Cultivable Methylobacterium species diversity in rice seeds identified with whole-cell matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometric analysis.

Methylobacterium species are methylotrophic bacteria that widely inhabit plant surfaces. In addition to studies on methylotrophs as model organisms, research has also been conducted on their mechanism of plant growth promotion as well as the species-species specificity of plant-microbe interaction. We employed whole-cell matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry (WC-MS) analysis, which enables the rapid and accurate identification of bacteria at the species level, to identify Methylobacterium isolates collected from the rice seeds of different cultivars harvested in Japan, Thailand, and Kenya.

[Investigating language acquisition disorders based on the complaints].

Purpose: To investigate complaints commonly reported by parents of children with language disorders. In addition, we have analyzed the conditions of verbal production and comprehension of these children.

Methods: The sample comprised 55 children of both genders with ages between 2 and 12 years old.