[Microbial communities on the monuments of Moscow and St. Petersburg: biodiversity and trophic relations]. / Mikrobnye soobshchestva na mramornykh pamiatnikakh Sankt-Peterburga i Moskvy: vidovoi sostav (raznoobrazie) i troficheskie vzaimootnosheniia.

Stone monuments situated in the Alexander Nevsky Abbey, the Summer Garden, and the Smolenskoe Cemetery, St. Petersburg, and marble and limestone sculptures and tombstones situated in the Novodevichy Convent and the Donskoy Monastery, Moscow, were investigated for their microbial contamination. The architectural objects studied date to the 12th century. The monuments in the Alexander Nevsky Abbey were found to be severely contaminated with micromycetes belonging to 24 genera (primarily of the class Deuteromycetes). The analysis of the samples taken from the monuments of the Donskoy Monastery by the serial dilution technique showed that they were contaminated with bacteria at a density of (1-1.7) x 10(5) cells/g. This value, however, turned out to be 1 to 2 orders greater when the bacterial population was evaluated by the luciferin-luciferase method. We succeeded in identifying 12 bacterial genera; however, this number may be increased in the course of further studies. Some preventive measures to control the biodeterioration of stone heritage are discussed.

[Morphogenesis and the fine structure of Stibiobacter senarmontii]. / Morfogenez i tonkoe stroenie Stibiobacter senarmontii.

The morphogenesis and fine structure of Stibiobacter senarmontii were studied during its cultivation in the autotrophic conditions of growth in a mineral medium as well as in a medium containing yeast extract. The morphology of the organism was shown to be variable. A young culture was represented mainly by rods with three flagella. Coccoid, club-shaped and branching forms were observed during aging of the culture. The cells multiplied by irregular division and by breaking along the partition of the parent cell. The latter process yielded cell aggregates looking like rings and hieroglyphs. Electronograms revealed a complex membrane apparatus, polyribosomes, large electron-transparent inclusions, and unknown electron-dense inclusions in the nuclear zone. The cell wall looked on cross-sections as a three-layer structure. The assignment of St. senarmontii to Gram-positive bacteria is discussed. The morphogenesis of this organism suggests that it is related to the coryneform group of bacteria.

[Crocoite reduction by a culture of Pseudomonas chromatophila sp. nov]. / Vosstanovlenie krokoita kul'turoi Pseudomonas chromatophila sp. nov.

Two cultures of chromium reducing bacteria have been isolated from samples of water accumulated at the bottom of an open-cut chromium deposit and from industrial sewage. The cultures were found to be identical. The cultures are described and their taxonomical position is discussed. They have been classed as Psuedomonas chromatophila sp. nov. the cultures reduce Cr(VI) from crocoite PbCrO4 to Cr(III). A possibility of chromium reducing bacteria being involved in the conversion of crocoite to chromite in the oxidation zone of chromite deposits is discussed.

[Participation of nitrifying bacteria in the disintegration of serpentinous ultrabasic rock]. / Uchastie nitrifitsiruiushchikh bakterii v vyvetrivanii serpentinizirovannykh ul'trabazitov.

Nitrifying bacteria were found to be widely distributed among the products of the weathering crust of ultrabasite rocks. Nitrosospira briensis and Nitrobacter winogradskyi involved in the first and second phases of nitrification, respectively, were detected and isolated as pure cultures. In experiments conducted with a pure culture of Nitrosospira briensis, a correlation was established between degradation of serpentinite by this culture and an increase in the content of nitrites in the growth medium. The presence of nitrogen compounds in the deposits, as well as wide distribution of nitrifying bacteria, suggests that this bacterial group along with other, in particular, heterotrophic microorganisms participates in weathering of serpentinized ultrabasite rocks, leaching of elements, and formation of the weathering crust.

[Assimilation of carbon dioxide by Stibiobacter senarmontii]. / Assimiliatsiia uglekisloty kul'turoi Stibiobacter senarmontii

Early products of 14CO2 assimilation by a new microorganism Stibiobacter senarmontii are phosphoglyceric acid, phosphorous esters of sugars and aspartic acid, as was shown by chromatography and radioautography. Extracts of the cells displayed the activity of ribulosediphosphate carboxylase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (1 mU and 0.24 mU per 1 mg of protein in the extract, respectively). Therefore, the microorganism is capable of autotrophic nutrition involving mechanisms of the reductive pentosephosphate cycle. The latter seems to operate even in conditions of deficiency of the energy substrate which is caused by low solubility of antimony trioxide.