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Results show that the purified catalase from the Vibrio rumoiensis S-1(sup)T is a 230 kilodalton molecular mass enzyme exhibiting four identical subunits. Data also indicate that the unique properties of the enzyme are consistent with bacterium's exposure to an environment of hydrogen peroxide.

Research performed on a strain of aerobic anoxygenic photosynthetic bacteria reveal the presence of bacteriochlorophyll a (Bchl). The abundance of the the bacteria despite isolation from a deep-ocean hydrothermal vent plume environment indicates that the ability to produce Bchl is of selective advantage. Further studies have to be done to differentiate between the evolution of photosynthesis at deep hydrothermal vents and that in sun-irradiated environments.

Two novel mechanisms are described for granule formation as observed in three laboratory scale sequencing batch reactors operating for biological phosphorus removal and treating two different types of wastewater. The application of the mechanisms and the associated microbial ecology has provided conceptual information benefiting start-up procedures for full-scale granular-sludge reactors.

The effect of experimental choices on the survey of microbial diversity in a sample taken from the aerobic basin of the activated sludge of a North Carolina wastewater treatment plant is studied. The studies have concluded that if the analysis is meant to probe the rare biosphere, both the experimental conditions and analysis choices will have a major impact on the observed results.

The analysis of an extensive partial 16S rRNA gene library of the bacterial community diversity from a single composite sample from an agricultural soil that is generated using very general primers and GC-fractionated DNA is reported. The data obtained indicated that GC fractionation or other prefractionation approaches for reducing complexity within total community DNA prior to PCR and cloning are useful for DNA-based phylogenetic surveys of microbial community diversity.

A new primer set was developed to specifically amplify aoxB genes encoding the As(III) oxidase catalytic subunit from taxonomically diverse aerobic As(III)-oxidizing bacteria. The results highlighted the conservation of essential amino acids and structural motifs and the usefulness of the aoxB gene as a functional marker of aerobic As(III) oxidizers.

A study was conducted to explore the abundance, vertical distribution, and diversity of aerobic anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria (AAP) at four basins of the Baltic Sea. The data obtained for the AAP assemblages showed a mixture of marine and freshwater taxa.

The distribution of the epoxyalkanecoenzyme M transferase in ten mycobacterial strains is presented. Results indicate that 6 strains can be isolated on vinyl chloride and 4 strains from that of ethene. All of the ten species possess enzyme activity and its cognate genes. Data reveal that in the former, the enzyme is encoded on linear megaplasmids.

Research has been conducted on Roseobacter clade strains from different marine habitats. The diversity of these strains has been investigated via the use of 16S rRNA gene as a phylogenetic marker in the effort to correlate phylogeny with ecology, and the results are discussed.