SCREENING OF EXTRACELLULAR LIPASE RELEASING MICROORGANISMS ISOLATED FROM SUNFLOWER VEGETABLE OIL CONTAMINATED SOIL FOR BIO-DIESEL PRODUCTION

 Objective: Biological conversions of renewable vegetable oil into bio-diesel are going to become one of the future energy resources for the world.Methods: Soil samples spilled with sunflower oil decomposes, collected from a sunflower oil refinery is used for screening fungal strains. Potatodextrose agar plates were used to isolate, purify the fungal species. Lipase activity of the extracellular lipase enzyme producing fungal species wastested with tween 80, rhodamine-B and phenol red containing agar plates.Results: Five differently colored fungal strains were observed, isolated, purified and compared for their lipolytic activity.Conclusion: A brown colored fungal colony was observed to have the highest lipase activity towards the log chain glycerides.Keywords: Lipase enzyme, Aspergillus fungal species, Characterization

<b style="">Pharmaceutical development of novel microalgal compounds for Mdr <i style="">Mycobacterium</i> <i style="">tuberculosis</i></b>

264-269The role of marine algae in the discovery of drugs that could reach the pharmaceutical market has increased notably in recent years, due to a substantial improvement in biological screening methods. Multi Drug Resistant (MDR) TB is the major hurdle in the TB control programmes. The selected resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis were screened for the bioactive compounds extracted from marine microalgae. It is noted that Isochrysis galbana has rich bioactive compounds than the other algal species

ANTIMICROBIAL POTENTIAL OF SILVER NANOPARTICLES SYNTHESIZED USING ULVA RETICULATA

Production and application of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) is an emerging field of research. The present study was demonstrated with rapid synthesis of AgNPs using marine macroalgae-Ulva reticulata. The observation of prominent colour change at 121ºC within 10 mins indicates the formation of AgNPs. The synthesized AgNPs were characterized by UV-Vis spectrum, Energy Dispersive Spetrum (EDS), Fourrier Transform Infra Red spectroscopy (FTIR) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The aim of the study is to evaluate the antibacterial and antifungal activity of synthesized AgNPs. Antibacterial activity was tested against Gram positive Staphylococcus aureus, and Gram negative Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus sp., Klebsiella pneumoniae. Antifungal activity was tested against Candida albicans, Candida parapsilosis and Aspergillus niger. AgNPs were fairly toxic to Bacillus sp.and Staphylococcus aureus with the inhibition zone of 26 and 25mm. AgNPs revealed higher antifungal activity against Candida albicans, Candida parapsilosis and Aspergillus niger with inhibition zone of 36, 30 and 30mm. Key words:Silver nanoparticles, Marine maro algae-Ulva reticulata, antibacterial, antifungal activity

Production of alpha amylase by mangrove associated fungi <i style="">Pestalotiopsis microspora </i>strain VB5 and <i style="">Aspergillus oryzae</i> strain VB6

279-283Present study elucidates a-amylase production by mangrove fungi at different pH. Neutral and alkaline pH did influence the highest enzyme activity. Optimal pH for amylase production for the two species was found to be pH 6.4 and pH 6. According to the sequence of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, the isolates were identified as Pestalotiopsis microspora VB5 and Aspergillus oryzae strain VB6

Evaluation of secondary metabolites from mangrove associated fungi Meyerozyma guilliermondii

Background: Mangrove associated fungi are the second most diverse organisms that remain less explored. Cytotoxic and antibacterial activities of foliar fungus Meyerozyma guilliermondii were investigated. Methods: Foliar fungus was isolated from the leaves of Rhizophora mucronata collected from Pichavaram mangrove forest, Tamilnadu. Extracts from liquid state culture were tested for cytotoxicity against two cancer cell lines using the MTT assay. Antibacterial activity was determined using the well diffusion method. The DNA was isolated from the fungi, and the ITS region of 5.8s RNA was sequenced. The spectral properties (GC/MS) of the purified compounds were determined. Results: The ethyl acetate extracts showed potent cytotoxicity against Hep2 and human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) cell lines with IC50 values of 1.25 and 0.625 μg/ml, respectively. Antibacterial activity of the fungal extract was demonstrated against five test organisms. The fungus was found to be a new strain based on ITS sequence and database in NCBI Blast tool. Conclusion: Results indicate the potential for production of bioactive agents from mangrove foliar fungi. KEYWORDS: Marine fungi, Meyerozyma guilliermondii, Anticancer, Antibacteria

Characterization of extracellular amylase enzyme produced by <i>Aspergillus flavus</i> MV5 isolated from mangrove sediment

170-173Mangroves provide a unique ecological niche to different microbes which play various roles in nutrient recycling as well as various environmental activities. Analysis of microbial biodiversity from these ecosystems will help in isolating and identifying new and potential microorganisms having high specificity for various applications. Mangroves sediment soils are a resource of fungi providing an end number of enzymes that finds their use in industrial processes. This study indicates the extracellular production of amylase by Aspergillus flavus MV5 was confirmed on GYP agar plates. Further maximum enzyme activity was optimized and the DNA of fungal strains were isolated to sequence the ITS region of 5.8s rRNA with an ITS primer. The novelty of the strain was checked by a BLAST analysis for submission to GenBank

<span style="font-size:11.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA" lang="EN-GB">Green synthesis and cytotoxicity of silver nanoparticles from extracts of the marine macroalgae <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Gracilaria corticata</i></span>

276-281<span style="font-size:11.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt;font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";="" mso-ansi-language:en-gb;mso-fareast-language:en-us;mso-bidi-language:ar-sa"="" lang="EN-GB">The present study reports the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using aqueous extract of a seaweed, Gracilaria corticata. Extremely stable AgNPs were characterized by UV-Vis spectrophotometer, FTIR, XRD, TEM and EDS analyses. The nanoparticles exhibited maximum absorbance at 424 nm in the UV spectrum. The presence of proteins was identified by FTIR. TEM micrograph revealed the formation of polydispersed and spherical shaped nanoparticles with the size range of 10-50 nm and the presence of elemental silver were confirmed by EDS analysis. These nanoparticles showed cytotoxic activity against MCF7 cells.</span

<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family: "Times New Roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language: HI" lang="EN-GB">Production of biogenic Silver nanoparticles using <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Sargassum longifolium</i> and its applications</span>

125-130Present study consists a simple and eco-friendly biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles using Sargassum longifolium aqueous extract as reducing agent. Aqueous silver ions when exposed to seaweed extract were reduced and results in silver nanoparticles. Characterization of these silver nanoparticles were done using UV-Vis spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infra red (FT-IR) spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive analysis X-ray (EDS) Spectrum. Cytotoxicity assay was done against Hep 2 cell line. The cytotoxicity analysis of the sample shows a direct dose-response relationship; cytotoxicity increased at higher concentrations