Effect of microbial load on the condition index of the edible oyster, Saccostrea cucullata in the Sundarbans, India

The effect of microbial load on the condition Index of the edible oyster, Saccostrea cucullata were analysed on monthly basis during 2010 and 2011 from the three different stations (Namkhana, Frasergaunge and Sajnekhali) of Indian Sundarbans. The results showed significant variation with respect to microbial load between stations and seasons, which is reflected in the tissue of edible oyster. Significant positive correlations were observed between microbial load of the ambient environment and the tissue system of oyster. The Condition Index of the oyster species also exhibited negative correlation with the microbial load of oyster tissue, which confirms the negative stress induced by microbes on the growth and survival of the species

Ethnic Preparation of Haria, a Rice-Based Fermented Beverage, in the Province of Lateritic West Bengal, India

Haria is a rice-based fermented beverage that is popular among tribal and low income people in lateritic West Bengal and East-Central India. The principal ingredient of this beverage is low grade boiled rice (Oryza sativa L.), which is mixed with a traditional starter, called bakhar, and fermented within a heat-sterilized earthen pot for 3-4 days. The main aim of this study was to investigate the ethnobotanical importance and traditional process of haria preparation. The method adopted for this study was based on interactive questionnaires and laboratory experiments. It was found that the pH decreased during the course of fermentation with increased titratable acidity of 1.42%. The alcohol content was 2-3% (v/v) in the consumable beverages. This documentation will be useful for further exploitation of haria as a health drink

Process and Storage Stability of Bacillus coagulans LBSC in Food Matrices and Appraisal of Calorific Restriction: B. coagulans LBSC stability and calorie restriction

Background and Objective: Probiotic bacteria as food additives have led to a significant growth in functional food levels. Functional foods present multiple challenges to probiotic viability and stability. In the present study, Bacillus coagulans LBSC DSM 17654, a probiotic strain, was incorporated into various foods to assess its stability during processing and storage and ability to decrease food calorie contents. Material and Methods: Bacillus coagulans LBSC was used to prepare various beverages and foods such as hot and cold non-alcoholic beverages, breakfast cereals, oral rehydration salts, confections, frostings, convenience foods, frozen dairy desserts, condiments, relishes, fermented milk beverages and cough syrups. The bacterial process and storage stabilities were assessed using relative viability estimation. Stability of Bacillus coagulans LBSC was assessed in aqueous suspensions following ICH guidelines [Q1A (R2)] under various temperatures (0-100 ºC). Strain was assessed for its in vitro calorie restriction capabilities when incorporated into foods. Results and Conclusion: Bacillus coagulans LBSC survived well during food processing (relative viability of 99.46% ±0.49) and storage (relative viability of 99.22% ±0.51) conditions. The bacterium was stable in aqueous suspension and tolerated high temperatures well (relative viabilities of 99.56% ±0.21 and 97.59% ±0.01 at 80 and 90 ºC, respectively). Bacillus coagulans LBSC showed significant in vitro calorie decreases in probiotic supplemented foods, compared to foods with no supplementations (p < 0.05). In conclusion, Bacillus coagulans LBSC exhibited good stability in aqueous media at high temperatures. Bacillus coagulans LBSC was not only stable in a wide spectrum of food categories, it could grow on foods to decrease food calorie under in vitro conditions; suggesting its uses as a functional food ingredient for better management of obesity and ageing and their associated health risks. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest

<span style="font-size:15.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt" lang="EN-GB">Low cost single-step purification of endoglucanase from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Aspergillus fumigatus </i>ABK-9 </span>

954-959<span style="font-size: 9.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt" lang="EN-GB">Low cost agro-waste was used as adsorption support for single-step purification of endoglucanase from the culture filtrate of A. fumigatus ABK-9. Among various agro-waste substrates, 1% NaOH pretreated rice bran was proved to be the best for adsorbing about 74.8 and 71.1% of endoglucanase at 4 °C and 10 °C respectively. Langmuir type adsorption isotherm at 4 °C showed maximum adsorption of enzyme at pH 5.0, which was in the range of optimum pH of the enzyme. The rice bran column bound enzyme was maximally eluted by a mixture of acetate buffer (0.05 M, pH 5.5) and ethanol (40%, v/v) at a ratio of 3:2 and a flow rate of 1 mL/min. A 5.52-fold purification of the enzyme was achieved from culture supernatant. The specific activity and recovery yield after purification were <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">294.0 U/mg and 40.15%, respectively, which were comparable with other contemporary protocols. The homogeneity of the enzyme was tested through sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and a single band of 56.3 kDa was observed. Zymogram analysis finally confirmed the occurrence of endoglucanase in the single band. </span

Rapid screening of tannase producing microbes by using natural tannin

Use of natural tannin in the screening of tannase producing microbes is really promising. The present work describes about the possibility and integrity of the newly formulated method over the previously reported methods. Tannin isolated from Terminalia belerica Roxb. (Bahera) was used to differentiate between tanninolytic and nontanninolytic microbes. The method is simple, sensitive and superior for the rapid screening and isolation of tannase-producing microbes

Effect of microbial load on the condition index of the edible oyster, Saccostrea cucullata in the Sundarbans, India

The effect of microbial load on the condition Index of the edible oyster, Saccostrea cucullata were analysed on monthly basis during 2010 and 2011 from the three different stations (Namkhana, Frasergaunge and Sajnekhali) of Indian Sundarbans. The results showed significant variation with respect to microbial load between stations and seasons, which is reflected in the tissue of edible oyster. Significant positive correlations were observed between microbial load of the ambient environment and the tissue system of oyster. The Condition Index of the oyster species also exhibited negative correlation with the microbial load of oyster tissue, which confirms the negative stress induced by microbes on the growth and survival of the species

Barium, calcium and magnesium doped mesoporous ceria supported gold nanoparticle for benzyl alcohol oxidation using molecular O2

In the era of sustainable energy, catalysis using gold nanoparticles has drawn considerable attention from world researchers. Oxidation of benzyl alcohol by molecular O2 is an atom efficient path to synthesize benzaldehyde. Nanocrystalline ceria has been proven as a useful support to disperse gold nanoparticles since last few years, however there are a few reports on mesoporous ceria supported gold nanoparticles. In this work a systematic investigation was carried out to improve the activity of Au/CeO2 catalyst by incorporating Ba2+, Ca2+ and Mg2+ cations into the ceria lattice through a sol–gel procedure. Both the doped ceria and ceria supported gold nanoparticles are characterized by BET S.A, XRD, TEM, SAXS, XPS, TPR, CO2-TPD techniques. BET S.A measurements show the mesoporous oxides where H3 hysteresis loops are found. The decrease in the crystallite size of ceria after doping by metal cations is observed in the XRD measurement. The TEM and HRTEM characterization shows the nanocrystalline particle size around 30–50 nm and gold nanoparticles around 10–15 nm in size. Distribution in the particle size for doped ceria have been obtained using SAXS measurements where narrow distributions of ceria particles are found in the 10–20 nm range. The existence of oxide vacancies and the mixture of Ce3+/Ce4+ oxidation states are observed for doped ceria materials in the XPS investigation. The strong gold-support interaction was also evidenced by XPS characterization where oxidic gold was found on the doped ceria surface. Lowering of the reduction peak in ceria after gold nanoparticle deposition was observed from TPR investigation whereas the change in basic site distribution is observed from CO2 TPD experiment, instigating new insights into the surface properties of the catalysts. The catalytic activities of the catalysts were determined for benzyl alcohol oxidation reactions using molecular O2. The catalytic activity was in the order of Au/Ba–CeO2 4 Au/Ca–CeO2 4 Au/Mg–CeO2 4 Au/CeO2. The synergistic effect of gold nanoparticles and dopant cations to the ceria was explained in this work

<span style="mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt" lang="EN-GB">Potentialities of newly isolated <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Bacillus subtilis</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Lactobacillus sp</i> for curd preparation and a comparative study of its physico-chemical parameters with other marketed curds </span>

910-918Two Bacillus sp. were isolated from the local fermented milk and identified on the basis 16S rRNA sequence profile as Bacillus subtilis AKL1 and by biochemical process as Lactobacillus acidophilus AKL2. These isolates were <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">used as fresh inoculums for curd preparation individually and in combinations. Different physico-chemical and therapeutic properties of the newly prepared curd were examined and compared with marketed local (sweet and sour) and branded (Mother Dairy and Thackar) curds. The total hydrolyzed peptides, free amino acids, lactic acid were significantly higher, whereas, total solid, ash content, syneresis and free reducing sugar were lower in the curd prepared by a mixture of AKL1 and AKL2 (0.5:0.5, v/v). The antioxidant activity against ABTS+, DPPH•, OH• and Fe3+ were also higher in the newly formulated curd. Polyphenols (85.5µg/g), flavonoids (12.5µg/g) and free aromatic amino acids contents were also higher in AKL1+AKL2. All these components prevent excess protein oxidation that was revealed by SDS-PAGE. The curd also exhibited potent antimicrobial activity against some entero-pathogens like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Clostridium perfringens, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Escherichia coli, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Shigella dysentery, Vibrio cholerae <span style="background:white;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold;mso-bidi-font-style: italic" lang="EN-GB">and Staphylococcus<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"> aureus. It can be concluded that the combination of these Lactobacillus sp. will be a fruitful inoculum for the preparation of curd having better health promoting effects. </span

Analysis of alteration of gut microbial population under the exposure of graded hyperbaric pressures: Application of metagenomic approach

960-968<span style="mso-bidi-language: HI" lang="EN-GB">Gastroenterological disorders are very common at hyperbaric conditions. The present study was conducted to find out the impact of gut flora on the gastrointestinal disorders created at such environmental circumstances. For this, male albino rat were exposed to graded hyperbaric pressures (915 and 1277 mmHg) and large intestinal content was examined for microbial composition using culture based and PCR-DGGE tools. After 30 day exposure, total aerobes (38.54 and 375.57 folds, 1.35 and 1.58 gdi) and E. coli <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic">(126.05 and 873.23 folds, 1.31 and 1.44 gdi) were increased whereas total anaerobes (7.01 × 104 and 8.84 × 103 folds, -1.56 and -1.39 gdi), Enterobacter spp. (-2.45 and -1.00 gdi) and Clostridium perfringens (12.88 and 54.16 folds, -1.38 and -1.75 gdi) were decreased significantly in respect to control after exposure of simulated hyperbaric pressures like at 915 and 1277 mmHg, respectively. Metagenomics study revealed an overall reduction in total microbial profile was noted than control at higher level hyperbaric pressure, i.e., 1277 mmHg air pressure for highest duration of exposure. Though, some new bands also appeared which indicated the expansion of dormant or new microbiota, Variation in the numbers of these newly dominated bacteria was correlated to dose and duration of hyperbaric treatment. The histological results clearly indicated that hyperbaric environment induced severe inflammation in the mucosal and submucosal layer of large intestine. Thus, the result suggest that hyperbaric pressure is an important exogenous factor that strongly modulated the intestinal morphology and microbial ecology, and induced several gastrointestinal ailments during hyperbarism. </span