[Bion-M1. Biological activities of microorganisms under the conditions of a 30-day space flight].

It was stated that spaceflight factors (SFF) affect the chromosomal DNA interchange during Streptomyces crossing. Cross polarity and primary input of a parent chromosome fragment in recombinant generation imply a more lasting cells contact in microgravity and a broader horizontal transport of genetic material. SFF had no effect on recombination frequency and mutation in a model of parental auxotrophic markers reversion to prototrophism. It was demonstrated that SFF boosted the fC31 phage exit from S. lividans 66 (fC31) and did not influence phage induction in S. coelicolor A3(2) (fC31). SFF inhibited synthesis of antiobiotic actinorhodin in lisogenic S. coelicolor A3(2), and tylosin and desmicosin in S. fradiae. Survivability of electrogenic bacteria Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 in space flight was higher compared with the synchronous control experiment. The reduction activity of S. oneidensis MR-1 as an indicator of electron generation effectiveness was identical in flight and laboratory samples.

[Study of some aspects of the mechanism of bacterial synthesis of silver sulfide nanoparticles by mMetal-reducing bacteria Shewanella oneidensis MR-1].

In the present work it was shown that biosynthesis of silver sulfide nanoparticles from silver nitrate and sodium thiosulfate solutions of millimolar concentration occurs efficiently by living Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 cells, as well as by ultrasonically-disrupted cells and by the membrane fraction of the cells. The size of nanoparticles synthesized in the presence of living cells was 7.8 ± 1.5 nm, while in the presence of ultrasonically-disrupted cells--it was 6.52 nm. The shape of nanoparticles in both cases was close to spherical. It was also shown, that synthesis of nanoparticles occurs in a cell-free solution of sodium thiosulfate that has been incubated with cells previously and to which then a silver nitrate solution was added. In this case the nanoparticles were of elongated shape and their size was (11 ± 4) x (24 ± 6) nm. In the control experiment, when only silver nitrate and sodium thiosulfate solutions not incubated with cells were used, the nanoparticles were not detected. It was shown that biosynthesis of nanoparticles occurs both in aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Nanoparticles are not formed by using thermally inactivated cells as it was shown by us previously. The results show the important role of the native structures of cells for the nanoparticles formation.

[Microbial fuel cells as an alternative power supply].

Purpose of the work was designing and prototyping of microbial fuel cells (MFC) and comparative evaluation of the electrogenic activity of wastewater autochthonous microorganisms as well as bacterial monocultures. Objects were model electrogenic strain Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, and an Ochrobactrum sp. strain isolated from the active anode biofilm of MFC composed as an electricity generating system. The study employed the methods typically used for aerobic and anaerobic strains, current measurement, identification of new electrogenic strains in microbial association of wastewater sludge and species definition by rRNA 16-S. As a result, two MFCs prototypes were tried out. Besides, it was shown that electrogenic activity of S. oneidensis MR-1 and Ochrobactrum sp. monocultures is similar but differs from that of the microbial association of the anode biofilm.

[Development of a system of plasmid transfer in the strains Streptomyces avermitilis ATCC 31272 and Saccharopolyspora erythraea ATCC 11635 by the method of intergeneric conjugation]. / Razrabotka sistemy peredachi plazmid metodom mezhrodovoi kon''iugatsii v shtammy Streptomyces avermitilis ATCC 31272 i Saccharopolyspora erythraea ATCC 11635.

A new method of plasmid DNA transfer from the donor strain Escherichia coli S17-1 to the erythomycin-producing strain Saccharopolyspora erythraea and avermectin-producing strain Streptomyces avermitilis via intergeneric conjugation was proposed. The optimal parameters of the method were chosen for increasing the efficiency of crosses and ensuring easily reproducible results. The behavior of the multicopy plasmid pPM803 and the integration vector pTO1 along with a number of new plasmids specially created by us, was examined in these strains. A new plasmid vector (pSI60) capable of integrating into the chromosome of actinomycetes at the integration site of the temperate actinophage phi C31 was constructed. This vector possesses unique sites convenient for cloning and may be stably maintained in exconjugants of S. avermitilis and in the model strain Streptomyces lividans. The gene encoding resistance to spectinomycin and streptomycin was cloned into the vector pSI60 in this strain. For cloning in strain Sac. erythraea, vectors pSI261-280, which integrate into the chromosome via homology with the cloned DNA and can be stably maintained in exconjugants, were constructed.

[Effect of the gene for bacterial hemoglobin vhb on the effectiveness of the process of Escherichia coli-Streptomyces interspecies conjugation and production of antibiotics in streptomycetes]. / Vliianie gena bakterial'nogo gemoglobina vhb na éffektivnost' protsessa mezhrodovoi kon''iugatsii Escherichia coli-Streptomyces i produktsiiu antibiotikov u streptomitsetov.

The bacterial hemoglobin vhb gene was cloned from sliding bacterium Vitreoscilla sp. as an element of the system ensuring survival of this microorganism in an environment that contains insufficient amount of oxygen. The vhb gene was transferred from Escherichia coli to some Streptomyces strains, producers of antibiotics, by the method of intergeneric conjugation using conjugative-integrative plasmid vectors pIH1 and pCH2. The stability of plasmid DNA inheritance was analyzed in the genomes of exconjugants. A positive effect of the vhb gene on processes of conjugation and antibiotic production in a number of examined strains was shown.

[Molecular genetic study of the strain Streptomyces virginiae-- the producer of virginiamycin]. / Molekuliarno-geneticheskoe izuchenie shtamma Streptomyces virginiae--produtsenta virdzhiniamitsina.

The level and the character of the Streptomyces virginiae virginiamycin-producing strain's resistance to self-produced antibiotic and a number of antibiotics from different groups were determined. S. virginiae was shown to display constitutive and inducible resistance to self-produced antibiotic. The phenomenon of cross-inducible resistance of the strain to virginiamycin and the antibiotics erythromycin, oleandomycin, and thiostrepton was demonstrated. The pTO1 and pVGTB24 plasmids were introduced into the strain by the method of intergeneric conjugation with Escherichia coli. Site-specific integration of the pTO1 vector into the S. virginiae chromosomal attB site without disturbance of growth, differentiation, and productivity of the strain was shown. The multicopy autonomously replicating plasmids pIJ699, pIJ702, pWOR109, and the integrative pZAT22 plasmid were introduced into the strain via electrotransformation of germinating spores. The efficiency of transformation was 1-5 x 10(3) transformants per 1 microgram DNA. The stable inheritance of the plasmids in S. virginiae without structural rearrangements was shown. These results allow the use of these plasmids to clone genes into S. virginiae.

[Determinants of resistance to chlortetracycline and other antibiotics in chlortetracycline-producing strain of Streptomyces aureofaciens]. / Determinanty ustoichivosti k khlortetratsiklinu i drugim antibiotikam u shtamma Streptomyces aureofaciens--produtsenta khlortetratsiklina.

Data are presented on resistance of Streptomyces aureofaciens strain TB-633 FU--the producer of chlortetracycline (CTC) to autogenous antibiotics and a number of other antibiotics. It is demonstrated that resistance to CTC is specified by ctr genes of constitutive expression as well as by inducible genes. CTC and ethidium bromide may serve as efficient inductors of inducible ctr genes. The induction process is accompanied by increase in antibiotic biosynthesis level. Genes responsible for strain resistance to a number of macrolide antibiotics and thiostrepton are inducible and only function in the presence of appropriate antibiotics in the medium. The action of inducible mtr gene(s) is described in detail. The gene(s) simultaneously ensure increase in resistance to CTC and a number of macrolide antibiotics in the presence of exogenous inductors in media, such as both CTC and macrolide antibiotics. Mutants have been isolated which provide constitutive level of resistance to these antibiotics. A series of ctr and mtr mutants have increased CTC biosynthesis as compared to the initial level. Data on comparative analysis of the results obtained from hybridization of fragments of S. aureofaciens and S. rimosus DNAs to actI and actIII genes, responsible for polyketide synthases' synthesis, demonstrate that genes for CTC and OTC biosynthesis are situated on DNA fragments of similar size. This determines the strategy for cloning ctr and mtr genes as well as genes for CTC biosynthesis from S. aureofaciens.

[Selection of strains of Streptomyces griseus Kr., the producer of a streptothricin antibiotic grisin, using the method of protoplast fusion]. / Selektsiia shtammov Streptomyces griseus Kr., produtsenta streptotritsinovogo antibiotika grizina, s ispol'zovaniem metoda sliianiia protoplastov.

The effect of protoplasting on antibiotic activity of the grisin-producing organism was shown. High frequency of Grn- mutants after strain VG307f protoplasting and no capacity in these mutants for reversion to the initial Grn+ phenotype were shown. The reversion frequency was less than 10(-8). Moreover, it was shown that all the Grn- mutants lost their stability (GrnR) to the effect of their own antibiotic. With respect to strain VG212 there was noted a significant increase in the number of both the minus and the plus variants after the protoplast formation and regeneration. Fusing of protoplasts of strains VG307f and VG212 belonging to the divergent lines in selection of S. griseus Kr. yielded the phage stable strain VG7849 with high levels of the antibiotic production and improved technological properties.

[Genetic control of Actinomycetes resistance to antibiotics]. / Geneticheskii kontrol' ustoichivosti aktinomitsetov k antibiotikam.

The results of studies on genetic control of resistance to antibiotics in Streptomyces strains are discussed. Cloning and sequence analysis of resistance genes yield information concerning their expression in homo- and heterologous systems, allow analysis of signal sequences responsible for initiation of transcription and translation. Cloning of genes coding for resistance to neomycin,viomycin, thiostrepton in Streptomyces and Bac. licheniformis ermD gene made them convenient selective markers for constructing vector molecules, useful for identification of homology regions in S. fradiae aph gene and TnS of E. coli; the site homologous to ermD gene has been thus revealed in S. erythreus chromosome. Possibilities of the studies aimed at elucidation of instability of many actinomycete characters using determinants of natural multiple resistance to antibiotics as a model are demonstrated. It has been shown that genetic instability is not related to the loss of plasmids and is associated with genes having chromosomal location. Simultaneous high frequency loss of a number of resistance characters determined by non-linked genes suggests the participation in gene activity regulation of actinomycete genome rearrangements. This is confirmed by evidence for such rearrangements found in strains with mutant phenotypes, including deletions in tyrosinase and streptomycin phosphotransferase genes in Mel- and StrS strains of S. reticuli and S. glaucescens.

[Use of the protoplast fusion method in the selection of Streptomyces griseus--the producer of the streptothricin antibiotic grisin]. / Ispol'zovanie metoda sliianiia protoplastov v selektsii Streptomyces griseua--produtsenta streptotritsinovogo antibiotika grizina.

An effective method for protoplast fusion in S. griseus producing grisin was developed. The method requires the use of polyethylene glycol with a molecular weight of 1000. It was demonstrated that protoplasts formed most effectively in this organism, when the mycelium of the streptomycete previously treated with ultrasound in the process of its growth was used for the treatment with lysozyme. The efficacy of protoplast regeneration in the strains with the use of the modified hypertonic medium R2MD was 25-75 per cent. The possibility of using the protoplast fusion method for constructing phage resistant strains producing kormogrisin was shown.