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Seasonal variation in the phosphatase activity of waters and sewage sludges

  • Microbiology of Sewage
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Summary

The alkaline phosphatase activity of water from eight locations differing in orthophosphate concentration has been determined over a period from late Autumn to late Summer. Evidence for induction/repression effects was conjectural, but cellular activity was highest in the environment of lowest orthophosphate concentration. Environments were sampled on a number of occasions and pH/phosphatase activity profiles constructed. The pH of maximum activity of low phosphate environments was in the acid region, that of high phosphate environments was in the alkaline region. There was little difference in the character and distribution of constitutive phosphatases in representative bacterial cultures from a high phosphate and a low phosphate environment. It seems likely that the phosphatase activity of a water at a particular time will be influenced by its nutrient and physico-chemical status as well as its ambient orthophosphate concentration.

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Author notes

  1. K. P. Flint

    Present address: Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Warwick, CV4 7AL, Coventry, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, University of Birmingham, P.O. Box 363, B15 2TT, Birmingham, UK

    K. P. Flint & J. W. Hopton

Authors
  1. K. P. Flint
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  2. J. W. Hopton
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Flint, K.P., Hopton, J.W. Seasonal variation in the phosphatase activity of waters and sewage sludges. European J. Appl Microbiol. 4, 205–215 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01390481

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01390481

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