FRESENIUS ENVIRONMENTAL BULLETIN

In this study, the culturable microfungi flora of vineyard soils belonging to Manisa and Izmir provinces (Turkey) were investigated quantitatively and qualitatively (species composition, diversity characteristics, such as species richness, evenness). Soil samples of 62 sultana-type vineyards from five locations (Alasehir, Manisa 1, Manisa 11, Manisa III and Izmir) were collected using the Brown's technique. The soil dilution technique was used for microfungi isolation. The mean microfungi number of I fresh soil was counted to be 71 000 colony forming units (CFUs). A total of 66 species and 3 varieties belonging to 16 genera were encountered including Aspergillus, Penicillium, Cladosporium, Alternaria, Rhjzopus, Trichoderma, Chaetomium, Chrysosporium, Dreschlera, Glomerularia, Gliocladium, Fusarium, Fusidium, Nectria, Spicaria, and Rhizomucor. Members of Aspergillus section Nigri, generally known as black Aspergilli, dominated all locations and their incidence among all isolated fungi was 80.4%. Aspergillus aculeatus was the most encountered species with 100% ratio. It was followed by A. foetidus var. pallidus with 93.3%, and A. awamori with 73.3%. The highest microfungal diversity was found in location Manisa 11 (station Saruhanh) with indexes for biodiversity as Shannon (H) 3.28, Simpson's (D) 0.93 and Evenness (J) 0.96. This is the first extensive study carried out on biodiversity and microfunci flora of vineyard soils in Turkey

Growth and aflatoxin B1 production on olives and olive paste by moulds isolated from 'Turkish-style' natural black olives in brine

PubMed ID: 8880341The growth and aflatoxin production of five Aspergillus flavus and two Aspergillus parasiticus strains isolated from natural black olives in brine for table consumption, fresh whole black olives, fresh damaged black olives and fresh black olive paste were examined. Aspergillus flavus NRRL 6555 and A. parasiticus NRRL 2999 strains were also studied for comparison. All aflatoxigenic strains inoculated onto fresh damaged black olives and fresh black olive paste grew extensively but on fresh whole black olives they grew weakly. Strong aflatoxigenic strains produced low levels of aflatoxins on fresh whole black olives, fresh damaged black olives and fresh black olive paste. Weak aflatoxigenic strains did not produce detectable amounts of aflatoxin

Some characteristics and isolation of novel thermostable ß-galactosidase from Thermus oshimai DSM 12092

The ß-galactosidases belong to the class of hydrolytic enzymes and have been used as lactose hyrolysis. The enzyme is used in reducing lactose milk production, an outstanding industrial product used by a large lactoseintolerant population. This is the first detailed report of some characteristics of ß-galactosidase and the gene encoding ß-galactosidase in Thermus oshimai DSM 12092. The growth rate (µ, 1/h), and the doubling time (tD, h) for T. oshimai grown both in shaking flasks and in a bioreactor were determined. The optimal temperature and pH for ß-galactosidase were determined as 75°C and 7. 4, respectively. This enzyme was thermostable and was retained by more than 70% at 90°C for 3 h. The ß-galactosidase from T. oshimai DSM 12092 was more stable in basic pH and Zn2+ was the most effective divalent cation. Also, 2 steps of purification consisting of ammonium sulfate precipitation and gel filtration were employed and purified 32-fold. © 2013 The Korean Society of Food Science and Technology and Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht