Plant, Soil and Environment, 2009 (vol. 55), issue 9
Detection of Listeria monocytogenes through real-time PCR and biosensor methods
P. Poltronieri, M.D. de Blasi, O.F. D'Urso
Plant Soil Environ., 2009, 55(9):363-369 | DOI: 10.17221/139/2009-PSE 
Listeria monocytogenes is a foodborne pathogen causing listeriosis, especially in sensitive individuals such as children, pregnant women and persons with compromised immune systems. This pathogen has been isolated from different food products, but milk products surely play a major role in the epidemiology of this foodborne disease. Identification traditionally involved culture methods based on selective enrichment and plating followed by the characterization of Listeria spp. based on colony morphology, sugar fermentation and haemolytic properties. These methods are the gold standard, but in the last years more rapid tests were developed...
Microbial enzyme-catalyzed processes in soils and their analysis
P. Baldrian
Plant Soil Environ., 2009, 55(9):370-378 | DOI: 10.17221/134/2009-PSE
Currently, measuring enzyme activities in soils or other lignocellulose-based materials is technically feasible; this measurement is particularly suitable for evaluating soil processes of biopolymer (cellulose, hemicelluloses, lignin, chitin and others) degradation by microbes and for assessing cycling and mobilization of principal nutrients including nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur. With some considerations, assay methods can provide reliable information on the concentration of enzymes in soil or the rates of enzyme-catalyzed processes. Enzyme analyses in recent studies demonstrated a high level of spatial variability of soil enzyme activity both...
Oligonucleotide microarray methodology for taxonomic and functional monitoringof microbial community composition
M. Kyselková, J. Kopecký, M. Ságová-Marečková, G.L. Grundmann, Y. Moënne-Loccoz
Plant Soil Environ., 2009, 55(9):379-388 | DOI: 10.17221/140/2009-PSE
Microarray analysis is a cultivation-independent, high-throughput technology that can be used for direct and simultaneous identification of microorganisms in complex environmental samples. This review summarizes current methodologies for oligonucleotide microarrays used in microbial ecology. It deals with probe design, microarray manufacturing, sample preparation and labeling, and data handling, as well as with the key features of microarray analysis such as specificity, sensitivity and quantification potential. Microarray analysis has been validated as an effective approach to describe the composition and dynamics of taxonomic and functional microbial...
Approaches for diversity analysis of cultivable and non-cultivable bacteriain real soil
P. Štursa, O. Uhlík, V. Kurzawová, J. Koubek, M. Ionescu, M. Strohalm, P. Lovecká, T. Macek, M. Macková
Plant Soil Environ., 2009, 55(9):389-396 | DOI: 10.17221/136/2009-PSE
Until recently, investigators had no idea how accurately cultivated microorganisms represented the overall microbial diversity. The cultivation-dependent approach is limited by the fact that the overwhelming majority of microorganisms present in soil cannot be cultivated under laboratory conditions. The development of molecular phylogenetics has recently enabled characterization of naturally occurring microbial biota without cultivation. There is a vast amount of information held within the genomes of cultivable and non-cultivable microorganisms, and new methods based on analysis of DNA allow to investigate this potential. In this work we show some...
Modification of the terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysisfor assessment of a specific taxonomic group within a soil microbial community
J. Kopecký, G. Novotná, M. Ságová-Marečková
Plant Soil Environ., 2009, 55(9):397-403 | DOI: 10.17221/1012-PSE
A double color terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis was applied for the diversity assessment of a complex bacterial community in a deciduous forest soil. Application of the second label was used to project a specific taxonomic group of bacteria, actinomycetes in our case, to the universal fingerprint. The diversity of actinomycetes was evaluated directly as a percentage of the whole bacterial community by comparing the corresponding terminal fragments of the same length.
Sustainable land management by restoration of short water cycles and preventionof irreversible matter losses from topsoils
W. Ripl, M. Eiseltová
Plant Soil Environ., 2009, 55(9):404-410 | DOI: 10.17221/133/2009-PSE
Sustainable land management requires that water and matter (nutrients and base cations) are efficiently recycled within ecosystems so that irreversible losses of matter from topsoils are minimised. Matter losses are connected to water flow. The division of water into evapotranspiration that is loss-free, and seepage to groundwater or surface water flow that both carry material losses, is decisive in determining total losses of dissolved matter in a given catchment. Investigations of areal matter losses confirmed the instrumental role of vegetation cover. Areal matter losses measured in agricultural catchments in Germany were on average between 1-1.5...
Introduction of Scientific Committee on Phytosanitary and Environment
Václav Stejskal, Pavel Tlustoš
Plant Soil Environ., 2009, 55(9):411-412 | DOI: 10.17221/2793-PSE