The counting of surface colonies of bacteria

A colony count performed by spreading a known volume of suspension on the surface of a plate possesses certain advantages over other methods, of which the chief is ease of counting.

The distribution of counts of several samples of the same suspension on medium of the same age and batch is as expected on statistical grounds.

Different batches and ages of blood plates may give substantially the same count but this is not true for Leifson's and Wilson & Blair's media.

A diluting fluid, which is satisfactory if blood agar is the plating medium, may not necessarily be so if special media are to be used.

Vehicular exhausts: identification of further carcinogens of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon class

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The interaction of polycyclic hydrocarbons and nucleic acids

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Indophenol blue as a chromogenic agent for identification of halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons

The metachromatic dye indophenol blue [N-(p-dimethylaminophenyl)-1,4-naphthoquinoneimine] is adaptable for qualitative and quantitative measurements of halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons in paper chromatographic procedures and spot tests.

ORIGIN OF PALMITIC ACID CARBON IN PALMITATES FORMED FROM HEXADECANE-1-C-14 AND TETRADECANE-1-C-14 BY MICROCOCCUS CERIFICANS

Finnerty, W. R. (University of Iowa, Iowa City), and R. E. Kallio. Origin of palmitic acid carbon in palmitates formed from hexadecane-1-C(14) and tetradecane-1-C(14) by Micrococcus cerificans. J. Bacteriol. 87:1261-1265. 1964.-Degradation of the palmitic acid moiety of cetyl palmitate and myristyl palmitate formed from hexadecane-1-C(14) and tetradecane-1-C(14) by Micrococcus cerificans was carried out. The patterns of C(14) labeling in palmitic acid from cetyl palmitate showed that hexadecane is oxidized at the C(1) position, and cetyl alcohol and palmitic acid thus formed are directly esterified. Palmitic acid arising from tetradecane and esterified to tetradecanol appeared to have been synthesized by the addition of two carbon atoms to an existing 14-carbon atom skeleton. Considerable mixing of C(14) occurred in the C(1) and C(2) positions of palmitic acid thus synthesized.

INDUCED PROTECTION OF ADRENAL CORTEX AGAINST 7,12-DIMETHYLBENZ(ALPHA)ANTHRACENE. INFLUENCE OF ETHIONINE. INDUCTION OF MENADIONE REDUCTASE. INCORPORATION OF THYMIDINE-H3

7,12-Dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (7,12-DMBA) exerts adrenocorticolytic effects which set it apart from all other polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons and aromatic amines which have been investigated. Adrenal damage by this compound appears to be due to its steric and electronic properties together with its unusually high solubility in lipides. Many compounds given prior to 7,12-DMBA induced protection of adrenal. The most efficient inducers of protection are flat condensed aromatics possessing 4 or 5 rings; very small doses of these compounds were required to induce protection. Other compounds devoid of these properties induced protection but large or repeated doses were necessary. All inducers of protection had to be given prior to 7,12-DMBA to prevent adrenal necrosis; when given simultaneously with, or later than, this compound adrenal apoplexy resulted. Protective aromatics and 7,12-DMBA as well induced synthesis of menadione reductase in liver. 3-Methylcholanthrene (3-MC) induced this enzyme in many normal organs including liver, lung, adrenal, and in mammary cancer as well. dl-Ethionine under appropriate conditions of time and dosage eliminated the adrenal protection induced by aromatics and also delayed the induction of menadione reductase while depressing the amount of this enzyme which was synthesized. 7,12-DMBA caused a greatly reduced incorporation of tritium from thymidine-H³ into washed acid-insoluble residue of adrenal. 3-MC given in advance mitigated the drastic effect of 7,12-DMBA on DNA synthesis and increased considerably the amount of tritium which was incorporated. The specific damage to adrenal by 7,12-DMBA is a direct effect on cells. Protection of adrenal is a secondary effect which requires induction of protein synthesis and it results in improvement in synthesis of DNA.

AROMATIC-INDUCED PREVENTION OF FETAL TOXICITY OF 7,12-DIMETHYLBENZ(ALPHA)ANTHRACENE

Large doses of 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (7,12-DMBA) caused the death of rats within 1 day. A small amount of any of 5 polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons or of an aromatic amine given before the highly toxic dose of 7,12-DMBA resulted in survival for more than 2 months and the specific atrophy of testis which follows 7,12-DMBA was largely prevented. Among the protective aromatics is 7,12-DMBA itself; a small dose of 7,12-DMBA given in advance induced protection of life against an otherwise lethal dose of 7,12-DMBA but only in a proportion of the animals, and testis was not protected from injury. The highly efficient inducers of protection were condensed aromatics composed of 4 or 5 rings. Protection of life against toxicity of big doses of 7,12-DMBA by pretreatment with small doses of aromatics required time (ca. 5 to 8 hours) for its induction. Ethionine given a few minutes after a highly efficient inducer of protection, 3-methylcholanthrene (3-MC), abolished induction of protection; ethionine given 8 hours after 3-MC exerted no influence on its protective effect. A lethal dose of 7,12-DMBA resulted in a considerable reduction in incorporation of tritium in DNA from tritiated thymidine while at the same time synthesis of menadione reductase was induced in liver. A small dose of 3-MC given prior to 7,12-DMBA was advantageous in partially protecting DNA synthesis.

METHYL KETONE METABOLISM IN HYDROCARBON-UTILIZING MYCOBACTERIA

Lukins, H. B. (University of Texas, Austin) and J. W. Foster. Methyl ketone metabolism in hydrocarbon-utilizing mycobacteria. J. Bacteriol. 85: 1074-1087. 1963.-Species of Mycobacterium especially M. smegmatis 422, produced the homologous methyl ketones during the oxidation of propane, n-butane, n-pentane, or n-hexane. A carrier-trapping experiment demonstrated the formation of 2-undecanone, as well as 1,11-undecanedioic acid, during the oxidation of undecane-1-C(14). Aliphatic alkane-utilizing mycobacteria were able to grow at the expense of several aliphatic methyl ketones as sole sources of carbon. Other ketones which did not support growth were oxidized by resting bacterial suspensions. M. smegmatis 422 cells grown on propane or acetone were simultaneously adapted to oxidize both substrates, as well as n-propanol. n-Propanol cells were unadapted to propane or acetone. Acetone produced from propane in a medium enriched in D(2)O contained a negligible quantity of D, presumably eliminating propylene as an intermediate in the oxidation. Cells grown at the expense of alkanes or methyl ketones in the presence of O(2) (18) had a higher content of O(18) than did cells grown on terminally oxidized compounds, e.g., primary alcohols or fatty acids. An oxygenase reaction is postulated for the attack on methyl ketones. Acetol was isolated and characterized as an oxidation product of acetone by M. smegmatis 422. Acetol-grown cells had a higher O(18) content than did n-propanol cells, and its utilization appears to involve at least one oxygenase reaction. Acetol produced from acetone in the presence of O(2) (18) was not enriched in the isotope, indicating the occurrence of exchange reactions or of oxygenation reactions at a later stage in the assimilation of acetone and acetol.

MICROBIAL INCORPORATION OF FATTY ACIDS DERIVED FROM N-ALKANES INTO GLYCERIDES AND WAXES

When n-alkanes with 13 to 20 carbon atoms were fed to a Nocardia closely related to N. salmonicolor, the produced cellular triglycerides and aliphatic waxes invariably contained fatty acids with an even or an odd number of carbon atoms subject to this feature of the n-alkane substrate. Beta-oxidation and C(2) addition are both operative, as evidenced by the spectra of fatty acids incorporated into the cellular lipid components. There is no distinction in the rate of microbial incorporation of the odd-or even-numbered carbon chains. The fatty acids are apparently directly derived from the long chain n-alkanes, rather than synthesized via the classic C(2)-condensation route. The alcohol component of waxes produced by the Nocardia is invariably of the same chain length as the n-alkane substrate.

CARCINOGENIC ACTION OF MOTOR ENGINE OIL ADDITIVES

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DITERMINAL OXIDATION OF LONG-CHAIN ALKANES BY BACTERIA

Kester, A. S. (The University of Texas, Austin) and J. W. Foster. Diterminal oxidation of long-chain alkanes by bacteria. J. Bacteriol. 85:859-869. 1963.-A corynebacterial organism capable of growing in mineral salts with individual pure alkanes as carbon sources produces a series of acids from the C(10)-C(14) alkanes. They have been isolated in pure form and identified as monoic, omega-hydroxy monoic, and dioic acids containing the same number of carbon atoms as the substrate alkane. Oxidation took place at both terminal methyl groups-"diterminal oxidation." Appropriate labeling experiments indicate that omega oxidation of fatty acids occurs in this organism and that an oxygenation with O(2) occurs.

FUSARIUM GROWTH SUPPORTED BY HYDROCARBONS

In studies of the microflora associated with fuel storage tanks, a Fusarium species was isolated from No. 1 diesel fuel. The culture was identified as F. moniliforme Sheldon. Attempts were made to cultivate this organism with seven hydrocarbons of 99(+) mole per cent purity as the sole carbon source; growth of the fungal culture was supported only by n-decane and n-dodecane. A spore viability study of F. moniliforme in filter-sterilized diesel fuel with no free water showed that viability was retained for 9 months in this environment.