Enhancement of reducing sugar production by A. niger USM AI1 on oil palm frond in tray system via solid state fermentation

To obtain higher reducing sugar production via solid state fermentation (SSF), it is necessary to develop a stabile bioprocess system. In this study, optimized the physical parameter of SSF in a shallow aluminium tray (30 cm x 20 cm x 6 cm) was carried out  in order to maximize  reducing sugar production by A. niger USM AI1 using oil palm frond as a substrate.  Production of reducing sugars before optimization in tray system was 185.00 ± 2.85 mg / g substrate with the fungal growth of 2.32 mg ± 0.06 glucosamine / g substrate. However, after optimization of physical parameter (amount of substrate, inoculum size, temperature and moisture content in substrate) the maximum reducing sugar yield was achieved 251.13 ± 1.95 mg / g substrate with the fungus growth of 3.21 ± 0.10 mg glucosamine / g on the 4 days of cultivation period.  The results showed that the production of reducing sugar was increased by 35.7% compared to before optimization.   Thus, optimized the physical parameter of solid state fermentation in a tray system has succeeded in increasing the production of reducing sugars. To meet the increasing demands of reducing sugar from biomass, it is necessary to obtain the optimum condition in SSF proces

Studies on antibiotic compounds of methanol extract of Curculigo latifolia dryand

A research was conducted to study the effect of different parts of the extracts from Curculigo latifolia Dryand plant.  They were from the roots, stems and leaves by using methanol as the extraction solvent.  The antimicrobial activity of methanol extract from Curculigo latifolia Dryand was then performed on various tested bacteria, yeasts and fungi.  The results revealed that the extracts possessed antimicrobial activities on all of tested bacteria and yeasts. However, all the tested fungi exhibited resistant against all the different parts of Curculigo latifolia Dryand extracts. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum lethality concentration (MLC) of the Curculigo latifolia Dryand extracts against bacteria and yeast cells were determined and the mode of action of the roots extract on the cells was studied by means of microscop

Efficiency of developed solid state bioreactor ‘FERMSOSTAT’ on cellulolytic and xylanase enzymes production

FERMSOSTAT is a developed laboratory scale solid state fermenter. It is a horizontal stirrer drum bioreactor with about 70 L capacities. The fermenter is made of stainless steel which is anti-corrosive and non-toxic to the process organism. The fermenter is equipped with sets of control systems for temperature, agitation, aeration and also outlets for substrate sampling as well as inlets for inoculation and substrate additions. The uniqueness of this FERMSOSTAT system is its ability to carry out in situ substrate sterilization and extraction of enzymes at the end of SSF process. Moreover, the mixing system provided by FERMSOSTAT can be performed either full or half mixing as well as forward or reverse mixing. Furthermore, the mixing can be programmed to run at certain agitation rate and time interval during the fermentation process to prevent or reduce damage to the fungus mycelia. FERMSOSTAT is a developed SSF bioreactor and not an improvement of any existing one. The performances of FERMSOSTAT have been evaluated. Under optimum solid state fermentation conditions, about 63.4, 397 and 3.21 U/g of CMCase, xylanase and FPase activities were detected, which were higher compared to the tray system

Volatile Bioactive Compounds from Lasiodiplodia pseudotheobromae IBRL OS-64, an Endophytic Fungus Residing in the Leaf of Ocimum sanctum

Endophytic fungi are known as potential novel compound producers with promising antimicrobial activities. Hence, the present study aimed to investigate the possible bioactive compounds present in the ethyl acetate extract of Lasiodiplodia pseudotheobromae IBRL OS-64. The ethyl acetate extract exhibited significant antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria in disc diffusion assay. Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) was performed with chloroform, acetone and ethyl acetate (1:2:1, respectively) used as a solvent system and nine spots with diverse polarities were obtained. The TLC chromatogram with the active spot was localized with bioautography assay and the finding revealed that the dark spot with an Rf value of 0.5882 showed good antibacterial activity against all test bacteria. The fraction F5 exhibited promising antibacterial activity upon partial purification of dark spot via column chromatography and the GC-MS analysis of fraction F5 resulted in the detection of a major compound, 2-Benzenedicarboxylic acid, mono (2-ethylhexyl) ester with 90% matching factor. Thus, this compound may greatly contribute to the antibacterial activity of the fraction and has the potential to be developed as an antibiotic. The findings indirectly indicate that fungal endophytes from the medicinal plant could be a potential candidate for bioactive compounds with pharmaceutical properties

In vitro antioxidant activity of Lantadene A

Lantadenes are the pentacyclic triterpenoids present in the leaves of the plant Lantana camara. Pentacyclic triterpenes are often studied as their biological properties are considerable and contributes to the development of modern therapeutic drugs. In recent years various natural product based compounds are extensively studied for various pharmacological activities including antioxidant activity. Therefore, this study aims to determine the in vitro antioxidant activity of Lantadene A (from Lantana camara ) as results will enhance the knowledge of the compound towards development of hepatoprotective agents. The antioxidant assays performed on the compound were the DPPH radical scavenging assay, nitric oxide assay, superoxide anions scavenging activity and iron chelating assay. Results showed promising antioxidant activities as the IC50 for Lantadene A in the above assays were 6.574 mg/ml, 0.098 mg/ml, 2.506 mg/ml and 0.001 mg/ml respectively as compared to the standards (BHT, ascorbic acid and EDTA) 0.027 mg/ml, 0.075 mg/ml, 1.025 mg/ml and 0.47 mg/ml respectively. The DPPH radical scavenging assay for Lantadene A was weaker than BHT while iron chelating assay of Lantadene A is much stronger than the standard. The rest of the assays were comparable to the reference standards. These results suggest that Lantadene A can be a potential cadidate to be developed as an antioxidant.

Production Of Cellulase And Xylanase Via Solid State Fermentation And Its Application In The Enzymatic Deinking Of Laser Printed Waste Papers.

The work deals with the production of cellulase and xylanase by local isolates via solid state fermentation SSF) processes for the application in the enzymatic deinking of laser printed wastepapers

Antioxidant, Antimicrobial Activity and Toxicity Test of Pilea microphylla

A total of 9 plant extracts were tested, using two different kinds of extracting methods to evaluate the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities from Pilea microphylla (Urticaceae family) and including toxicity test. Antioxidant activity were tested by using DPPH free radical scavenging, also total phenolic contents and total flavonoid contents were determined. Toxicity assay carried out by using brine shrimps. Methanol extract of method I (ME I) showed the highest antioxidant activity at 69.51 ± 1.03. Chloroform extract of method I (CE I) showed the highest total phenolic contents at 72.10 ± 0.71 and chloroform extract of method II (CE II) showed the highest total flavonoid contents at 60.14 ± 0.33. The antimicrobial activity of Pilea microphylla extract was tested in vitro by using disc diffusion method and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The Pilea microphylla extract showed antibacterial activity against some Gram negative and positive bacteria. The extracts did not exhibit antifungal and antiyeast activity. The hexane extract of method I (HE I) was not toxic against brine shrimp (LC50 value was 3880 μg/ml). Therefore, the extracts could be suitable as antimicrobial and antioxidative agents in food industry

Crystallization of thermostable lipase from Geobacillus thermodenitrificans IBRL-nra

Crystallization of a protein is a process of formation of a solid crystal from a homogeneous solution which leads to the knowledge of its three dimensional structures and it plays important role in designing and engineering protein for specific purposes. Thermostable lipases are commercially significant for their potential use in industries as it is stable and active in organic solvents, possess a wide range of substrate specificity, resistance to high temperature and chemical denaturation. The purified thermostable lipase from Geobacillus thermodenitrificans IBRL-nra was screened for crystal formation using Hampton Research screening kit, HR2-121 and HR2-122 using hanging drop vapour diffusion and microbatch methods. Microcrystals and rod clusters grew from mixtures in formulation 14, 20, 21 and 38 of HR2-121 and formulation 14, 16, 32 and 45 of HR2-122. Further enhancement of the parameters was carried out for the formation of well-defined crystal. The parameters tested are pH (4.6, 6.5, 7.5 and 8.5) and concentration of CaCl2 (0.15-0.38M

Anti-MRSA Activity of Penicillium Minioluteum ED24, an Endophytic Fungus Isolated From Orthosiphon Stamineus Benth

Nowadays, the medical concerns with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aereus (MRSA) arised when in 2009, the proportion of S. aureus isolates that are resistant to methicilin has increased to 59.5%- 64.4% in South East Asia. Hence a new antibacterial agent from natural source is necessary to combat the infectious diseases. This study aimed to investigate the anti-MRSA activity of the endophytic fungus Penicillium minioluteum ED24, which was previously isolated from the leaf of the medicinal plant Orthosiphon stamineus Benth, in Penang, Malaysia. Methanol was used to extract the freeze-dried fungal biomass of the 14-days old fungal culture. The extract showed very significant anti-MRSA activity of disc diffusion assay with the minimal inhibitory concentration of 31.3 mg/mL and minimal lethality concentration of 250 mg/mL. Besides, 50% growth reduction of MRSA was observed at 33.2 h at the concentration of extract at MIC and 26.7 h at concentration of 2MIC. The structural degeneration of MRSA was observed by using scanning electron microscope (SEM). The SEM micrographs showed that the formation of cavities were observe on the extract treated cells and the cell wall structure of the MRSA was collapsed after treated with the fungal extract. The results suggesting that the bacterial cell wall is the target of the antibiotic compound(s) present in the extract. These results reveal that the endophytic fungus P. minioluteum ED24 a is potential source of anti-MRSA compound

Assessment of double screening programmes via solid substrate fermentation (SSF) in a flask system and identification of lovastatin potential producer

Local economical substrates namely rice bran and unprocessed brown rice was applied into fermentation condition to produce a potent secondary metabolite compound, lovastatin. A basis condition of fermentation viz. 70% (v/w) of moisture content (adjusted to pH 6.0), 1x107 spore/ml of inoculum size, mixture of 1:1 substrates and 7 days of incubation period, was applied into SSF system. During a preliminary test, all of 72 fungi disclosed positive dark spot onto the thin layer chromatography plate (TLC). In order to verify the existence of lovastatin, the secondary screening which involving high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was conducted. Out of 72, only 71 fungi were detected as lovastatin producers and the highest production was stated from SAR I isolate with 68.72±0.84 mg lovastatin/g dry substrate and 0.87±0.03 mg glucosamine/g dry substrate of fungal growth. SAR I isolate was identified via colony and microscopic morphologies. Through the observations, SAR I isolate was identical to Aspergillus nige