Katsutoshi Hori

Acinetobacter sp. Tol 5 exhibits an autoagglutinating nature and noteworthy adhesiveness to various abiotic surfaces from hydrophobic plastics to hydrophilic glass and stainless steel. Although previous studies have suggested that bacterionanofibers on Tol 5 cells are involved in the adhesive phenotype of Tol 5, the fiber that directly mediates Tol 5 adhesion has remained unknown. Here, we present a new member of trimeric autotransporter adhesins designated AtaA, which we discovered by analyzing

Two morphological types of appendages, an anchor-like appendage and a peritrichate fibril-type appendage, have been observed on cells of an adhesive bacterium, Acinetobacter sp. strain Tol 5, by use of recently developed electron microscopic techniques. The anchor extends straight to the substratum without branching and tethers the cell body at its end at distances of several hundred nanometers, whereas the peritrichate fibril attaches to the substratum in multiple places, fixing the cell at muc

Toluene-degrading bacteria were isolated from the trickle bed air biofilter (TBAB), which had eliminated toluene efficiently for three months. Among the isolates, Acinetobacter genospecies Tol 5 demonstrated the highest efficiency in toluene removal. A. genospecies Tol 5 tended to adhere to hydrophobic materials showing water-repellent. When the bacterium was grown on toluene in the presence of polyurethane foam, almost all the cells adhered to the polymer support until the amount of 0.12 kg-cel

Abstract The feasibility of the simultaneous production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) and rhamnolipids, as a novel approach to reduce their production costs, was demonstrated by the cultivation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa IFO3924. Fairly large amounts of PHAs and rhamnolipids were obtained from the bacterial cells and the culture supernatant, respectively. Decanoate was a more suitable carbon source than ethanol and glucose for the simultaneous production, although glucose was suitable for cell

Trimeric autotransporter adhesins (TAAs) on the cell surface of Gram-negative pathogens mediate bacterial adhesion to host cells and extracellular matrix proteins. However, AtaA, a TAA in the nonpathogenic Acinetobacter sp. strain Tol 5, shows nonspecific high adhesiveness to abiotic material surfaces as well as to biotic surfaces. It consists of a passenger domain secreted by the C-terminal transmembrane anchor domain (TM), and the passenger domain contains an N-terminal head, N-terminal stalk,

The affinity of microbial cells for hydrophobic interfaces is important because it directly affects the efficiency of various bioprocesses, including green biotechnologies. The toluene-degrading bacterium Acinetobacter sp. strain Tol 5 has filamentous appendages and a hydrophobic cell surface, shows high adhesiveness to solid surfaces, and self-agglutinates. A "bald" mutant of this bacterium, strain T1, lacks the filamentous appendages and has decreased adhesiveness but retains a hydrophobic cel

The toluene-degrading bacterium Acinetobacter sp. Tol 5 shows high adhesiveness mediated by the bacterionanofiber protein AtaA, which is a new member of the trimeric autotransporter adhesin (TAA) family. In contrast to other reported TAAs, AtaA mediates the adhesion of Tol 5 to various abiotic surfaces ranging from hydrophobic plastics to hydrophilic glass and stainless steel. The expression of ataA in industrially relevant bacteria improves their adhesiveness and enables immobilization directly