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Biomedical subjects

T G Pridham

Publications and source records attributed to T G Pridham.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

Actinomycetales from corn.

Mesophilic Actinomycetales were isolated from whole corn, brewers grits, and break flour received from three different mills. In addition, strains were isolated from high-moisture (27 per cent) field corn; high-moisture, silo-stored corn (untreated); and high-moisture corn treated with ammonia, ammonium isobutyrate, or propionic-acetic acid. According to standard techniques, 139 strains were extensively characterized and 207 additional strains were partially characterized. On the basis of these characterizations, the streptomycete strains were identified by both the systems of Pridham et al. and Hütter because these systems are rapid and accurate. In general, only Streptomyces griseus (Krainsky) Waksman and Henrici was isolated from high-moisture whole corn (treated or untreated) except from grain exposed to ammonium isobutyrate. Strains isolated from high-moisture corn subjected to that treatment represented both S. griseus and S. albus (Rossi Doria) Waksman and Henrici. The strains isolated from corn and corn products from the three mills were identified with a number of streptomycete species. Of all Actinomycetales isolated, only three were not streptomycetes--two from brewer's grits and one from break flour.

Actinomycetales↗

Streptomyces torulosus sp. n., an unusual knobby-spored taxon.

Several strains of a streptomycete with unusual spore wall ornamentation were isolated from Iowa soils. They are further characterized by coiled chains of spores, gray aerial mycelium, melanin-like pigments, and the production of antibacterial and antifungal antibiotics. Spore wall ornamentations, as seen with the transmission electron microscope, do not correspond with any of the four generally recognized categories of spore wall ornamentation-smooth, warty, spiny, or hairy-but seem to represent an intermediate position between warty and spiny. This unusual ornamentation consists of blunt projections rising out of an otherwise smooth surface and is termed "knobby." To obtain further information on the nature of the knoblike projections and their possible status in representing a defined spore wall ornamentation category, scanning electron micrographs and transmission electron micrographs representing all sporewall ornamentation categories were compared. Differentiation between the several categories was more difficult with the scanning electron microscope than with the transmission electron microscope.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

Survey of some Actinomycetales for alpha-galactosidase activity.

The enzyme alpha-galactosidase offers potential to (i) eliminate possibly the flatus-inducing factor(s) in edible beans, (ii) eliminate raffinose during beet-sugar processing, and (iii) determine raffinose analytically. Accordingly, 20 genera of the order Actinomycetales Buchanan 1917 were tested for evidence of alpha-galactosidase activity. Test filtrates were prepared with a medium containing D-galactose and soybean meal. Enzyme activity was demonstrated through cellulose thin-layer chromatography. Of 123 strains tested, 28 produced extracellular alpha-galactosidase. Almost all were streptomycetes. Members of the genera Actinoplanes Couch 1950, Micromonospora varphiOrskov 1923, and Promicromonospora Krasil'nikov et al. 1961 also exhibited alpha-galactosidase activity. Additional tests led to the selection of five strains whose filtrates degraded melibiose, raffinose, and stachyose but not lactose and sucrose. Tests also were made with several soybean preparations.

Actinomycetales↗

Effect of antimicrobial agents on the milky disease bacteria Bacillus popilliae and Bacillus lentimorbus.

The effects of antibiotics, sulfonamides, and other antimicrobial agents on vegetative cultures of five strains of milky disease bacteria were compared with those on Bacillus subtilis Cohn emend. Prazmowski, Staphylococcus aureus Rosenbach, Sarcina lutea Schroeter, Escherichia coli (Migula) Castellani and Chalmers, Saccharomyces pastorianus Hansen, and Mucor ramannianus Moel. Similar numbers of viable cells of each organism were exposed to the test materials by use of an antibiotic-sensitivity disc method adapted from techniques recommended by the Food and Drug Administration in the Federal Register. The results suggest that vancomycin or ristocetin, as well as a few other materials, might be useful in controlling contamination either during culture of the fastidious milky disease bacteria or in large populations of vegetative cells undergoing treatment to induce sporulation. Inhibitory concentrations of vancomycin and ristocetin in shaken-tube tests were much lower than expected in comparison with results of sensitivity-disc tests on the milky disease bacteria. Sublethal concentrations of the two antibiotics elicited some morphological change in the bacteria.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

Antibiotics Against Plant Disease: VIII. Screening for Nonpolyenic Antifungal Antibiotics Produced by Streptomycetes.

In a survey of Streptomyces species, methods were designed and followed that would specifically select strains capable of producing heat-stable, nonpolyenic, antifungal antibiotics. Of 500 strains grown in shaken flasks, 240 of the culture liquors contained active factors as demonstrated by paper-disc assay against Mucor ramannianus. Culture filtrates and mycelial extracts of the active strains were examined by ultraviolet spectrophotometry; 166 were nonpolyenic as determined by absorption spectra. Heat-stability tests of the nonpolyenic antibiotics over a broad pH range revealed that 15 were stable under all test conditions, 70 moderately stable, and 81 unstable. Culture liquors containing stable, nonpolyenic antifungal agents were chromatographed with eight solvent systems in an attempt to identify the antibiotics. The producing cultures were studied by cross-antagonism tests to discover similarities with producers of known antibacterial antibiotics. Two of the antibiotics produced by promising strains were identified as cycloheximide and musarin. Six antibiotics, presumably new, were detected.

Journal Article↗