[Influence of titanium dioxide on growth of Azotobacter vinelandii IMV V-7076].

Adding highly dispersed titanium dioxide particles of the culture medium has a stimulatory effect on growth of Azotobacter vinelandii. The maximum effect was observed when using 5 g/l and 10 g/l concentrations of this component. Under these conditions the number of grown bacteria is several times more than in the control variants. It was shown that the stimulatory effect could not be the consequence of saccharose sorption on the surface of particles of the dispersed compound. Possibly, the contact interaction of bacterial cell with titanium dioxide causes an increase of cell wall permeability which leads to an increase of substrates transport to the cell.