Recovery of pectolytic enzymes produced by solid state culture of Aspergillus niger

Production and optimization of novel Sphorolipids from Candida parapsilosis grown on potato peel and frying oil wastes and their adverse effect on Mucorales fungal strains

BRIEF INTRODUCTION

Mucormycosis disease, which has recently expanded with the Covid 19 pandemic in many countries, endangers patients' lives, and treatment with common drugs is fraught with unfavorable side effects.

AIM AND OBJECTIVES

This study deals with the economic production of sophorolipids (SLs) from different eight fungal isolates strains utilizing potato peels waste (PPW) and frying oil waste (FOW). Then investigate their effect against mucormycetes fungi.

RESULTS

The screening of the isolates for SLs production revealed the highest yield (39 g/100 g substrate) with most efficiency was related to a yeast that have been identified genetically as Candida parapsilosis. Moreover, the characterizations studies of the produced SLs by FTIR, ¹H NMR and LC-MS/MS proved the existence of both acidic and lactonic forms, while their surface activity was confirmed by the surface tension (ST) assessment. The SLs production was optimized utilizing Box-Behnken design resulting in the amelioration of yield by 30% (55.3 g/100 g substrate) and ST by 20.8% (38mN/m) with constant level of the critical micelle concentration (CMC) at 125 mg/L. The studies also revealed the high affinity toward soybean oil (E₂₄ = 50%), in addition to maintaining the emulsions stability against broad range of pH (4-10) and temperature (10-100℃). Furthermore, the antifungal activity against Mucor racemosus, Rhizopus microsporus, and Syncephalastrum racemosum proved a high inhibition efficiency of the produced SLs.

CONCLUSION

The findings demonstrated the potential application of the SLs produced economically from agricultural waste as an effective and safer alternative for the treatment of infection caused by black fungus.

Biotransformation of Citrus Waste-I: Production of Biofuel and Valuable Compounds by Fermentation

Citrus is the largest grown fruit crop on the globe with an annual production of ~110–124 million tons. Approximately, 45–55% of the whole fruit post-processing is generally discarded as waste by the food processing industries. The waste is a huge problem to the environment in terms of land and water pollution along with displeasure from aesthetic viewpoint and spread of diseases owing to its huge content of fermentable sugars. The waste can be utilized as a raw material feedstock for producing a number of valuable chemicals and products, such as bioethanol, biogas, bio-oil, organic acids, enzymes, and so on. The production of these chemicals from waste biomass gives an inexpensive alternative to the harsh chemicals used during industrial synthesis processes as well as the possibility of controlling pollution from the waste discarded to the environment. The derived chemicals can be further utilized in the production of industrially important chemicals, as solvents and building blocks of newer chemicals. Furthermore, organic acids, pectin, enzymes, prebiotics, etc., derived from citrus wastes have an edge over their synthetic counterparts in practical applications in the food processing and pharmaceutical industries.

Utilization of agro waste pectin for the production of industrially important polygalacturonase

In the present study, a variety of agro-industrial wastes have been utilized for meaningful purpose to produce valuable biocatalyst. All wastes used were low cost and easily accessible while, some available throughout the year. A number of bacterial strains isolated from rotten fruits and vegetables were screened for the production of industrially important polygalacturonase (PGase) using pectin present in these agro-industrial wastes. The strain producing maximum PGase was identified as Bacillus licheniformis KIBE-IB3 on the basis of taxonomic studies and 16S rDNA analysis. Among different agro-industrial wastes studied, high yield of PGase was achieved from fermentation broth having wheat bran (1.0%) as a substrate in to the medium supplemented with nitrogen sources in combination of NaNO₃ and yeast extract while KH₂PO₄ was selected as suitable micronutrient. After optimizing fermentation parameters it was noticed that Bacillus licheniformis KIBE-IB3 was capable of producing maximum PGase at 37 °C, pH 7.0 and after 48 h of incubation time. From the current research, wheat bran was proven as a cheap and easily available source throughout the year for hyper production of pectinase. The utilization of the waste will also help to minimize the concerned environmental issues.

A strategic approach for direct recovery and stabilization of Fusarium sp. ICT SAC1 cutinase from solid state fermented broth by carrier free cross-linked enzyme aggregates

The major hurdles in commercial exploitation of cutinase (having both esterolytic and lipolytic activities) with potent industrial applications are its high production cost, operational instability and reusability. Although commercially available in immobilized form, its immobilization process (synthesis of support/carrier) makes it expensive. Herein we tried to address multiple issues of production cost, stability, and reusability, associated with cutinase. Waste watermelon rinds, an agroindustrial waste was considered as a cheap support for solid state fermentation (SSF) for cutinase production by newly isolated Fusarium sp. ICT SAC1. Subsequently, carrier free cross-linked enzyme aggregates of cutinase (cut-CLEA) directly from the SSF crude broth were developed. All the process variables affecting CLEA formation along with the different additives were evaluated. It was found that 50% (w/v) of ammonium sulphate, 125μmol of glutaraldehyde, cross-linking for 1h at 30°C and broth pH of 7.0, yielded 58.12% activity recovery. All other additives (hexane, butyric acid, sodium dodecyl sulphate, Trition-X 100, Tween-20, BSA) evaluated presented negative results to our hypothesis. Kinetics and morphology studies confirmed the diffusive nature of cut-CLEA and BSA cut-CLEA. Developed CLEA showed better thermal, solvent, detergent and storage stability, making it more elegant and efficient for industrial biocatalytic process.

Fungal multienzyme production on industrial by-products of the citrus-processing industry

Orange peels is the principal solid by-product of the citrus processing industry and the disposal of the fresh peels is becoming a major problem to many factories. Dry citrus peels are rich in pectin, cellulose and hemicellulose and may be used as a fermentation substrate. Production of multienzyme preparations containing pectinolytic, cellulolytic and xylanolytic enzymes by the mesophilic fungi Aspergillus niger BTL, Fusarium oxysporum F3, Neurospora crassa DSM 1129 and Penicillium decumbens under solid-state fermentation (SSF) on dry orange peels was enhanced by optimization of initial pH of the culture medium and initial moisture level. Under optimal conditions A. niger BTL was by far the most potent strain in polygalacturonase and pectate lyase, production followed by F. oxysporum F3, N. crassa DSM 1129 and P. decumbens. N. crassa DSM 1129 produced the highest endoglucanase activity and P. decumbens the lowest one. Comparison of xylanase production revealed that A. niger BTL produced the highest activity followed by N. crassa DSM 1129, P. decumbens and F. oxysporum F3. N. crassa DSM 1129 and P. decumbens did not produce any beta-xylosidase activity, while A. niger BTL produced approximately 10 times more beta-xylosidase than F. oxysporum F3. The highest invertase activity was produced by A. niger BTL while the lowest ones by F. oxysporum F3 and P. decumbens. After SSF of the four fungi, under optimal conditions, the fermented substrate was either directly exposed to autohydrolysis or new material was added, and the in situ produced multienzyme systems were successfully used for the partial degradation of orange peels polysaccharides and the liberation of fermentable sugars.

Production and recovery of an alkaline exo-polygalacturonase from Bacillus subtilis RCK under solid-state fermentation using statistical approach

The empirical models developed through two independent RSM (RSM-I, 2(3); RSM-II, 2(5)) in terms of effective operational factors of inoculum age, inoculum volume, wheat bran-to-moisture ratio (RSM-I) and contact time, extraction temperature, agitation, fermented bran-to-solvent ratio and SDS (RSM-II) were found adequate to describe the optimization of exo-polygalacturonase from Bacillus subtilis RCK under solid-state fermentation (SSF) conditions. Through the analysis of RSM-I, wheat bran-to-moisture ratio and inoculum volume were found to be the most significant factors and an increment in both had a positive effect in enhancing enzyme yield, while in RSM-II all the factors significantly affected enzyme recovery except fermented bran-to-solvent ratio, which had the least impact within the ranges investigated in enhancing enzyme recovery. Based on contour plots and variance analysis, optimum operational conditions for maximum exo-polygalacturonase yield were achieved when 1.5% (v/w) of 24h old (OD(600 nm) approximately 2.7+/-0.2) B. subtilis RCK cells were inoculated on moistened wheat bran (1:7 solid substrate-to-moisture ratio) and enzyme was harvested by addition of solvent (1:6 fermented bran-to-solvent ratio) under shaking conditions (200 rpm) in presence of SDS (0.25% w/v) for 15 min at 35 degrees C. An over all 3.4 fold (1.7-fold RSM-I; 2.0 fold RSM-II) increase in enzyme production was attained because of optimization by RSM.

Solid-state fermentation systems-an overview

Starting with a brief history of solid-state fermentation (SSF), major aspects of SSF are reviewed, which include factors affecting SSF, biomass, fermentors, modeling, industrial microbial enzymes, organic acids, secondary metabolites, and bioremediation. Physico-chemical and environmental factors such as inoculum type, moisture and water activity, pH, temperature, substrate, particle size, aeration and agitation, nutritional factors, and oxygen and carbon dioxide affecting SSF are reviewed. The advantages of SSF over Submerged Fermentation (SmF) are indicated, and the different types of fermentors used in SSF described. The economic feasibilities of adopting SSF technology in the commercial production of industrial enzymes such as amylases, cellulases, xylanase, proteases, phytases, lipases, etc., organic acids such as citric acid and lactic acid, and secondary metabolites such as gibberellic acid, ergot alkaloids, and antibiotics such as penicillin, cyclosporin, cephamycin and tetracyclines are highlighted. The relevance of applying SSF technology in the production of mycotoxins, biofuels, and biocontrol agents is discussed, and the need for adopting SSF technology in bioremediation of toxic compounds, biological detoxication of agro-industrial residues, and biotransformation of agro-products and residues is emphasized.

Biochemical engineering aspects of solid state bioprocessing

Despite centuries of use and renewed interest over the last 20 years in solid-state fermentation (SSF) technology, and despite its good potential for a range of products, there are currently relatively few large-scale commercial applications. This situation can be attributed to the complexity of the system: Macroscale and microscale heat and mass transfer limitations are intrinsic to the system, and it is only over the last decade or so that we have begun to understand them. This review presents the current state of understanding of biochemical engineering aspects of SSF processing, including not only the fermentation itself, but also the auxiliary steps of substrate and inoculum preparation and downstream processing and waste disposal. The fermentation step has received most research attention. Significant advances have been made over the last decade in understanding how the performance of SSF bioreactors can be controlled either by the intraparticle processes of enzyme and oxygen diffusion or by the macroscale heat transfer processes of conduction, convection, and evaporation. Mathematical modeling has played an important role in suggesting how SSF bioreactors should be designed and operated. However, these models have been developed on the basis of laboratory-scale data and there is an urgent need to test these models with data obtained in large-scale bioreactors.