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Bacterially produced antibiotics play important roles in microbial interactions and competition. Antibiosis can induce resistance mechanisms in target organisms and may induce other countermeasures as well. Here, we show that hygromycin A fromStreptomycessp. 2AW inducesChromobacterium violaceumATCC31532 to produce the purple antibiotic violacein. Sublethal doses of other antibiotics that similarly target the polypeptide elongation step of translation likewise induced violacein production, unlike antibiotics with different targets.C. violaceumbiofilm formation and virulence againstDrosophila melanogasterwere also induced by translation-inhibiting antibiotics, and we identified anantibiotic-inducedresponse (air) two-component regulatory system that is required for these responses. Genetic analyses indicated a connection between the Air system, quorum-dependent signaling, and the negative regulator VioS, leading us to propose a model for induction of violacein production. This work suggests a novel mechanism of interspecies interaction in which a bacterium produces an antibiotic in response to inhibition by another bacterium.

A microbial consortium MC1 was used to pretreat filter paper, office paper, newspaper, and cardboard to enhance methane production. The results of pretreatment indicated that sCOD of hydrolysates of the four substrates increased significantly in the early stage, and peaked on day 7. During pretreatment, ethanol, acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, and glycerol were the predominant volatile organic products in hydrolysates. MC1 had strong degradation ability on the four substrates, and the weight loss of filter paper, office paper, newspaper, and cardboard reached 78.3%, 80.5%, 39.7%, and 49.7%, respectively. The results of anaerobic digestion showed that methane production yields and rates of the four substrates significantly increased after pretreatment. This study is the first attempt to explore the microbial pretreatment method for anaerobic digestion of waste paper and cardboard. Microbial consortium pretreatment could be an effective method for enhancing methane production of waste paper and cardboard into bioenergy.

The microbial consortium WSD-5 is composed of bacteria and fungi, and the cooperation and symbiosis of the contained microbes enhance the degradation ability of WSD-5. Experiment results showed that the highest cellulase and hemicellulase were obtained when ventilation volume was 4 L/min, stirring rate was 0 rpm, and substrate loading rate was 3%. After 6 days of cultivation, a 67.60% loss in wheat straw dry weight was observed. The crude enzyme secreted from WSD-5 after optimization was evaluated by experiments of saccharification and acidification. The maximum concentration of reducing sugars was 3254 mg/L after 48 h saccharification. The concentration of sCOD peaked on day 2 with a value of 4345 mg/L during acidification, and the biogas yield and methane yield were 22.3% and 32.3% higher than un-acidified samples. This study is the first attempt to explore both the saccharification and the acidification ability of crude enzymes secreted by microbial consortium.

Clostridium straminisolvens (CSK1) is a novel cellulolytic bacterium isolated from a cellulose-degrading bacterial community MC1. In this study, the influence of the following cell disruption and elution methods on CSK1cellulase release was investigated: (1) freezing–thawing, (2) ultrasonication, (3) elution, (4) freezing–thawing following elution, (5) ultrasonication following elution, and lastly (6) high-pressure homogenization following elution. The activity of the cellulases CMCase, β-glucosidase, Avicelase, FPase, and xylanase in crude extracts increased 81.5, 23.8, 87.7, 46.3, and 51.7 %, respectively, with an observed optimal treatment method for each cellulase type. The release of protein from CSK1 cells increased following either cell disruption or elution and was highest at 88.3 % in the homogenization high pressure following elution treatment. A newly observed protein was present following cell elution. The performance of cell elution as determined by real time-PCR indicated that the first time cell elution removed more than 90 % of the CSK1 cells from the substrate. These findings demonstrate that cell disruption and elution are effective methods for inducing cellulase release, and elution is the key step for CSK1. To our knowledge, this study presents the first evidence of optimal treatments for induction of cellulase release of Clostridium straminisolvens. This information will be of great value for use in subsequent efforts to better understand the cellulase characteristics of CSK1 and cellulose degradation mechanisms of the MC1 community.