Production of Clostridium difficile toxin in a medium totally free of both animal and dairy proteins or digests.

In the hope of developing a vaccine against Clostridium difficile based on its toxin(s), we have developed a fermentation medium for the bacterium that results in the formation of Toxin A and contains no meat or dairy products, thus obviating the problem of possible prion diseases. Particular preparations of hydrolyzed soy proteins, especially Soy Peptone A3, have been found to replace both the meat/dairy product tryptone in the preparation of working cell banks and seed media, and NZ-Soy BL4 does the same in the fermentation medium. These replacements yield even higher toxin titers.

The role of reduced iron powder in the fermentative production of tetanus toxin.

When tetanus toxin is made by fermentation with Clostridium tetani, the traditional source of iron is an insoluble preparation called reduced iron powder. This material removes oxygen from the system by forming FeO(2) (rust). When inoculated in a newly developed medium lacking animal and dairy products and containing glucose, soy-peptone, and inorganic salts, growth and toxin production were poor without reduced iron powder.

Toxin production by an emerging strain of Clostridium difficile associated with outbreaks of severe disease in North America and Europe.

Background: Toxins A and B are the primary virulence factors of Clostridium difficile. Since 2002, an epidemic of C difficile-associated disease with increased morbidity and mortality has been present in Quebec province, Canada. We characterised the dominant strain of this epidemic to determine whether it produces higher amounts of toxins A and B than those produced by non-epidemic strains.

Effective levels of tetanus toxin can be made in a production medium totally lacking both animal (e.g., brain heart infusion) and dairy proteins or digests (e.g., casein hydrolysates).

We have developed a fermentation medium for Clostridium tetani that results in the formation of tetanus toxin and contains no meat (e.g., beef heart infusion) or dairy (e.

Carbon and nitrogen source nutrition of fumagillin biosynthesis by Aspergillus fumigatus.

The carbon and nitrogen source requirements of Aspergillus fumigatus NRRL 2436 for growth and production of the angiogenesis inhibitor fumagillin were studied in chemically defined media. Both carbon and nitrogen sources strongly influenced fumagillin formation. Two out of 29 carbon sources tested interfered with fumagillin biosynthesis.

Effects of carboxymethylcellulose and carboxypolymethylene on morphology of Aspergillus fumigatus NRRL 2346 and fumagillin production.

Aspergillus fumigatus NRRL 2346 is the producer of fumagillin, an antitumor antibiotic that inhibits angiogenesis. This strain is very difficult to grow reproducibly in shake flasks owing to an extreme form of pellet growth and extensive wall growth. The effects of carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) and carboxypolymethylene (Carbopol) on growth and fumagillin production by A.

An unexpected inhibitory effect of rapamycin against germination of spores of Bacillus brevis strain Nagano.

Rapamycin is used in medicine as an immunosuppressive agent (Sirolimus; Rapamune) although discovered as an antifungal agent. It is thought not to have antibacterial activity. Surprisingly, we found that rapamycin inhibits the germination of Bacillus brevis Nagano spores, but is inactive against Bacillus brevis Nagano vegetative cells.