Application of the Mixture Design to Design the Formulation of Pure Cultures in Tibetan kefir

To obtain the optimization formulation of pure cultures in Tibetan kefir, the influence of the different mixtures of five strains in the pure cultures in Tibetan kefir on the flavor components in fermented milk was studied using the mixture design. The regression model on microorganism composition and main metabolites was established. The results suggested that the predictable production of lactate reached the maximum of 8.16 g L-1, while the most predictable production of diacetyl, ethanol, and CO2 were 77.23 mg L-1, 4259 mg L-1, and 2.12 g L-1, respectively. Based on these, the response values that satisfied all expectations were optimized, and the most excellent combination was Lactococcus lactis 27%, Leuconostoc mesenteroides 37%, Lactobacillus kefiri 11%, Lactobacillus casei 10%, and Kluyveromyces rnarxianus 15%. With the aid of analysis software （Design-expert 6.0.5）, the formulation of pure cultures in Tibetan kefir can be optimized for several responses and the best formulation can be obtained.

Genomic analysis of a pure culture of magnetotactic bacterium Terasakiella sp.SH-1

Magnetotactic bacteria(MTB)display magnetotaxis ability because of biomineralization of intracellular nanometer-sized,membrane-bound organelles termed magnetosomes.Despite having been discovered more than half a century,only a few representatives of MTB have been isolated and cultured in the laboratory.In this study,we report the genomic characterization of a novel marine magnetotactic spirillum strain SH-1 belonging to the genus Terasakiella that was recently isolated.A gene encoding haloalkane dehalogenase,which is involved in the degradation of chlorocyclohexane,chlorobenzene,chloroalkane,and chloroalkene,was identified.SH-1 genome contained cysCHI and soxBAZYX genes,thus potentially capable of assimilatory sulfate reduction to H_(2)S and using thiosulfate as electron donors and oxidizing it to sulfate.Genome of SH-1 also contained genes encoding periplasmic dissimilatory nitrate reductases(napAB),assimilatory nitrate reductase(nasA)and assimilatory nitrite reductases(nasB),suggesting that it is capable of gaining energy by converting nitrate to ammonia.The pure culture of Terasakiella sp.SH-1 together with its genomic results off ers new opportunities to examine biology,physiology,and biomineralization mechanisms of MTB.

Aerobic granulation of pure bacterial strain Bacillus thuringiensis

The objective of this study is to cultivate aerobic granules by pure bacterial strain,Bacillus thuringiensis,in a sequencing batch reactor.Stable granules sized 2.0–2.2 mm were formed in the reactor after a five-week cultivation.These granules exhibited excellent settling attributes,and degraded phenol at rates of 1.49 and 1.19 g phenol/(g VSS·d)at 250 and 1500 mg/L of phenol concentration,respectively.Confocal laser scanning microscopic test results show that Bacillus thuringiensis was distributed over the initial small aggregates,and the outer edge of the granule was away from the core regime in the following stage.

Surface properties of bacteria from activated sludge in relation to bioflocculation

Two bacterial stains were isolated from the activated sludge and identified as Leucobacter sp. and Alcaligenesfaecalis by 16S rDNA sequencing. Pure cultures of these two strains, representing well or poorly settled bacteria, were used to investigate the mechanism of bioflocculation in activated sludge. Based on the analyses of the characteristics of cells hydrophobicity, ζ-potential, flocculation ability and extracellular polymeric substance （EPS） composition under different growth stages, it was found that the ratio of cell EPS protein had the highly influence on ζ-potential and hydrophobicity, which were important factors to bioflocculation. Cellulase and Proteinase K could destroy the extracellular biopolymer and resulted in a decrease in the hydrophobicity and ζ-potential. However, in our study, the flocculation characteristics exhibited differently in relation to cellulase and Proteinase K. Flocculation of cells treated with cellulase and Proteinase K decreased sharply, and then recovered quickly in cellulase treatment, while cells treated with Proteinase K showed no sign of recovery. This reveals that the presence of protein in extracellular biopolymer plays an important role to the bioflocculation of cells.

Fungal diversity in major oil-shale mines in China

As an insufficiently utilized energy resource,oil shale is conducive to the formation of characteristic microbial communities due to its special geological origins.However,little is known about fungal diversity in oil shale.Polymerase chain reaction cloning was used to construct the fungal ribosomal deoxyribonucleic acid internal transcribed spacer（r DNA ITS）clone libraries of Huadian Mine in Jilin Province,Maoming Mine in Guangdong Province,and Fushun Mine in Liaoning Province.Pure culture and molecular identification were applied for the isolation of cultivable fungi in fresh oil shale of each mine.Results of clone libraries indicated that each mine had over 50% Ascomycota（58.4%–98.9%）and 1.1%–13.5%unidentified fungi.Fushun Mine and Huadian Mine had 5.9% and 28.1% Basidiomycota,respectively.Huadian Mine showed the highest fungal diversity,followed by Fushun Mine and Maoming Mine.Jaccard indexes showed that the similarities between any two of three fungal communities at the genus level were very low,indicating that fungi in each mine developed independently during the long geological adaptation and formed a community composition fitting the environment.In the fresh oil-shale samples of the three mines,cultivable fungal phyla were consistent with the results of clone libraries.Fifteen genera and several unidentified fungi were identified as Ascomycota and Basidiomycota using pure culture.Penicillium was the only genus found in all three mines.These findings contributed to gaining a clear understanding of current fungal resources in major oil-shale mines in China and provided useful information for relevant studies on isolation of indigenous fungi carrying functional genes from oil shale.