Characterization of plasmids among the three species of Gluconobacter

The genus Gluconobacter consists of acetic acid bacteria which have the ability to generate acidic products from their substrates, particularly acetic acid from ethanol. For this reason, the gluconobacters live in acidic, sugary environments such as flowers, honey bees, fruits, cider, vinegar, wine and beer. The gluconobacters carry out a strictly respiratory type of metabolism using only oxygen as a terminal electron acceptor. They do not completely oxidize a substrate to carbon dioxide. Instead, they partially oxidize the substrate using membrane-bound dehydrogenases and excrete the product into the surrounding growth medium. It is these limited oxidations that make the gtuconobacters industrially useful. Although much is known about the physiology of the limited oxidations in the gluconobacters, little is known of their genetics, particularly, their plasmids. The overall purpose of this dissertation was to determine if Gluconobacter plasmids correlate with oxidative capability and/or antibiotic resistance. To achieve this goal, I first needed a way to screen strains of Gluconobacter for their ability to oxidize many different substrates. 'developed an assay that used an unusual artificial electron acceptor, tetranitroblue tetrazolium (TNBT) and then tested the ability of six strains to oxidize 13 chemical compounds. Although most strains were able to oxidize the 13 compounds tested, they accomplished this with varying extents of oxidation. These differences were noted even with strains representing the same species.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Biology

Department dc:contributor.department

Biology

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

1995

Author dc:creator

• Brookman, Lori L.

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Claus, George William

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Krieg, Noel R.
• Wong, Eric A.
• Rutherford, Charles L.
• Yousten, Allan A.

• limited oxidations
• antimicrobial susceptibility
• hybridizations
• phenotype

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

etd-06062008-170132

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/38384