African Journal of
Microbiology Research

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Microbiol. Res.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1996-0808
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJMR
  • Start Year: 2007
  • Published Articles: 5228

Table of Content: 16 November, 2011; 5(26)

November 2011

Cold-environment metagenomics for discovering novel microorganisms and enzymes

  The environmental conditions on planet earth are extremely diverse, with enormous variations in pressure, pH, temperature and salt concentration. All these environments are inhabited by living organisms, particularly microorganisms which have adapted to the different extremes of environments. Among various extreme environments, low temperature is very common both in natural and man-made environments. Low...

Author(s): Ramesh C. Kasana  

November 2011

Endophytic bacteria isolated from the pneumatophores of Avicennia marina

  Plant-associated bacteria that live inside plant tissues without causing any harm to plants are defined as endophytic bacteria. Endophytic bacteria were isolated from the surface sterilized pneumatophores of Avicennia marina. Three isolates were selected based on their colonization and occurrence. The isolates SjAM16101 Gram positive rods, SjAM16102 Gram negative rods and SjAM16103 Gram negative rods...

Author(s):   S. Rylo sona Janarthine, P. Eganathan, T. Balasubramanian and S. Vijayalakshmi  

November 2011

Multi-drug resistance in Acinetobacter baumannii strains isolated from the clinical specimens of three hospitals in Tehran-Iran

  The aim of this study is to carry out an investigation on multi-drug resistance inAcinetobacter baumannii strains that are isolated from clinical samples of three highly large hospitals in Tehran-Iran. This descriptive-cross sectional study was performed in three large hospitals in Tehran on 70 samples of Acinetobacter which were isolated from patients during April to November 2010. After...

Author(s): Sepideh Mostofi, Reza Mirnejad and Faramaz Masjedian

November 2011

Partial genes expression assessment of two-component regulation system ArlR and SigB towards Staphylococcus aureus survival in vitro

  The current research trend for a new drug development was expanded by using the proteomic approaches. However, the expression on those drug target must be well identified before taking part into proteomics study. One of the most commonly use protocol is the expression profiles on those selected genes during certain simulated conditions. Staphylococcus aureus has been blessed with several virulence...

Author(s): Nik Khairul Azizi Nik Ibrahim, Mariana Nor Shamsudin, Vasantha Kumari Neela and Zamberi Sekawi

November 2011

Molecular epidemiology of Escherichia coli strains isolated from children with community acquired urinary tract infections

  This paper aimed to study the drug resistance patterns and the reliability of antibiogram and pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns in epidemiological study of uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) isolated from the children with community acquired urinary tract infection (UTI). Totally ninety E. coli strains were isolated from urine samples of children with community acquired...

Author(s): Shohreh Farshad, Mojtaba Anvarinejad, Ali Mehrabi Tavana, Reza Ranjbar, Aziz Japoni, Reza Mohammad Zadegan and Abdolvahab Alborzi

November 2011

Effects of six flavonoid compounds addition on short-chain fatty acids production and human fecal microbial community change during in vitro fermentation

  Flavonoid has been proposed to have beneficial effects on human health, including antimicrobial activity. To clarify whether the flavonoid addition has an impact on the volatile fatty acids (VFA) production and the composition of the human fecal microbiota, six flavonoid compounds including baicalin, quercetin, icraiin, luteolin, amygdalin, naringin were investigated using a batch-culture fermentation system....

Author(s): Shengyong Mao and Weiyun Zhu

November 2011

Effect of amistar and moncut fungicides on fungi of faba bean plant and amylase activity

  Amistar (Azoxystrobin 25%) and moncut (Flutolanil 25%) fungicides were used for treatment of faba bean plants in the field. Foliar application of the two fungicides by three doses exhibited a toxic effect on the total and individual fungal species associated with the roots and shoots of plant.  The inhibitive effect of these fungicides depended mainly on the fungicide concentration. The inhibitive effect...

Author(s): A. M. Moharram, A. H. M. El-Said, A. Saleem and A. Hamed

November 2011

Repellent properties of Nicotiana tabacum and Eucalyptus globoidea against adults of Hyalomma marginatum rufipes

  Scientific evaluation of plants for anti-tick properties is a necessary step towards the development of tick control methods that exclude or involve less of synthetic chemicals. In this study, we evaluated the repellent properties of Nicotiana tabacum and Eucalyptusgloboidea against adults of Hyalomma marganitum rufipes using a suitable repellency bioassay. Dichloromethane...

Author(s): Magano S. R., Mkolo M. N. and Shai L. J.

November 2011

Changes in the organic acid content and related metabolic enzyme activities in developing ‘Dangshansuli’ pear fruit

  Changes in the content of citric acid and malic acid and the activities of enzymes involved in the metabolism of these two organic acids, including citrate synthase (CS), aconitase (ACO), isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH), phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC), NAD-malate dehydrogenase (NAD-MDH) and NADP-malic enzyme (NADP-ME) were examined during the process of fruit development in ‘Dangshansuli’...

Author(s): Sha S. F., Li J. C., Wu J. and Zhang S. L.

November 2011

Rapid detection of rpoB and katG genes from the sputum of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-direct sequencing analysis

  Rapid diagnosis of multidrug- resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MDR-TB) plays a role in guiding standardized treatment regimen. Traditional drug susceptibility (DST) testing takes about six to eight weeks. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to characterize the mutations in rpoB and katG genes from the sputum specimens of MDR-TB by using polymerase chain reaction...

Author(s): Song Yang, Min Zhong, Yaoting Zhang and Yiwei Wang

November 2011

Biodegradation of swainsonine by five types of plasmid-transformants from genomic library of Arthrobacter sp. HW08

  The aim of this study is to analyze the ability of swainsonine (SW) biodegradation by five types of transformants from the genomic library of Arthrobacter sp. HW08, explore preliminarily metabolites and deduce the metabolic pathway. Using 1000 mg·L-1 SW as the sole carbon source, mineral salts medium (MSM) containing five transformants at a proportion for 1:1(V:V) was incubated at...

Author(s): Yanchun Hu, Yan Wang, Jianna Wang, Guodong Yang, Haili Li, Guoxia Gengand Jianhua Wang

November 2011

Studies on bioflocculant production by Methylobacterium sp. Obi isolated from a freshwater environment in South Africa

  A bioflocculant-producing bacterium isolated from river water was identified asMethylobacterium sp. Obi by 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) gene sequencing. The nucleotide sequence was deposited in the Genbank with accession number HQ537130. The bioflocculant secreted by the isolate showed a peak flocculating activity of 72% in 1 g/L kaolin suspension supplemented with CaCl2. The bioflocculant yield...

Author(s): Luvuyo Ntsaluba, Mayowa Agunbiade, Leonard Mabinya and Anthony Okoh

November 2011

Density functional theory (DFT) based study of solvent effect on B10N11 and B10N11H7 (Gly)2 nano structures

  In this present work, all calculations were carried out with the Gaussian 98 program based on density functional theory (DFT) at B3LYP/3-21G level of theory. Then stability and grand state of B10N11 and B10N11H7 (Gly)2 nanocones in bulk and different solvents were investigated. It is clear that solvent effects were reviewed with concentration on quantitative values of Gibbs free energy,...

Author(s): M. Monajjemi, S. Mohajeri and F. Mollaamin

November 2011

Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) melting profile and protein fingerprint profile analyses to identify Methanothermobacter marburgensis DX01

  A thermophilic new strain of Methanothermobacter marburgensis DX01, with a different morphology from M. thermautotrophicus delta H, was isolated from a hot spring in China. To provide further molecular evidence to identify the methanogen M. marburgensis DX01, polymerase chain reaction melting profile (PCR MP) technique and protein fingerprint profiling were performed. Both DNA...

Author(s): Xia Ding, Xiao-Jue Peng, Wen-Zhuo Li, Yao-Hui Cai and Wei-Jun Yang

November 2011

Studies on the antibacterial activity and chemical constituents of Khaya senegalensis and Ximenia americana leaf extracts

  Studies on the antibacterial activity and chemical constituents of the aqueous and methonolic leaf extracts of Khaya senegalensis and Ximenia americana were carried out using standard methods. Disc concentrations of 125, 250, 500 and 1000 µg/ml of the extracts were used against five bacterial isolates obtained from post-surgical wounds at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Kano,...

Author(s): A. H. Kawo, Z. A. Suleiman and M. Yusha’u

November 2011

Serodiagnostic value of 23 Mycobacterium tuberculosis proteins and a novel protein combination

  To identify novel serological targets for improving the serodiagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infection, a total of 23 MTB proteins were clone into the Escherichia coli, and the serodiagnostic values of these proteins and a novel combined protein were evaluated. By a two-step selection process, 21 proteins having cross-reaction with TB antibody were identified. In these proteins,...

Author(s): Lingxia Zhang, Ying Sun, Guoqiang Zhang, Guoli Li, Bangyin Li and Xiaoxing Cheng

November 2011

Prevalence of multi-drug resistant pathogen isolated from high vaginal swab in Nigeria

  Samples of 262 high vaginal swabs collected from patients attending Ogun State College of Health Technology, Ilese-Ijebu were screened for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) pathogen and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern. Micro-organisms isolated from these samples include; Niesseria gonorrhea, Staphylococcus aureus, Gardnerella vaginalis, Candida albican and Escherichia coli. Age group 21...

Author(s): Adegoke Caleb Oladele, Deji-Agboola Anontu Mopelola and Ogunbanwo Samuel Temitope

November 2011

Effects of septoplasty on nasal and oropharyngeal microbial flora

  We characterized the changes in oropharyngeal and nasal flora of the patients with a deviated nasal septum before and after septoplasty. Patients who underwent septoplasty for nasal septal deviation were included in this study. Nasal and oropharyngeal cultures were taken with a sterile cotton swab preoperatively and one month after septoplasty. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed using the disc...

Author(s):   Tayfun Apuhan, Esra KoçoÄŸlu, Yavuz Selim Yıldırım, TuÄŸçe ÅžimÅŸek, Hasan Kazaz and Üzeyir Gök

November 2011

Quantification of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in milk by most probable number –polymerase chain reaction (MPN-PCR) method

  Escherichia coli O157:H7 has been recognized as one of the most important causes of potentially life-threatening human diseases such as haemorrhagic colitis, haemolytic ureamic syndrome and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. To combine the principles of most-probable-number (MPN) statistics and the conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique to enumerate E....

Author(s): Jamshidi A., Mohammadi S. and Mohammadi A.

November 2011

Analysis of codon usage in peste des petits ruminant’s virus

  In this study, it is indicated that the bias of synonymous codon usage of Peste des Petits Ruminants virus (PPRV) gene is lower without intra-specific performance through analysis on PPRV gene synonymous codon usage. The virus has interspecies codon usage specific performance in Morbillivirus. PPRV synonymous codon usage pattern is mainly caused by genetic base, the changes of codon usage bias are...

Author(s): Xin-sheng Liu, Yong-lu Wang, Yong-guang Zhang, Yu-zhen Fang, Li Pan, Jian-liang LÜ, Peng Zhou, Zhong-wang Zhang, Shou-tian Jiang

November 2011

Effect of probiotics on growth and microbiological changes in snakehead Channa striatus challenged by Aeromonas hydrophila

  The snakehead Channa striatus is widely preferred by consumers and is often affected by the dreadful disease Epizootic Ulcerative Syndrome (EUS) and encounters losses in capture as well as culture fisheries. Antibiotics, chemotherapeutants and vaccines are now commonly used in aquaculture to prevent/treat fish diseases. Meanwhile an alternative safer way to tackle the disease problem eco-friendly is...

Author(s): Muthukrishnan Dhanaraj and Mohamed Abdul Kather Haniffa

November 2011

Centre for Aquaculture Research and Extension (CARE), St. Xavier’s College, Palayamkottai Tamil Nadu, India.

  Genotyping Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL) species is important for selecting the appropriate method to control and prevent disease, determine the health effects of drugs, prepare and evaluate the vaccine and finally to determine disease vectors and reservoirs. In order to identify Leishmania species, endemic foci of Iran center (Isfahan) was used in this study using polymerase chain reaction-...

Author(s): Monir Doudi , Mahbubeh Setorki  and Leila Shirani Bidabadi

November 2011

High level production of extracellular β-galactosidase from Bacillus licheniformis ATCC 12759 in submerged fermentation

  The aim of this study was various nutrients belonging to three categories, carbon, nitrogen and amino acid sources, were investigated in terms of their effect on the production of extracellular β-galactosidase by Bacillus licheniformis ATCC 12759. Amongst simple carbon sources, xylose and galactose supported maximum β-galactosidase production.Comparison with the control there was...

Author(s): Nurullah Akcan

November 2011

Health High School, Siirt University, TR-56100 Siirt – Turkey.

  The toxicological and immunodulatory properties of some selected Ganoderma species was investigated using animal bioassay. The result of the haematological analysis showed that there was no significant difference in the total white blood cell (WBC) count value between the control animal and those fed with Ganoderma extract, while there was increase in the packed cell volume (PCV) of the...

Author(s): Obameso J. O., Akinyele, B. J., Oladunmoye, M. K. and Osho, I. B.

November 2011

Detection of Brucella spp. and Leptospira spp. by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from aborted bovine, ovine and caprine fetuses in Iran

  Brucellosis and leptosrirosis are important causes of livestock abortion, that can be serologically diagnosed. Generally, direct methods as bacteriological isolation are employed, but they are dangerous, taking up much time and not reliable enough. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been reported to be successful for simultaneous detection of microorganism. The aim of this study was to use multiplex-PCR...

Author(s): Saadat Moshkelani, Mohamad Javaheri-Koupaei, SadeghRabiee and Mostafa Moazeni

November 2011

Essential oil composition and antibacterial activity of Zanthoxylum bungeanum

  The chemical composition and antibacterial activity of essential oil from the fruits of Zanthoxylum bungeanum were evaluated. Twenty-eight compounds were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis, representing 94.30% of the total oil. The major constituents of the essential oil were found to be limonene (29.36%), linalool (17.02%), β-pinene (14.31%) and linalyl acetate (13.84%)....

Author(s): Rui-Xue Zhu, Kai Zhong, Wei-Cai Zeng, Xue-Yun He, Xue-Quan Gu, Zhi-Feng Zhao and Hong Gao

November 2011

Sustainable production of biodiesel by microalgae and its application in agriculture

  According to estimates of the intergovernmental panel on climate change, the continued use of oil based-energy is responsible for more than two thirds of the anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In Brazil, the National Program for use and biodiesel production has looked for the diversification of feedstock for biodiesel production. Among several alternative sources of...

Author(s): Cenciani, K., Bittencourt-Oliveira, M. C., Feigl, B. J. and Cerri, C. C.  

November 2011

Triterpenoids from Eucalyptus grandis Hill ex Maiden inhibits platelet aggregation

  Phytochemical investigation of Eucalyptus grandis, a plant with many industrial and traditional applications, led to the isolation of 3β-hydroxyurs-2-en-28-oic acid (FJ-2) and the synthesis of 3β-acetylurs-12-en-28-oic acid (FJ-6), with antiplatelet aggregation activity. Platelet aggregation was induced by thrombin a platelet protease-activated receptors subtype I and IV, adenosine...

Author(s): Habila, J. D., Shode, F. O. and Opoku, A. R.

November 2011

The use of microorganisms in 1,3-Propanediol production

  Recently, an increasing interest in “green” processes for the production of chemicals was observed. An attractive solution is microbial fermentation processes which use renewable feedstocks such as glycerol. However, this kind of synthesis has several limitations, among others a small range of products, low productivities, as well as difficulty in recovery and purification of products. One way to...

Author(s): Katarzyna Leja, Katarzyna Czaczyk and Kamila Myszka

November 2011

Application of the Alamar blue assay to determine the susceptibility to anti-tuberculosis pharmaceuticals

  The aim of this study was to apply the Alamar Blue assay to determine the susceptibility to anti-tuberculosis pharmaceuticals, in Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated strains from patients with tuberculosis (TB). In this study, a TB diagnostic was done by bacilluscope as an essential diagnostic tool for pulmonary TB using the Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) stain. Furthermore, a culture was prepared in...

Author(s): José de Jesús Alba-Romero, José Luis Ortega-Sánchez, Julieta Luna-Herrera, Norma Urtiz-Estrada, Maribel Cervantes-Flores, Estela Ruíz-Baca, José Ramón Hernández-Salgado, Blanca Estela García-Pérez, Pablo Ruíz-Flores and Aurora Martínez-Romero

November 2011

Hematology and serum biochemistry values in adult racoon dogs and foxes in Changli farms of Hebei Province, China

  This study examined 41 hematology and serum biochemistry status of adult raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides, n = 20) and silver foxes (Vulpes fulva, n = 20), living in the farms of Hebei Province. These values were compared between sexes of each kind animal and between raccoon dogs and foxes. The results showed that genders and species influenced the hematology and serum biochemistry values....

Author(s): Ping Rui, Zeng-jun Ma, Xiang-zhai Zhang, Pei-guo Li, Guang-ping Gao, Zong-ze Yang, and Jin-hui Zhang

November 2011

Characterization of Pasteurella multocida strains isolated from cattle and buffaloes in Karachi, Pakistan

  Pasteurella multocida is a Gram-negative, non-motile coccobacillus. The organism is of special significance in the tropical countries including Pakistan where only in Punjab Province, it caused heavy economics losses as Rs.2.17 billion per year. We Isolated and identified the disease causing serotypes in Pakistan by using cultural, morphological and biochemical tests. Pathogenicity was confirmed by...

Author(s):   Asma Ashraf, Hassan Tariq, Salahuddin Shah, Shahid Nadeem, Irfan Manzoor, Sadia Ali, Ambreen Ijaz, Sadia Gailani and Shahid Mehboob

November 2011

Effect of iron limitation on the production of Streptolysin S (SLS) of Streptococcus pyogenes Group A

  The effect of iron on the growth of Streptococcus pyogenes Group A and its influence on Streptolysisn S (SLS) production was investigated. Two strains of S. pyogenes used in this study C203S and 55903 M were grown in iron-restricted medium. The iron chelator, (Ethylenediamindi-(o- hydroxyphenyl-acetic acid) (EDDA) was added at a concentration giving a 10-fold molar excess over Fe....

Author(s):   Badaruddin A. Memon and T. H. Birkbeck

November 2011

Co-infection of HIV and parasites in China: Cryptosporidium prevalence in environmental water in HIV/AIDS high endemic areas

  The purpose of this study is to explore relationship between water contamination ofCryptosporidium parasite and co-infection of HIV with parasites in HIV/AIDS highly endemic areas in China, in order to understand the waterborne transmission routes ofCryptosporidium parasite in local environmental settings. The prevalence and contamination degree of Cryptosporidium oocysts in surface water...

Author(s): Li-Guang Tian, Jia-Xu Chen, Peter Steinmann, Yu-Chun Cai, Xiao-Mei Tong, Jian Guo, Lan-Hua Li, Qin Liu and Xiao-Nong Zhou

November 2011

Improvement of carboxymethyl cellulase production from Chaetomium cellulolyticum NRRL 18756 by mutation and optimization of solid state fermentation

  The purpose of the present investigation was to enhance the production of the industrially important enzyme carboxymethyl cellulase (CMCase) by subjecting the wild cellulase producing fungal strain Chaetomium cellulolyticum NRRL 18756 to various doses of gamma irradiation (0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0, 1.25, 1.5, 1.75 and 2.0 KGy). Among all the mutants tested, M-7 obtained at 0.5 KGy of C....

Author(s): Eman M. Fawzi and Hossam S. Hamdy

November 2011

In vitro susceptibility of some antimicrobials against bacteria enteropathogens

  To investigate the current resistant levels of enteric bacteria in southwestern China, broth dilution method was used to detect in vitro susceptibility of rifaximin, ciprofloxacin, gatifloxacin, azithromycin and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (SMZ/TMP) against 101 enteropathogens isolated from cases of bacterial diarrhea of four teaching hospitals. For all the isolates, ciprofloxacin, gatifloxacin...

Author(s): Xiaojuan Xin, Bei Jia, Wenxiang Huang, Chengwei Liu and Chongzhi Li

November 2011

First detection of Pseudomonas viridiflava, the causal agent of blossom blight in apple by using specific designed primers

  This study was conducted for detection and identification of the causal agent of blossom blight of apple, which results in blast of whole tree. During spring 2011, a newly occurring disease was observed in 4 to 5 years-old Malus domestica (cv. Mutsu) trees in Northern area of Iran. A bacterial population was repeatedly isolated from the infected plants. Koch’s postulate (pathogenicity...

Author(s): Mahsa Alimi, Heshmatollah Rahimian, Nader Hassanzadeh, Meysam Taghinasab Darzi, Asadollah Ahmadikhah, Asghar Heydari and Giorgio Mariano Balestra

November 2011

Characterization of Virgibacillus strain TKNR13-3 from fermented shrimp paste (ka-pi) and its protease production

  A moderately halophilic bacterium, TKNR13-3, isolated from fermented shrimp paste (ka-pi) in Thailand was identified as Virgibacillus halodenitrificans based on its phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics, 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid (Rrna) gene sequence and deoxyribonucleic-deoxyribonucleic (DNA-DNA) relatedness. The strain TKNR13-3 produced substantial amount of extracellular...

Author(s):   Somboon Tanasupawat,  Thanapun  Taprig, Ancharida Akaracharanya and Wonnop Visessanguan

November 2011

Detection of Streptococcus iniae by polymerase chain reaction in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in west Iran

  Streptococcosis is one of the serious diseases in cultured salmonids, specially rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss. Streptococcus iniae is one of the important pathogens for fish which is also dangerous for human. The aim of this study is to investigate the streptococcosis caused by S. iniae in rainbow trouts farms. For this purpose, we evaluate fishes that showed clinical signs...

Author(s): Firooz Fadaeifard, Mahdi raissy, Hasan Momtaz and Reza Zahedi