[Synthesis of reserve polyhydroxyalkanoates by luminescent bacteria].

The ability of marine luminescent bacteria to synthesize polyesters of hydroxycarboxylic acids (polyhydroxyalkanoates, PHA) as reserve macromolecules was studied. Twenty strains from the collection of the luminescent bacteria CCIBSO (WDSM839) of the Institute of Biophysics, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, assigned to different taxa (Photobacterium leiognathi, Ph. phosphoreum, Vibrio harveyi, and V. fischeri) were analyzed. The most productive strains were identified, and the conditions ensuring high polymer yields in batch culture (40-70% of the cell dry mass weight) were determined. The capacity of synthesizing two- and three-component polymers containing hydroxybutyric acid as the main monomer and hydroxyvaleric and hydroxyhexanoic acids was revealed in Ph. leiognathi and V. harveyi strains. The results allow luminescent microorganisms to be regarded as new producers of multicomponent polyhydroxyalkanoates.

[Database on natural and transgenic luminous microorganisms: "BiolumBase"].

The database "BiolumBase" is designed for the selection and systematization of available world information on microorganisms containing bioluminescent systems; it includes two sections: "natural" and "transgenic" luminous microorganisms. At present, logic schemes of divisions, classification of the objects, presentation of characteristics, and the inputs of relative information, as well as the necessary program modules including links to the database, are developed. The database is constructed on the basis of published data and our own experimental results; the subsequent linkage of the database to the Internet is envisaged. Users will be able to obtain not only the catalogues of strains but also information concerning the properties and functions of the known species of luminous bacteria, the structure, regulatory mechanisms, and application of bioluminescent systems and genetically engineered constructions with lux genes, as well as to find references and to search strains by using any set of attributes. The database will provide information that is of interest for the development of microbial ecology and biotechnology, in particular, for the prediction of biological hazard from the application of transgenic strains.

Self-restoration as fundamental property of CES providing their sustainability.

Sustainability is one of the most important criteria in the creation and evaluation of human life support systems intended for use during long space flights. The common feature of biological and physicochemical life support systems is that basically they are both catalytic. But there are two fundamental properties distinguishing biological systems: 1) they are auto-catalytic: their catalysts--enzymes of protein nature--are continuously reproduced when the system functions; 2) the program of every process performed by enzymes and the program of their reproduction are inherent in the biological system itself--in the totality of genomes of the species involved in the functioning of the ecosystem. Actually, one cell with the genome capable of the phenotypic realization is enough for the self-restoration of the function performed by the cells of this species in the ecosystem. The continuous microalgal culture of Chlorella vulgaris was taken to investigate quantitatively the process of self-restoration in unicellular algae population. Based on the data obtained, we proposed a mathematical model of the restoration process in a cell population that has suffered an acute radiation damage.

Analysis of river water by bioluminescent biotests.

The bacterial bioluminescence has high sensitivity to the action of various inhibitors of biological activity. The lyophilized luminous bacteria Photobacterium phosphoreum (Microbiosensor B17 677F) and luminous strain Escherichia coli (Microbiosensor EC) from the Culture Collection IBSO were used to create bioluminescent biotests. They have been applied in ecological monitoring to determine the overall toxicity of the Yenisei and Angara Rivers and some water sources of Altai Territory. As a rule the heaviest pollution of water in studied rivers was registered near cities and settlements. The luminous bacteria biotests are simple and convenient in work, standardized and quantitative, have rapid response to actions of different substances and high sensitivity to environmental pollutants. It takes less than 30 min to do the biotest (the other biotests take 48--96 h).

[Luminescent bacteria--producers of specific restriction endonucleases]. / Svetiashchiesia bakterii--produtsenty spetsificheskikh éndonukleaz restriktsii.

Luminescent bacteria isolated from the waters of the Black Sea and of the Indian and Pacific Oceans were tested for the presence of restriction endonucleases. For 12 of 19 restriction enzyme producers revealed, restriction sites were determined. The enzymes were identified as isoschizomers of AfIII, BanI, HaeIII, PstI, Sau3AI, and Sau96I. Possible participation of the restriction and modification enzymes in the interaction of bacterial symbionts with the animal macrosymbiont is discussed.

Growth and luminescence of luminous bacteria promoted by agents of microbial origin.

The examination of four species of luminous bacteria Photobacterium leiognathi, Photobacterium phosphoreum, Vibrio fischeri and Vibrio harveyi has enabled us to reveal some nutrient medium components effecting growth, luminescence intensity and luciferase synthesis. These agents are nucleic components (nucleotides, nucleotides and amine bases), amino acids and vitamins, which are part of hydrolysates from the biomass of various lithotrophic microorganisms, hydrogen-oxidizing, iron-oxidizing and carboxydobacteria. The effect of promoting agents essentially alters the physiological state and ultrastructure of the cells of luminous bacteria and increases luciferase biosynthesis two- to three-fold compared to a control.

[Lipids of the luminescent bacteria Photobacterium mandapamensis]. / Lipidy svetiashchikhsia bakterii Photobacterium mandapamensis.

The composition of lipids was studied in the luminescent bacterium Photobacterium mandapamensis under the conditions of maximal luminescence. The synthesis of total lipids and poly-beta-hydroxybutyric acid (PHBA) was investigated in dynamics under the conditions of batch cultivation. The major class of lipids was polar lipids (84.3%) represented by phospholipids (phosphatidyl ethanolamine, phosphatidyl glycerol, cardiolipin, lysocardiolipin, lysophosphatidyl ethanolamine) and a minor nonidentified phospholipid. The fraction of neutral lipids was represented mainly by free fatty acids (about 5%), tri- and diglycerides (in trace amounts), and two nonidentified classes, apparently, hydrocarbons and waxes. A correlation was established between the luminescence of the bacterium and the content of PHBA.

[Fatty acid makeup changes in the luminescent bacteria, Photobacterium mandapamensis, in periodic cultivation]. / Izmenenie zhirnokislotnogo sostava svetiashchikhsia bakterii Photobacterium mandapamensis pri periodicheskom kul'tivirovanii.

The fatty acid composition of the luminescent bacterium Photobacterium mandapamensis and its spontaneous dark mutant was studied in dynamics. Lipids of the both strains extracted with a methanol -- chloroform mixture contained the following fatty acids: lauric, tridecanoic, myristic, tetradecenic, pentadecanoic, pentadecenic, palmitic, palmitoleic, heptadecanoic, C17-cyclopropanoic, stearic, octadecenic, and nonadecanoic. The content of palmitoleic acid was the highest (57% of the total). Not all of the acids changed their content in the same direction during batch cultivation of the luminescent and dark strains. The content of palmitoleic acid fell to 49.2% of the total in the luminescent culture at the point of its maximal luminescence, but it increased to 63.8% in the dark strain at the corresponding growth phase.

[Luminescence and growth of Photobacterium mandapamensis in periodic culture]. / Liuminestsentsiia i rost Photobacterium mandapamensis v periodicheskoi kul'ture.

The luminescent Photobacterium mandapamensis, strain 54 (the collection of the Institute of Physics, Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences), was isolated from the water of the Pacific Ocean in the equatorial zone and studied in the course of periodic cultivation. The dynamics of changes in the main parameters of the culture, such as luminescence, growth, respiration, heat emission etc., was investigated. The data obtained were used to establish a correlation between changes in these parameters and in the cell metabolism when one energy substrate was substituted by another.

[Cellular protrusions of luminescent bacteria and relation of their appearance to cultivation conditions]. / Kletochnye vyrosty svetiashchikhsia bakterii i zavisimost' ikh poiavleniia ot uslovii kul'tivirovaniia

The luminescent cells of Photobacterium were studied by electron microscopy in order to establish what caused their sticking together and growth on the glass walls of the vessel during continuous cultivation. Electron microscopy revealed protrusions, of various shape and size, on the cells. The phenomenology of various protrusions, including fimbria, is described, and the effect of cultivation conditions (continuous culture, periodic culture) and growth phases on their emergence was elucidated. The sticking of the cells together and their growth on the glass walls were less expressed at pH between 7.5 and 7.9, when the amount of the cells with the fimbria was the least and they were formed during the later phase of growth.