Browsing by Author "Vogels, G. D."

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    A Hydrogenosome with Pyruvate Formate-Lyase: Anaerobic Chytrid Fungi Use an Alternative Route for Pyruvate Catabolism. Mol Microbiol 32:1103-1114
    (Wiley, 1999) Akhmanova, Anna; Voncken, Frank; Hosea, Ken M.; Harhangi, H.; Keltjens, J. T.; Op Den Camp, H. J.; Vogels, G. D.; Hackstein, Johannes H. P.
    The chytrid fungi Piromyces sp. E2 and Neocallimastix sp. L2 are obligatory amitochondriate anaerobes that possesshydrogenosomes.Hydrogenosomes arehighly specialized organelles engaged in anaerobic carbon metabolism; they generate molecular hydrogen and ATP. Here, we show for the ®rst time that chytrid hydrogenosomes use pyruvate formate-lyase (PFL) and not pyruvate:ferredoxin oxidoreductase (PFO) for pyruvate catabolism, unlike all other hydrogenosomes studied to date. Chytrid PFLs are encoded by a multigene family and are abundantly expressed in Piromyces sp. E2 and Neocallimastix sp. L2. Western blotting after cellular fractionation, proteinase K protection assays and determinations of enzyme activities reveal that PFL is present in the hydrogenosomes of Piromyces sp. E2. The main route of the hydrogenosomal carbon metabolism involves PFL; the formation of equimolar amounts of formate and acetate by isolated hydrogenosomes excludes a signi®cant contribution by PFO. Our data support the assumption that chytrid hydrogenosomes are unique and argue for a polyphyletic origin of these organelles.
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    Influence of Hydraulic Retention Time on Start-Up and Process Stability of Polyurethane Carrier Reactions
    (1992) Rubindamayugi, M. S. T.; Op Den Camp, H. J. M.; Lubberding, H. J.; Gijzen, H. J.; Vogels, G. D.
    Influence of hydraulic retention time (HRT) on start-up of Polyurethane Carrier Reactors treating Volatile Fatty Acids (VFA) based wastewater, at constant organic loading rate (OLR) was investigated. OLR was increased stepwise after start-up to evaluate the influence of HRT on process stability. Four parallel experiements were conducted at HRTs of 48, 24, 18 and 12 hours. Results indicate an influence of HRT on duration of start-up period, and process stability after start-up. The reactor operating at HRT of 24 hours required only a relatively stort start-up period and showed higher process stability under steady-state condition. Analysis of individual VFA degradation indicated that butyrate and propionate consuming acetogenic bacteria increased in sigmoid fashion during start-up. Changes in acetate degradation do not show the true increase of acetoclastic population. Instead they reflect concomitant activity of VFA catabolizing acetogens and aceloclastic methanogens . Immobilized biomass increased exponentially during the first three weeks of start-up. The differences in start-up periods between reactors was probably due to differences in quality and activity of biomass immobilized at different HRTs. The HRT of 24 hours was most optimal to obtain stable reactor performance within a short startup period.