SEARCH · Search PubMed
Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
The ability of peripheral blood leukocytes from young turkey poults to migrate in vitro was investigated. Migration from capillary tubes was relatively rapid and was usually complete in 2 hours. Leukocyte migration was significantly enhanced in Alcaligenes faecalis-infected turkeys compared with uninfected controls at 1, 2, 5, and 6 weeks of age.
In order to assess the role of Alcaligenes faecalis in respiratory disease of broilers, a study was conducted to determine the prevalence of this bacterium in North Carolina broilers and to determine the relationship of A. faecalis infection to clinical disease. Our studies showed that A. faecalis is prevalent in North Carolina commercial broilers during the winter months. Bacteriological examination of turbinates and tracheas revealed that almost 40% of individual birds between 35 and 45 days of age yielded positive cultures; 62% of tested flocks were infected. When present, A. faecalis was usually the predominant bacterium isolated. Furthermore, because of a higher frequency of A. faecalis isolation in broiler flocks with respiratory disease (75% vs. 29% in flocks without respiratory diseases), these studies suggest a causal relationship between this bacterium and clinical respiratory disease.
A group of 2-week-old turkey poults was inoculated with a pathogenic strain of Alcaligenes faecalis. One week later, half the group was injected with a long-acting oxytetracycline formulation. Poults were examined post-mortem on days 3, 5, and 10 post-treatment. Swabs were taken of the trachea, sinus, and lung of each poult. Poults were observed closely for clinical signs, and appropriate tissues were taken for histopathology. Results showed no evidence of therapeutic effect on A. faecalis infection in vivo, even though the organism was highly sensitive in vitro. Six-week-old turkeys were inoculated intramuscularly with 3.7 X 10(3) organisms of the P-1059 strain of Pasteurella multocida. Immediately following inoculation, half the group was treated with the long-acting oxytetracycline. Ninety percent of the untreated poults were dead 72 hours postinoculation, whereas none of the treated turkeys died. No evidence of any clinical disease was observed in the treated group during the 8-day observation period. The long-acting oxytetracycline product was highly efficacious in preventing disease caused by experimental inoculation with the P-1059 strain of P. multocida.
Two isolates of Alcaligenes faecalis from turkeys with respiratory disease were indistinguishable physically, biochemically, and for specific agglutinating antibodies. The isolates differed in in vitro cytotoxicity for turkey tracheal organ cultures and in ability to induce clinical rhinotracheitis in poults. The isolate designated NCDp induced in vitro cytotoxic changes in turkey tracheal organ cultures. Additionally, poults inoculated with NCDp developed severe clinical signs of rhinotracheitis, flaccid (collapsing) trachea, bacterial colonization of the cilia, and degeneration and loss of the columnar epithelium from the anterior one third to one half of the trachea. The isolate designated NCDm induced little or no cytotoxic changes in turkey tracheal organ culture. Isolate NCDm caused mild clinical signs of rhinotracheitis and colonized the trachea of inoculated poults, but it caused no other observable changes. A correlation seems to exist between in vitro cytotoxicity and in vivo pathogenicity for these isolates of A. faecalis.
Two small angle x-ray scattering curves have been obtained from active and inactive ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase from Alcaligenes eutrophus. The radius of gyration was calculated to be R = 47.8 +/- 0.1 nm for the active enzyme and R = 49.2 +/- 0.1 nm for the inactive enzyme. The maximum particle dimension amounts to 13.5 +/- 0.5 nm for the active and 15.7 +/- 0.5 nm for the inactive enzyme. A model of the active carboxylase is presented. It is in good agreement with models derived from electron microscopical data. Model calculations for the inactive enzyme show some evidence for a configurational change.
The hazards of acquiring a nosocomial infection are significant even in modern hospitals in spite of aseptic procedures and antibiotics. In order to prevent or stop a hospital epidemic it is necessary to know or to recognize the infective agent, its source and its way of spreading. This is not always easy, esp. with some potential pathogens which are frequently found in the pathological materials as well as in the hospital environment. In the described series of hospital spread of Alcaligenes odorans, var. viridans, it was not difficult to identify the bacterium, it was easy to state the source and not very hard to eradicate it. The way of spreading, however, remained unclear. Hospital infections occur everywhere, even if sometimes unrecognized. With modern treatments facultatively pathogenic bacteria are increasingly becoming hospital infectants. Our aim was to look for such ones, esp. if not described yet as hospital infections.
Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase from the chemolithotrophic hydrogen bacterium Alcaligenes eutrophus was maximally active in the presence of 50 mM HCO3- plus 10 mM Mg2+. Deactivation occurred upon removal of these ions. Reactivation was achieved by incubation of the enzymes with HCO3- plus Mg2+. The concentration of HCO3- (CO2) required for half-maximal activation was 1.84 nM (0.064 mM). Sedimentation velocity studies revealed that activation/deactivation is associated with drastic changes in the sedimentation properties of the enzyme. While the inactive form had a sedimentation coefficient, s20,w, of 17.5 S, the s20,w gradually decreased as the enzyme was reactivated and the fully reactivated form exhibited an s20,w of 14.3 S. A structural analogue of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate, xylulose 1,5-bisphosphate, caused a deactivation of the enzyme concomitant with an increase in the sedimentation velocity. It is suggested that the alterations in the hydrodynamic properties accompanying the activation/deactivation process are due to considerable conformational changes that affect the molecular volume and/or the shape of the enzyme. Dissociation/association events were not involved in the changes. The s20,w of about 18 S, generally reported for the large hexadecameric ribulose bisphosphate carboxylases, appears to be characteristic of the inactive form.
Aerosolization of oxytetracycline hydrochloride for treatment and control of rhinotracheitis caused by Alcaligenes faecalis was performed in complete confinement on two turkey flocks immediately preceding vaccination with Newcastle disease virus (NDV). Tracheal culture results indicated populations of A. faecalis decreased following treatment. Clinical observations showed the treated turkeys had greater activity and more alertness compared with untreated A. faecalis-infected flocks, and respiratory sounds were diminished overall. Increased food and water consumption and no stunting was observed in treated turkeys. Treated flocks had a substantial decrease in mortality during the 4-week post-NDV vaccination period compared with untreated flocks. These results, although inadequately controlled, suggest a promising treatment program for A. faecalis infection in turkeys.
Choline oxidase from Alcaligenes sp. catalyzed the oxidation of choline and betaine aldehyde to betaine with concomitant consumption of oxygen and production of hydrogen peroxide. The values of Km for choline and betaine aldehyde were 0.87 and 6.2 mM, respectively. The molecular weight of the enzyme was estimated to be 66,000 by SDS-gel electrophoresis and 72,000 by gel-filtration using a high performance liquid chromatograph. The prosthetic group of the enzyme was identified as 8 alpha-[N(3)-histidyl]-FAD from the electrophoretic mobility at pH 6.25 of the hydrolysate of the methylated histidylflavin. The visible absorption spectrum of the enzyme showed peaks at 358 and 453 nm and a shoulder at about 480 nm. The covalently bound FAD was reduced on addition of either choline or betaine aldehyde under anaerobic conditions and was reoxidized by aeration. The enzyme was found to contain 1 mol of FAD per mol enzyme. Amino acid analysis of a purified flavin peptide gave the following molar ratios of amino acids to flavin: pro(1), Asp + Asn(3), Ser(1), His(1), and Arg(1). Aspartic acid was the N-terminal amino acid. The partial sequence of amino acids in the flavin peptide was as follows: Formula (See Text).
Two heterotrophic bacteria, Pseudomonas putida 18 and Alcaligenes eutrophus 280, were isolated from gold-arsenic deposits. The bacteria oxidize As(III) to As(V) at pH 6-9 and temperatures 4-28 and 28 degrees C respectively. The oxidation is accompanied by a decrease in the pH of the medium. The rate of the oxidation directly depends on the number of cells in the inoculum.
An acute respiratory disease of turkeys in Israel was first reported in November 1978. Alcaligenes faecalis was isolated from sick turkeys and from chickens not affected by the disease. Plate agglutination tests with A. faecalis antigen of 1,067 turkey and 494 chicken serum samples gave variable results: healthy turkeys gave positive reactions and sick turkeys sometimes gave negative ones. All isolated strains were highly sensitive in vitro drug sensitivity tests, but chemotherapy failed in the field. Pathogenicity trials with A. faecalis, given alone or in combination with Yucaipa virus to 8-day-old turkey poults, failed to reproduce the disease.
In field trials, 14 flocks of turkeys were vaccinated against coryza (rhinotracheitis) with a temperature-sensitive mutant of Alcaligenes faecalis via drinking water. Vaccine doses of 5 to 250 million bacteria per turkey were used. Turkeys ranged in age from 2.5 to 13 weeks. Doses of 5 to 7 million bacteria did not induce complete protection. Doses of 50 million bacteria or more appeared to induce substantial immunity in most flocks. Six-week-old birds receiving doses of 90 million bacteria developed a high degree of protection against challenge with virulent A. faecalis.
Under the conditions of co-oxidation at a considerable excess of the co-substrate, Alcaligenes faecalis performs oxidative deamination of 3,4-dichloroaniline yielding 4,5-dichloropyrocatechol and cleaves its aromatic cycle. Formation of a chlorinated derivative of hydroxymuconic acid as an intermediate product, as well as the 100% liberation of chloride ions under these conditions, indicate that 3,4-dichloroaniline can be completely mineralized by A. faecalis.
The electrophoretic mobility and electrokinetic potential of the hydrogen-oxidizing bacterium Alcaligenes eutropha were measured using microelectrophoresis. The cells were shown to bear a negative charge of ca. 2 x 10(-8) coulomb/cm2. The electrokinetic potential causing electrophoresis of the bacterium changes from negative values in an alkaline or neutral medium to positive values in an acid medium, and the isoelectric point is at pH approximately 6.0. The electrophoretic mobility of the bacterium rises with an increase of the ionic strength of solutions. The electric field of a low voltage (up to 5 V/cm) does not induce a noticeable change in the behaviour and growth of the bacterium under the autotrophic conditions.
A microorganism capable of assimilating aniline as a sole source of carbon and nitrogen was isolated from soil and identified as Alcaligenes faecalis. Enzyme systems catalyzing aniline oxidation are inducible. Aniline is metabolized by A. faecalis via meta-decomposition of aromatic substances. The extracts of bacterial cells cultivated in a growth medium with aniline contain pyrocatechol 2,3-oxygenase and 2-hydroxymuconic semialdehyde hydrolyase.
Alcaligenes faecalis is capable of degrading 3- and 4-chloroanilines in the conditions of cooxidation. Aniline is the inductor of the enzyme systems responsible for this process. Growth substrates for A. faecalis are also active cosubstrates in the transformation of chloroanilines. Ammonium nitrogen and chloride ions are accumulated in the cultural broth in the process of transformation of 3- and 4-chloroanilines by A. faecalis. Apparently, the transformation of anilines involves cleavage of the aromatic cycle in anilines.
A neotetrazolium-chloride-stained Alcaligenes faecalis antigen was developed for use in the microagglutination (MA) test. The test was used to detect serum antibodies in naturally and experimentally infected turkeys. The highest titer observed in naturally infected birds was 1:320. In one commercial flock, antibodies were detected at 12 and 15 weeks after the initial disease outbreak. Four experiments were conducted to study the serologic responses of turkeys to A. faecalis. Antibodies were first detected at 2 weeks postexposure (PE) in poults that were exposed to the organism at 1 week of age. Peak antibody titers were detected at 3 weeks PE; isolations of the organism then declined. No antibodies were detected at 7 weeks PE in these birds. Birds infected at 5 weeks of age via various routes developed maximum antibody titers 2 weeks PE. Birds inoculated subcutaneously had the highest titers, whereas those inoculated intramuscularly had the lowest titers. Antibodies were still detected at 56 days PE in some birds. Hens vaccinated with an inactivated A. faecalis bacterin developed antibody titers. Titers not higher than 1:40 were detected at hatching in progeny of these hens. However, these poults were not protected from disease after challenge. There was some evidence that birds exposed to live or inactivated A. faecalis develop some protection against challenge. Antigens were prepared using 4 Ohio A. faecalis isolates (A, B, C, and D) and 1 North Carolina isolate for use in the MA test. The results indicated that the 5 isolates were antigenically similar. Antigens prepared using isolate B reacted best in the MA test.
Alcaligenes faecalis infection in turkey poults resulted in impaired function of the cellular immune system, as evidenced by histopathologic changes and reduced size of the thymus and by decreased lymphocyte stimulation. Abnormalities of the humoral immune system were not detected.