Isolation, identification, and characterization of phosphate solubilizing bacteria, Paenibacillus sp., from the soil of Danum Valley Tropical Rainforest, Sabah, Malaysia

While phosphorus (P) is a vital element for the plant to grow, only 0.1% of the phosphate soil is directly to be uptake by plants. Consequently, P fertilizer, which is mostly taken from unrenewable resources of phosphate rock, is practically added into the croplands. Nevertheless, as the demand for this fertilizer kept increasing, the availability of resources and environmental issues are currently raising wide concerns. Alternatively, soil phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) is promising to be further developed as a biofertilizer to increase the availability of P elements for plants. This study aims to screen and characterize novel PSB from the tropical rainforest soil. The soil samples were collected from the Danum Valley tropical rainforest, Sabah. Phosphatase solubilizing bacteria were then screened using the NBRIP Agar selective media. The screening results yielded five colonies, designated as PSB1, PSB2, PSB3, PSB4, and PSB5, displaying halos, with an average diameter of 10mm. Further, 16s rRNA gene sequence analysis using BLASTn suggested that PSB1, PSB2, PSB3, PSB4, and PSB5 were designated as Bacillus sp. PSB01, Pseudomonas oryzyhabitans PSB02, Staphylococcus pasteuri PSB03, Paenibacillus sp. PSB04, and Staphylococcus pasteuri PSB05, respectively. Interestingly, the Paenibacillus group is a promising biofertilizer and is currently used in the global agriculture industry. Accordingly, Paenibacillus sp. PSB04 was then selected for further characterization using Gram staining and observed under scanning electron microscope (SEM). The Gram staining revealed that Paenibacillus sp. PSB04 is a Gram-negative bacterium with a rod shape, which is in good agreement with the SEM result. The specific phosphatase activity of the extracellular fraction of this bacterium was 7378.12 U mg-1 which is the highest activity compared to previous studies. This study provides an early insight into an excellent phosphate solubilizing bacterium for the agriculture industry obtained from Danum Valley.

Characterisation of Pigment Producing Bacteria Isolated from Bio Floc Ponds and Its Colour Enhancement Effect in Xiphophorus helleri

Background: Biofloc technology is a minimal or zero water exchange technology which exerts beneficial effects on water quality, improves feed conversion ratio by recycling microbial protein in the culture of commercially important finfishes and shellfishes. This culture technique also improves the pigmentation in the ornamental fish culture. The presence of pigment producing bacteria and the absorption of the pigments by the ornamental fishes under biofloc technology would pave a long way to boost the production and export market of the high value fishes. Therefore, the present study evaluated the use of bacterial pigments isolated from the biofloc culture in the diets of Swordtail ornamental fish for its colouration and pigment absorption ability.Methods: A 30 days trial was conducted to evaluate the colour enhancement in swordtail through the supplementation of pigment produced from the bacteria in their diets. Swordtail fishes (1.2 ± 0.01g) were stocked in 100 litres tanks (20nos / tank) in triplicates. Fish fed with normal diet served as control and diet supplemented with pigment (50mg/kg) isolated from the bacteria Exiguobacterium profundum (T1), Chryseobacterium joostei (T2), Staphylococcus pasteuri (T3), Staphylococcus arlettae (T4) served as treatments. The characteristic features of the pigments isolated from the four different bacteria were checked and showed enhanced antibacterial, total antioxidant activity and the reductive ability.Result: Significant difference was observed in water quality parameters except temperature between the experimental groups. Growth parameters showed significant difference between control and treatment. Highest carotenoid concentration was found in fishes fed with pigments extracted from Staphylococcus pasteuri compared to other experimental groups. The present study proved the incorporation of bacterial pigments in the diets of Swordtail enhanced the total carotenoid concentration.

Staphylococcus Pasteuri (BCVME2) Resident In Buffalo Cervical Vaginal Mucus (CVM) - A Potential Source of Estrus-Specific Sex Pheromone(s)

There are microbes resident in the reproductive tract, some of which could be pathogenic while a few others would, perhaps, play important roles in protecting the reproductive tract from infections. Volatile compounds are known to play role as sex pheromones that attract the males for coitus during estrus or heat. It is likely that these compounds themselves are secondary metabolites of the bacterial flora resident in the vagina. In order to substantiate this hypothesis, bacteria were isolated from cervico-vaginal mucus (CVM) of buffalo during various phases of the oestrous cycle and identified, based on morphological, biochemical and molecular characteristics, as Bacillus during preestrus as well as diestrus, and Staphylococcus during all phases of the oestrous cycle. But, the populations of Staphylococcus differed between different phases of the oestrous cycle, the predominant forms being S. warneri (BCVMPE1_1) during preestrus, S. pastueri (BCVME2) during oestrus and S. epidermis (BCVMDE3) during diestrus. Mice, when used as sensors, efficiently differentiated the oestrus-specific S. pastueri (BCVME2) from the others. HS-GC-MS analysis showed that S. pastueri (BCVME2) produces key volatile compounds viz., acetic, propanoic, isobutyric, butyric, isovaleric and valeric acids. In addition, it is evidenced that S. pasteuri (BCVME2) volatiles influence the sexual behaviours such as flehmen and mounting of the bull. Thus, the paper reports that S. pasteuri (BCVME2) is the potential source of vaginal pheromone(s) during oestrus in buffalo.

The effectiveness of application of phosphorous and potassium solubilizing multifunctional microbes (Aspergillus costaricaensis and Staphylococcus pasteuri mutants) on maize growth

The use of phosphorus and potassium-solubilizing microbes as biofertilizers is an alternative method to increase the availability of phosphorus and potassium in soils. This study aimed to explore the effectiveness of phosphorus (P) and potassium (K)-solubilizing multifunctional microbes (Aspergillus costaricaensis and Staphylococcus pasteuri mutants) on maize growth. The stages of this study consisted of viability test of P and K solubilizing A. costaricaensis and S. pasteuri mutants in peat and effectiveness test of P and K solubilizing A. costaricaensis and S. pasteuri mutants on maize growth. The results showed that peat carriers could keep the fungi population stable until 18 weeks of storage times. While the bacteria at 6 and 8 weeks storage times showed a slight decrease and stable in the 10 to 12 weeks storage time. The addition of P and K-solubilizing multifunctional microbes could reduce the use of fertilizer up to 50% in the treatment with a combination of easily soluble P or K sources with not-easily soluble P or K sources, as well as a combination of treatments of not-easily soluble P and K sources. This tended to occur in the treatment with the addition of A. costaricaensis mutant.

An unusual case of Staphylococcus pasteuri osteomyelitis

Staphylococcus pasteuri is a gram-positive organism found in food products as well as naturally occurring in air and on surfaces. We present the first known case of Staphylococcus pasteuri osteomyelitis caused by machine injection injury. The patient was treated with emergent surgical debridement as well as doxycycline for a soft tissue infection. Despite targeted therapy, the infection progressed to osteomyelitis and was treated successfully with additional surgical debridement and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. There is sparse information on both infections and treatment of Staphylococcus pasteuri. We present our case report as well as a review of the literature on the epidemiology, susceptibility and treatment recommendations for Staphylococcus pasteuri infections.