Improved filtration technique for concentrating and harvesting bacteria.

An improved technique is described for the filtrative concentration and harvesting of bacterial cultures. A pleated tangential flow filtration unit containing 1,000 cm of 0.2-mum-pore-size microporous membrane was used to rapidly (30 to 50 min) reduce the volume of 5 liters of bacterial culture of approximately 10 cells per ml to 0.

Interaction of purple membrane with solvents. I. Applicability of solubility parameter mapping.

We carried out spectral studies on the interaction between purple membrane fragments (isolated from Halobacterium halobium) and a series of different solvents, classified quantitatively according to their solubility parameters delta d, delta p, delta h. These represent the contribution of dispersion forces, polar forces, and hydrogen bonding, respectively, to the cohesive energy density of the solvent. Purple membrane fragments, kept in the dark, were suspended in each of the solvents as well as in binary mixtures of solvents, and the spectrum of the resulting suspension was recorded in the wavelength region 250-700 nm.