Introduction

The serial endosymbiont theory (M. Taylor, 2000) says that unicellular organisms, plants, fungi, animals and humans are the product of a symbiogenesis - this is formation of new organs and organisms by symbiotic fusion - of at least two to four life forms. This minimum number could be confirmed by extensive genetic investigations. The nucleocytoplasm, the base substance of cells, originates from archebacteria, and most of the protein-synthesizing metabolism is derived from thermoacidophilic bacteria. The aerobic mitochondria formed from bacterial symbionts which we call "purple bacteria" or "proteobacteria" today. And finally, chloroplasts and other plastids from algae and plants were once free-living cyanobacteria.

With modern laboratory methods it is possible to show the existence of a large number of vastly different endobiontic guests in the cells of the human body. These organisms are mostly present as "cell wall deficient forms" (CWD) and are not detected by routine microbiological methods. Thus, about 30% of healthy people were found to be carriers of endobiontic types of bacilli in the erythrocytes; a recently published study in Canada also found evidence of genetic material from bacteria in erythrocytes of healthy donors (R. McLaughlin, 1999).

The majority of bacteria that we are concerned with from a medical standpoint are those that grow on and in the human body. Such bacteria (including pathogens) grow best at neutral or biological pH which is typically between pH 6.8 to pH 7.4. Extreme shifts in pH can damage cells by denaturing proteins and enzymes and by interfering with transport of ions across cell membranes.

Foods that are acidic such as vinegars and pickles generaly are not favorable for microbial growth.

Fungi such as yeasts and molds prefer slightly more acidic conditions and grow best between pH 5 to pH 6. This is about the pH of normal human skin.

Certain normal microbiota such as Lactobacilli ( an acidophile) help establish pH conditions that are not favorable for the growth of pathogens. Lactobacilli of the vagina help maintain a naturally acidic pH between pH 3 to pH 4. Interestingly, semen neutralizes the vaginal pH in order to favor survival of sperm. If an STD agent is present in semen it may be given a window of opportunity to establish an infection under altered pH conditions.

The pathogen Helicobacter pylori is able to survive the hostile pH of the stomach by producing urease. This enzyme is responsible for cleaving the nitrogenous waste product urea into carbon dioxide and ammonia. In turn ammonia raises the pH toward more basic conditions. Helicobacter is thus shielded from stomach acid and is able to produce inflammation and ulcers.

Some acidophiles such as those that metabolize sulfur can tolerate extremes as low as pH 1.

On the other extreme, bacteria that prefer alkaline (basic conditions) are known as alkaliphiles. Examples are Vibrio cholerae (prefers pH 9) and the soil bacterium Agrobacterium grows in soil with a pH of 12! Agrobacterium-mediated transformation takes advantage of the natural pathogenic activity of the soil bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens. A. tumefaciens infects the roots and stems of dicotyledonous plants resulting in the cancerous growths (galls) characteristic of crown gall disease. Infection is directed by the tumor inducing (Ti) plasmid, by the insertion of specific genes (T-DNA) into the genome of infected plant cells.

We know that bacterial infections are a major problem in cancer patients. If there are similar alkaliphiles in the blood of cancer patients, they should survive a KOH maceration. On the other hand Gerlach isolated from ultrafiltrated material of cancer patients cultivable microorganisms.

That leads us to the described experiments.

Tab.1

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