Identification and Characterization of Human Breast Milk and Infant Fecal Cultivable Lactobacilli Isolated in Bulgaria: A Pilot Study.

During the last few decades, the main focus of numerous studies has been on the human breast milk microbiota and its influence on the infant intestinal microbiota and overall health. The presence of lactic acid bacteria in breast milk affects both the quantitative and qualitative composition of the infant gut microbiota. The aim of this study was to assess the most frequently detected cultivable rod-shaped lactobacilli, specific for breast milk of healthy Bulgarian women and fecal samples of their infants over the first month of life, in 14 mother-infant tandem pairs.

Is the First Genetically Proved Anatoxin A Producer in Bulgarian Lakes and Reservoirs.

The paper presents the first proof of planktonic cyanoprokaryote genus as an anatoxin A (ATX) producer in Bulgarian wetlands. The results from polymerase chain reaction (PCR) obtained from two summer sampling campaigns in 26 selected lakes and reservoirs demonstrated presence of the gene, responsible for ATX production in 21 strains of the genus. They were found in three waterbodies sampled in 2018 (coastal lake Vaya, coastal reservoir Poroy, inland reservoir Sinyata Reka) and in four waterbodies sampled in 2019 (inland reservoirs Duvanli, Koprinka, Plachidol 2, Sinyata Reka).

First Report on as a Potential Microviridin Producer in Bulgarian Waterbodies.

Bulgaria, situated on the Balkan Peninsula, is rich in small and shallow, natural and man-made non-lotic waterbodies, which are threatened by blooms of Cyanoprokaryota/Cyanobacteria. Although cyanotoxins in Bulgarian surface waters are receiving increased attention, there is no information on microviridins and their producers. This paper presents results from a phytoplankton study, conducted in August 2019 in three lakes (Durankulak, Vaya, Uzungeren) and five reservoirs (Duvanli, Mandra, Poroy, Sinyata Reka, Zhrebchevo) in which a molecular-genetic analysis (PCR based on the precursor gene and subsequent translation to amino acid alignments), combined with conventional light microscopy and an HPLC analysis of marker pigments, were applied for the identification of potential microviridin producers.

Morphological and Molecular Identification of Microcystin-Producing Cyanobacteria in Nine Shallow Bulgarian Water Bodies.

The paper presents results from the first application of polyphasic approach in studies of field samples from Bulgaria. This approach, which combined the conventional light microscopy (LM) and molecular-genetic methods (based on PCR amplified fragments of microcystin synthetase gene ), revealed that almost all microcystin-producers in the studied eutrophic waterbodies belong to the genus . During the molecular identification of toxin-producing strains by use of HEPF × HEPR pair of primers, we obtained 57 sequences, 56 of which formed 28 strains of spread in six clusters of the phylogenetic tree.

Archaeal and bacterial diversity in two hot springs from geothermal regions in Bulgaria as demostrated by 16S rRNA and GH-57 genes.

Archaeal and bacterial diversity in two Bulgarian hot springs, geographically separated with different tectonic origin and different temperature of water was investigated exploring two genes, 16S rRNA and GH-57. Archaeal diversity was significantly higher in the hotter spring Levunovo (LV) (82°C); on the contrary, bacterial diversity was higher in the spring Vetren Dol (VD) (68°C). The analyzed clones from LV library were referred to twenty eight different sequence types belonging to five archaeal groups from Crenarchaeota and Euryarchaeota.

Phenotypic diversity of Erwinia amylovora in Bulgaria.

Fifty-one strains of Erwinia amylovora isolated from nine host plants in Bulgaria were characterized phenotypically and identified by the API 20E and BIOLOG system. The identification was confirmed by PCR amplification of a specific region of the plasmid pEA29 and the genome ams region. The phenotypic diversity of the strains was studied on the basis of their API 20E and BIOLOG metabolic profiles, as well as of their SDS-PAGE protein profile.