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Microorganisms associated with the production of volatile compound in spoilt mango fruits sold in Sokoto town were isolated and identified. The organisms include seven species of bacteria and a species of yeast. These include Bacillus pumilus, Bacillus firmus, Brevibacillus laterosporus, Morganella morganii, Paenibacillus alvei, Staphylococcus saccharolyticus, Listeria monocytogenes and Candida krusei respectively. GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of eleven and sixteen volatile organic compound in the healthy and spoilt ripe mango fruits. Octadecanoic acid, oleic acid, 1 – Butanol, 3 – methyl-, carbonate (2:1) and 3,7 – Dimethyl nonane were common to both healthy and spoilt fruits with the first three having higher concentration in healthy fruits than spoilt while the later had higher concentration in the spoilt. One methyl group of 3,3- Dimethyl hexane in healthy fruit was shifted to position two to yield 2,3-Dimethyl hexane in the spoilt fruits. 2,2-Dimethylbutane, Methyl(methyl-4-deoxy-2,3-di-O-methyl.beta.1-threo-hex-4-enopyranosid) urinate, 3-(4-amino-phenyl)-2-(toluene-4-sulfonylamino)-propionic acid, 2-Methyl-3-heptanone, 3,5-Nonadien-7-yn-2-ol, (E,E), Butanoic acid, 1,1-dimethylethyl ester, 1-methyl-3-beta.phenylethyl-2,4,5-trioxoimidazolidine, Pentanoic acid, 2,2-dimethyl, ethyl ester (Vinyl 2,2-dimethylpentanoate), 4-Methyurazole, 1-Tridecyn- 4 – 9 – ol, 1-Hexyl-1-nitrocyclohexane were unique to spoilt fruits. This study suggests that these unique volatile metabolites could be exploited as biomarkers to discriminate pathogens even when more than one disease is present thereby curbing post harvest loss during storage after further validation and the volatile organic compound could form the basis for constructing a metabolomics database for Nigeria.

When oil spill occurs, it poses serious toxic hazards to all forms of life. Mixed culture of Burkholderia cepacia and Corynebacterium sp isolated from refinery sludge using selective enrichment technique was used for bioremediation of refinery wastewater in a laboratoryscale bioreactor. Physicochemical parameters of both raw and treated water were as determined and compared with Federal Environ - mental Protection Agency (FEPA-limit, Abuja, Nigeria) to asses the efficiency of the bioremediation process. Each of the bacterium was screened for the presence of plasmid DNA and for the involvement or otherwise of plasmid in the bioremediation of wastewater. The immobilised cells showed percentage decrease in chemical oxygen demand (97%), biochemical oxygen demand (94%), phenol (98%), total petroleum hydrocarbon (79%), oil and grease (90%) of the refinery waste water after 20 days of treatment while their transconjugants showed the multiplicative effect by achieving the same percentage after 10 days of treatment. Therefore, the findings revealed that bioaugmentation of wastewater using transmissible catabolic plasmid will enhance efficiency of the bioremediation by spreading the plasmid among indigenous microbial community either through horizontal gene transfer or transformation.

Microorganisms associated with the production of volatile compound in spoilt mango fruits sold in Sokoto town were isolated and identified. The organisms include seven species of bacteria and a species of yeast. These include Bacillus pumilus, Bacillus firmus, Brevibacillus laterosporus, Morganella morganii, Paenibacillus alvei, Staphylococcus saccharolyticus, Listeria monocytogenes and Candida krusei respectively. GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of eleven and sixteen volatile organic compound in the healthy and spoilt ripe mango fruits. Octadecanoic acid, oleic acid, 1 – Butanol, 3 – methyl-, carbonate (2:1) and 3,7 – Dimethyl nonane were common to both healthy and spoilt fruits with the first three having higher concentration in healthy fruits than spoilt while the later had higher concentration in the spoilt. One methyl group of 3,3- Dimethyl hexane in healthy fruit was shifted to position two to yield 2,3-Dimethyl hexane in the spoilt fruits. 2,2-Dimethylbutane, Methyl(methyl-4-deoxy-2,3-di-O-methyl.beta.1-threo-hex-4-enopyranosid) urinate, 3-(4-amino-phenyl)-2-(toluene-4-sulfonylamino)-propionic acid, 2-Methyl-3-heptanone, 3,5-Nonadien-7-yn-2-ol, (E,E), Butanoic acid, 1,1-dimethylethyl ester, 1-methyl-3-beta.phenylethyl-2,4,5-trioxoimidazolidine, Pentanoic acid, 2,2-dimethyl, ethyl ester (Vinyl 2,2-dimethylpentanoate), 4-Methyurazole, 1-Tridecyn- 4 – 9 – ol, 1-Hexyl-1-nitrocyclohexane were unique to spoilt fruits. This study suggests that these unique volatile metabolites could be exploited as biomarkers to discriminate pathogens even when more than one disease is present thereby curbing post harvest loss during storage after further validation and the volatile organic compound could form the basis for constructing a metabolomics database for Nigeria.

Abstract. In a previous preliminary study an excess of tumor necrosis factor-[alpha] (TNF) was found in pleural fluid of patients with complicated parapneumonic effusion (CPPE), and its levels in pleural [...]