A Physicochemical Characterisation of Chitin Extracted from Edible Lithuanian Mushrooms

Chitinas yra biopolimeras, kuris šiomis dienomis yra plačiai panaudojamas medicinoje, kosmetikos pramonėje, biotechnologijoje ir kitose pramonės šakose. Chitinas pasižymį antivėžinėmis, antioksidantinėmis ir antimikrobinėmis savybėmis bei yra lengvai suyrantis ir biologiškai suderinamas. Šiam darbui pasirinktos penkios Lietuvoje augančios valgomų grybų rūšys. Pasaulyje yra žinoma daugiau negu 100 000 grybų rūšių, o tuo tarpu Lietuvoje – 6000. Iki šiol nebuvo atlikta jokių studijų apie Lietuvos grybų chitiną. Šis darbas yra pirmasis apie Lietuvos grybų chitiną. Chitinas buvo išskirtas iš penkių valgomų papėdgrybių (Basidiomycetes) klasės rūšių: tikrojo baravyko (Boletus edulis), tikrojo raudonviršio (Leccinum auranticum), tikrosios ūmėdės (Russula vesca), valgomosios voveraitė (Cantharellus cibarius) ir pilkosios meškutė (Paxillus involtus) naudojant cheminį metodą. Chitino išskyrimas buvo atliekamas keturiais etapais: pirmojo etapo metu grybų milteliai buvo balinami su NaClO, atrojo etapo metu buvo vykdoma deprotenizacijos reakcija naudojant NaOH, trečiojo etapo metu buvo vykdoma demineralizacijos reakcija naudojant HCl, ketvirtojo etapo buvo vykdoma pakartotinė deprotenizacija su NaOH. Išskirtas chitinas buvo charakterizuojamas Furjė infraraudonųjų spindulių spektroskopijos transformacijos analize (FTIR), elementine analize (EA) ir skenuojančiąja elektronų mikroskopija (SEM). FTIR rezultatai atskleidė, jog visų grybų chitinas yra alpha formos, todėl gali būti naudojami kaip potenciali žaliava chitino gamybai. SEM analizė parodė, jog chitino paviršius yra lygios struktūros, joje nematyti nei nanoporų nei nanoplaušų, toks chitinas gali būti naudojamas agrokultūroje bei biotechnologijoje. Darbo metu taip pat buvo nustatytas chitino kiekis grybuose. Daugiausiai chitino aptikta tikrojo baravyko kotelyje (6%), o mažiausiai valgomosios voveraitės kotelyje (1%) ir pilkosios meškutės kotelyje (1%).Chitin is very important biomaterial these days, because of its biodegradable, biocompatible, nontoxicity, antitumor, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. Chitin has many applications in medicine, cosmetic, biotechnology and other fields. More than 100 000 mushrooms species are known in the World. More than 6000 mushrooms species are described in Lithuania. Till now no studies has been done with Lithuanian mushrooms chitin. In this study the Lithuanian mushrooms chitin was investigated for the first time. Chitin was extracted from five (Boletus edulis, Leccinum auranticum, Russula vesca, Cantharellus cibarius and Paxillus involtus) edible Lithuanian mushrooms by using a chemical method. Four steps was used to isolate chitin from mushrooms: mushrooms dust bleaching (NaClO), deproteinization (NaOH), demineralization (HCl) and second deproteinization (NaOH). Obtained chitin was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), elemental analysis (EA) and by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results of FTIR showed that all mushrooms chitin are in alpha form and can be used as a potential raw material for chitin production. SEM analysis showed that mushrooms chitin surface was clumped and has no clearly visible nanoporous and nanofibers structure. The chitin contents of pileus and stipes of mushroom bodies were determined and compared. Three mushrooms species (Leccinum auranticum, Cantharellus cibarius, Paxillus involtus) out of total five had higher chitin content in pileus (2,9%, 1,2%, 1,52% respectively) than in stipes (1,95%, 1%, 1% respectively), while chitin content of Russula vesca was almost the same in pileus (1,2%) and stipe (1,3%). Only in Boletus edulis species chitin content was higher in stipe (6%) than in pileus (1,3%). The highest chitin content among all investigated species was observed in Boletus edulis stipe (6%) and the lowest in Cantharellus cibarius and Paxillus involtus stipes (1%).Gamtos mokslų fakultetasVytauto Didžiojo universiteta

Naujos ir retos vabalų (Coleoptera) rūšys iš Kuršių nerijos (Lietuva)

Straipsnyje pateikiama informacija apie 1 naują Lietuvai svetimžemę boružių rūšį Harmonia axyridis (Pallas, 1773) ir 2 retas vabalų rūšis aptiktas Juodkrantės apylinkėse Kur šių nerijoje 2011 metais. Taip pat apžvelgiamas šių ruš ių paplitimas kaimyninėse valstybėse. Pirmą kartą skelbiami tikri Opilo mollis (L.) radvietės duomenysThe Curonian Spit is surrounded by the Baltic Sea and the Curonian Lagoon. It is unique of which is comprised of relief created by the sea and wind, the highest spit in the whole Northern Europe, Lagoon marl prints, remains of former Lagoon‘s forest and soil brought by the wind and constant interesting eolic processes. Very specific climate conditions determine unique vegetation cover in the Curonian Spit that is critical for the diversity of insects and their population size. The fauna of Coleoptera is investigated already more than 130 years in the Curonian Spit. However, data on many species is fragmentary. The first data on Coleoptera fauna in the Curonian Spit present F. L. Lentz (1897). After many years new data on some Coleoptera species distribution were published (Pileckis, 1963, 1968; Sharova, Grüntal, 1973; Bercio, Folwaczny, 1979). During the last decade there were many reports on the Coleoptera fauna from the Curonian Spit (Šablevicius, Ferenca, 1995; Barševskis, 2001; Šablevicius , 2003; Ferenca, 2004; Tamutis, 2005; Žiogas, Zolubas, 2005; Ferenca et al., 2006; Ivinskis et al., 2009). The field practices of students are important both to study process and research experience. In many cases their collected material is very important for faunistic and ecological investigations of insects in Lithuania. In this report we present the records on new and rare beetle species found in the Curronian spit during the field practices time of students of Vytautas Magnus University in the last decade of May, 2011Vytauto Didžiojo universitetasŽemės ūkio akademij

Chitin characterization of two Baltic Sea shrimp species : Palaemon elegans and Crangon crangon

Chitin is a biopolymer, which can be found in a plenty amount in marine environments and is the secondly most abundant in nature, after cellulose. Mostly chitin is found in crustaceans, insects or other arthropods, also in mushrooms [1]. Chitin and chitin-derived products are attracting great interest because of their wide range of potential applications within biotechnology, medicine and pharmacology, agriculture, cosmetics, and wastewater treatment [2, 3, 4, 5]. In this study we investigated differences in the chitin content, physicochemical properties and surface morphology of chitins extracted from two common Baltic Sea shrimp species: Paleomon elegans and Crangon crangon. Both shrimp species are widely distributed along European coast and across the Atlantic east coast. The dry weight chitin contents P. elegans and C. crangon were determined as 7.1% and 6.7%, respectively. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) analysis were used to characterize physicochemical properties of obtained chitins. As expected, FT-IR and TGA results showed that the isolated chitins were in α form. The main difference between examined chitins extracted from two shrimp species was noticed after TGA. The first mass loss step for P. elegans was observed at 5.09% and the second mass loss step at 81.92%. For C. crangon the first mass loss was observed at 2.75% and the second mass loss at 65.39%. However, the highest decomposition temperature DTGmax were found to be the same for both species, 382.8 °C for P. elegans and 382.4 °C for C. crangon. The surface morphology of chitins yielded from two shrimp species were examined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and it revealed that these structures consists of nanofibers and nanopores, however chitin surface of C. crangon was rougher than P. elegans. [...]Biologijos katedraGamtos mokslų fakultetasVytauto Didžiojo universiteta

A physicochemical characterization of chitin extracted from edible Lithuanian mushrooms

Chitin is a biopolymer made from (1→4)-linked N-acetyl-β-D-glucosamine. It can be found in exoskeleton of crustacean, insect and in the cell wall of mushrooms [1]. Chitin is very important biomaterial these days, because of its biodegradable, biocompatible, nontoxicity, antitumor, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. Chitin has many applications in medicine, cosmetic, biotechnology and other fields [2]. More than 100 000 mushrooms species are known in the World. More than 6000 mushrooms species are described in Lithuania [3]. Till now no studies has been done with Lithuanian mushrooms chitin. In this study the Lithuanian mushrooms chitin was investigated for the first time. The aims of this study were: a) to extract chitin from five edible mushrooms species belonging to four families; b) to evaluate and compare chitin physicochemical properties between these five mushrooms, c) to compare chitin contents of mushroom pileus and stipes. Chitin was extracted from five (Boletus edulis, Leccinum auranticum, Russula vesca, Cantharellus cibarius and Paxillus involtus) edible Lithuanian mushrooms by using a chemical method. Four steps was used to isolate chitin from mushrooms: mushrooms dust bleaching (NaClO), deproteinization (NaOH), demineralization (HCl) and second deproteinization (NaOH). Obtained chitin was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results of FTIR showed that all mushrooms chitin are in alpha form and can be used as a potential raw material for chitin production. SEM analysis showed that mushrooms chitin surface was clumped and has no clearly visible nanoporous and nanofibers structure. The chitin contents of pileus and stipes of mushroom bodies were determined and compared. Three mushrooms species (Leccinum auranticum, Cantharellus cibarius, Paxillus involtus) out of total five had higher chitin content in pileus [...]Biologijos katedraGamtos mokslų fakultetasVytauto Didžiojo universiteta

Differentiations of chitin content and surface morphologies of chitins extracted from male and female grasshopper species

WOS: 000350680700013PubMed: 25635814In this study, we used Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), elemental analysis (EA), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to investigate chitin structure isolated from both sexes of four grasshopper species. FT-IR, EA, XRD, and TGA showed that the chitin was in the alpha form. With respect to gender, two main differences were observed. First, we observed that the quantity of chitin was greater in males than in females and the dry weight of chitin between species ranged from 4.71% to 11.84%. Second, using SEM, we observed that the male chitin surface structure contained 25 - 90nm wide nanofibers and 90 - 250 nm nanopores, while no pores or nanofibers were observed in the chitin surface structure of the majority of females (nanofibers were observed only in M. desertus females). In contrast, the elemental analysis, thermal properties, and crystalline index values for chitin were similar in males and females. Also, we carried out enzymatic digestion of the isolated chitins using commercial chitinase from Streptomyces griseus. We observed that there were no big differences in digestion rate of the chitins from both sexes and commercial chitin. The digestion rates were for grasshoppers' chitins; 88.45-95.48% and for commercial chitin; 94.95%

Differentiations of chitin content and surface morphologies of chitins extracted from male and female grasshopper species

Gamtos mokslų fakultetasVytauto Didžiojo universiteta

Results of elemental analyses (EA) and degree of acetylation (DA).

<p>Results of elemental analyses (EA) and degree of acetylation (DA).</p

SEM of four grasshoppers spiecies: a) <i>Celes variabilis</i> female, b) <i>C. variabilis</i> male, c) <i>Decticus verrucivorus</i> female, d) <i>D. verrucivorus</i> male, e) <i>Melanogryllus desertus</i> female, f) <i>M. desertus</i> male, g) <i>Paracyptera labiate</i> female, h) <i>P. labiate</i> male.

<p>SEM of four grasshoppers spiecies: a) <i>Celes variabilis</i> female, b) <i>C. variabilis</i> male, c) <i>Decticus verrucivorus</i> female, d) <i>D. verrucivorus</i> male, e) <i>Melanogryllus desertus</i> female, f) <i>M. desertus</i> male, g) <i>Paracyptera labiate</i> female, h) <i>P. labiate</i> male.</p

XRD of chitin extracted from female and male grasshoppers.

<p>a) <i>Celes varabilis</i> female, b) <i>C. varabilis</i> male, c) <i>Dectius verrucivorus</i> male, d) <i>Melanogryllus desertus</i> female, e) <i>M. desertus</i> male, f) <i>Paracyptera labiata</i> female, g) <i>P. labiata</i> male.</p

FT-IR spectra of the α-chitin isolated from female and male of five grasshopper species.

<p>a) <i>Celes varabilis</i> female, b) <i>C. varabilis</i> male, c<i>) Dectius verrucivorus</i> female, d) <i>D. verrucivorus</i> male, e) <i>Melanogryllus desertus</i> female, f) <i>M. desertus</i> male, g) <i>Paracyptera labiata</i> female, h) <i>P. labiata</i> male.</p