Assessment of the effectiveness of the PPD-mallein produced in Brazil for diagnosing glanders in mules

To assess the potency of the PPD-mallein produced in Brazil, five animals were from a property identified as a focus of glanders. These animals had suggestive clinical signs of the disease and the other five, from a property free from glanders, showed no clinical signs and were serology negative (control group). PPD-mallein from Burkholderia mallei was obtained by precipitation with trichlo-roa-cetic acid and ammonium sulfate. The animals were inoculated according to the criteria established by Department of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA) for the diagnosis of glanders. After 48 h of application of PPD-mallein, there was swelling in the area of application, presence of ocular secretion and tears in sick animals. The control group showed no inflammatory reaction at the site of inoculation of PPD-mallein. This immunogen produced in Brazil and still being tested was effective for identifying the infection in true positive animals and excluding the truly negative ones, being a new possibility for diagnosis and control of glanders.

Purification and characterisation of an extracellular phytase from Aspergillus niger 11T53A9

An extracellular phytase from Aspergillus niger 11T53A9 was purified about 51-fold to apparent homogeneity with a recovery of 20.3 percent referred to the phytase activity in the crude extract. Purification was achieved by ammonium sulphate precipitation, ion chromataography and gel filtration. The purified enzyme behaved as a monomeric protein with a molecular mass of about 85 kDa and exhibited maximal phytate-degrading activity at pH 5.0. Optimum temperature for the degradation of phytate was 55ºC. The kinetic parameters for the hydrolysis of sodium phytate were determined to be K M = 54 µmol l-1 and k cat = 190 sec-1 at pH 5.0 and 37ºC. The purified enzyme was rather specific for phytate dephosphorylation. It was shown that the phytase preferably dephosphorylates myo-inositol hexakisphosphate in a stereospecific way by sequential removal of phosphate groups via D-Ins(1,2,4,5,6)P5, D-Ins(1,2,5,6)P4, D-Ins(1,2,6)P3, D-Ins(1,2)P2 to finally Ins(2)P.