-leucine, was the result of two processes, uptake of intact peptide and uptake of free amino acid released extracellularly. On the other hand, uptake of glycylglycine was entirely in the form of intact peptide. In contrast to uptake of l-valyl-l-valine and l-leucyl-l-leucine, the proportion of intact l-alanyl-l-alanine taken up by mediated transport was greatest at the lowest concentration studied and smallest at the highest concentration. 3. Taking the series of results as a whole, whereas the corresponding series of amino acids, glycine, l-alanine, l-valine and l-leucine, showed a progressive increase in apparent affinity for uptake and a decrease in Vmax., we could find no such regular progression with the peptides. 4. The results of work on inhibition of uptake of one dipeptide by another were unexpectedly complex. Examples were the very powerful inhibitory effect of l-valyl-l-valine on uptake of glycylsarcosine, not suggested by the Kt of the former peptide, and the failure of glycylsarcosine to cause complete inhibition of uptake of l-alanyl-l-alanine and l-leucyl-l-leucine, though it could completely inhibit uptake of l-valyl-l-valine. There may be more than one uptake system for intact peptides, but we cannot yet suggest an explanation for all the results on inhibitions of uptake.


mSphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauricio A. Navarro ◽  
Jihong Li ◽  
Juliann Beingesser ◽  
Bruce A. McClane ◽  
Francisco A. Uzal

ABSTRACT Clostridium perfringens type A is involved in gas gangrene in humans and animals. Following a traumatic injury, rapid bacterial proliferation and exotoxin production result in severe myonecrosis. C. perfringens alpha toxin (CPA) and perfringolysin (PFO) are the main virulence factors responsible for the disease. Recent in vitro studies have identified an Agr-like quorum-sensing (QS) system in C. perfringens that regulates the production of both toxins. The system is composed of an AgrB membrane transporter and an AgrD peptide that interacts with a two-component regulatory system in response to fluctuations in the cell population density. In addition, a synthetic peptide named 6-R has been shown to interfere with this signaling mechanism, affecting the function of the Agr-like QS system in vitro. In the present study, C. perfringens type A strain ATCC 3624 and an isogenic agrB-null mutant were tested in a mouse model of gas gangrene. When mice were intramuscularly challenged with 106 CFU of wild-type ATCC 3624, severe myonecrosis and leukocyte aggregation occurred by 4 h. Similar numbers of an agrB-null mutant strain produced significantly less severe changes in the skeletal muscle of challenged mice. Complementation of the mutant to regain agrB expression restored virulence to wild-type levels. The burdens of all three C. perfringens strains in infected muscle were similar. In addition, animals injected intramuscularly with wild-type ATCC 3624 coincubated with the 6-R peptide developed less severe microscopic changes. This study provides the first in vivo evidence that the Agr-like QS system is important for C. perfringens type A-mediated gas gangrene. IMPORTANCE Clostridium perfringens type A strains produce toxins that are responsible for clostridial myonecrosis, also known as gas gangrene. Toxin production is regulated by an Agr-like quorum-sensing (QS) system that responds to changes in cell population density. In this study, we investigated the importance of this QS system in a mouse model of gas gangrene. Mice challenged with a C. perfringens strain with a nonfunctional regulatory system developed less severe changes in the injected skeletal muscle compared to animals receiving the wild-type strain. In addition, a synthetic peptide was able to decrease the effects of the QS in this disease model. These studies provide new understanding of the pathogenesis of gas gangrene and identified a potential therapeutic target to prevent the disease.


1959 ◽  
Vol 03 (02) ◽  
pp. 286-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
E Deutsch ◽  
P Elsner ◽  
I Marschner ◽  

Summary1. The mechanism of the activation of plasmin in blood after intravenous injection of bacterial pyrogens was studied.2. There was plasmin and an activator present in the spontaneous lytic blood samples. In cases with a high level of plasmin a low amount of plasminogen was found and vice versa.3. There seem to be two mechanisms of activation. In the most cases the activator has the properties of a fibrinokinase. In the other type a fibrinolysokinase was found.4. The resistence of the activator against changes in pH and influence of temperature was studied. It was found that the activator was very resistent at acid pH, and, therefore, it shoud be classified as a stable type activator. In addition to this a small amount of a labile type activator seems to be present.5. Some fibrinolytic activity develops in vitro if the pyrogens are incubated with cell-containing plasma or blood. It is supposed that the leucocytes are involved in the activation mechanism.


2021 ◽  
Vol 153 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard K. Brizendine ◽  
Murali Anuganti ◽  
Christine R. Cremo

Myosins in muscle assemble into filaments by interactions between the C-terminal light meromyosin (LMM) subdomains of the coiled-coil rod domain. The two head domains are connected to LMM by the subfragment-2 (S2) subdomain of the rod. Our mixed kinetic model predicts that the flexibility and length of S2 that can be pulled away from the filament affects the maximum distance working heads can move a filament unimpeded by actin-attached heads. It also suggests that it should be possible to observe a head remain stationary relative to the filament backbone while bound to actin (dwell), followed immediately by a measurable jump upon detachment to regain the backbone trajectory. We tested these predictions by observing filaments moving along actin at varying ATP using TIRF microscopy. We simultaneously tracked two different color quantum dots (QDs), one attached to a regulatory light chain on the lever arm and the other attached to an LMM in the filament backbone. We identified events (dwells followed by jumps) by comparing the trajectories of the QDs. The average dwell times were consistent with known kinetics of the actomyosin system, and the distribution of the waiting time between observed events was consistent with a Poisson process and the expected ATPase rate. Geometric constraints suggest a maximum of ∼26 nm of S2 can be unzipped from the filament, presumably involving disruption in the coiled-coil S2, a result consistent with observations by others of S2 protruding from the filament in muscle. We propose that sufficient force is available from the working heads in the filament to overcome the stiffness imposed by filament-S2 interactions.


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