This article elucidates that strain Pseudomonas aeruginosa (IES-Ps-1) is a versatile toxic organic compound degrader. With the degradation of malathion and cypermethrin (studied by other researchers previously), this strain was able to degrade phenol. Two other indigenous soil flora (i.e., Pseudomonas sp. (IES-S) and Bacillus subtilis (IES-B)) were also found to be potential phenol degraders.Phenol was degraded with Monod kinetics during growth in nutrient broth and mineral salts medium. Before entering into the growth inhibition phase, strains IES-Ps-1, IES-S and IES-B could tolerate up to 400, 700 and 500 mg/L phenol, respectively, when contained in nutrient broth. However, according to the Luong–Levenspiel model, the growth of strains IES-Ps-1, IES-S and IES-B would cease at 2000, 2174 and 2190 mg/L phenol, respectively. Strain IES-Ps-1 degraded 700, 900 and 1050 mg/L phenol contained in mineral salts medium with the specific rates of 0.034, 0.075 and 0.021 h−1, respectively. All these strains grew by making clusters when exposed to phenol in order to prevent damages due to high substrate concentration. These strains transformed phenol into catechol, which was then degraded via ortho-cleavage pathway.

No abstract

The vitreous antibodies may be involved in neutrophil-mediated opsonophagocytosis leading to 'spontaneous sterility' of the bacteria, and may play a role in the immunopathogenesis of staphylococcal endophthalmitis in the rat.

A pure bacterial culture able to utilize 2-fluorophenol (2-FP) as sole carbon and energy source was isolated by selective enrichment from sediments collected from a contaminated site in Northern Portugal. 16S rRNA gene analysis showed that the organism (strain FP1) belongs to the genus Rhodococcus. When grown aerobically on 2-FP, growth kinetics of strain FP1 followed the Luong model. An inhibitory effect of increasing 2-FP concentrations was observed with no growth occurring at 2-FP levels higher than ca. 4 mM. Rhodococcus strain FP1 was able to degrade a range of other organofluorine compounds, including 2-fluorobenzoate, 3-fluorobenzoate, 4-fluorobenzoate, 3-fluorophenol, 4-fluorophenol, 3-fluorocatechol, and 4-fluorocatechol, as well as chlorinated compounds such as 2-chlorophenol and 4-chlorophenol. Experiments with cell-free extracts and partially purified enzymes indicated that the first step of 2-fluorophenol metabolism was conversion to 3-fluorocatechol, suggesting an unusual pathway for fluoroaromatic metabolism. To our knowledge, this is the first time that utilization of 2-FP as a growth substrate by a pure bacterial culture is reported.