Publications by authors named "R B Hespell"

Aims: The objective of this study was to examine the effect of dilution rates (Ds, varying from 0.05 to 0.42 h(-1)) in glucose-limited continuous culture on cell yield, cell composition, fermentation pattern and ammonia assimilation enzymes of Selenomonas ruminantium strain D.

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Genomic libraries from nine cellobiose-metabolizing bacteria were screened for cellobiose utilization. Positive clones were recovered from six libraries, all of which encode phosphoenolpyruvate:carbohydrate phosphotransferase system (PTS) proteins. Clones from Bacillus subtilis, Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens, and Klebsiella oxytoca allowed the growth of recombinant Escherichia coli in cellobiose-M9 minimal medium.

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In the last decade, a major goal of research in biofuels has been to metabolically engineer microorganisms to ferment multiple sugars from biomass or agricultural wastes to fuel ethanol. Escherichia coli strains genetically engineered to contain the pet operon (Zymomonas mobilis pyruvate decarboxylase and alcohol dehydrogenase B genes) produce high levels of ethanol. Strains carrying the pet operon in plasmid (e.

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Streptococcus bovis is commonly present in the rumen, but strains of S. bovis have also occasionally been isolated from human blood or fecal samples. Studies were undertaken with 16s rRNA gene sequences and DNA hybridizations to define the genetic relationships between these two groups of strains.

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Hemicelluloses, mainly xylans, can be a major component of diets consumed by ruminants and undergo various degrees of microbial digestion in the rumen. The ability of Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens, a major xylanolytic ruminal species, to degrade and utilize nine chemically and physically different xylans for growth was examined. The arabinoxylans used included two isolated from corncobs (CCX-A and CCX-B), a native xylan excreted by corn cell tissue cultures (CX), an oxalic acid-treated, arabinose-depleted CX, and oat spelt xylan.

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