Isolation of a Urea Degrading Bacteria
Introduction
Urea was the first organic chemical to be synthetically produced1, previously it was thought that only living creatures could produce organic compounds Urea is naturally produced by the kidneys as waste from the degradation of amino acids. It is because of this that urea is commonly found in soils and is a useful nutrient source for bacteria that are able to utilise it, such as, Helicobacter pylori,
Klebsiella pneumonia, all species of Proteus and Micrococcus luteus.
These bacteria degrade urea in a reaction catalysed by the urease enzyme, CO(NH2)2 + H2O àCO2 + 2NH3. this process benefits the bacteria in several ways. The bacteria use the ammonia that is produced for respiration, the products also raise the pH of the environment. This promotes the growth of many urea degrading bacteria and inhibits competition from many other bacterial species.
M. luteus is commonly found on mammalian skin and it is unusual for a member of the natural human flora to degrade urea. It is believed that
M. luteus has this ability as an evolutionary hangover from its life in its ancestral soil habitat. In this environment urea is readily available and the ability to degrade it is a distinct advantage. As the species evolved to live on skin the trait remained, as it had no negative effect on survivability.
Micrococcus is a genus within the Micrococcaceae family. With the use of 16s RNA in bacterial taxonomy the genus has recently been revised2.
The genus now includes three species, M. luteus, M. lylae and M. antarcticus3. M. luteus is a common yellow gram-positive coccus and roughly 0.5-2.0mm in diameter. Cells appear in pairs, tetrads and irregular clusters but never in chains.4
Method of Isolation
* Isolate a variety of organisms from soil and skin.
By taking samples from four different sources (three skin and one soil) the chance of urea degrading bacteria being present was increased. * Culture in nutrient broth.
This allowed all isolated microbes to grow.
* Plate sample onto urea plates.
On these plates urea was the only nutrient available, this meant that any bacteria that grew could degrade urea.
* Perform urease test.
Isolated bacteria are grown in a broth containing phosphate buffer, yeast extract, 2% urea and phenol red. An agar slope of the medium is heavily inoculated and incubated at 370c for at least four hours. If the organism only has low urease activity the phosphate buffer will neutralise the NH3 produced. A red colour indicates that NH3 has been produced and the result is positive5.
* Perform Gram stain.
This is the most important stain in bacteriology and differentiates between gram positive and gram-negative cell walls, which indicates
Carl Woese’s (1990) groundbreaking paper categorised the Tree of Life into three domains for the first time– Archaea, Eubacteria and Eukarya. Before this, Archaea were known as Archaebacteria due to their prokaryotic, single-celled appearance similar to bacteria. However, Woese analysed 16S ribosomal RNA from all three groups and discovered there were differences of such significance in the sequences, for example between positions 180 and 197, that Archaea should be classified as their own domain. The three domains are believed to have separated from one common ancestor, with Eubacteria and Archaea diverging 3.8 billion years ago and Archaea separating from Eukarya 2.8 billion years ago. This means that, despite their appearance, Archaea share more similarities with eukaryotes, such as 33 identical ribosomal proteins, than with bacteria.
...m them (2). These doctors maintain business because the addicts keep coming back (2). In fact, some doctors, such as, dentists and family doctors, over-prescribe and do not take any responsibility for a patient becoming addicted to a drug (2). As a result, stricter laws
Substance abuse treatments are offered in a variety of ways. Some treatments can be done on an outpatient basis, while others may require a stay in a hospital or other facility. The two types of treatments are similar in nature. The main difference is that outpatient treatment is offered to those addicts that have circumstances or situations that will not allow them to get treatment in an inpatient rehabilitation program. Outpatient programs provide patients with more freedom of movement which allows them to maintain a regular commitment to family, work, and educational responsibilities. (Gifford, 2015). This service is also used for those that have already been a part of an inpatient rehabilitation program, yet still require some further support so they do not relapse. Both treatment types first seek to help the individual with their physical addiction and get them rehabilitated, and then focuses on the underlying causes of their addiction and help them deal with it to help prevent and avoid any relapse. Choosing which type of treatment is needed and which would best benefit the individual would need to be decided between the addict and their doctor or counselor. It is not a decision to be made lightly especially for those that need the extra care that an inpatient facility would
Addiction is a dependence on a substance where the individual who is affected feels defenseless and unable to stop the obsession to use a substance or prevent a particular behavior. Millions of Americans have addictions to drugs, alcohol, nicotine, and even to behaviors such as obsessive gambling. Pharmacotherapy is a treatment process in which a counselor can use a particular drug to counter act an addictive drug or behavior. Not all counselors agree with this type of treatment. However in order to provide a client with an ethical treatment and unbiased opinions they should be made aware of all scientific evidence of different treatment options. “Thus, attention to addiction pharmacotherapy is an ethical mandate no matter what prejudices a counselor may have” (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2008, p. 196). Some particular pharmacotherapy’s a counselor may use for the treatment of addiction are Bupropion (Wellbutrin, Zyban), Disulfiram (Antabuse), Naltrexone (ReVia, Depade), Methadone (Dolophine), and Buprenorphine (Temgesic, Suboxone).
There are many contributing factors and political issues that address substance abuse. Throughout the years, many researchers have designed many interventions and social policies designed to treat people who have used, abused, and became addicted to substances. Today, there are many new studies that address substance abuse at the individual, group, family, and community or policy levels. Today, there are many services that are effective for decreasing recidivism in youth who have completed a substance abuse program. A substance abuse treatment program or center is the best way to treat individuals who have abused substances.
The war on drugs has brought up many questions. Some may argue that all drugs should be legalized. Legalizing drugs in the U.S. could possibly reduce the amount of addicts. Research suggests that, “But 400,000 policemen would be freed to pursue criminals engaged in activity other than the sale and distribution of drugs if such sale and distribution, at a price at which there was no profit, were to be done by, say, a federal drugstore”. This would ease a lot of tension off police officers around the country. However, because drugs are not legal, society has to rely on their local police departments to keep them safe from addicts (Wm. F. Buckley Jr.,
Watching anyone struggle with addiction is indeed difficult, and being connected personally may be even more so. Loosing family or loved ones, and friends to addiction and eventually jail or possibly death can be devastating. The effects are wide spread and touch many lives often felt very deeply for a long time, some for a lifetime. What can be done to help these people, to assist the families and society is ever evolving. This group of addicted offenders should be targeted for intensive and rigorous treatment. Courts and prosecutors have increasingly been making an effort to identify such addicts, and to induce them to enter into criminal justice based treatment.
There are more people in prison and jails today just for drug offenses than were incarcerated for all reasons in 1980. The absence of significant constraints on the exercise of police discretion is a key feature of the drug war’s design. It has made the roundup of millions of Americans for nonviolent drug offenses relatively easy. Furthermore so long as a police officer has reasonable suspicion that someone is engaged in criminal activity and dangerous, it is constitutionally permissible to stop, question, and frisk them even in the absence of probable cause. Police officers also have the habit of following vehicles in the hopes that they make an illegal drive procedure so they may stop them. The average person feels obligated to let the police
When we view substance use disorders, alcohol is the most widely used drug within the United States and 11 percent of workers have drinking problems (Frone, 2006). Over 20 million people used illegal substances in 2006 and 7 million people abused prescribed medications. Of the 18 million drug abusers, 18 years or older in 2006, 13.4 million (74.9 %) were employed full or part time (SAMHSA, OSA). These addiction problems have an expenditure of $276 billion dollars per year with most of this cost from loss of productivity and health care (H. Harwood, D. Fountain, and G. Livermore, 1992).
Enzymes are proteins that act as a catalyst to bring about a specific biochemical reaction. Enzymes contain an active site that allows the substrate to bind to the enzyme and form the enzyme substrate complex and then release the products. An enzymes main function is to increase the rate of chemical reactions. There are many different types of enzymes, each containing a specific set of optimal temperatures. These temperatures represent the set of conditions at which the enzyme works best in. Enzymes are used in our everyday lives in order to break things down, for example starch. Fungal and bacterial amylases are the two enzymes tested in this experiment to see their ability to break down starch. To determine how temperature affects
It has become one of the major social problems of our day, leaving a great number of families and communities within our country devastated and without hope of recuperation for any of their afflicted members and loved ones. Growing to become a big social challenge affecting all aspects of the American society, addiction rates have escalated to enormous proportions within the country as reported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Addiction has been described as a chronic brain disorder,” resulting from adaptations in the brain that leads to changes in behavior”, according to Dr. Nora Volkow, who also assert that it can be treated (NIDA 2006).
Farmers around the world may not be able to afford fertilizers because of high cost. Anyone that has recently visited a nursery can verify how expensive chemical and organic fertilizers have become. However, there is another plentiful and inexpensive fertilizer alternative: human urine. Human urine contains very few, if any pathogens. However, it contains the majority of plant fertilizing nutrients. Human urine contains high levels of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), and sulfur (S). An additional benefit of using human urine, is that you are collecting it instead of flushing it, saving gallons and gallons of water.
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