Screening of wild type Streptomyces isolates able to overproduce clavulanic acid

The selection of new microorganisms able to produce antimicrobial compounds is hoped for to reduce their production costs and the side effects caused by synthetic drugs. Clavulanic acid is a β-lactam antibiotic produced by submerged culture, which is widely used in medicine as a powerful inhibitor of β-lactamases, enzymes produced by bacteria resistant to antibiotics such penicillin and cephalosporin. The purpose of this work was to select the best clavulanic acid producer among strains of Streptomyces belonging to the Microorganism Collection of the Department of Antibiotics of the Federal University of Pernambuco (DAUFPE). Initially, the strains were studied for their capacity to inhibit the action of β-lactamases produced by Klebsiella aerogenes ATCC 15380. From these results, five strains were selected to investigate the batch kinetics of growth and clavulanic acid production in submerged culture carried out in flasks. The results were compared with the ones obtained by Streptomyces clavuligerus ATCC 27064 selected as a control strain. The best clavulanic acid producer was Streptomyces DAUFPE 3060, molecularly identified as Streptomyces variabilis, which increased the clavulanic acid production by 28% compared to the control strain. This work contributes to the enlargement of knowledge on new Streptomyces wild strains able to produce clavulanic acid by submerged culture.

Antimicrobial and radical scavenging properties of bovine collagen hydrolysates produced by Penicillium aurantiogriseum URM 4622 collagenase

A 2(3) full factorial design was used to identify the main effects and interactions of pH, collagen concentration and temperature on the degree of collagen hydrolysis (DH) by collagenase from Penicillium aurantiogriseum URM 4622. Increases in both pH and collagen concentration improved DH, and a positive interaction effect was observed for these variables. On the other hand, temperature had a negative main effect on DH. The maximum value of DH (4.65 μg/mL) was achieved at 7.5 mg/mL collagen concentration, pH 8.0 and 25 °C. The peptide profile showed several peptides with molecular weights lower than 2 kDa and exhibited antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus. An antioxidant activity of 84.7 ± 0.24 % towards the radical ABTS• + was obtained with 50 mg/mL hydrolysates. This study demonstrated that collagen hydrolysed by P. aurantiogriseum URM 4622 collagenase possesses interesting antibacterial and antioxidant activities.

Physico-chemical quality parameters of herbal products from Agave sisalana

Agave sisalana components have great potential in different pharmaceutical applications, but the quality of herbal raw materials is essential to reach the desired product specifications. In this work, we investigated the physico-chemical quality parameters of bole and wastes from decortication of A. sisalana leaves. The statistically significant variations among products suggest different pharmaceutical applications for each of them.

Statistical investigation of Kluyveromyces lactis cells permeabilization with ethanol by response surface methodology

The aim of our study was to select the optimal operating conditions to permeabilize Kluyveromyces lactis cells using ethanol as a solvent as an alternative to cell disruption and extraction. Cell permeabilization was carried out by a non-mechanical method consisting of chemical treatment with ethanol, and the results were expressed as β-galactosidase activity. Experiments were conducted under different conditions of ethanol concentration, treatment time and temperature according to a central composite rotatable design (CCRD), and the collected results were then worked out by response surface methodology (RSM). Cell permeabilization was improved by an increase in ethanol concentration and simultaneous decreases in the incubation temperature and treatment time. Such an approach allowed us to identify an optimal range of the independent variables within which the β-galactosidase activity was optimized. A maximum permeabilization of 2,816 mmol L⁻¹ oNP min⁻¹ g⁻¹ was obtained by treating cells with 75.0% v/v of ethanol at 20.0 °C for 15.0 min. The proposed methodology resulted to be effective and suited for K. lactis cells permeabilization at a lab-scale and promises to be of possible interest for future applications mainly in the food industry.

Kinetic model of Chlorella vulgaris growth with and without extremely low frequency-electromagnetic fields (EM-ELF)

Chlorella vulgaris was grown in two bench-scale photobioreactors with and without the application of a low intensity, low frequency electromagnetic field (EM-ELF) of about 3mT. Cell concentration and tendency of cells to form aggregates inside the reactor were recorded over a 30 days-time period at 0.5L-constant medium volume in the temperature range 289-304K. At 304K, after a cultivation period of 15 days, the rate of cell death became predominant over that of growth. In the temperature range 289-299K, a two step-kinetic model based on the mitotic division and the clusterization processes was developed and critically discussed. The best-fitted curves turned out to have a sigmoid shape, and the competition between mitosis and clusterization was investigated. Without EM-ELF, the temperature dependence of the specific rate constant of the mitotic step yielded an apparent total enthalpy of 15±6kJmol(-1), whose value was not influenced by the EM-ELF application. The electromagnetic field was shown to exert a significant effect on the exothermic clusterization step. The heat exchange due to binding between cells and liquid medium turned out to be -44±5kJmol(-1) in the absence of EM-ELF and -68±8kJmol(-1) when it was active. Optical microscopy observations were in agreement with the model predictions and confirmed that EM-ELF was able to enhance cell clusterization.

Influence of fructooligosaccharides on the fermentation profile and viable counts in a symbiotic low fat milk

This study evaluated the effects of prebiotics on fermentation profile and growth of Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, and Bifidobacterium lactis in co-cultures with Streptococcus thermophilus. Acidification rate and viability were positively influenced by the co-culture with B. lactis and by both inulin or oligofructose in low fat milk.

Citric Acid production from orange peel wastes by solid-state fermentation

Valencia orange (Citrus sinensis) peel was employed in this work as raw material for the production of citric acid (CA) by solid-state fermentation (SSF) of Aspergillus niger CECT-2090 (ATCC 9142, NRRL 599) in Erlenmeyer flasks. To investigate the effects of the main operating variables, the inoculum concentration was varied in the range 0.5·10³ to 0.7·10⁸ spores/g dry orange peel, the bed loading from 1.0 to 4.8 g of dry orange peel (corresponding to 35-80 % of the total volume), and the moisture content between 50 and 100 % of the maximum water retention capacity (MWRC) of the material. Moreover, additional experiments were done adding methanol or water in different proportions and ways. The optimal conditions for CA production revealed to be an inoculum of 0.5·10⁶ spores/g dry orange peel, a bed loading of 1.0 g of dry orange peel, and a humidification pattern of 70 % MWRC at the beginning of the incubation with posterior addition of 0.12 mL H₂O/g dry orange peel (corresponding to 3.3 % of the MWRC) every 12 h starting from 62 h. The addition of methanol was detrimental for the CA production. Under these conditions, the SSF ensured an effective specific production of CA (193 mg CA/g dry orange peel), corresponding to yields of product on total initial and consumed sugars (glucose, fructose and sucrose) of 376 and 383 mg CA/g, respectively. These results, which demonstrate the viability of the CA production by SSF from orange peel without addition of other nutrients, could be of interest to possible, future industrial applications.

Optimisation of phenolics recovery from Vitex agnus-castus Linn. leaves by high-pressure and temperature extraction

To optimise recovery of phenolics from Vitex agnus-castus Linn., a non-conventional high-pressure (2-24 bar) and temperature (100-180°C) extraction method was used under nitrogen atmosphere with methanol as a solvent. Optimal temperature was between 100 and 140°C, and optimal extraction time was about one half that of conventional solid/liquid extraction at room temperature. Final yields of total polyphenols, total flavonoids, o-diphenols and anthocyanins extraction were 2.0, 3.0, 2.5 and 11-fold those obtained by conventional extraction.

Phenol oxidation by mushroom waste extracts: a kinetic and thermodynamic study

Tyrosinase activity of mushroom extracts was checked for their ability to degrade phenol. Phenol oxidation kinetics was investigated varying temperature from 10 to 60 °C and the initial values of pH, enzyme activity and phenol concentration in the ranges 4.5-8.5, 1.43-9.54 U/mL and 50-600 mg/L, respectively. Thermodynamic parameters of phenol oxidation and tyrosinase reversible inactivation were estimated. Tyrosinase thermostability was also investigated through residual activity tests after extracts exposition at 20-50 °C, whose results allowed exploring the thermodynamics of enzyme irreversible thermoinactivation. This study is the first attempt to separate the effects of reversible unfolding and irreversible denaturation of tyrosinase on its activity. Extracts were finally tested on a real oil mill wastewater.