Patterns of Phosphatase Activity among Enterobacterial Species

Abstract

The phosphatase activities of cells of representative enterobacterial species were studied after cells were grown in a chemically defined medium with variations in the amounts of phosphates and in pH (4.00 to 9.00). All strains of a given species demonstrated similar acid phosphatase activities after growth in the presence or absence of phosphates. In contrast, alkaline phosphatase was produced only by some species, and it was also strongly influenced by the presence of either glycerophosphate or Pi in the medium. There were four patterns of phosphatase activity, depending on the properties of the alkaline phosphatase. Phosphatase activity can be a valuable characteristic for inclusion in tests for the identification of enterobacteria.Phosphatase activity among enterobacteria has been the subject of considerable interest during past decades (14), but most work dealt with only a few strains of different species and used different assay conditions, producing results that were often contrasting and not easy to compare (6, 9, 10, 18,22,(25)(26)(27). In fact, among enterobacteria only Escherichia coli and Aerobacter (Klebsiella) aerogenes have been analyzed for production of acid and alkaline phosphatases in the same strains (3,23). One or the other of these enzymes was examined in detail in a few species and ignored in others (2, 5, 12, 13, 18,25,27). Consequently, our knowledge of enterobacterial phosphatases is incomplete. Moreover, the information that we have regarding phosphatases derives from very few strains of a species.Recently, phosphatase activity was shown to be a constant property of colonies of all the major species of the family Enterobacteriaceae (17). A novel method, called methyl-green phosphatase (MGP) (15), used different substrates in a plate medium to evaluate the phosphatases of colonies of different species. The technique allowed the separation of the Proteus-Providencia group from other enterobacteria and the identification of Providencia stuartii strains (15, 16). Therefore, it is possible that the specific properties of the phosphatases and the levels of activity may be characteristic of various species of the group and may contribute to species identification, as has already been done for other bacteria (7, 11, 19) but which has been done for only a few enterobacterial species (14, 16).We have studied the phosphatase activities of the enterobacterial species most commonly isolated from clinical specimens by growing them in a chemically defined medium either containing or not containing different amounts of phosphates in buffers at pHs ranging from 4.00 to 9.00. MATERIALS AND METHODS Strains.A total of 60 strains, belonging to 16 enterobacterial species commonly isolated from clinical specimens, were tested for phosphatase activity at different pHs and with different amounts of Pi in the growth medium, which was or was not supplemented with glycerophosphate (G3P). Enterobacterial species were isolated from clinical speci-* Corresponding author. mens in our laboratory and were identified ...

A sustainable and effective bioprocessing approach for improvement of acid phosphatase production and rock phosphate solubilization by Bacillus haynesii strain ACP1

“…On the other hand, ACP was produced in large quantities by Klebsiella and Morganella , as well as Providencia stuartii . For the Klebsiella species, production varied from 11.63 to 18.66 U L −1 min −1 , which was 17.79 to 11.09 times less than the maximal activity obtained by the strain under study, whereas for Morganella morganii and Providencia stuartii , production ranged from 170 to 675 and 1300 to 1686 U L −1 min −1 , respectively 28 .

Figure 7 ( a) Monitoring of B. haynesii strain ACP1 growth and acid phosphatase productivity in a 7 L stirred-tank bioreactor under uncontrolled pH conditions, and (b) online data (dissolved oxygen percentage, agitation, aeration, and pH) as a function of time during batch fermentation in the bioreactor under uncontrolled pH conditions.

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Microbial Synthesis of Hydroxyapatite-Nanocellulose Nanocomposites from Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast Pellicle of Fermented Kombucha Tea

“…ALP is a vital enzyme involved in the mineral formation of the natural bone [22]. The enzyme activity ideally triggered the release of inorganic phosphate ions in the media, which further reacted with calcium ions to form hydroxyapatite crystals [23]. When live The EDS spectrum of the nanocomposite detected traces of mineral ions such as strontium, magnesium, zinc and sodium on the SNHA membranes.…”

Bacterial nonspecific acid phosphohydrolases: physiology, evolution and use as tools in microbial biotechnology

“…Therefore, the simple measurement of phosphatase activity of whole cells or of crude cell extracts using chromogenic substrates is not expected to be highly informative. However, gross differences in the pattern of phosphatase production can also be detected using this simple approach [18,26,44], which is suitable for analysing a considerable number of strains. In fact, measurement of total phosphatase activity produced by different members of the family Enterobacteriaceae showed that Pro6idencia stuartii and Morganella morganii are able to produce a highlevel P i -irrepressible acid phosphatase (HPAP) activity (indicated as HPAP phenotype), unlike most other enterobacterial species, which produce only low to moderate levels of acid phosphatase activity under similar conditions [18,26].…”