[Heterogeneity of Rhodococcus opacus 1CP as a response to stress induced by chlorophenols].

Dissociation of Rhodococcus opacus 1CP during culturing in different media (containing phenol and its monochlorinated derivatives as the sole source of carbon and energy) was studied. Three variants of strain 1CP (S1, S2, and R) differing in the morphology of cells and colonies, lipid composition, and manner of growth on phenol and monochlorophenols were isolated. It was shown that 2- and 4-chlorophenols were most actively degraded by the smooth (S) forms of the culture, and that the rough (R) form predominated when the culture was grown in a rich medium.

[The microbial transformation of phenanthrene and anthracene].

The transformation of phenanthrene and anthracene by Rhodococcus rhodnii 135, Pseudomonas fluorescens 26K, and Arthrobacter sp. K3 is studied. Twenty-one intermediates of phenanthrene and anthracene transformation are identified by HPLC, mass spectrometry, and NMR spectroscopy.

[Fluorene degradation by bacteria of the genus Rhodococcus].

Of the four investigated Rhodococcus strains (R. rhodochrous 172, R. opacus 4a and 557, and R.

[Bacterial cold shock response at the level of DNA transcription, translation and chromosome dynamics].

The review is an attempt to analyze the data available in the literature concerning the response of mesophilic bacteria to cold shock at the level of DNA transcription, translation, and chromosome dynamics, i.e., in terms of cell biology.

[Aspects of cellular biology of the bacterial stationary phase: programmed cell death and regulation by guanosine tetraphosphate].

The paper discusses (1) programmed cell death, the phenomenon typical of the stationary phase of bacteria occurring under unfavorable conditions, (2) its pleiotropic regulation by guanosine tetraphosphate, and (3) the conception of "addiction module," a specific genetic system responsible for the cell choice between survival and death under unfavorable conditions. The shortcomings of the proposed interpretation of the problem at hand are considered and the necessity of their further investigation is substantiated.

[The mechanism of formation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm, a type of structured population].

The paper is an attempt to analyze and generalize molecular and cell biology data on the formation of polysaccharide matrix--based biofilms. The conception of biofilms as structured populations sharing the characteristics of uni- and multicellular organisms and population is proposed.

Reductive deamination as a new step in the anaerobic microbial degradation of halogenated anilines.

In this paper we report the isolation and characterization of an anaerobic enrichment culture as well as of a Rhodococcus sp. strain 2 capable of degrading 3,4-dihaloanilines under nitrate reducing conditions. Using mass spectrometry several of the intermediates formed in the process of 3,4-dichloroaniline conversion were identified.

Purification and properties of p-hydroxybenzoate hydroxylases from Rhodococcus strains.

Gram-positive bacteria of the genus Rhodococcus catabolize p-hydroxybenzoate (PHB) through the initial formation of 3,4-dihydroxybenzoate. High levels of p-hydroxybenzoate hydroxylase (PHBH) activity are induced in six different Rhodococcus species when these strains are grown on PHB as sole carbon source. The PHBH enzymes were purified to apparent homogeneity and appeared to be homodimers of about 95 kD with each subunit containing a relatively weakly bound FAD.

[Ecological strategy of bacteria: specific nature of the problem].

An attempt is made to sum up the results of the many years of using the conception of ecological strategy in bacterial ecology. Taking into account the specificities of microorganisms and their natural selection and the coevolution of microorganisms within evolving microbial communities, an inference is derived that the ecological strategy of most bacteria is the sum of a number of particular canonical strategies, some of which are common to higher organisms. It is proposed to term these particular strategies ecological tactics.

[Dependence of transformation of chlorophenols by Rhodococci on position and number of chlorine atoms in the aromatic ring].

Study of the conversion of chlorophenols by Rhodococcus opacus 1G, R. rhodnii 135, R. rhodochrous 89, and R.

[General and molecular ecology of Legionella].

The review is devoted to the general and molecular ecology of bacteria of the genus Legionella in natural and anthropogenic environments. Invasion of amoebae and infusoria by legionellae and their replication in these protozoa can be considered to be a pre-adaptation for invasion of the human immune system. Symbiosis of bacteria and protozoa as a promising model of cellular microbiology and the conception of bacterial ecological niches are discussed in relation to the low fidelity of most bacterial species to their habitats (biotopes).

Identification of fluoropyrogallols as new intermediates in biotransformation of monofluorophenols in Rhodococcus opacus 1cp.

The transformation of monofluorophenols by whole cells of Rhodococcus opacus 1cp was investigated, with special emphasis on the nature of hydroxylated intermediates formed. Thin-layer chromatography, mass spectrum analysis, and (19)F nuclear magnetic resonance demonstrated the formation of fluorocatechol and trihydroxyfluorobenzene derivatives from each of three monofluorophenols. The (19)F chemical shifts and proton-coupled splitting patterns of the fluorine resonances of the trihydroxyfluorobenzene products established that the trihydroxylated aromatic metabolites contained hydroxyl substituents on three adjacent carbon atoms.

[Physiology of microbial cell and metabolic engineering].

This review is devoted to the problems of the physiology and cell biology of microorganisms in relation to metabolic engineering. The latter is considered as a branch of fundamental and applied biotechnology aimed at controlling microbial metabolism by methods of genetic engineering and classical genetics and based on intimate knowledge of cell metabolism. Attention is also given to the problems associated with the metabolic limitation of microbial biosyntheses, analysis and control of metabolic fluxes, rigidity of metabolic pathways, the role of pleiotropic (global) regulatory systems in the control of metabolic fluxes, and prospects of physiological and evolutionary approaches in metabolic engineering.

[Introduction to the biology of the bacterial stationary phase: mechanism of general response to stress].

This review is devoted to the biology of stationary-phase bacteria, occurring in a specific physiological state at which they arrive in the process of complex response to various kinds of stresses accompanying the retardation and cessation of growth and reproduction. A general account of the problem is presented. Special emphasis is placed on one of the metabolic mechanisms involved in the formation of the physiological state of stationary-phase bacteria and performing primarily protective functions (the so-called general response of cells to stresses).

Preferential oxidative dehalogenation upon conversion of 2-halophenols by Rhodococcus opacus 1G.

The regiospecificity of hydroxylation of C2-halogenated phenols by Rhodococcus opacus 1G was investigated. Oxidative defluorination at the C2 position ortho with respect to the hydroxyl moiety was preferred over hydroxylation at the non-fluorinated C6 position for all 2-fluorophenol compounds studied. Initial hydroxylation of 2,3, 5-trichlorophenol resulted in the exclusive formation of 3, 5-dichlorocatechol.

Isolation and characterization of catechol 1,2-dioxygenases from Rhodococcus rhodnii strain 135 and Rhodococcus rhodochrous strain 89: comparison with analogous enzymes of the ordinary and modified ortho-cleavage pathways.

Catechol 1,2-dioxygenases of the ordinary ortho-cleavage pathway have been isolated from strains Rhodococcus rhodnii 135 and Rhodococcus rhodochrous 89 grown on phenol as the sole source of carbon and energy. The activities of the catechol 1,2-dioxygenases with 3- and 4-methylpyrocatechols were 1.3-1.

19F NMR study on the biodegradation of fluorophenols by various Rhodococcus species.

Of all NMR observable isotopes 19F is the one perhaps most convenient for studies on biodegradation of environmental pollutants. The reasons underlying this potential of 19F NMR are discussed and illustrated on the basis of a study on the biodegradation of fluorophenols by four Rhodococcus strains. The results indicate marked differences between the biodegradation pathways of fluorophenols among the various Rhodococcus species.

[Old problems of new bacterial systematics].

This review analyzes the situation that arose after the existence of adaptive mutations had been proven. Manifold acceleration of the mutation process and intragenome rearrangements in nondividing cells demonstrates the inapplicability of the theory of neutral evolution to bacteria, the lack of isochronism between the evolution of individual macromolecules and the organism as a whole, and thus, the invalidity of using rRNA homologies as markers of the position of the organism in the phylogenetic tree and in the taxonomic system.

[Metastable phenotype of bacteria].

This review analyzes data available in the literature and the author's own data on the phenotypic variability of bacteria that occurs within the framework of a genotype unchanging in terms of the genetic information stored. This variability is a form of bacterial adaptation to an unstable environment and results from a specific form of natural selection. This phenomenon arose evolutionarily not as a mechanism to provide genetic diversity for the divergence process but as a mechanism of species stabilization; therefore, it was termed phenotype metastability.

[Kinetics of Pseudomonas fluorescens growth under different conditions of culturing].

The dynamics of Pseudomonas fluorescens VKM-1472 growth was studied under the conditions of batch and continuous cultivation, and the behaviour of the organism was investigated upon nutrition shifts and starvation. At D greater than 0.375 h-1, just as in the batch culture with a substrate excess, the strain realised excessive metabolism [15]: the yield in terms of the substrate fell down (38% for the batch culture and 40% for the continuous culture), the titre of viable cells decreased to a considerable extent, and maintenance expenditures increased (3 times for qgluc and 7.

[Mechanism of growth limitations in a recombinant strain of Escherichia coli].

A recombinant Escherichia coli strain with the cloned gene of restriction endonuclease EcoR-V was studied. The diauxic growth of this strain under batch conditions, the composition of excreted products and the hyperbolic shape of the chemostat growth curve has made it possible to formulate the following hypothesis. At a high flow rate, one of the first reactions in the tricarboxylic acid cycle or a reaction directly preceding the cycle is a limiting step in the metabolism of E.

[Physiology of the growth and supersynthesis of DNA-polymerase in Escherichia coli during 2-stage continuous cultivation].

The physiology of growth under the conditions of batch and continuous cultivation was studied with the recombinant strain of Escherichia coli CM 5199 capable of DNA polymerase I superproduction. The specific growth rate of the strain is 0.8 h-1 under the conditions of continuous cultivation which is almost 2.

[Metabolic limitation of DNA-polymerase I synthesis by Escherichia coli strain CM5199].

The work was aimed at studying DNA polymerase I synthesis after induction of the vector prophage lambda polA (NM 964) in lysogenic Escherichia coli CM 5199 in the course of batch cultivation in different media and at various growth phases as well as upon "nutrient shifts" caused by adding organic compounds to the minimal medium. The enzyme activity was highest when the phage was induced at the exponential phase of growth and in media richer in their composition. The enzyme synthesis, the dynamics of protein and RNA content were studied after induction of the phage and enrichment of the medium; the studies have shown that synthesis of DNA polymerase I is influenced by limitation at two levels: (1) biosynthesis of amino acids and (2) biosynthesis of components of the protein-synthesizing apparatus.

[Fractionation of the cellulase complex of the fungus Aspergillus terreus].

A procedure for isolating a complex of extracellular cellulases from the Aspergillus terreus culture liquid using SP-Sephadex C-50 has been developed. Enzymatically and electrophoretically homogeneous preparations of cellobiase I and cellobiase II have been obtained. By means of gel-filtration their molecular weights have been estimated to be 140,000 and 67,000.