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1

Bacteriophage contamination: is there a simple method to reduce its deleterious effects in laboratory cultures and biotechnological factories?

100%

Los M., Czyz A., Sell E., Wegrzyn A., Neubauer P., Wegrzyn G.

Journal of Applied Genetics

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2004

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vol. 45

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issue 1

111-120

EN

Infection of bacterial cultures by bacteriophages as well as prophage induction in the host cells are serious problems in both research and biotechnological laboratories. Generally, prevention strategies (like good laboratory/factory hygiene, sterilisation, decontamination and disinfection) are necessary to avoid bacteriophage contamination. However, it is well known that no matter how good the laboratory/factory practice and hygiene are, bacteriophage infections occur from time to time. The use of immunised or resistant bacterial strains against specific phages may be helpful, but properties of the genetically modified strains resistant to phages are often worse (from the point of view of a researcher or a biotechnological company) than those of the parental, phage-sensitive strains. In this article we review recent results that may provide a simple way to minimise deleterious effects of bacteriophage infection and prophage induction. It appears that low bacterial growth rates result in a significant inhibition of lytic development of various bacteriophages. Moreover, spontaneous prophage induction is less frequent in slowly growing bacteria.

2

Modern approaches to the elimination of contaminants in micropropagation

100%

Zenkteler E. Z.

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issue 1

149-166

EN

For efficient in vitro multiplication of plants, every step of micropropagation should be taken care at in order to prevent contamination. Indexation of stock plants, explants and cultures for contaminants is based on a series of morphological, physiological and biochemical tests, which can be supplemented with modern methods. To ensure that the material is free from the major pathogens, rapid, sensitive and specific diagnostic methods are required. The identification methods used for diagnosis and detection of plant tissue contaminants are based on two main strategies: 1) for identification of new species of contaminants it is recommended to use: - serological tests, nutritional kits, tests incorporating chemotaxonomic markers (based on proteins and fatty acids) - a comparison of phenotypic or genetic profiles including those based on restriction or amplification of fragment length polymorphism of DNA 2) for classification of new species it is recommended to use: - reagents (as antisera, nucleic acids probes, oligonucleotide primers) for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) - general methods of comparison of the test strain with a reference strain. Antibiotics or fungistatics should be applied in tissue culture to eliminate identified contaminants. Treatment of index-negative explants with combinations of antibiotics is the most effective method to eliminate contaminents from plant tissue culture. Because of high costs of treatment and their phytotoxicity, antibiotics should only be used against identified contaminants from valuable mother plants.

3

ATP measurement as a rapid test of microbiological contamination

100%

Czaczyk K.

Biotechnologia

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1999

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issue 4

179-185

EN

Bioluminescent measurement of ATP using luciferin/luciferase system is a very sensitive, specific, rapid, and convenient method in microbiology. The use of this method to quantitate viable microbial cells requires the use of various validation procedures and safeguards, depending on the specific application. Most industrial applications of bioluminescent ATP measurement involve detection and quantitation of microbial contamination in a particular product, such as the rapid identification of a critical level of contamination in output material. Cloning of the firefly luciferase gene lux promises to be a much more efficient, consistent and inexpensive source of recombinat enzyme. With the realization of this potential and the marketing of automated luminometers that will undoubtedly be improved greatly in terms of throughput capacity, bioluminescent ATP measurement is becoming the method of choise for large-scale monitoring of viable microbial biomass.

4

Evaluation of phytotoxic effect of wastewater contaminated with anionic surfactants

88%

Liwarska-Bizukojc E., Urbaniak M.

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2007

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issue 1

203-214

EN

Among anionic surfactants, two of the major groups in current use are linear alkylbenzene sulphonates and alkyl ether sulphates. They pass into the wastewater treatment plants, where they are usually aerobically degraded, and next their remnants and biodegradation products enter the environment. The influence of wastewater containing the anionic surfactants at concentrations from 0.5 to 58 mg L-1 on seed germination was investigated. The tested wastewater came from the lab-scale biodegradation experiments conducted in the continuous flow system. Four different plants: mustard (Sinapsis alba), cress (Lepidium sativum), rye (Secale cereale) and wheat (Triticum aestivum) were employed in the tests. In order to evaluate the inhibition of seed germination, the germination index was calculated. It occurred that sodium alkylbenzene sulphonate inhibited seed germination of the rapidly growing plants (mustard and cress), starting with 10 mg L-1 in the effluent, while sodium alkyltrioxyethylene sulphate exerted the toxic effect at the concentrations above 30 mg L-1 for all tested plants. Mustard (Sinapsis alba) was most sensitive to the anionic surfactants exposure and could be used as a bioindicator within the phytotoxicity tests concerning anionics.

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1 Zenkteler E. Z.

Bacteriophage contamination: is there a simple method to reduce its deleterious effects in laboratory cultures and biotechnological factories?

Modern approaches to the elimination of contaminants in micropropagation

ATP measurement as a rapid test of microbiological contamination

Evaluation of phytotoxic effect of wastewater contaminated with anionic surfactants