Heterogeneous Biocatalysts Prepared by Immuring Enzymatic Active Components inside Silica Xerogel and Nanocarbons-In-Silica Composites

Proprietary results on preparation and studies of whole-cell and lysates-based heterogeneous biocatalysts with different enzymatic activity were reviewed. A peculiar method was developed for preparing these biocatalysts by immuring (entrapping) enzymatic active components (EAC) inside silica (SiO2) xerogel and nanocarbons-in-silica composites. Properties of the multi-component composite biocatalysts such as enzymatic activity and operational stability were compared. The effect of the inclusion of nanocarbons such as nanotubes, nanofibers, and onion-like nanospheres with various texture, nanostructure and dispersion were thoroughly studied. With invertase-active biocatalysts, the direct correlation between an increase in the enzymatic activity of the nanocarbons-in-silica biocatalyst and efficiency of EAC adhesion on nanocarbons was observed. The steady-state invertase activity of the baker yeast lysates-based biocatalysts was determined to increase by a factor of 5–6 after inclusion of the multi-walled carbon nanotubes inside SiO2-xerogel. With lipase-active biocatalysts, the effect of the included nanocarbons on the biocatalytic properties depended significantly on the reaction type. In interesterification of oil-fat blends, the biocatalysts without any included nanocarbons demonstrated the maximal lipase activity. In esterification of fatty acids with aliphatic alcohols, the activity of the biocatalysts increased by a factor of 1.5–2 after inclusion of the aggregated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) inside SiO2-xerogel. In the low-temperature synthesis of isopentyl esters of butyric (C4:0), capric (C10:0), and srearic (C18:0) fatty acids, the lipase-active composite CNTs-in-silica biocatalysts operated without loss of activity for more than thousand hours

PCR Detection of Borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Lato, Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus, and the Human Granulocytic Ehrlichiosis Agent in Ixodes persulcatus Ticks from Western Siberia, Russia

PCR assays were used to test adult Ixodes persulcatus ticks from Western Siberia, Russia, for Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), and the human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE) agent. Of the 150 ticks that were studied, 38% were infected with B. burgdorferi, 46% were infected with TBEV, and 8% were infected with the HGE agent. These three pathogens were distributed in the ticks independently of one another