Biomedical subjects

R Marchal

Publications and source records attributed to R Marchal.

27 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed1999

Biodegradation of gasoline: kinetics, mass balance and fate of individual hydrocarbons.

The degradation of gasoline by a microflora from an urban waste water activated sludge was investigated in detail. Degradation kinetics were studied in liquid cultures at 30 degrees C by determination of overall O2 consumption and CO2 production and by chromatographic analysis of all 83 identifiable compounds. In a first fast phase (2 d) of biodegradation, 74% of gasoline, involving mostly aromatic hydrocarbons, was consumed. A further 20%, involving other hydrocarbons, was consumed in a second slow phase (23 d). Undegraded compounds (6% of gasoline) were essentially some branched alkanes with a quaternary carbon or/and alkyl chains on consecutive carbons but cycloalkanes, alkenes and C10- and C11-alkylated benzenes were degraded. The degradation kinetics of individual hydrocarbons, determined in separate incubations, followed patterns similar to those observed in cultures on gasoline. Carbon balance experiments of gasoline degradation were performed. The carbon of degraded gasoline was mainly (61.7%) mineralized into CO2, the remaining carbon being essentially converted into biomass.

Bacteria↗

PubMed1999

[Oocyte of domestic mammals: a model for the study of in vitro maturation].

Oocyte maturation represents the final step of a long differentiation process that allows this very special cell to fully express its reproductive task. During maturation the oocyte nucleus, blocked at the late prophase of meiosis from the end of foetal life, resumes meiosis and progress to the metaphase II stage. Beyond these nuclear aspects, oocyte maturation also involves cytoplasmic modifications including well known morphological progression as well as poorly understood biochemical changes that are determinant for successful fertilisation and early embryo development. In physiological conditions, maturation occurs in the preovulatory follicle after the ovulatory surge of gonadotropins, in a complex and changing environment. This complexity leaded to the formulation of the first in vitro maturation systems involving tissue culture media supplemented with biological fluids. A more precise study of the effect of individual medium components allowed the design of more simple maturation conditions providing more reproducible results with less sanitary risks. Amongst maturation activating factors, the epidermal growth factor (EGF) seems to play a key function in several species. Other factors such as hormones, ovarian peptides (inhibin, activin) and other growth factors may also be involved but the interplay between these factors remains to be clearly established. Improvement of in vitro maturation techniques allowed to evaluate the importance of oocyte intrafollicular differentiation before maturation on the resulting developmental competence. The increased knowledge of the regulation of intrafollicular meiotic arrest now allow the design of a prematuration step to allow oocytes from smaller follicles to complete their differentiation in vitro. This improvement will allow a larger use of the huge reproductive potential stored in the ovary.

Animals↗

PubMed1998

A steroidogenic factor-1 binding element is essential for basal human ACTH receptor gene transcription.

We have previously shown that the promoter of the human ACTH receptor (ACTH-R) contains, at -35 bp, a binding site for the steroidogenic factor 1 (SF-1), an orphan nuclear receptor which could be responsible for the transcriptional activity of this promoter. In the present study, electrophoretic mobility shift assays demonstrated that the sequence -43/-19 bound the SF-1 protein present in the nuclear extracts of adrenocortical cells. Mutation of the SF-1 binding site markedly reduced (40%) the basal transcription of the reporter gene in Y-1 cells transfected with the mutated p(-56/+22)GH construct compared to the wild-type construct. These results demonstrate that the SF-1 binding element present in this fragment is required for the basal promoter activity of the human ACTH-R gene. In addition, other binding elements located upstream from this characterized SF-1 binding site are involved in the full basal promoter activity of the human ACTH-R since transfection studies with a longer p(-1017/+22)GH construct resulted in a higher GH release than with the p(-56/+22)GH construct.

Animals↗

PubMed1998

Intrinsic capacities of soil microflorae for gasoline degradation.

A methodology to determine the intrinsic capacities of a microflora to degrade gasoline was developed, in particular for assessing the potential of autochtonous populations of polluted and non polluted soils for natural attenuation and engineered bioremediation. A model mixture (GM23) constituted of the 23 most representative hydrocarbons of a commercial gasoline was used. The capacities of the microflorae (kinetics and extent of biodegradation) were assessed by chromatographic analysis of hydrocarbon consumption and of CO2 production. The degradation of the components of GM23 was assayed in separate incubations of each component and in the complete mixture. For the microflora of an unpolluted spruce forest soil, all hydrocarbons of GM23 except cyclohexane, 2,2,4- and 2,3,4-trimethylpentane isomers were degraded to below detection limit in 28 days. This microflora was reinforced with two mixed microbial communities selected from gasoline-polluted sites and shown to degrade cyclohexane and 2,2,4-trimethylpentane. With the reinforced microflora, complete degradation of GM23 was observed. The degradation patterns of individual components of GM23 were similar when the compounds were present individually or in the GM23 mixture, as long as the concentrations of 2-ethyltoluene and trimethylbenzene isomers were kept sufficiently low (< or = 35 mg.l-1) to remain below their inhibitory level.

Biodegradation, Environmental↗

PubMed1998

Involvement of a rhamnolipid-producing strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by a bacterial community.

A rhamnolipid-producing strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa GL1 was isolated from a bacterial community growing on a mixture of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) as sole carbon source. Strain GL1 did not grow on PAH but grew on known degradation metabolites of phenanthrene (O-phthalic acid) and of naphthalene (salicylic acid). In co-culture with a phenanthrene-degrading strain, Ps. aeruginosa GL1 accelerated the degradation of phenanthrene. Strain GL1 was resistant to toxic amphiphilic compounds such as cationic and anionic detergents. Rhamnolipid production took place in a late stage growth in cultures of strain GL1 on glycerol or n-hexadecane. It coincided with a substantial decrease in cell hydrophobicity and with morphological changes of the outer membrane as observed by transmission electronic microscopy. The rhamnolipids produced inhibited the growth of bacteria such as Rhodococcus erythropolis, Bacillus cereus and Ps. fluorescens. The overall results suggested an outer membrane origin for the rhamnolipids. They also indicate that the utilization of PAH metabolites by strain GL1 is important for the stability of the PAH-degrading community.

Bacterial Adhesion↗

PubMed1993

Identification and determination of individual sophorolipids in fermentation products by gradient elution high-performance liquid chromatography with evaporative light-scattering detection.

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used for the characterization of sophorolipids, one of the most important types of glycolipid biosurfactants. By using gradient elution with a water-acetonitrile mixture on a reversed-phase (C18) column and evaporative light-scattering detection, resolution of all the important individual sophorolipids present in fermentation products was achieved. In addition to HPLC, a combination of techniques involving selective production by fermentation of sophorolipids, chemical conversions of the products, separation methods and, for identification of lipidic chains of sophorolipids, gas chromatography and mass spectrometry was used. This led to the identification of almost all significant compounds observed in HPLC, including several previously unreported sophorolipids. As a result, a rapid method is now available for investigations of the influence of fermentation conditions on the nature and quantitative distribution of the sophorolipid products obtained.

Candida↗

PubMed1985

Isolation and characterization of butanol-resistant mutants of Clostridium acetobutylicum.

In a wild-type strain of Clostridium acetobutylicum isolated from soil, solvent production appeared limited by butanol toxicity. Butanol-resistant mutants have been obtained which produced significantly higher solvent concentrations (about 30%) than the wild-type strain. Some other physiological differences were observed between a selected resistant mutant and the wild-type strain at the level of solvent resistance and sporulation.

Butanols↗

PubMed1977

Regulation of the central metabolism in relation to citric acid production in Saccharomycopsis lipolytica.

The mechanism of the massive extracellular production of citric and isocitric acids by Saccharomycopsis lipolytica grown on n-paraffins has been studied. When growth stops, because of nitrogen limitation, the intracellular concentration of ATP sharply rises whereas that of AMP and ADP decreases to a low level. At the same time production of acids begins. The activity of the NAD-dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase which requires AMP for activity becomes very low and prevents the oxidative function of the citric acid cycle whereas isocitrate lyase is not inhibited. As citrate synthase inhibition by ATP appears to be insufficient to stop n-paraffin degradation, citric and isocitric acids accumulation can take place. Massive excretion of these acids, however, probably still involves other physiological changes brought about by nitrogen limitation, possibly some permeabilization of the cell to these acids.

Acetates↗

PubMedDate not supplied

SF-1 and the transcriptional regulation of the human ACTH receptor gene.

The adrenocorticotropin receptor or ACTH-R which is the type 2 among the melanocortin receptor family is almost exclusively expressed in the adrenal cortex, reflecting a high degree of tissue specificity. In human cultured adrenocortical cells, we have previously reported that ACTH in contrast to most of the peptide hormones, is able to up-regulate the number of its own receptors through an increase of the transcriptional activity of the encoding gene. Three putative SF-1 binding sites are present in the sequence of the human ACTH-R gene promoter at -35 (SF-35), -98 (SF-98) and -209 (SF-209). By EMSA studies, we demonstrated that these sites effectively bind SF-1 protein. After transient transfection of H295R cells using a construct containing the first 263 bp upstream of the transcriptional start site, in front of the luciferase gene in the pGL3 vector, we demonstrated the involvement of all three SF-1 sites to confer maximal constitutive activity to a proximal region of the hACTH-R gene promoter. Only SF-35 and SF-98 play a role in cAMP-induced regulation of this gene.

Adrenal Cortex↗