0000000000701818
AUTHOR
Mirja Salkinoja-salonen
Toxicological profile of cereulide, the Bacillus cereus emetic toxin, in functional assays with human, animal and bacterial cells
International audience; Some strains of the endospore-forming bacterium Bacillus cereus produce a heat-stable ionophoric peptide, cereulide, of high human toxicity. We assessed cell toxicity of cereulide by measuring the toxicities of crude extracts of cereulide producing and non-producing strains of B. cereus, and of pure cereulide, using cells of human, animal and bacterial origins. Hepatic cell lines and boar sperm, with cytotoxicity and sperm motility, respectively, as the end points, were inhibited by <= 1 nM of cereulide present as B. cereus extract. RNA synthesis and cell proliferation in HepG2 cells was inhibited by 2 nM of cereulide. These toxic effects were explainable by the acti…
Bleaching of color of kraft pulp mill effluents and natural organic matter in lakes
In situ changes in the color of lake water and biologically treated kraft pulp mill effluents mixed in lake water were examined in three lakes. In 1.7 m3 enclosures, the color (400700 g Pt·m3) of the mixture of pulp mill effluent and lake water remained similar for 4 months in darkness, whereas exposure to solar radiation resulted in 1742% bleaching of color. During the summer stratification of a humic lake, the color (160 g Pt·m3) of hypolimnetic water remained similar to that found during spring turnover, but the color of epilimnion decreased 13%. The measured rates of photochemical bleaching of color by solar radiation could explain the decrease of epilimnetic color. Attenuation of …
Diversity of chlorophenol-degrading bacteria isolated from contaminated boreal groundwater
Chlorophenol-degrading bacteria from a long-term polluted groundwater aquifer were characterized. All isolates degraded 2,4,6-trichlorophenol and 2,3,4,6-tetrachlorophenol at concentrations detected in the contaminated groundwater (10 mg 1(-1)). Pentachlorophenol was degraded by three isolates when present alone. In two gram-positive isolates, 2,3,4,6-tetrachlorophenol was required as an inducer for the degradation of pentachlorophenol. The gram-positive isolates were sensitive to pentachlorophenol, with an IC50 value of 5 mg/l. Isolates belonging to the Cytophaga/Flexibacter/Bacteroides phylum had IC50 values of 25 and 63 mg/l. Isolates belonging to alpha-, beta- and gamma-Proteobacteria g…