Each T5 stock contains a population of particular phages that, just after adsorption onto the host bacteria. release their entire chromosome outside the bacterial membrane in a place where it is sensitive to bacterial enzymes. This release takes place before the sensitization step to deprivation of calcium and before the transfer of the first-step DNA fragment. Secondarily, this released DNA is...

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are specialized bacterial communities inhabiting the root rhizosphere and secretion of exudates helps to, regulate microbial dynamics their interactions with plants. These bacteria viz., Agrobacterium, Arthobacter, Azospirillum, Bacillus, Burkholderia, Flavobacterium, Pseudomonas, Rhizobium, etc., play important role in plant growth promotion. In addi...

One possible means of rapidly detecting microorganisms in patients with suspected infectious diseases is the direct measurement of microbial enzymes in body fluids. This technique is based on the fact that bacterial, fungal, and viral organisms possess enzymes that are not produced by mammalian cells and are thus not found in uninfected human body fluids. Detection of one of these microbial enz...

Fatty acids (FAs) are major building blocks of membrane phospholipids in bacteria and eukaryotes. Their presumed absence in archaea led to propose a late origin in bacteria and eukaryotes and that the last common ancestor of living organisms (the cenancestor) was devoid of both FA and phospholipid membranes. However, small FA amounts and homologs of bacterial FA biosynthesis enzymes are found i...

θ-Defensins are cyclic antimicrobial peptides expressed in leukocytes of Old world monkeys. To get insight into their antibacterial mode of action, we studied the activity of RTDs (rhesus macaque θ-defensins) against staphylococci. We found that in contrast to other defensins, RTDs do not interfere with peptidoglycan biosynthesis, but rather induce bacterial lysis in staphylococci by interactio...

Aromatic compounds are widely distributed in nature. They are found as lignin components, aromatic amino acids, and xenobiotic compounds, among others. Microorganisms, mostly bacteria, degrade an impressive variety of such chemical structures. Various aerobic aromatic catabolic pathways have been reported in bacteria, which typically consist of activation of the aromatic ring through oxygenases...

Fungal laccases have been used in various fields ranging from processes in wood and paper industries to environmental applications. Although a few bacterial laccases have been characterized in recent years, prokaryotes have largely been neglected as a source of novel enzymes, in part due to the lack of knowledge about the diversity and distribution of laccases within Bacteria. In this work gene...

Bacterial sphingomyelinases and phospholipases are a heterogeneous group of esterases which are usually surface associated or secreted by a wide variety of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. These enzymes hydrolyze sphingomyelin and glycerophospholipids, respectively, generating products identical to the ones produced by eukaryotic enzymes which play crucial roles in distinct physiologic...