Fatty acids as biological markers for symbiotic bacteria in Phyllidia varicosa and Phyllidiella pustulosa

The fatty acid (FA) composition of Phyllidia varicosa and Phyllidiella pustulosa (notum and viscera) was investigated. Samples were collected from coastal water of Balok - Pahang - Malaysia. This study was conducted to test the hypothesis that nudibranchs species host symbiotic bacteria by using fatty acids as biological markers. A high level of fatty acids group specific to the bacteria were detected in the selected species that called odd- branched chain fatty acids. Among them, high levels of iso- anteiso-C15:0, C15:0, iso-C16:0, C17:0, iso-C17:0, iso C17:1(n-5), iso C18:0, 14-methyl-C18:0 and iso-C18:0) were found and their percentages in the notum are significantly different compared to viscera. The total odd- branched chain fatty acids were 29.64% in P. varicosa and 30.66% in P. pustulosa compared to another group of fatty acids such as saturated FA, monounsaturated FA and polyunsaturated FA. The present study deals with the identification of cyclopropane FA in the nudibranch tissue for the first time which cyclopropaneoctanoic acid 2-hexyl and cyclopropaneoctanoic acid 2-octyl were detected. We suggest that symbiotic bacteria associated with the nudibranchs tissue originate these fatty acids

molecular biological analysis of hydrocarbon degraders from oily waste polluted sites

Oily waste has been identified to be the major pollutant in the environment. The sources may come from palm oil mills, refineries, oleo chemical plants, food and beverage industries and also petrochemical industries. Application of physicochemical methods in clean up process do not completely destroy the contamination and costly. These physicochemical technologies are often inadequate because they require the collection and concentration of the pollutants, which is in many instances is dispersed in the environment. Natural treatment utilizing microorganism as degrader or accumulator is currently receiving much favorable attention as a promoting method because microorganisms can take over in situ mineralization of pollutants

Microbial population in the coelomic fluid of stichopus chloronotus and holothuria (Mertensiothuria) leucospilota collected from Malaysian waters

This preliminary study aimed to isolate and identify microbes that inhabit the coelomic fluid of two local species of sea cucumbers collected from Malaysian waters - a ‘gamat’ species i.e. Stichopus chloronotus Brandt, 1835 and the most abundant ‘timun laut’ species in Malaysia i.e. Holothuria (Mertensiothuria) leucospilota (Brandt 1835). Phylogenetic analyses of partial 16S rRNA mtDNA gene sequences suggested the presence of at least eight microbial genera i.e. five bacterial genera - Bacillus, Exiguobacterium, Pseudomonas, Stenotrophomonas and Vibrio - isolated from the coelomic fluid of H. leucospilota and three genera of gram-positive bacteria from the Micrococcaceae family - Kytococcus, Micrococcus and either Kocuria or Rothia - isolated from the coelomic fluid of S. chloronotus. We speculate that less diverse microbial population in S. chloronotus as compared to H. leucospilota could be due to a number of environmental factors e.g. penetration of light surrounding the habitats of both species, the feeding behaviour of H. leucospilota and the higher level of antimicrobial properties of coelomic fluid in S. chloronotus. In terms of antimicrobial-resistance capability test, an isolate from genus Pseudomonas that is suspected to be P. alcaligenes exhibited high resistance towards streptomycin. Another isolate from genus Stenotrophomonas that was suspected to be S. maltophilia showed moderate resistance towards streptomycin and lower resistance towards kanamycin. Both isolates were from the coelomic fluid of H. leucospilota. Tetracycline inhibited the growth of all bacterial isolates tested. Further studies with more specimens of S. choronotus and H. leucospilota from broader geographical locations and the use of complete mtDNA genes along with morphological approaches for species identification may facilitate to provide better insights into the microbial population in the coelomic fluid of both local sea cucumber species

Microbial hydrolytic enzymes: In silico studies between polar and tropical regions

Enzyme is important as biocatalyst for industrial and biotechnological applications. Cold active enzymes have showed many advantages compare to mesophilic enzymes. Their cold active and thermolabile characteristics have shown potential benefits in many industries. In silico characterization of hydrolytic enzymes originated from polar and tropical regions was conducted. Amino acid sequences and molecular structures of mesophilic and psychrophilic bacterial enzyme homologues were compared thoroughly. Amino acid sequences from these two homologs do not showed any extraordinary differences. Overall, protein folds were highly similar when psychrophilic homologies were matched with mesophilic homologies. Active site residues located in catalytic domain of both psychrophilic and mesophilic enzymes were highly conserved. Thus, the hydrolytic mechanisms of these cold active enzymes still remain similar to mesophilic enzymes. However, the differences were indicated between these two enzymes at the substrate-binding sites. Cold active enzymes showed unique loop conformations and smaller side chains at the entrances. These characteristics provided larger active site of the enzymes. Larger entrance of active site was expected to stipulate substrates binding and products exiting with lower energy consumption. This part of the enzymes indicated one of the important features of cold active enzyme to work efficiently at lower temperature. Based on this in silico study, cold active enzymes have much more advantages compared to the mesophilic enzymes that made them valuable to be further researched and applied at industrial level

Potential food additive of Boswellia carterii essential oil encapsulated within gum Arabic: a particle size distribution and zeta potential analysis

Boswellia carterii (BC) {Burseraceae family} essential oil (EO) were extracted by hydrodistillation process. Gum Arabic (GA) {Acacia senegal} polymer particles containing a BCEO were prepared by spray drying technique. The mean particle size and its distribution, as well as the zeta-potential of the microcapsules, were analyzed and found Z-Average 382±203nm, PDI 0.77±0.3, ZP-25±2.73mV, respectively. Product encapsulation efficiency (EE %) was found at 75±0.8%. The surface morphology of the particles was obtained by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Furthermore, particles moisture content was analyzed by the oven drying method. The efficiency of encapsulation (EE %) was estimated by specifying the content of essential oil in the product. Gas chromatography (GC) coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS) analysis of EO has been performed to determine the chemical compounds and their prevalence concentrations respectively. The composition of initial essential oil (added in the emulsion) and the encapsulated essential oil (extracted from spray dried powder) were analyzed and compared. The outcome of the research encourages the high potentiality and usefulness of the product in the food industries sector as a food additive agent, moreover, it suggests for further research to unravel potential implementation of BCEO microcapsules in the food production chai

Optimisation of the Maillard reaction of bovine gelatine-xylose model using response surface methodology

The Maillard reaction is known as an amino-carbonyl reaction or non-enzymatic browning reaction which has an essential role in food processing to improve the appearance, taste and functional properties of food. In halal authentication, results could be used to differentiate the sources of gelatine based on the colour and flavour. Since many factors can influence the reaction, it is important to study and optimize the Maillard reaction in a gelatine model system using response surface method, applied to optimize the processing of bovine gelatine-xylose to improve the Maillard reaction products. In this study, the effects of initial pH, temperature, and heating time to browning intensity of melanoidin were evaluated. The increasing of initial pH, temperature and heating time were associated with an enhanced browning intensity of Maillard reaction products. This study demonstrated that the coefficient of determination 0.8429 reveals the response surface reduced linear model is an adequate model for browning intensity of Maillard reaction of the bovine gelatine-xylose system. For a system with 5% of gelatine solution and 0.75 g of xylose, the optimum condition for the browning process obtained was initial of pH 10.92, temperature of 140°C and heating time of 37.28 mins. The predicted results at optimum conditions coincided well with the experimental value with the relative error of less than 5%