In recent years, there has been a growing interest in researching and developing new antimicrobial agents from various sources to combat microbial resistance. Therefore, a greater attention has been paid to antimicrobial activity screening and evaluating methods. Several bioassays such as disk-diffusion, well diffusion and broth or agar dilution are well known and commonly used, but others such as flow cytofluorometric and bioluminescent methods are not widely used because they require specified equipment and further evaluation for reproducibility and standardization, even if they can provide rapid results of the antimicrobial agent's effects and a better understanding of their impact on the viability and cell damage inflicted to the tested microorganism. In this review article, an exhaustive list of in vitro antimicrobial susceptibility testing methods and detailed information on their advantages and limitations are reported.

Here we describe Col, the first Drosophila member of a new family of transcription factors. Col may act as a "second-level regulator' of head patterning. The structural conservation of Col during evolution raises the questions of its conservation of function in head specification and its interactions with other factors conserved between insects and vertebrates.

A total of 105 yeast strains were isolated from Moroccan olive oil production plants and evaluated for their ability to grow in olive oil mill wastewaters (OMW). The 9 isolates that grew best on OMW were selected for further study to evaluate their effect on removal of organic pollutants and OMW phytotoxicity (barley seed germination test). The results showed that at least four yeast isolates effectively lowered the toxicity of this effluent in addition to providing very useful materials in terms of both yeast biomass (6 g/l DW) and an irrigation fluid. This group of yeast isolates significantly reduced the concentration of total phenols (44% removal) and Chemical Oxygen Demand, COD (63% removal). The best germination rate of 80% for undiluted OMW was obtained for strain Candida holstii that also increased the pH from 4.76 to 6.75. Principal component analysis of the results obtained for the best yeast strains confirmed the importance of COD and total phenol reduction along with increase of organic nitrogen and final pH for the improvement of germination rates and phytotoxic reduction. This study has highlighted the potential of indigenous yeasts in detoxification of olive mill wastewaters.

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During the history of civilizations, advanced wood decay results from exposure to various agents for long periods of time. Bio-deterioration, under the influence of living organisms like fungi, can cause massive damage to historical monuments. In this work, we found that fungi participating in wood degradation share a single strategy for degrading wood polymers by secreting enzymes that break down the main constituents of wood such as cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. While Penicillium commune, Penicillium granulatum and Penicillium chrysogenum showed the highest cellulase productivity and are therefore the most destructive for timber, other fungal species participate also in this biodegradation including Penicillium crustosum, Penicillium expansum Cladosporium cladosporioides and a cellulotic specie Thielavia hyalocarpa that we describe here for the first time.

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