Numerous species in the genus Burkholderia have interesting properties for potential industrial applications including production of antibiotics, biosurfactants, bioplastics and degradation of environmental contaminants. The aim of this research was study the effect of different carbon and nitrogen sources on Burkholderia gladioli pv. agaricicola strain ICMP11096 growth and bioactivity of produced secondary metabolites against gram-positive bacterium Bacillus megaterium and plant pathogenic fungi Rhizoctonia solani. The additional carbon sources were sucrose, fructose and lactose whereas, the additional nitrogen sources were, urea, potassium nitrate and ammonium nitrate. The results demonstrated that the addition of new carbon and nitrogen sources to the minimal mineral nutrient media lead to decreasing the growth rate of studied bacterial strain and increasing the production of bioactive substances. The maximum production of bioactive substances of studied bacterial strain was obtained using ammonium nitrate and lactose. The purified filtrate of the studied bacterial strain was fractionated by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and the antimicrobial activity of five isolated single peaks was evaluated against gram positive bacteria B. megaterium ITM100 and gram negative bacteria Escherichia coli ITM103. The most bioactive peak was number two with 12800 and 6400 Ua.ml-1 against B. megaterium and E. coli, respectively. The obtained results suggested that the nutrient amendments can increase the production of antimicrobial substances and this may be a useful strategy for improving the biocontrol efficiency.

In this study, a total of 158 actinomycetes isolated from 15 soil samples of Kodagu district (Karnataka state) were screened for antimicrobial activities against Gram-positive, Gram-negative bacteria and fungi. A total of 138 (87.34%) isolates showed antimicrobial activity against one or more test organisms. Based on the results of preliminary screening, 65(47%) isolates showed noticeable antimicrobial activities against test organisms and were selected and identified based on morphological, biochemical and chemotaxonomic characteristics. The potential antibiotic producing actinomycetes identified as Micromonospora spp. (26), Streptomyces spp. (11); Nocardia spp. (9); Actinomadura spp. (7); Rhodococcus spp. (6); Nocardiopsis spp. (4) and Saccharomonospora spp. (2) respectively. This study highlights the occurrence of potential actinomycetes in underexplored habitats of Kodagu region.

Aquatic ecosystems include both fresh and marine water bodies comprising both abiotic and biotic components. The biotic component consists of producers, consumers and decomposers. Microorganisms play an important role in decomposition of organic matter; in fresh water much of this decomposition is carried out by a group of Deuteromycete fungi known as aquatic hyphomycetes. The diversity of aquatic hyphomycetes in a river can be assessed indirectly because they produce distinctively shaped conidia that persist in the water and are often concentrated in foam. Production of conidia may also be induced by incubating decomposing organic matter. The present study was carried out to explore the diversity of aquatic hyphomycetes on leaf bits in Kalathgiri Falls, in Chikmagalur District of Karnataka. The fallen leaves of four species of riverside plants were tied in nylon mesh bags, incubated in the stream for 15 days, and examined in the laboratory for spores indicating the presence of aquatic fungi. A total of 18 species of aquatic hyphomycetes belonging to 13 genera were recorded. There was little evidence of species associations, and the assemblage at each site along the falls was distinct.

Meningitis is the major cause of morbidity and mortality among infants and children below the age of five years. Meningitis might be caused by infection with viruses, bacteria, fungi or parasites. Haemophilus influenzae represents one of the causing agents of meningitis in children. During 2010, 400 Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) specimens were collected from children less than 5 years, which clinically diagnosed with meningitis, in several hospitals of Iraq. Microbiological, biochemical and PCR techniques were used for identification and typing of Haemophilus influenzae isolates. Culturing CSF specimens revealed that 11(2.75%) isolates belonging to genus Haemophilus then these isolates were more identified as H. influenzae according to the biochemical properties. According to the biotyping assay, it was found that 55% of H. influenzae isolates were identified as biotype I, 18.2% biotyped as V and VII for each one, and 9% biotyped as II, whereas all isolates (100%) identified as serotype b using slide agglutination test. PCR analysis was used for detection of H. influenzae in 75 specimens of cultured and noncultured CSF which divided into four groups (confirmed, probable, suspected, and control) according to the clinical and laboratory criteria of meningitis. Three genes, ompP6, bexA, and bcs3, were selected to verify the existence of H. influenzae type b using triplex PCR. It was found that 23(30.7%) of 24 H. influenzae were belonged to H. influenzae type b; 11(14.7%) were culture positive -PCR positive while 12 (16%) were culture negative -PCR positive, and only 1(1.3%) had noncapsulated properties for H. influenzae. Moreover, 5(6%) of 23 H. influenzae type b were detected as capsule deficient mutants which had ability to cause meningitis. Furthermore, according to capsular genotypes, hcsA, was indicated that H. influenzae type b was distributed in two types, I and II, type I was predominant (78.3%) in children under 5 years old whereas type II infected only 5(21.7%) children less than 1year old. In conclusions, according to this study H. influenzae serotype b and biotype I was the most common types among children less than 5 years old diagnosed as meningitis in Iraqi children. H. influenzae can be identified directly from CSF by using different types of PCR techniques based on the amplification of cap genes which showed high sensitivity and specificity comparing with culture method.

A total of 96 (69.1%) isolates of M. catarrhalis were isolated from 139 out patients of both sex with RTI (either Tonsilities, Otitis media, Sinusitis, or Pneumonia) admitted to or presenting at two hospitals in Al-Najaf city. Out of the bacterial isolates of RTI samples, there were 72 (75%) isolates of M. catarrhalis appeared to adhere with the epithelial cells and all isolates show resistance to complement. Phenotypic assay was performed to determine the presence of β-lactamase enzyme by the 40 M. catarrhalis isolate using nitrocefin disk. while in genotypic β-lactamase assay, thebro-1 gene found in 25 (62.1%) isolates, whilebro-2 gene was presented only in 3 (7.5%) isolates. Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis was performed for nine isolates by using four primers (P1,P2,P3,P4) and PCR technique. These primers show a large number of types with differnent bands, which probably reflects the high degree of genetic diversity present within this species, a diversity which appears to be a feature of M. catarrhalis infection and colonization and which may present problems for vaccine design.