OBJECTIVES This study highlights xylanase overproduction from Bacillus mojavensis via UV mutagenesis and optimization of the production process. MATERIALS AND METHODS Bacillus mojavenis PTCC 1723 underwent UV radiation. Mutants' primary screening was based on the enhanced Hollow Zone Diameter/ Colony Diameter Ration (H/C ratios) of the colonies in comparison with the wild strain on Xylan agar...

Heterodera glycines, the soybean cyst nematode, is the most economically important plant-parasitic nematode on soybean production in the U.S. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the potential of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) strains for mortality of H. glycines J2 in vitro and for reducing nematode population density on soybean in greenhouse, microplot, and field trials....

Biosurfactant production may be an economic approach to improving oil recovery. To obtain candidates most suitable for oil recovery, 207 strains, mostly belonging to the genus Bacillus, were tested for growth and biosurfactant production in medium with 5% NaCl under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. All strains grew aerobically with 5% NaCl, and 147 strains produced a biosurfactant. Thirty-five...

Drosophila mojavensis is a cactophilic fly endemic to the northwestern deserts of North America. This species includes four genetically isolated cactus host races each individually specializing on the necrotic tissues of a different cactus species. The necrosis of each cactus species provides the resident D. mojavensis populations with a distinct chemical environment. A previous investigation o...

Selection may act on the weakest link in fitness to change how a species adapts to an environmental stress. For many species, this limitation may be reproduction. After adult Drosophila melanogaster, Drosophila simulans, and Drosophila mojavensis males were exposed to varying levels of thermal stress well below those that endanger life, courtship and mating frequency declined. The regression co...

The phylogenetic relationships of 17 Bacillus strains isolated from plants and soil were determined from partial sequences of genes encoding 16S rRNA, gyraseA (gyrA) and the cheA histidine kinase. Five strains were closely related to Bacillus subtilis subsp. subtilis, three strains were more closely related to B. subtilis subsp. spizizeni and two strains were identified as B. mojavensis. The re...

Populations of the North American cactophilic fruitfly Drosophila mojavensis and its sibling species D. arizonae exist both in sympatry and in allopatry. Females of D. arizonae, regardless of their population of origin, are effectively completely isolated behaviorally from D. mojavensis males. On the other hand, females of D. mojavensis from the sympatric populations in Sonora, Mexico exhibit s...