RSS Feed Microbiology

Authors: Xiao Z, Xu P Acetoin is an important physiological metabolite excreted by many microorganisms. The excretion of acetoin, which can be diagnosed by the Voges Proskauer test and serves as a microbial classification marker, has its vital physiological meanings to these microbes mainly including avoiding acification, participating in the regulation of NAD/NADH ratio, and storaging carbon. The well-known anabolism of acetoin involves alpha-acetolactat synthase and alpha-acetolactate decarboxylase; yet its catabolism still contains some differing views, although much attention has been focused on it and great advances have been achieved. Current findings in catabolite control protein A (CcpA) mediated carbon catabolite repression may provide a fuller understanding of the control mec...

Authors: Cai S, Singh BR, Sharma S Botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT), which cause the deadly neuroparalytic disease, botulism, is the most toxic substance known to man. BoNT can be used as potential bioterrorism agents, and therefore, pose great threat to national security and public health. Rapid and sensitive detection of BoNTs using molecular and biochemical techniques is an essential component in the diagnosis of botulism, and is yet to be achieved. The most sensitive and widely accepted assay method for BoNTs is mouse bioassay, which takes 4 days to complete. This clearly can not meet the need for clinical diagnosis of botulism, botulinum detection in field conditions, and screening of large scale samples. Consequently, the clinical diagnosis of botulism relies on the clinical symptom d...

Authors: Cervenka L Arcobacter spp. has been isolated from food of animal origin (particularly meats) and from various kind of water. Despite its phylogenetically related neighbor Campylobacter, Arcobacter is regarded as an emerging foodborne pathogen. Since Arcobacter differs in its phenotypic characteristics, the physical and chemical treatments designed for elimination of campylobacters from food and environment needs to be verified. This review focuses on the occurrence, and mainly on susceptibility to various physical and chemical treatments for inactivation of Arcobacter spp. The existing studies have been critically discussed and new challenges were proposed for further studies. PMID: 17558659 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] (Source: Critical Reviews in Microbiology)