Production of bioemulsifier by an unusual isolate of salmon/red melanin containing Rhodotorula glutinis

An unusual isolate of Rhodotorula glutinis was obtained. The yeast produces a spore and a crystalliferous protein per cell. Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed that the parasporal crystals contained polypeptides with a molecular mass of approximately 55, 47, 40, 36 32.5, 30 and 25 kD. The yeast also produces a salmon/red pigment at late stage of exponential growth, which has physical and chemical properties that are consistent with it being a form of melanin. The organism has been used to produce bioemulsifier with emulsion index of 80% when tested against kerosene and crude oil. The bioemulsifier has been shown to be capable of eliminating about 76% of crude oil pollutant. The colonial and mycelia forms of Rhodosporidium toruloides and Rhodosporidium sphaerocarpum have been successfully isolated from the unusual organism.African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 4 (2), pp. 164-171, 200

Biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles in improved strain of Auricularia polytricha -an edible mushroom from Nigeria and its antimicrobial activities

Nano materials and their application are of great use in research because of their size range. In this study, Auricularia polytricha (EW1) collected from Benin in Southern Nigeria was subjected to mutation by exposure to UV-light resulting in a mutant (EW1M1). EW1 and EW1M1 were evaluated for biosynthesis of silver nano-particles. The anti-microbial properties of both strains were also evaluated. Absorption spectra of silver nano-particle (AgNPs) of mutant exhibited a strong broad peak at 420 nm while wild type absorption peak was obtained at less than 420 nm. The mutant was further characterised. DLS showed a monodispersion with diverse sizes, morphology and shapes. TEM micrograph revealed a monodispersed formation of the nano-particles, with uniform size at 10 – 20 nm. FTIR study revealed the absorption bands at 3380, 2921, 2839, 1658, 1083 and 610 cmֿ1 respectively showing the functional groups reducing the silver nitrate to silver ion. There was formation of zone of inhibition on all the microorganisms that were used for the study but the control showed no zone of inhibition. The mushroom extract of mutant strain exhibited higher anti microbial activity than the wild type

Full Length Research Paper - Production of bioemulsifier by an unusual isolate of salmon/red melanin containing Rhodotorula glutinis

An unusual isolate of Rhodotorula glutinis was obtained. The yeast produces a spore and a crystalliferous protein per cell. Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed that the parasporal crystals contained polypeptides with a molecular mass of approximately 55, 47, 40, 36 32.5, 30 and 25 kD. The yeast also produces a salmon/red pigment at late stage of exponential growth, which has physical and chemical properties that are consistent with it being a form of melanin. The organism has been used to produce bioemulsifier with emulsion index of 80% when tested against kerosene and crude oil. The bioemulsifier has been shown to be capable of eliminating about 76% of crude oil pollutant. The colonial and mycelia forms of Rhodosporidium toruloides and Rhodosporidium sphaerocarpum have been successfully isolated from the unusual organism

Antimicrobial resistance of bacterial strains isolated from orange juice products

Forty samples of twenty brands of sachet orange juice products were examined microbiologically. All the products were contaminated with bacteria and yeasts. The organisms encountered include Saccharomyces cerevisiae , Saccharomyces sp, Rhodotorula sp, Bacillus cereus , Bacillus subtilis , Escherichia coli , Staphylococcus aureus , Streptococcus pyogenes and Micrococcus sp. The resistances of thirty bacterial strains isolated from orange juice products to the commonly used antibiotics were studied. About 66.67% of the isolates were resistant to augmentin and amoxycillin; 63.33% to cotrimoxazole, 56% to cloxacillin, and 23.33% to tetracycline. Resistances of 10, 6.67, and 3.33% were obtained for gentamicin, erythromycin and chloramphenicol respectively. Among the eight antibiotics tested, seven patterns of drug resistance were obtained. Six out of these are multiple-drug resistance with number of antibiotics ranging between 2 to 8. While MIC of amoxycillin ranged between 10-25mg/ml for the strains of E. coli, MIC of 10-20mg/ml was obtained for the strains of S. aureus. The MIC for cloxacillin was 0.1-1.0mg/ml for E. coli strains, and 0.01-1.0mg/ml for S. aureus strains. In all, ten strains of the bacterial isolates had evidence for the production of b-lactamases

Local Innovative Material: Partial Replacement of Cement with Glass Pozzolan Concrete

This research work investigates the strength properties (compressive, tensile and flexural strengths) of concrete containing ground glass as a partial replacement for cement. The ground glass was obtained from waste louver blades, ground and sieved to powdery form at 212μm fineness level. Laboratory procedures were used to determine the physical properties such as moisture content, bulk density and specific gravity of the binders and aggregates were also determined. For the compressive and tensile strength tests, sixty (60) cubes of sides 100mm and sixty (60) cylinders of 150mm by 300mm respectively were cast, three (3) samples for each of the percentage replacement groups of 0%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% corresponding to the curing ages of 3, 7, 28 and 56 days for each test. Thirty six (36) beams of 100x100x500mm were cast for flexural strength test, three (3) samples for each of the percentage replacement groups of 0%, 20% and 40% corresponding to the curing ages of 3, 7, 28 and 56 days. The specific gravity of ground glass (GG) was found to be3.67 and the bulk density value is 1275kg/m3. The results of the findings show that as the partial replacement of cement with ground glass increases from 10% to 40%, the compressive and tensile strength of specimens for all curing periods of 3 to 56 days decreases. The flexural strength tests show a similar pattern, where there is general decrease in the measured values of flexural strength for all the curing ages as percentage replacement increases. However, it was observed that concrete with 10% replacement of cement with ground glass at 212μm fineness level improves the strength properties of concrete for all the curing period indicating the pozzolanic activity of ground glass

Implications of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV among Infected Pregnant Women and their Infants attending a PMTCT ARV Clinic in Ibadan, Nigeria

Background: Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) is a major means through which HIV infected pregnant mothers pass the virus to their infants. This study aimed to assess the implications of MTCT of HIV among infected Pregnant Women and their Infants.Methods:60 consenting HIV infected pregnant women attending a PMTCT ARV clinic in Ibadan, were followed up for eighteen months. Data were captured using structured questionnaire and analyzed to identify associations. Results: The mother’s age range was 24-41 years with a mean of 32.9 years, while the infant’s median age was 35 days. 32 (72.7%) of them were females with mean birth weight of 3.10 Kg. MTCT of HIV was 4.5% (2/44). Majority of the respondents were of parity 1 (22.7%) and parity 2 (27.3%) and are in monogamous marriage (81.8%), while predominant religion and occupation were Christianity (59.1%) and Trading (56.8%). Viral load was negatively correlated with hemoglobin (r=-0.334), lymphocyte (r=-0.188), and neutrophil (- 0.151) but positively correlated with WBC count (r=0.141). However, between pregnancy and birth CD4 count increased from 503 to 716 (p<0.001). Viral load at birth was higher in positive babies (Mean=4.13, SD=0.06) than negative (mean=1.18, SD=0.71) with p=0.001. Conclusions: This study identified high risk as predictors of MTCT of HIV among exposed infants on follow up with severe implicating consequences. Therefore, testing for pregnant women for HIV should be a national priority, hence the need for more sensitization on the utilization of PMTCT program in Nigeria