Lignocellulosic Biomass – A Sustainable Feedstock for Acetone-Butanol-Ethanol Fermentation

Biobutanol has been identified as a promising future biofuel. However, generally the extraction and separation of biobutanol from the fermentation mixture is a costly process. Therefore, the idea of using acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) mixture directly as biofuel were proposed to eliminate the recovery process. ABE has been identified as a promising future biofuel. The feedstocks play an important role in the feasibility of ABE as a fuel. Lignocellulosic biomass is seen as a promising feedstock for the production of biofuels. Thus, in this review, ABE biofuel is been summarized from three aspects namely (i) selection of feedstocks, (ii) microbial selection and (iii) hydrolysis, fermentation, and purification techniques. Anaerobic fermentation together with commonly employed recovery processes are discussed in the second part of this review. This review concludes with different challenges and future research in ABE fermentation that can pave the way for future commercialization of this promising biofuel

A review of stingless bees' bioactivity in different parts of the world

Stingless bees, also known as meliponines, live in beehives. However, reports on the distribution of stingless bees are scattered, resulting in a lack of precision. Honey and propolis are the main components that can be harvested from their beehive, with a great commercial value of up to 610 million USD. Despite the enormous potential profits, discrepancies in their bioactivities have been observed worldwide, leading to a lack of confidence. Therefore, this review provided oversight on the potential of stingless bee products and highlighted the differences between stingless bees in Asia, Australia, Africa, and America. The bioactivity of stingless bee products is diverse and exhibits great potential as an antimicrobial agent or in various diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancers, and oral problems

Development of nested polymerase chain reaction for detection of rabies

Rabies is an acute progressive and zoonotic disease which is caused by the rabies virus. Rabies virus is the prototype virus belonging to the genus lyssavirus in the family Rhabdoviridae of the order Mononegavirales. The aim of this study was to develop a nested reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (nRTPCR) for the detection of this virus along with a canine internal control to monitor the integrity of the extracted RNA. A pair of outer and inner primer targeting the N gene of the virus was evaluated along with β-actin gene as the internal control. This nRTPCR can detect up to 20 viral copy number

Phytochemical and antimicrobial investigation and comparison between young and mature Psidium guajava leaves extract

Ethnomedicinal properties of Psidium guajava L., or also known as guava leaves has been known since years ago. Nowadays, a lot of guava leaves-based products emerge in industries such as tea and cosmetic. The aims of this study are to examine and compare the variation in the phytochemical constituent as well as the antimicrobial efficacy of young and mature leaves extract. Phytochemical analysis shows the presence of phenol, tannin, terpene, saponin, and flavonoid in the mature leaves methanolic extract. A similar result was obtained in the young leaves extract but no saponin was detected. Total phenols content in young and mature leaves were determined at a total of 31.2 mg and 162 mg GA/g. Both leave extract was carried out to determine the antimicrobial properties by tested against two Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus) and one gram-negative bacteria (Salmonella enterica) through the disk-diffusion method by employing 40 µL of leaf extract solution per disk. Based on the observation, both young and mature extracts exhibited inhibitory activity (<6.0 mm) against the tested bacteria with different sensitivity. At the concentration of 10 mg/mL, mature leaves extract shows higher efficacy on S. enterica and B. cereus where the inhibitory zone was measured at 9.3 mm and 7.8 mm, respectively, compared to young leaves which is not sensitive to S. aureus but the inhibitory zone on B. cereus around 7.2 mm while S. aureus at 7.2 mm higher than mature leave extract. This can be concluded that the P. guajava mature leave displayed the best to applied as medicinal purposes as its high variety of phytochemical content and high efficacy as antimicrobial activity

Detection of African swine fever virus in Sabah by loop mediated isothermal amplification (lamp) assay

African swine fever (ASF) is a highly contagious disease that can cause severe illness and a high mortality rate in pigs. It is caused by African swine fever virus (ASFV), from the genus Asfivirus and family Asfarviridae. This disease has caused devastating outbreaks in various regions across the world. The first ASF outbreak in Malaysia was reported on February 2021, that affected three districts in Sabah: Kudat, Kota Marudu and Beluran. This virus has since spread to other district across Sabah infecting domestic and wild bearded pigs. These outbreaks are often difficult to control due to the lack of access to molecular laboratories. A fast and sensitive point-of- care (POC) test is needed to detect the presence of ASFV. This paper presents the development of a colorimetric loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay to aid in the detection of ASFV samples. The performance of this assay was assessed in 10 clinical ASFV samples confirmed by two veterinary diagnostic laboratories. LAMP was also evaluated and in agreement with end point PCR. The removal of DNA extraction steps provides an extra advantage for rapid detection of ASFV

Characterisation and in vitro sensitivity of blood cholinesterase from diodon hystrix towards carbamate insecticides

An alternative biosensor using blood cholinesterase Diodon hystrix was determined by exposure to several insecticides; a nerve agent that highly potential to caused environmental pollution. The blood of fish was collected and mixed with an extraction buffer (1:4 v/v) followed by homogenisation using an ultraturax homogeniser T25, centrifuged and purified using DEAESepharose as the matrix of the column. Optimal assay condition was determined at temperatures ranging from 30 to 40oC, pH 7 using sodium phosphate buffer, and ATC was chosen as a preferred substrate due to the highest catalytic efficiency compared to BTC and PTC. A sensitivity test was conducted by exposing ChE with several carbamates and the only carbary shows more than 50% inhibition, while bendiocarb only 24.5% inhibition. Carbofuran, methomyl and propoxur seem to be unaffecting the activity of ChE. Preliminary screening prove blood ChE could be another alternative for insecticides especially carbamate compound. Further study is needed to enhance the sensitivity before implementation for environmental biomonitoring

Application of DNA Barcoding in Species Identification of Pieridae Family from Entopia Penang Butterfly Farm

Misidentification of butterfly species can be contributed by certain factor(s) such as mimicry, seasonal sampling (dry/wet season), cryptic and sex dimorphism. DNA barcoding is a technique used for rapid identification of butterfly species at a molecular level based on the analysis of standardized mitochondrial DNA region. A 648 base-pair of cytochrome oxidase c subunit I (COI) is highly effective in identifying vertebrate and invertebrate species. Individuals of the same species will generally have very similar COI base sequence. COI is used as a DNA barcode reference due to maternal inheritance, compact structure, lack of genetic recombination and relatively fast evolutionary rate. Therefore, it is widely used in phylogenetic and evolution studies. The DNA barcode of identified butterfly species was submitted to Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD). Thirteen species belonging to Pieridae family from Entopia Penang Butterfly Farm were chosen for this study. With reference to some samples, morphological identification method was not sufficient. There were 10 butterflies that were discovered to be different based on DNA barcoding compared to morphological identification. Triplicates of Eurema brigitta (n=3) were found to be identified as Eurema sari sodalis. Morphologically identified Eurema hecabe (n=3) were discovered as Eurema hecabe contubernalis, Eurema andersoni, and Eurema simulatrix respectively. One sample of Appias indra (n=3), was identified as Appias cardena perakana. Appias libythea (n=3) were actually identified as Appias olferna olferna. From this result, the application of DNA barcoding is indeed a useful tool in further justifying the collected butterfly species

Enzyme inhibition-based biosensors using Acetylcholinesterase from Monopterus albus for detection of carbamates contamination

Insecticides are an example of an environmental contaminant that can cause harmful effects on various types of organisms. Implementation of continuous monitoring program is needed to ensure the level of contamination can be controlled. In this present study, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) from the brain of Monopterus albus was elucidated to determine the potential alternative source of biosensor kit, which is sensitive towards various insecticides, especially carbamates. AChE from M. albus brain was extracted and purified through ammonium sulfate precipitation followed by procainamide-based affinity chromatography. Carbamate insecticides were used, such as bendiocarb, carbaryl, carbofuran, methomyl, and propoxur, to test their ability to inhibit AChE activity. Bendiocarb and methomyl show the capability to inhibit almost half of the enzyme activity at 51.05 and 51.20 %, respectively, while carbaryl, propoxur, and carbofuran inhibit 43.03, 42.80, and 15.06 %, respectively. Bendiocarb and methomyl were selected, and M. albus AChE was separately exposed with different concentrations of those carbamates and half maximal inhibitory concentration; IC50 was determined at 0.874 and 1.639 ppm, respectively. A field trial was conducted by testing the enzyme with various vegetable samples. All samples show no significant effect on AChE activity, meaning there was no existence of insecticides in each sample (p > 0.05). This study could be used as an alternative source for developing biosensor kits for the environmental monitoring program

Bioremediation of Hydrocarbon: a mini review

Several contaminant that present in the river able to be removed through the physical and chemical approach. However, the efficiency is still low especially to remediate the dissolved compound such pesticides, drug and heavy metal. Nowadays, river rehabilitation using a biological approach known as bioremediation gets a great attention as the treatment processes are environmentally friendly, low cost, easily to handle and portable. Moreover, the result is highly satisfactory and at the same time no cause harm to the society. This mini-review highlights the introduction application of bioremediation to clean the contaminated environment, especially river. The advantages and disadvantages were also will be discusse