The aim of the study was to establish the colonization of Streptococcus mutans and to determine the possibility of intra-familial transmission in a group of Turkish children and their parents. A total of 56 children participated in the study together with their parents (20 fathers and 49 mothers). Saliva samples were collected from the individuals and cultivated on S. mutans selective TYCSB agar. The typical isolates of S. mutans were identified by using classical microbiological methods, as well as molecular typing of S. mutans clones which was performed by using AP PCR with OPA5 primer for the detection of transmission. The vertical transmission of salivary S. mutans was detected among 14 mother-father-child, 35 mother-child (one twins) and 6 father-child combinations. The homologies of strain types were recorded as 24% and 16.6% for mother-child and father-child combinations, respectively. A significant positive correlation (p<0.001) was found between the infected children and their parents with high S. mutans counts.

The antimicrobial and antifungal activities of the MeOH extract of the flowers of Cephalaria transsylvanica and three triterpenic acid glycosides, transsylvanoside A–C from the flowers of the plant were assayed using an agar‐disc diffusion method. The results showed that both the MeOH extract and the glycosides possess antimicrobial and antifungal activities against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Corynebacterium xerosis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Candida utilis, Kluyveromyces fragilis, Aspergillus oryzae and Aspergillus flavus respectively.

No abstract

In the present study, 120 yeast isolates from different sources (active sludge, soil, and wastewater samples obtained from petroleum refinery and soil contaminated by petroleum) were obtained. The yeast isolates were screened for lipase production and twelve of the isolates (D3, D17, D24, D27, D30, D38, D40, D42, D44, D46, D56, and D57) exhibited lipase activity. Molecular characterization of the yeasts showing the lipase production was performed with RFLP of ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 and 18S rRNA and sequence analysis of D1/D2 domain of 26S rRNA. The 26S rRNA sequencing revealed that four new strains, D38, D40, D44 and D57 identified as Rhodotorula slooffiae, Candida davisiana, Cryptococcus diffluens, and Cryptococcus uzbekistanensis, respectively, are lipase producing yeast species. This study is the first report showed lipase production by these species. The other lipase producing strains identified as Candida parapsilosis (D3), Rhodotorula muciloginosa (D17 and D42), Cryptococcus albidus (D24, D27, D30, and D56), and Wickerhamomyces anomalus (D46).

In this research, 43 yeast strains were isolated from different types of cheese in Turkey and these isolates were identified with both phenotypic tests and genotypic tests with 5.8S ITS-PCR. Also, the sequence of PCR fragments obtained from ITS-PCR was analyzed by DNA sequencing. In the results of the phenotypic tests, 9 of 43 isolates were identified as Yarrowia lipolytica. After the phenotypic identification, all the isolates were identified with ITS-PCR and 13 were identified as Y. lipolytica. Yarrowia lipolytica secretes several hydrolytic enzymes including alkaline and acid proteases, lipases, a ribonuclease, and phosphotases. In this paper, the effect of carbon and nitrogen sources and pH on production of AEP and RNase were examined for our identified strains of Y. lipolytica. The best production of AEP were found in skim milk medium with pH 7.0 by TEM YL 5 and Y. lipolytica CBS 6124 type strain. An extra carbon source (glucose) reduced AEP production at all the pH studied. Glutamine which is a nitrogen source did not affect AEP production. In contrast to AEP production, glucose increased RNase production at all the pH studied.

Ninety-two yeast strains causing spoilage on different kinds of Turkish white cheeses were isolated and identified on the basis of their physiological and morphological properties. The identified isolates represented 12 species belonging to 8 genera. The most prevalent isolates belonged to the species Debaryomyces hansenii (32.6%), Kluyveromyces marxianus (18.5%) and Yarrowia lipolytica (17.4%). Other genera encountered were Pichia, Torulaspora, Candida, Williopsis, and Galactomyces. They were genotypically characterized with PCR amplification of the species-specific internally transcribed spacer (ITS) of 5.8S ribosomal DNA (ITS-PCR). ITS-PCR of 15 strains of Y. lipolytica, 15 strains of K. marxianus and 25 strains of D. hansenii resulted in single fragments of 360, 740 and 640 bp, respectively. Proteolytic and lipolytic activity within yeast strains isolated from cheese was observed. Lipolytic and proteolytic organisms play an important role in the maturation of cheese and in the spoilage of dairy products. Usage of identification systems based on biochemical and physiological characteristics takes longer time and often results in misidentifications. In this study, false identification of 5 strains of D. hansenii, 2 strains of K. marxianus, 1 strain of Y. lipolytica, 1 strain of Torulaspora delbrüeckii, 1 strain of Pichia anamola and 1 strain of Candida sake by using conventional methods confirmed the mentioned statement above. As a consequence, ITS-PCR was found to be more rapid, reliable, easy to perform and cost effective than biochemical approaches.

No abstract

Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 occurrence has been investigated in 168 hot water samples from 24 hotels, situated in 6 counties in Izmir province of Turkey, from 15 June to 30 September of the year 2000. Sampling was carried out at 15-day intervals and seven samples were taken from each of the hotels' hot water reservoirs and hot water networks. The samples were (1 L) concentrated using polycarbonate filters (mesh size 0.22 microm). Isolation was achieved using selective medium, GVPC agar. The samples were concentrated by membrane filtration, divided into three portions and cultured without pretreatment, after acid treatment, and after heat treatment, on GVPC agar. One hundred and ten isolates were identified as L.pneumophila sg 1 using the Legionella Latex Test (Oxoid). Arbitrarily primed PCR (AP PCR) was employed to assess the clonal relationship between Legionella pneumophila sg 1 isolates from the hot water samples of the hotels. Three genotypes of L. pneumophila sg 1 isolates were identified. With a high prevalence of type A, 22 hotels were found to be colonized with L. pneumophila serogroup 1, while only 2 were free from the bacteria.