Studies on factors affecting business performance of biotechnology companies

Biotechnology industries are fast growing, technology based and multibillion dollars business. Biotechnology dealt with using biomaterials to produce bioproducts or to provide service in many industrial sectors of health, food, chemical and environmental industries. Like most of high-tech business, biotechnology is long term investment business with high risk. Therefore, based on the unique nature of this business, factors affecting its performance are different from those of ordinary business. Thus, this study is focused on the determination of the current factors affecting the performance of biotechnology business by 46 worldwide experts using mixed research method (a combination between Expert Opinion Assessment EOA technique and questionnaire of closed ended questions). Two rounds of questioning were conducted to identify, categorize and prioritize these factors by mean ranks. In the first round, experts listed all factors affecting business performance. The results of the first round were grouped and returned to the experts in the second round to score the importance of each factor. The second round showed high results consensus among the experts. Based on the favorable Kendall’s coefficient of consensus, it was not necessary to run the third round. Based on the results obtained from EOA study, a non-Financial Business Performance Indicator (n-FBPI) was developed for quantitative determination of performance of biotechnology companies. To evaluate the company’s performance, another research instrument (questionnaire) was developed. This questionnaire composed of 97 questions to evaluate the company’s external and internal environment and strength in points related to the effective factors uncovered in the first part of this study. The developed instrument was tested by 5 companies and gave quantitative measure for companies performance. Furthermore, a new website (www.biotechhorizon.com) was developed for this study for online assessment of the performance of biotechnology companies. The results of this study will help all stakeholders in biotechnology business either who are new in this type of business or who are well established by providing the current factors which have significant effect on biotechnology business performance. The n-FBPI developed will also be a useful tool for companies to evaluate their non financial performance quantitatively

Effects of agitation speed and kinetic studies on probiotication of pomegranate juice with Lactobacillus casei

The issues of lactose intolerance and vegetarianism have encouraged the introduction of non-dairy fermented food into the market. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the effect of agitation speed on the bioactive compounds and functional characteristics of probioticated pomegranate juice. Pomegranate juice was fermented with Lactobacillus casei at different agitation speeds ranging from 0 (microaerophilic) to 150 rpm at 37 °C. The functional properties of probioticated pomegranate juice were evaluated in terms of growth (biomass), lactic acid production, antioxidant activity, total phenolic content, and key metabolites using LC-MS/MS. The growth kinetics of fermentation was monitored at the optimal condition using one factor at a time method. High cell growth (3.58 × 1010 cfu/mL or 7.9 gL-1) was observed for L. casei probioticated pomegranate juice agitated at 0 rpm. The findings of this study reveal the potential of pomegranate juice as a medium for L. casei cultivation without nutrient supplementation. The improvement of antioxidant activity in the probioticated juice could be due to the increment of quercetin-3-glucoside. Therefore, L. casei grew well in pomegranate juice with a high cell viability and antioxidant activity at a non-agitated condition. Probioticated pomegranate juice is a potentially functional drink

Medium composition effects on growth kinetic of cordyceps militaris cells using agar plate method

Mushroom Cordyceps, as one of the most well known funguses with numerous bioactive compounds possess therapeutic actions; many years used as medicinal food particularly in China and Japan. Interestingly, the long history of mushroom as a therapeutic agent is not far from its role as a food component among Asian people specifically in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). It has been cultivated naturally or in artificial media. Fungal mycelia contain adenosine, cordycepin, and polysaccharides, which are responsible for its biological activities. Cordycepin is the best-known and most potent mushroom-derived substances possessing anticancer, antitumor, antiviral, antihypertensive, immune response stimulating effects, blood lipid lowering effects and several other immunomodulating activities. Therefore, it can be a potential alternative or supplement to chemotherapy in order to treat or accelerate the treatment efficiency on the different types of human related cancer diseases. However, high quality and large-scale production of bioactive products from mushroom Cordyceps are the issues need to be investigated. Thus, optimization of cultural conditions such as medium composition and also the type of components used in medium are two essential factors, which are so effective on the acceleration of the product formation by the cells. In this study, optimized solid state cultivation of fungal mycelia cells using modified potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium culture supplemented with specific amount of malt extract (ME) together with yeast extract (YE) was investigated. The mycelial growth diameter was monitored during 21 days of cultivation time using two series of experiments including 2, 4, 6 and 8 g of ME and 6 g of ME with 0, 2, 4 and 6 g/L of YE in the PDA medium culture, respectively. Results illustrated the highest mycelial growth diameter around 7.5 cm using medium composed of PDA supplemented with 6 g/L ME and 4 g/L. Further investigations are now undertaken in our laboratories to clarify the effects of the new medium presented here on the bioactive metabolite formation (e.g. cordycepin)

Mitigating the repercussions of climate change on diseases affecting important crop commodities in Southeast Asia, for food security and environmental sustainability—A review

Southeast Asia is a fertile land with a warm and humid climate which tends to accommodate various food crops. The development and advancement of the agricultural sector not only allows the countries in the region to feed the increasing population, but are also able to boost the nation's economy through exportation of the crops. Some of the well-known and economically-significant plant commodities found in the region include rice, oil palm, rubber, coconut, banana, sugarcane, pineapple, black pepper, maize, cocoa, durian, and jackfruit. Due to the high production of crops, Southeast Asia is able to stand among the top world producers of these commodities. Nevertheless, the widespread of pathogenic microorganisms has posed a serious threat to the industry over the years; with hundreds of millions of money wasted and total yield being lost due to the devastating diseases associated with each type of the plants. A lot of attention and effort have been continuously devoted to find effective plant management strategies to combat plant diseases, starting from traditional physical and chemical methods to the increasing discoveries on biological approaches made in recent decades. Due to the challenges and limitations faced by conventional approaches and the rising awareness toward the environment, more work has been focused on establishing the application of beneficial microorganisms to tackle plant diseases through direct mechanisms. Thus, by bringing the common plant commodities in Southeast Asia, their associated diseases and various physical, chemical and biological control measures together, this review aims to provide clearer insights and practical information to those who seek to limit the damages caused by plant diseases

Probiotication of Punica granatum (pomegranate) juice by lactobacillus plantarum

Fruit juice enriched with probiotics is increasingly accepted nowadays, mainly due to its health benefit for digestive system. In particular, probioticated fruit juice is the good choice for those who are having lactose intolerant problem from milk based drinks. In the present study, the whole fruit of Punica granatum (pomegranate) has been probioticated with Lactobacillus plantarum at different fermentation temperatures (22ºC, 30ºC and 35ºC). The growth rate of L. plantarum has been monitored based on the optical density and acidity of the broth culture at 24 hours of time interval for 72 hours. The bacterial growth in the pomegranate juice was predicted by measuring absorbance at 600 nm spectrophotometrically and pH value by a pH meter. There was an increasing trend in the bacterial growth of L. plantarumincubated at 35ºC compared to other temperatures at 22ºC and 30ºC. The results also indicated there was no significant changes on pH during the fermentation as the bacterial strain was in adaptation process with the new medium and conditions. Meanwhile, the antioxidant assay showed that probiotication of pomegranate juice by L. plantarum significantly increased the radical scavenging activity. The pomegranate juice was shown to be a suitable substrate for L. plantarum cultivation at 35ºC

Production of erythromycin antibiotic by saccharoplyspora erythraea fermentation in shake flasks and bioreactor

Recently success of erythromycin in antibiotic market over the other antibiotics was due to that erythromycin has high quality and it is cheap in price. Erythromycin received much attention because of the increasing applications of its semi-synthetic modified derivatives to infection diseases, such as azithromycin, roxithromycin and clarithromycin. It is produced by the strain Saccharoplyspora erythraea (formerly known as Streptomyces erythraea). In this research, the aims were to optimize medium components for high erythromycin antibiotic production by the strain S. erythae via submerged fermentation using statistical technique known as response surface methodology. Glucose and yeast extract were found to have significant effect to erythromycin production using Placket-Burman experimental design for media screening. The Box-Benkhen experimental design was adopted for optimization studied. Finally, the optimal concentration of glucose, yeast extract, sodium nitrate, dipotasium hydrogen phosphate, sodium chloride and magnesium sulphate obtained using statistical media optimization is approximately 45;8; 4; 2.5;1.0; 0.5 (g L-1), respectively. Result showed that the maximal erythromycin concentration and CDW obtained in shake flasks of optimize medium were 412.5 mg L-1 and 4.9 g L-1, respectively. Production of erythromycin antibiotic reached 30.43% under the optimize medium. Furthermore, the batch culture using new medium formulation for erythromycin production was implemented using controlled and un-controlled pH conditions. Compared with the un-controlled pH bioreactor, the controlled bioreactor was increased erythromycin concentration by 12.9 % up to 567.5 mg L-1. This present work demonstrated that great potential production of erythromycin antibiotic at industrial scale

The effect of foliar application of magnetic water and nano-fertilizers on phytochemical and yield characteristics of fennel

Environmental factors, especially nutrients, can influence the production of medicinal plants. Thus, the present study assessed the response of some morphological and physiological characteristics of fennel ecotypes to the foliar application (magnetic water, organic and chemical fertilizers). The study was a factorial experiment based on the randomized complete block design, with three replications and 25 treatments at the research farm of the Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center of West Azerbaijan province, Iran, in the spring and summer of two consecutive years, 2014–2015 and 2015–2016. The first factor was assigned to fennel landraces (Gaziantep, Hamedan, Urmia, Yazd, and Shiraz) and the second factor to the foliar application (nitrogen nano-fertilizer, magnetic water, urea, chicken manure, and the control). Results showed that interaction of fertilizer treatment and landrace increased fresh and dry weight, biological yield, and seed yield significantly. In the first year, the highest fresh weight (166 g) and dry weight (35.5 g) were observed in the Gaziantep landrace fertilized with chicken manure. The highest anethole and fenchone contents (81.75% and 7.92%, respectively) were observed in the landraces treated with chicken manure. Based on the percentages, the Urmia landrace had the highest anethole percentage (83.2%), and the Shiraz landrace had the lowest one (77.5%). The highest fenchone contents (9.61%) and the lowest (2.18%) were observed in the Yazd and Urmia landraces. Due to the positive effect of application of chicken manure on improving the studied traits of fennel, it is recommended to include chicken manure inputs to enhance the efficiency of crops, reduce environmental pollution, and move toward sustainable agriculture

Optimization of polysaccharide productio by Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens using response surface methdology

Kefiran is an exopolysaccharides produced by Lactobacillus kefiranofaciens which was isolated from kefir grains. Kefiran has wide applications mainly in food and pharmaceutical industries. Growth and kefiran production of L. kefiranofaciens can be significantly enhanced by using mixed culture technique. Saccharomyces cerevisiae in this study was used to enhance the kefiran production by reducing lactic acid accumulation in the cultivation medium. The statistical analysis was used for optimization study by using response surface methodology based on Box-Behnken design. The interaction was studied between three different levels of variables that were lactose, yeast extract and phosphate. A second order polynomial model was used to correlate the factors. The model was found to be significant. The optimum concentration of lactose, yeast extract and phosphate obtained using statistical media optimization is 59.09 g L-1, 8.69 g L-1and 0.5 g L-1 respectively. Kefiran production in optimized medium was 0.97 g L-1 which gave an increase in kefiran production up to 42.65 % compared to the un-optimized medium which was only 0.68 g L-1 of kefiran

Bioprocess development for anaerobic cultivation of probiotic bacteria bifidobacterium longum for high cell mass production

Bifidobacteria are used as probiotics mainly in the dairy industry as cell suspensions or as freeze-dried additives. Bifidobacterium longum (B. longum) are important in maintaining general health. The potential health benefits of B. longumto the human have led to their wide application in dairy products and food additives. Fastidious anaerobic growth of B. longum plus organic acids production as their byproductsgive some restriction in their growth as high cell mass become major concern. Therefore, the goal of this research is to select suitable medium as production media and optimization of the medium component for high cell mass production of B. longum by using one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT). Among nine growth media were evaluated to determine their suitability for high cell mass of B. longum, the best medium was yielded a cell mass of 4.5 g L-1 in shake study with the main components are glucose (20 g L-1), yeast extract (5 g L-1), meat extract (10 g L-1) and peptone (10 g L-1).Then, five different carbon sources which were glucose, lactose, sucrose, mannitol, and glycerol were screened in shake flasks and the best carbon source that contribute to the highest cell mass was glucose. Moreover, application of highly nutritious and costly nitrogen sources was incomplete application for industrial scale. Therefore, in this study peptone was found to be the best nitrogen source after screened with two others different nitrogen sources which were yeast extract and meat extract. Optimization by classical approaches achieving the maximum cell mass of 5.8 gL-1increased up to 28.88 % when compared with un-optimized media. Finally, batch cultivation was conducted in 16-L semi-scale bioreactor using the new formulated optimized medium under controlled and uncontrolled pH conditions at 37°C for 72 hours under anaerobic cultivation. It showed that under controlled pH, the maximal cell mass obtained in batch cultures was 13.8 gL-1 when compared with uncontrolled pH which only 6.8 gL-1with the percentage difference of 67.96 %. Thus the batch cultivation under controlled pH is the most suitable cultivation strategy for high cell mass production for industrialization of this bioprocess

Bio-chemical fertilizer improves the oil yield, fatty acid compositions, and macro-nutrient contents in Nigella sativa L.

The present study evaluated the effects of biofertilizers on qualitative and quantitative traits of Nigella sativa L. The experiment was conducted based on a randomized complete block design with 10 treatments and three replications. The treatments included control (no fertilization), U (100% chemical fertilizer as urea at 53.3 kg ha−1, Nb (Biofertilizer, Azotobacter vinelandii), Pb (Biofertilizer, Pantoea agglomerans and Pseudomonas putida), Kb (Biofertilizer, Bacillus spp.), NPKb (NPK combined biofertilizers), Nb + 50% U, Pb + 50% U, Kb + 50% U, and NPKb + 50% U. The highest oil percentage was 46.33 percent related to NPK(b) + U50%, and the highest oil yield was 466.43 kg/ha related to NPK(b) + U50%. The highest seed yield (1006.64 kg/ha) was observed in the plants treated with NPK(b) + U50%. The treatment of K(b) + U50% increased myristic acid by 0.35%. The NPK(b) + U50% treatment reduced palmitic, stearic, and linolenic acid by 11.3, 2.01, and 0.31%, respectively. The highest oleic acid (27.85%) and linoleic acid (56.6%) were obtained from the treatment of NPK(b) + U50%, respectively. The plants treated with NPK(b) + U50% showed the highest seed N percentage (%), P content (mg g−1) and K content (mg g−1 ). In general, NPK(b) + U50% is the best treatment in line with sustainable agriculture