Thiomarinol, an antimicrobial antibiotic, was isolated from the culture broth of a marine bacterium, Alteromonas rava sp. nov. SANK73390. Its structure was deduced as a hybrid composed of a pseudomonic acid analogue and holothin by NMRspectral analysis and chemical degradation. Antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria of thiomarinol was stronger than both of pseudomonic acids and pyrrothine antibiotics.

Two new Pseudomonas species which were isolated from rice paddy and clinical specimens (groups Ve-2 and Ve-1) are described. Strains of Pseudomonas oryzihabitans sp. nov. are yellow-pigmented, oxidase-negative, nonsporeforming, gram-negative, polarly monotrichously flagellated, rod-shaped organisms with deoxyribonucleic acid base compositions ranging from 63.9 to 65.6 mol% guanine plus cytosine, ubiquinone Q-9, major cellular fatty acids consisting of In the course of a study of the microflora of rice paddies, a large number of yellow-pigmented, gram-negative bacteria were isolated. Some of these organisms were identified as "Pseudomonas lacunogenes," which was studied by Goresline (7), and some characteristics of our isolates have been published previously (12). When we published the characteristics of our strains of "P. lacunogenes," the original strains which Goresline used for the description of this species and reference strains were not available from any culture collection or other sources. They are still unavailable. The strains of "P. lacunogenes" were a major component of the bacterial flora of normal rice paddies (11). However, this name is not on the Approved Lists of Bacterial Names (26). Recently, we isolated new strains similar to "P. lacunogenes" from normal rice paddies. These cultures were oxidase negative and resembled cultures that Weaver et al. (31), Tatum et al. (30), and Gilardi et al. (6) recognized as groups Ve-1 and Ve-2 of yellow-pigmented, oxidative, oxidase-negative, gram-negative, polarly flagellated, rodshaped, bacteria. Therefore, we attempted to identify our isolates from normal rice paddies by using authentic strains representative of groups Ve-1 and Ve-2.In this paper we describe two new species, Pseudomonas oryzihabitans sp. nov., which was isolated from normal rice paddies and clinical specimens (group Ve-2), and Pseudomonus luteola sp. nov., which was isolated from clinical specimens (group Ve-1). Chemical Research, Wako-shi, Saitama, Japan; NCIB, National Collection of Industrial Bacteria, Torrey Research Station, Aberdeen, United Kingdom; DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid; G+C, guanine plus cytosine; DNase, deoxyribonuclease; ONPG, o-nitrophenyl-P-galactopyranoside. The designations used for ubiquinones indicate the number of isoprene units in a side chain (e.g., ubiquinones Q-8, Q-9, and Q-10, have 8, 9, and 10 isoprene units, respectively). MATERIALS AND METHODSBacterial strains. The strains which we studied are indicated below (names which do not appear on the Approved Lists of Bacterial Names [26] are enclosed in quotation marks)., and KS0904 (= D-2 = AJ 2210) were isolated from normal rice paddies by Iizuka and Komagata (12). Strain KS0905 was isolated from Oryza sativa strain C5444 (grain harvested in 1979), strain KS0906 was isolated from 0. sativa strain C8895 (grain harvested in 1979), strain KS0907 was isolated from 0. sativa strain (28896 (grain harvested in 1979), strain KS0908 was isolated from Oryza breviligulata strain W1064 (grain harvested in 1977), strain KS09...

Aim:  We sought to confirm the presence of halophilic and alkaliphilic lactic acid bacteria (HALAB) of marine origin in cheeses and thus contribute to the understanding of the roles of LAB flora in cheese ripening. Methods and Results:  We used 7% NaCl glucose–yeast extract–peptone–fish extract broth and agar media (pH 9·5) for pour‐plating and enrichment culture for 16 cheese samples produced in six European countries. HALAB were present in 9 of the 16 samples at <20–>107 CFU g−1. In three mould‐ripened soft cheeses, HALAB counts ranged from 106 to 107 CFU g−1 and were one order (two samples) and six orders (one sample) of magnitude greater than that of nonhaloalkaliphilic, common LAB, as enumerated on lactobacilli MRS agar. The 16S rRNA gene sequences (500 bp) of 51 of the 55 isolates examined were identical or similar to that of Marinilactibacillus psychrotolerans or Alkalibacterium olivapovliticus and related species, all of which are HALAB. Conclusions:  HALAB of possible marine origin were present in various soft, semi‐hard and semi‐soft cheeses and were highly predominant in some mould‐ripened cheeses. Significance and Impact of the Study:  HALAB of possible marine origin are members of the microflora of various cheeses and, when dominant, may play a role in the ripening of cheeses. Microbial analysis of LAB flora in cheeses should take into consideration the presence of HALAB.

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Background: COVID-19 is currently undergoing a pandemic worldwide, including in Japan, and many lives have been lost. So, there is an urgent need to develop new biomarkers for estimating progression or prognosis of COVID-19 patient. Lung-specific serum biomarkers, SP-A, SP-D and KL-6 have been used clinically for diagnosis of interstitial lung disease (ILDs), but their use in COVID-19 has not been investigated. To determine whether serum levels of SP-A, SP-D and KL-6 correlate with the severity of COVID-19 as indicated by clinical symptoms and radiological findings. Methods: In a cohort of 46 consecutive COVID-19 patients, laboratory data including serum SP-A, SP-D and KL-6 concentrations of 82 blood samples were analyzed and compared between severe and non-severe cases. In addition, the disease severity as indicated by these markers and chest HRCT images were compared.Results: Serum SP-A was significantly elevated from the early stage of pneumonia. In addition, serum SP-A and SP-D were significantly higher in severe than in non-severe cases. KL-6 was also significantly higher in severe-cases, but its mean was below the cut-off level for ILDs. AUC and their cut-off levels to detect severe cases in patients with COVID-19 infection were 0.796 for 94.9 ng/ml of SP-A, 0.827 for 116 ng/ml of SP-D and 0.640 for 275 U/ml of KL-6. HRCT image severity scores showed moderate correlations with SP-A (ρ=0.5996, p<0.001), SP-D (ρ=0.6268, p<0.001), and weak with KL-6 (ρ=0.3489, p<0.001). In the typical course of patients whose pneumonia worsened from non-severe to severe, the serum SP-A and SP-D levels increased nearly in parallel with clinical findings and HRCT images.Conclusions: Lung-specific serum SP-A and SP-D level increased with symptom and radiological findings. These elevations can be detected from relatively early pneumonia. These results indicated that these might become a novel biomarker in COVID-19 pneumonia.