Microbial individuality in the natural environment

Molecular strategies of microbial adaptation to xenobiotics in natural environment

The unprecedented population increase and industrial development during the twentieth century has increased conventional solid and liquid waste pollutants to critical levels as well as produced a range of previously unknown strange synthetic chemicals for which society was unprepared. Increasing pollution of the environment by xenobiotic compounds has provoked the need for understanding the imp...

Microbial individuality: how single-cell heterogeneity enables population level strategies.

Much of our knowledge of microbial life is only a description of average population behaviours, but modern technologies provide a more inclusive view and reveal that microbes also have individuality. It is now acknowledged that isogenic cell-to-cell heterogeneity is common across organisms and across different biological processes. This heterogeneity can be regulated and functional, rather than...

Microbial respiratory quinones in the environment

Bacterial respiratory quinones in environmental samples are proposed as sensitive indicators of the aerobic versus anaerobic metabolism of bacterial populations. A liquid chromatographic method for the analysis of respiratory quinones is presented, and the proportions of ubiquinone, menaquinone and desmethylmenaquinone in aerobic and anaerobic enrichments and several environmental samples are r...

Microbial degradation of hydrocarbons in the environment.

The ecology of hydrocarbon degradation by microbial populations in the natural environment is reviewed, emphasizing the physical, chemical, and biological factors that contribute to the biodegradation of petroleum and individual hydrocarbons. Rates of biodegradation depend greatly on the composition, state, and concentration of the oil or hydrocarbons, with dispersion and emulsification enhanci...

marine microbial natural products