Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Life Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Microbiology Of The Oil Fly, Helaeomyia Petrolei, Dana R. Kadavy, Bradley A. Plantz, Christopher A. Shaw, Jill Myatt, Tyler A. Kokjohn, Kenneth Nickerson Apr 1999

Microbiology Of The Oil Fly, Helaeomyia Petrolei, Dana R. Kadavy, Bradley A. Plantz, Christopher A. Shaw, Jill Myatt, Tyler A. Kokjohn, Kenneth Nickerson

Papers in Microbiology

Helaeomyia petrolei larvae isolated from the asphalt seeps of Rancho La Brea in Los Angeles, Calif., were examined for microbial gut contents. Standard counts on Luria-Bertani, MacConkey, and blood agar plates indicated ca. 2 x 105 heterotrophic bacteria per larva. The culturable bacteria represented 15 to 20% of the total population as determined by acridine orange staining. The gut itself contained large amounts of the oil, had no observable ceca, and maintained a slightly acidic pH of 6.3 to 6.5. Despite the ingestion of large amounts of potentially toxic asphalt by the larvae, their guts sustained the growth of …


Nonspecific Interactions Alter Lipopolysaccharide Patterns And Protein Mobility On Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate Polyacrylamide Gels, Aidong Yuan, R L. Pardy, Catherine P. Chia Mar 1999

Nonspecific Interactions Alter Lipopolysaccharide Patterns And Protein Mobility On Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate Polyacrylamide Gels, Aidong Yuan, R L. Pardy, Catherine P. Chia

Papers in Microbiology

In testing whether bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was a natural substrate for an esterase from the soil amebae Dictyostelium discoideum, we observed altered banding patterns of the LPS and changed protein mobility on sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) polyacrylamide gels after incubation of LPS with the enzyme. The initial interpretation of these results was that the enzyme had removed ester-linked acyl chains from the LPS, leading to a change in its migration on gels. However, esterase inactivated by treatment with either dithiothreitol (DTT), heat, or SDS generated the same mobility shifts. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) also induced the same change in …