Home – Home – Jornals – Contemporary Problems of Ecology 2002 number 2

Induction of alginate lyase, cellulase, chitinase and neuraminidase synthesis by the cultures of luminous bacteria from the IBSO Collection (Institute of Biophysics, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Krasnoyarsk) has been investigated. For the first time neuraminidase production has been revealed in luminous bacteria of the species V.harveyi. The low level of neuraminidase (sialidase) synthesis is indicative of low pathogenicity of the cultures studied but does not rule out a possible contribution of neuraminidases to colonization by luminous bacteria of various organs in marine animals. It has been recorded that 25 % of the investigated cultures of V. harveyi from the IBSO Collection show alginate-lyase production, 85 % of the cultures synthesizing alginate lyases screened from the gastro-intestinal tract of marine animals and only 15 % isolated from sea water. Chitinase activity has been recorded for 28.5 % of the investigated P.leiognathi cultures and 18.2 % of the V. harveyi cultures. The level of chitinase activity shown by the cultures studied is in accordance with that shown by microorganisms under natural conditions, ranging between 0.02 and 2.4 units. The paper discusses the study of cellulolytic production of 65 IBSO Collection bacterial cultures of four species, belonging to different ecological groups is discussed in the paper. It has been shown that bacteria of the genera Vibrio and Photobacterium differ in  cellulase activity and in relative numbers of cultures with cellulase production. It has been revealed that free-living and associated luminous bacteria show enzymatic activities to a different degree. P.137-144