Identifying the inhibition of ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) by emerging organic contaminants is crucial due to the importance of AOB in wastewater treatment, the widespread use of antibacterial agents such as triclosan (TCS) in consumer products, and the sensitivity of N. europaea to inhibitors. Triclosan inhibition of nitrification by AOB...
Peptide-phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers (PPMOs) are synthetic DNA mimics that bind and silence gene targets. Through designing PPMOs that silence essential or resistance genes in pathogens, these antisense oligomers could be utilized as novel antimicrobials. Towards this end, my thesis employed minimum inhibitory concentration assays (MICs) to identify PPMOs capable of...
An ecological study of a microorganism similar to that isolated
in 1956 and designated as Micrococcus radiodurans indicated
that the organism could be isolated from several different environments.
By taking advantage of its radio-resistivity, high levels of
gamma radiation were used in the isolation procedures to inactivate
most of the...
This study examined the effects of Roundup
[N-(phosphonomethyl) glycine] and N-Serve [2-chloro-6-
(trichloromethyl) pyridine] on nitrifying organisms in
static batch, perfusion soil columns, and a new continuous-flow
soil column system. The continuous-flow method is new
to nitrification studies and was shown to produce greater
nitrifier activity than either static batch...
An estuary, unlike the open ocean, is a dynamic system that is continuously undergoing changes in its physical and chemical properties. Marked fluctuations in the levels and kinds of nutrients, temperature, and salinity are normally found in estuarine environments. These changes occur principally as a result of freshwater intrusions, tidal...
Tetracycline is a front line antibiotic for the treatment of chlamydial infections in both humans and animals, and the emergence of tetracycline resistant (tet[superscript R]) Chlamydia is of significant clinical importance. Recently, several tet[superscript R] chlamydial strains have been isolated from swine (Sus scrofa) raised in production facilities in Nebraska....
Bacterial contamination is one of the most important problems
both in plant tissue culture research and commercial laboratories. Early
detection of contaminants saves time, effort, and money. Strawberry
runner explants were screened for contaminants during June to August,
1994 and 1995. Most contaminants found were bacterial rather than
fungal. Bacterial...
The disposition of four therapeutically important antimicrobial agents was studied in llamas following intravenous bolus administration. Six llamas were each given ampicillin, tobramycin, trimethoprim and enrofloxacin at a dose of 12 mg/kg, 1 mg/kg, 3 mg/kg and 5 mg/kg of body weight with a wash out period of 3 days...
Arctic soils are warming, making vast stores of organic carbon available for conversion to CO₂. This could create a positive feedback loop and accelerate global warming, but the processes that convert this carbon into CO₂ are not well understood. We investigated how the combined activities of sunlight and microbes degrade...