COMPARATIVE STUDY OF MONASCUS SANGUINEUS AND MONASCUS PURPUREUS AS POTENTIAL SOURCES FOR RED PIGMENT PRODUCTION

Monascus spp. namely Monascus sanguineus was isolated from pomegranate (Punica granatum). In this study, the isolated M. sanguineus was compared with M. purpureus MTCC410 procured from MTCC Chandigarh, India for optimising the red pigment yield. It was observed that both strains had produced maximum red pigment on the 16 th day of incubation (21.9 CVU/ml for M. sanguineus & 16.9 CVU/ml for M. purpureus). Both strains had shown 30°C as a favourable temperature for microbial growth and pigment production. The maximum pigmentation was observed at pH 6.5 (33.9 CVU/ml) for Monascus sanguineus whereas M. purpureus produced maximum pigment at pH 5.5(16.6 CVU/ml). Oryza spp. (local unpolished rice) was found as the best solid substrate for both the strains (M. sanguineus 6.5CVU/gds and M. purpureus 12.5CVU/gds). When substrates were supplemented with glucose, a multi-fold increase in the pigment yield was observed with M. sanguineus, whereas no positive impact of glucose was observed with M. purpureus. For variable N sources, M. sanguineus showed maximum pigment with 1 % peptone whereas M. purpureus showed similar results with substrate supplemented with 5 % yeast extract and MSG. Both strains had shown anti-bacterial activity against gram positive bacteria. Presence of citrinin was confirmed in both the strains by LC-MS

Study of Acid Phosphatase in Solubilization of Inorganic Phosphates by Piriformospora indica

Phosphorus is an essential plant macronutrient present in the soil. Only a small portion of phosphorus in soil is taken up by plants and the rest of it becomes unavailable to plants as it is immobilized. Phosphate solubilizing microorganisms play a vital role in converting the insoluble form of phosphates to the soluble form. The present paper reports the solubilization of tricalcium phosphate, rock phosphate, single super phosphate, zinc phosphate and aluminum phosphate by Piriformospora indica with the production of organic acids as well as acid phosphatase. The amount of phosphate released (4.73 mg ml–1) and titratable acidity (0.12%) was found to be the highest in the caseof single super phosphate as compared to other phosphate sources. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) revealed the presence of oxalic acid, lactic acid, citric acid and succinic acid in the media. Highest phosphatase activity was observed with the cell membrane extract of the organism in the presence of zinc phosphate

STUDY ON GROWTH AND BIOMASS OF OCIMUM SANCTUM PLANTS AND PROTEIN PROFILING OF TRICHODERMA HARZIANUM

The capability of the bio-control agent Trichoderma harzianum to trigger plant growth and improvement in biomass response was investigated by inoculating roots of medicinal plant (Ocimum sanctum) seedlings with Trichoderma harzianum in pots, under aseptic, green house environmental conditions. Trichoderma harzianum was isolated from ten different agro climatic zones of Karnataka. Biological and biochemical analysis revealed that inoculation with T. harzianum initiated increased Phosphate (P), Nitrogen (N) and soluble sugars uptake by the O. sanctum plants. Inoculation with T. harzianum increased the biomass of the plants in terms of height, number of leaves and number of branches, providing evidence that T. harzianum induce growth and increased biomass mechanisms in plants. The whole cell protein was extracted from all the ten isolates of T. harzianum and then subjected to electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The protein profile on the gel was scored and the dendrogram was constructed using Phylip software of T. harzianum. Exploiting bio-control agents to enhance the plant growth and biomass production of medicinal plants is a topic of current interest

Partial Purification and Characterization of β-glucosidase fromMonascus sanguineus

The aim of the present work was to study the production and characterization of β-glucosidase from Monascus sanguineus. Agro-waste residues were screened to obtain the maximum yield of enzyme. Jack fruit seed was the best substrate for enzyme production. Studies on the optimization of pH and temperature showed acidic pH favorable for enzymatic activity, whereas the optimum temperature was 60°C. Enzyme kinetics studies with different concentration of pNPG showed the calculated value of Km approximately 0.89 mM with the non-linear regression and 0.98 mM with the linear regression techniques. The enzyme was predominantly inhibited by KCl (69.8%) and moderately inhibited by CaCl2(14.8%). Studies on the sensitivity for glucose showed that after 100 mM concentration of glucose, inhibition in pNPG hydrolysis took place. The molecular weight of the protein was estimated as 116 and 66 kDa with SDS- PAGE and zymography was carried out to verify the specific activity

Development and screening of mutants from Monascus sanguineus for secondary metabolites production

Present study was carried out to develop a potent mutant for enhancing secondary metabolite production from Monascus sanguineus. Ultraviolet (UV) treatment as physical and Ethyl methane sulphonate (EMS) as chemical mutagen was used to cultivate the mutants. All obtained mutants were screened for growth and pigment yield on three different synthetic media namely; potato dextrose agar (PDA), malt glucose peptone agar (MGPA) and Czapek Dox yeast extract Agar (CDYA). MGPA media was found suitable for pigment yield whereas appreciable growth was observed with CDYA. Highest pigment yield was obtained for mutants developed at EMS concentration of 0.6 μg/μL (EMS-3) and UV exposed for seven minutes (UV-4). Exposure to UV for 11 min suppressed the pigment production. However this exposed strain (albino) was found to be an efficient producer of lovastatin with no traces of citrinin alike parental strain. Both EMS-3 and UV-4 mutants had synthesized negligible amount of citrinin, well below regulatory toxic levels. Significant variation was also noticed on the spore morphology of tested strains. Aleuroconidia was observed with albino strain whereas clestothesium along with pigmented ascospores were noticed with UV-4 and EMS-3 mutants. In a nutshell, these strains can be endorsed as nontoxic and safe for human consumption. Keywords: Citrinin, Albino, Pigment, Mutants, Clestothesiu

PHOSPHATE SOLUBILIZERS FROM THE RHIZOSPHERE OF Piper nigrum L. IN KARNATAKA, INDIA

Black pepper ( Piper nigrum L.) is a climbing vine known for its pungent fruit used as a spice worldwide. The aim of this study was to evaluate the available P content in the native soils where pepper is grown as a crop plant. The native population of phosphate solubilising microbes (PSM) was studied from the rhizosphere of P. nigrum plants grown in the Western Ghats of Karnataka, India. A variety of phosphate solubilising bacteria and fungi were isolated from the rhizosphere soil samples. Phosphate solubilising capacity of different isolates was studied on Pikovskaya's medium. The isolates were tested for their phosphate solubilising capacity in vitro with three different phosphate sources, tricalcium phosphate (TCP), potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KHP), and rock phosphate (RP) in the concentrations 2.5, 5.0 and 7.5 g L-1. The three phosphate sources were solubilised by the isolates in varying proportions. The dominant PSM flora obtained from the samples included Bacillus and Aspergillus . The study showed that PSM utilised the three phosphate sources TCP, KHP, and RP with considerable variability. The phosphatase activity of the isolates showed that the predominant microorganisms were Bacillus subtilis (5.33 U mL-1) and Aspergillus (11.5 U mL-1). The predominant organisms were identified up to molecular level