f.a., sp. nov., a novel yeast species isolated from biofilm in a reverse osmosis system.

Novel strains, JCM 35526 and 261-2C, were isolated from biofilm formed on a reverse osmosis membrane in the phosphate recovery system of a semiconductor factory. Morphological, biochemical, physiological, and chemotaxonomic analyses as well as sequence analysis of the concatenated internal transcribed spacer region and D1/D2 domains of the large subunit of the rRNA gene confirmed that strains JCM 35526 and 261-2C, were distinct from all currently known species. The holotype and isotype strains of the new species, which is named , are JCM 35526 and MUCL 58310, respectively.

Identification and characterization of heavy metal-resistant unicellular alga isolated from soil and its potential for phytoremediation.

A unicellular alga displaying a high growth rate under heterotrophic growth conditions was isolated from soil and identified as Chlorella sorokiniana. The optimal temperature for growth was 35 degrees C and the optimal pH was 6.0-7.

Purification and characterization of a novel chitinase from Burkholderia cepacia strain KH2 isolated from the bed log of Lentinus edodes, Shiitake mushroom.

One of the chitinases secreted in the culture filtrate of a gram-negative bacteria, Burkholderia cepacia strain KH2, which was isolated from the bed log of Lentinus edodes, Shiitake mushrooms, was purified by DEAE Sepharose CL-6B chromatography, followed by Sephacryl S-100 HR gel filtration. The purified enzyme was homogenous, determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), with an estimated molecular weight of 34,000 and an isoelectric point (pI) of 5.9.