Microorganisms develop a unique set of strategies to overcome the challenges in the environment, such as human beings and all living organisms. One of these strategies is the complex structure called biofilm, which gives bacteria the ability to grow and survive under harsh environmental conditions. The present study investigated the antibacterial and antibiofilm effect of organic honey vinegar (HV), apple vinegar (AV) and grape vinegar (GV) at different concentration. The effect of HV, AV and GV in inhibiting biofilm formation was determined with crystal violet staining assay. Moreover, the effect on the biofilms formed after 48 hours (biofilm inactivation) were determined by different treatment times (30, 60, 120 s). The biofilm removing efficacy of the different treatment times using HV, AV, GV were compared using the BFI (Biofilm Forming Index).

The present study investigated berries that grown in a wild way in Peru above 3500 m.a.s.l. and these have become medicinal importance due to its high concentration of antioxidants, and several species of Lactobacillus, which are part of their native flora, could be a valuable tool in order to increase natural benefits in different foodstuff. This study aims to analyze phylogenetics and taxonomy based on 16S rDNA gene allows differentiation at species level. The bioinformatics analysis (BLAST and reconstruction of phylogenetic trees), found the genus Lactobacillus, Leuconostoc and Weissiella. Some strains showed similarity about 100% with Weissella cibaria KACC 11862, Leuconostoc mesenteroids subsp. dextranicum and Leuconostoc mesenteroids subsp. mesenteroids located in the same clade in the phylogenetic tree, which would confirm its phylogenetic approach. The native strains of the genus Lactobacillus showed similarity with L. plantarum, L. paracasei, L. fermentum and L. pentosus, while others native strains of same genus were located in different clades, confirming a probable diversity of species. Due to these results it is suggested to carry out the phylogenetic analysis with more specific genes for their taxonomic location.

Water is obtained from harvesting of rain, bodies of water (rivers, ponds) or from ground water (wells, springs and boreholes). Although water can contain unwanted chemicals (from natural sources and agricultural activities), the greatest risk to human health is from faecal contamination of water supplies causing water- borne diseases. Microbial load of borehole water samples from seven areas within Kakata Margibi County Liberia was determined using standard microbiological methods. Susceptibility of the bacteria isolated to commercial antibiotics was also assessed. Results showed that total aerobic plate count ranged from 1.9x10 to 5.4x10² cfu/ml, while total coliform count ranged from 0.6x10 to 1.8x10 cfu/100ml. Faecal coliform count was generally low in most samples and completely absent from sample from one of the study areas. Microbial counts differed significantly (p=0.05) among the various locations studied. Predominant bacteria isolated included Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus species, Salmonella species, Citrobacter species, Escherichia coli and bacillus species. The antibiogram carried out using the disc diffusion technique showed that Staphylococcus aureus was most sensitive to streptomycin and least to ciprofloxacin, Enterococcus species was most sensitive to septrin but resistant to many of the antibioties tested.  Escherichia coli were most sensitive to septrin and least to ciprofloxacin. On the contrary, Ciprofloxacin was highly inhibitory to Citrobacter species in the same was as nalidixic acid. Salmonella species were highly sensitive to nalidixic acid and augmentin, while the Bacillus species was resistant to all the antibiotics tested which is of public health concern.

The ability of various microorganisms to decompose aromatic contaminants has been actively investigated for many years. However, there is very little available scientific information on Antarctic eukaryotic microorganisms and their industrial potential, although their presence there has long been established. The aim of the present study is to examine the ability of a fungal strain belonging to the genus Lecanicillium and isolated from a soil sample from Antarctica to degrade phenol and catechol in mesophilic conditions (23°C) and low temperature (10°C). The results show that the test strain degrades catechol in a higher concentration (0.3 g/l) than phenol (0.2 g/l) within about 400 hours. It was found that the activity of two key for degradation of phenolic compounds enzymes, such as phenol hydroxylase and catechol 1,2 - dioxygenase differ between the two temperature regimes, as at 10° C were lower. However, we observe that the time required for complete degradation of the two substrates does not differ significantly in the two temperature modes of cultivation. This effect may be due to the relatively low activity of phenol hydroxylase (lower than 0.1 U/mg proteins) with respect to both substrates at both test temperatures, resulting in an equally slow first decomposition step. The highest catechol 1, 2-dioxygenase activity was measured in the degradation of catechol at 23°C - 0.271 U/mg proteins, while at 10°C, it is 108 U/mg protein. These data indicate the ability of the test strain to degrade polyaromatic compounds where the catechol-1, 2-dioxinase enzyme activity is important.

The present presentation is about growth promotion test and how it could be implemented in pharmaceutical industry. Culture media are used in most assays in a microbiology quality control laboratory, and if the media does not properly support growth, false negative results may be obtained. The presentation discusses some of the guidance documents and regulatory expectations regarding media growth promotion and provides guidance on establishing a compliant growth promotion test.

Bee bread is derived from the transformation of plant pollen by bio-chemical processes caused by the enzymes in the saliva and gastric fluid of the honeybee. The main constituents of the bee bread are carbohydrates (24-34%), proteins (14-37%), crude fibre (1-3%), lipids (6-13%) and lactic acid (2-4%). Minor components are constituted decanoic acid, gamma globulin, nucleic acids, vitamins B and C, pantothenic acid, biopterin, neopterin, acetylcholine, and reproductive hormones. The structure of pollen and bee bread is similar. However, the main difference between bee pollen and bee bread is fermentation process. Bee bread fermentation begins with a wide variety of species, including many fungi, yeast and bacteria derived from collected pollen and bee gut microbiota. The fermentation process follows a succession of the microbial community toward prevailing lactic acid producing bacterial species. Microorganisms, which provide conversion to the bee bread, produce vitamins, enzymes, lipids, substances with antimicrobial effects like bacteriocin molecules, organic acids like fatty and lactic acids. Due to its constituents and formation mechanism, bee bread has showed various degrees of inhibitory effect against the B. subtilis, S. aureus, E. coli and Salmonella. Also, bee bread inhibits the growth of a broad group of microorganisms resistant to antibiotics (Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and this activity is higher for Gram positive than Gram-negative bacteria.

Among the most difficult to degrade chemical pollutants are known polyaromatic substances (PAH). A number of microorganisms capable to varying degrees to transform or degrade PAHs have been described. The yeast strain T. cutaneum R57 is known from previous research as a strain capable of degrading efficiently phenol and a number of derivatives thereof. Our recent studies have focused on its possibility to degrade three low molecular weight (LMW) compounds of this group: naphthalene, anthracene and phenanthrene. The strain was grown at aeration and at 28°C in a culture medium containing each of the test compounds included as the sole carbon source. The following initial concentrations were used: naphthalene - 0.36 g/l; anthracene - 0.39 g/l; and phenanthrene - 0.37 g/l. In the same conditions, the influence of glucose (0.1 g/l) on the degradation process was also tested. By gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was determined different rates of degradation of the tested compounds. The strain T. cutaneum R57 degrades an average of 51 mgl^-1day^-1 of naphthalene, 16 mgl^-1day^-1of anthracene and 10 mgl^-1day^-1 of phenanthrene. It was found that when using a low concentration of an additional carbon source such as glucose, the rate of degradation is delayed insignificantly, within 3-5%.

Freezing process is the best protection methods against microbiological and chemical spoilage of foods. Therefore, frozen food consumption is increasing day by day and every day a new product, a new brand takes place on the shelves. On the other hand, one of the largest foodborne disease outbreaks recorded in the world comes from frozen foods and the number of deaths and poisoning increases each year. Consumption of frozen food contaminated with pathogen microorganisms (PMO) could be more serious for older adults or anyone with a weakened immune system, including pregnant women and newborn children.107 countries received frozen vegetables recalled for Listeria on July 19, 2018 (1). Food recalls are most importantly a public health issue and also they are also significant economic issues and cost of a recall to a Frozen food company is very high, besides to brand damage and lost sales. The Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) is a system to identify, assess and control the hazards related with production, processing, distribution and consumption in order to get safe food(2). The aim of this study was to design a HACCP system for implementing in processing line of frozen Pepper in selected frozen food factory. The following steps were taken for the HACCP system application respectively: HACCP team has been selected; product definitions and usage purposes have been formed, created the flow diagram of the frozen pepper, monitoring system, corrective actions and records created.

Microorganisms such as molds, yeast and bacteria can cause a lot of loses in food industry and agricultures. So, researchers are looking for new more effective and environmentally friendly ways to control of growth of bacteria and fungi. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and their supernatants are quite promising tools in this area. During the fermentation process, lactic acid bacteria produce variety of anti-microbial agents, such as organic acid, carbon dioxide, ethanol, hydrogen peroxide, diacetyl as well as bacteriocins (John et al. 2007). They contribute to extend the expiration date of foods by using above mentioned anti-microbial agents as natural bio-preservatives and bacteriocins are also a great alternative to common antibiotics to which bacteria gain resistance. In our study we used lactic acid bacteria cultures newly isolated from different sources: sour cow and gout milk, pickled vegetables, bread sourdough. The genetic analysis of LAB isolates allowed to group them into different strains and confirmed that they have bacteriocin-encoding genes in their genomes. 16s rDNA sequencing showed that strains belong to Lactobacillus sp., Lactococcus sp., Pediococcus sp. and Leuconostoc sp. The analysis of an influence of aerobic and anaerobic conditions on the growth and antimicrobial activity against two sensitive strains (Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 27853) and Staphylococcus epidermidis (ATCC 12228)) of LAB isolates in 37 °C temperature showed that a biomass growth depends on bacteria isolate, not on growth’s conditions, and the highest antimicrobial activity was determined in the stationary growth phase and it correlated with biomass quantity.

The targeted introduction of various functional groups in the steroid molecule determines the diversity of physiological activities of the compound. Hydroxylation of the progesterone (PG, I) has great scientific and practical interest. However, 11-hydroxylation of PG in a single stage with a high degree of regio- and stereo- selectivity is only possible biotechnologically using microorganisms (mainly filamentous fungi) enzyme systems. The present study investigated the ability of the A. nidulans VKPM F-1069 (syn. FGSC A4) and genetically modified strains A.nidulans 031(argB^-, pyrG^-) (syn. AN031), A.nidulans lacâ„–4 (argB^-), and A.nidulans 031/pN8 (pyrG^-) to transform PG. It was established that all used strains are capable to transform of PG with the formation of 3 main products: 11α-hydroxy-PG (II), 11α-acetoxy-PG(III) and 6β,11α-dihydroxy-PG(IV), but in different ratio. However, the accumulation of 11α-hydroxy-PG does not occur, since it is further modified into compounds III and IV. 11α-Acetoxy-PG can be converted into compound II by the known methods of hydrolysis. The maximum total relative selectivity of the compounds II and III formation (68.4% mol) was observed during the transformation of PG by the A.nidulans strain. The yield of the target products can be increased by optimizing the cultivation conditions of the strain and transformation conditions. The ability of Aspergillus fungi to acetylate 11α-hydroxy-PG has been established by us for the first time. The compounds II D¸ III are of interest not only as precursors in the synthesis of highly active steroid drugs, but also as independent drugs with gestagen and antiandrogenic activity.