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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 1998, p. 4410-4415, Vol. 64, No. 11
Aerosol Research and Exposure Assessment
Laboratory, Department of Environmental Health, University of
Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45267-0056
Received 1 May 1998/Accepted 7 August 1998
The reactions between seven fluorogenic substrates and different
groups of enzymes, esterases, lipases, phosphatases, and dehydrogenases, were studied in a search for a new method for the
detection of actinomycete spores. Fluorescence measurement was chosen
as a fast and sensitive method for microbial analysis. The focus of the
research was on the spores of important air contaminants: Streptomyces albus and Thermoactinomyces
vulgaris. For the measurement of the enzymatic activity, the
chosen fluorogenic substrate was added to a mixture of spores and
nutrient media, and the resulting fluorescence was measured with a
spectrofluorometer. Fluorogenic substrates were found to show
enzymatic activities even for dormant spores. Comparison of the
enzymatic activities of dormant spores with those of vegetative cells
showed similarity of the enzymatic profiles but higher activity for
vegetative cells. The increase of enzymatic activity from dormant
spores to vegetative cells was not linear but fluctuating. The largest
fluctuations were found after 4 to 5 h of incubation. The
enzymatic activities of S. albus were 10 to 50 times lower
than those of T. vulgaris, except for the dehydrogenase
activity, which was seven times higher. These results indicate that
analysis with fluorogenic substrates has the potential for becoming a
fast and sensitive method for the enumeration and identification of
airborne actinomycete spores.
0099-2240/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Analysis of Airborne Actinomycete Spores with Fluorogenic
Substrates
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Aerosol Research
and Exposure Assessment Laboratory, Department of
Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati, P.O. Box 670056, Cincinnati, OH 45267-0056. Phone: (513) 558-0571. Fax: (513)
558-2263. E-mail: Tiina.Reponen{at}uc.edu.
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