Biomineralization processes of calcite induced by bacteria isolated from marine sediments

Biomineralization is a known natural phenomenon associated with a wide range of bacterial species. Bacterial-induced calcium carbonate precipitation by marine isolates was investigated in this study. Three genera of ureolytic bacteria, Sporosarcina sp., Bacillus sp. and Brevundimonas sp. were observed to precipitate calcium carbonate minerals. Of these species, Sporosarcina sp. dominated the cultured isolates. B. lentus CP28 generated higher urease activity and facilitated more efficient precipitation of calcium carbonate at 3.24 ± 0.25 × 10−4 mg/cell. X-ray diffraction indicated that the dominant calcium carbonate phase was calcite. Scanning electron microscopy showed that morphologies of the minerals were dominated by cubic, rhombic and polygonal plate-like crystals. The dynamic process of microbial calcium carbonate precipitation revealed that B. lentus CP28 precipitated calcite crystals through the enzymatic hydrolysis of urea, and that when ammonium ion concentrations reached 746 mM and the pH reached 9.6, that favored calcite precipitation at a higher level of 96 mg/L. The results of this research provide evidence that a variety of marine bacteria can induce calcium carbonate precipitation, and may influence the marine carbonate cycle in natural environments.

Brevundimonas vesicularis bacteremia: A rare case report in a female infant.

Brevundimonas vesicularis has rarely been isolated from clinical specimens. We report here a case of B. vesicularis bacteremia in a female infant who presented with fever, vomiting and altered sensorium. USG abdomen showed mild hepatomegaly, moderate ascitis with bilateral mild basal pleural effusion. Blood culture was processed by BACTEC BD. Isolate was identified as B. vesicularis, by API ID 32 GN automated system. We have come across only one report of neonatal sepsis caused by B. vesicularis from India. To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the rare case reports of B. vesicularis bacteremia in a female infant.

Genome-wide identification of exported proteins of the novel bacterium Phenylobacterium zucineum HLK1(T) using a consensus computational strategy / 浙江大学学报·医学版

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To predict the exported proteins of the novel bacterium Phenylobacterium zucineum HLK1(T) using genome-wide computational identification by searching the export signals including N-terminal signal peptides and alpha-transmembrane helices.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The computational identification of signal sequences was based on a consensus between multiple predictive tools, including SignalP V3.0, LipoP V1.0, Phobius and TMHMM 2.0. Type IV signal peptides and proteins exported via TAT machinery were searched manually based on the conservative motifs. All the predicted proteins were classified according to the Cluster of Orthologous Group (COG) standard.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>In the total 3861 proteins encoded by P. zucineum HLK1(T) 1 378 (35.7%) were predicted to be exported proteins, most of which (totally 735, 19.0% of the proteome and 53.3% of all the exported proteins) were uncleavable transmembrane helices. In addition, 499 type I signal peptides (12.9%, 36.2%), 101 lipoproteins (2.6%, 7.3%) were also identified. Four Type IV signal peptides and 12 TAT proteins were detected as well. According to the COG classification standard, most of these exported proteins were P proteins related to inorganic ion transport and metabolism and S proteins whose functions were unknown.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The genome of HLK1(T) coded various types of exported proteins which may play an important role in the interaction between P. zucineum and the host cell, and facilitate the strain to invade into the cell.</p>