The fruits of Ligustrum lucidum were used as an efficient biological reducer of carbonyl compounds, and trials were carried out to optimise the reductive process using acetophenone as the model substrate. In order to try to eliminate the dependence on the seasonal production of the fruits, a study was carried out to find ways to conserve them. The results reported here show that it is possible to store

With the aim of finding new methods for environmentally friendly synthesis of chiral phenylethanols, a screening was carried out to identify seeds that could be used as a biocatalyst capable of reducing stereoselectively prochiral ketones. As a result, seeds of Bauhinia variegata L. (Fabaceae) were identified as being an efficient and stereoselective biological reducer of acetophenone to produce (S)-1-phenylethanol

Use of expensive raw material and inefficient extraction method has limited the production of biopolymers at pilot scale compared to commercial plastics. Hence, this research work spotlights on production of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) using Bacillus endophyticus MTCC 9021 in different dilutions of untreated distillery effluent (10–25%) among which 10% dilutions exhibited maximum PHA production. Statistical

Bioactive peptides are fragments of polypeptide chains with specific sequence of amino acids that can promote positive effects on human health. A potential substrate to obtaining these compounds is the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L. cv Carioca) due to its high protein content. In this sense, the objective of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant and antidiabetic properties of common bean protein

Leather industries aim at the transformation of putrescible animal raw hides and skins into a stable non-putrescible material (leather), ultimately resulting in solid wastes generation. Storage of limed bovine fleshing, a predominant proteinaceous solid waste material from pre-tanning processes is highly discouraged due to their putrescible nature. Diversely, bio-conversion of solid waste into a saleable

Phytases are widely used in human and animal nutrition, aquaculture, soil amendment, and in the production of lower myo-inositol phosphates for clinical purposes. Some of these applications, especially feed industry require robust enzymes. Since the marine environments are less studied compared to terrestrial environments, we evaluated the extracellular phytase activity of 110 marine derived filamentous

Yarrowia lipolytica is a yeast that presents high biotechnological potential due to its ability to produce many metabolites, among them lipases and esterases, which are important industrial biocatalysts. Since Brazil is an agroindustrial country, it generates an enormous diversity of residues or byproducts that can be used as a platform for biomolecules production. This work aims to evaluate lipase

Catechins are the major group of bioactive flavanols in green tea and cacao. 17 glucansucrase-active strains were identified from a set of 41 lactic acid bacteria, which were able to glucosylate (+)-catechin in a non-natural acceptor reaction. In total cell free extracts of 12 Leuconostoc and 5 Weissella strains were active on catechin and also 8 cell fractions exhibited catechin glucosylation activity

In this study, an amidase-synthesizing and inducible thermotolerant bacterium, Bacillus tequilensis (BITNR004), was investigated for the conversion of acrylamide to acrylic acid, which was subsequently confirmed using various analytical tools. The enzyme, acrylamidase, was found to be intracellular in nature with optimum activity at 50 °C. Further, the whole-cell biocatalyst had a biotransformation

Aromatic α-halohydrins, particularly 2-haloethanols as significant precursor of drugs, can easily be converted to chiral β-adrenergic receptor blockers. Eight strains of Lactobacillus curvatus were tested as biocatalysts for asymmetric reduction of 2-bromo-1-(naphthalen-2-yl)ethanone 1 to 2-bromo-1- (naphthalen-2-yl) ethanol 2. The parameters of the bioreduction were optimized using L. curvatus N4

Magnetic nanoparticles are well known as facile and effective support for enzyme immobilization since they have a high surface area, large surface-to-volume ratio, easy separation, a fast and high enzyme loading. This study aims to provide insights on whether acidic or basic modified particles are more effective for L-asparaginase (ASNase) immobilization. Therefore, amino (Fe3O4/SiO2/NH2) and carboxyl-functionalized

Zofenopril as an ACE inhibitor expired recently was found to have a favourable safety profile in comparison with other ACE inhibitors in treating high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, and acute myocardial infarction. It can be synthesised from the key building blocks of (S)-3-benzoylthio-2-methylpropanoic acid and (4S)-phenylthio-L-proline. In this report, an efficient hydrolytic resolution

Polyphenols, especially catecholic stilbene derivatives, have attracted much attention due to the huge pharmacological effects and promising health benefits. However, their chemical synthesis via regioselective ortho-hydroxylation on aromatic rings is highly challenging. In this study, 3′-hydroxypterostilbene (HPS) is taken as a model product due to its strong potential as an antitumor agent. One-step

Textile industries account for two-thirds of the total dyestuff market been responsible for the production of a large volume of effluent with unfixed dye. Aromatic dyes as potassium indigo-trisulfonate dye (PIT) are characterized as a chemically stable and complex molecule with high heat and light stability and with high toxicity even at low concentration. In order to evaluate an environmentally friendly

Atrazine is the most common herbicide applied in crops of economic relevance, such as sugar cane, soybean, and corn. Atrazine and its derivatives desethylatrazine (DEA) and desisopropylatrazine (DIA) are toxic to the environment, affecting animal and human health. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the degradation of atrazine and its derivatives by the fungus Pleurotus ostreatus INCQS 40310, as well

In the leather industry, proteases can be used as tools to achieve cleaner technology. In the present study, proteolytic preparations obtained from the latex of Carica papaya (Cp) and Vasconcellea quercifolia (Vq) were assayed as dehairing agents for leather processing. Both Cp and Vq showed activity against substrates representative of collagen, keratin, elastin, and epidermis in a range of moderate

Myceliophthora thermophila encodes for large number of carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) involved in lignocellulosic biomass degradation. The mould was grown on rice straw in solid state fermentation at pH 5.0 and 45 °C that produced high levels of cellulolytic and xylanolytic enzymes i.e. 2218.12, 515.23, 478.23, 13.34 U/g DMR for xylanase, CMCase, FPase and β-glucosidase, respectively. The secretome

Lipases are one of the most important catalysts for several industries such as detergent, dairy, and textile industry due to their bio-catalytic ability in aqueous and non-aqueous media. Stability to extreme conditions is an important property since it makes enzymes suitable to several industrial processes. In this study, lipase producing soil bacteria were screened and identified with 16S rDNA sequencing

When using discontinuous assay of reactions, initial rates are often estimated from a limited number of time points. There has been no detailed study of how best to do this. In this work, time courses were simulated by different theoretical equations (including strong product inhibition, first order, Michaelis–Menten and truly linear), but with random error addition to each data point. Various methods

The demand for keratinolytic proteases has increased in recent years, in view of their applications in the feed, detergent, fertilizer, leather and textile industries. Recently, studies have focussed on exploration of new and inexpensive carbon sources for their production. Among keratin wastes, dog hair presents no utility and is an environmental concern. In this study, we evaluate the feasibility

The development of more efficient and environmentally friendly analytical methods represents a current focus for the fine chemical industry. In particular, microscale methodologies that are free of solvents/reagents. The headspace-GC/MS (HS-GC) methodology was employed in this study as a tool for monitoring a biocatalysed reaction of (4S)-(+)-carvone using Phoma sp., a filamentous fungus from human

Many studies describe the advantages of using hydrophobic particles on lipase immobilisation. However, many of these works neglect the effect of other variables of the supports, such as specific area and porosity, on the biocatalyst performance, and do not evaluate the influence of the hydrophobicity level of the particles on the biocatalysts’ activity as a single variable. Thus, the focus of the present

This study evaluated coupled effects of molar ratio of substrates and enzyme loading in a solvent-free system using a simple mathematical approach to obtain high conversions on octyl caprylate synthesis with Novozym 435. When molar ratios of caprylic acid to n-octanol (1:1 and 1:3) were evaluated with enzyme loadings of 1% to 4% (wt/wt acid), an interdependence between the masses of reagents and the

Immobilization of enzymes from different sources on various supports in designed systems increases enzymes’ stability by protecting the active site of it from undesired effect of reaction environment. Also, immobilization decreases the cost of separation and facilities the reuse of the enzymes. Therefore, the design of new immobilization enzyme preparations has been an inevitable area of modern biotechnology

The gene encoding the amylolytic enzyme Amo45, originating from a metagenomic project, was retrieved by a consensus primer-based approach for glycoside hydrolase (GH) family 57 enzymes. Family 57 contains mainly uncharacterized proteins similar to archaeal thermoactive amylopullulanases. For characterization of these family members soluble, active enzymes have to be produced in sufficient amounts.

Caulobacter crescentus, Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis cultures promote the hydrolysis of the model ester p-nitrophenyl picolinate (PNPP) at neutral pH with high efficiency. Hydrolysis is related to cell concentration, while the interaction of PNPP with both bacterial cells and their extracellular molecules is required for a maximum rate of PNPP hydrolysis in C. crescentus cultures. Furthermore

Mannosylphospho dolichol synthase (DPMS) plays a critical role in Glc(3)Man(9)GlcNAc(2)-PP-Dol (lipid-linked oligosaccharide, LLO) biosynthesis, an essential intermediate in asparagine-linked (N-linked) protein glycosylation. We have observed earlier that phosphorylation of DPMS increases the catalytic activity of the enzyme by increasing the V(max) as well as the enzyme turnover (k(cat)) without significantly

The increasing world demand for fuels makes it necessary to exploit the largest reserve of extra-heavy crude oil (EHCO) of the Orinoco Oil Belt from Venezuela. We propose the use of extracellular oxidative enzymes, in particular, lignin-degrading enzyme systems (LDS) of fungi, for enzymatic improvement of EHCO. Autochthonous non-white rot fungal strains able to use EHCO, and several polycyclic aromatic

A low molecular weight intracellular and extracellular fructosyltransferase was purified from the wild (Wt) and improved mutant-type (Mt) Aureobasidium pullulans and its characteristics and thermodynamic properties determined. The Wt had been previously genetically modified by chemical mutagenesis. The purified fructosyltransferases from the Wt and Mt had subunit molecular weights between 13.4 and

The present study aims to exploit microbial potential from colder region to produce lipase enzyme stable at low temperatures. A newly isolated bacterium GBPI_508 from Himalayan environment, was investigated for the production of cold-active lipase emphasizing on its aggregation properties. Plate based assays followed by quantitative production of enzyme was estimated under different culture conditions

Enzymatic synthesis of penicillin V (penV) by acylation of 6-aminopenicillanic acid (6-APA) was carried out using methyl phenoxyacetate (MPOA) as activated acyl donor and soluble penicillin acylase from Streptomyces lavendulae (SlPVA) as biocatalyst. The effect of different reaction conditions on penV synthesis was investigated, such as enzyme concentration, pH, molar ratio of 6-APA to MPOA, as well