Assessment of double screening programmes via solid substrate fermentation (SSF) in a flask system and identification of lovastatin potential producer

Local economical substrates namely rice bran and unprocessed brown rice was applied into fermentation condition to produce a potent secondary metabolite compound, lovastatin. A basis condition of fermentation viz. 70% (v/w) of moisture content (adjusted to pH 6.0), 1x107 spore/ml of inoculum size, mixture of 1:1 substrates and 7 days of incubation period, was applied into SSF system. During a preliminary test, all of 72 fungi disclosed positive dark spot onto the thin layer chromatography plate (TLC). In order to verify the existence of lovastatin, the secondary screening which involving high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was conducted. Out of 72, only 71 fungi were detected as lovastatin producers and the highest production was stated from SAR I isolate with 68.72±0.84 mg lovastatin/g dry substrate and 0.87±0.03 mg glucosamine/g dry substrate of fungal growth. SAR I isolate was identified via colony and microscopic morphologies. Through the observations, SAR I isolate was identical to Aspergillus nige

The Influence of Physical Parameters Towards Hyper Cholesterol Reducing Agent Production, Lovastatin, Under Solid Substrate Fermentation (SSF) Condition

Two potential substrates namely rice bran and unprocessed brown rice indicated positive result of lovastatin existence. Aspergillus Niger SAR I, our local isolated fungus, took a responsibility to cooperate with those substrates in SSF system. Further experiment including initial profile production, effect of physical parameters (temperature, inoculum size and substrate quantity) and final profile production, were carried out. For initial profile, a basic condition of SSF which consisted 70% (v/w) of moisture content (adjusted to pH 6.0), 5 g substrates mixture (ungrounded size), 1x107 spore/ml of inoculum size and incubation temperature at 30±2 0C, was conducted in a flask system and fermented for 7 days. Those conditions allowed 160.03±3.79 mg lovastatin/g dry substrate of lovastatin production during initial stage. After a study of effect of physical parameters, it showed that the optimum temperature was still at ambient temperature (30±2 0C) and substrate quantity of 5 g but different inoculum size (1x105 spore/ml). Each parameters specifically temperature, inoculum size and substrate quantity produced 253.98±5.92 mg lovastatin/g dry substrate, 297.64±0.56 mg lovastatin/g dry substrate and 298.72±44.12 mg lovastatin/g dry substrate, respectively. Throughout the final profile, the production was 305.08±14.15 mg lovastatin/g dry substrate which made the total increment hit to almost 91%. In this experiment, lovastatin was subjected into high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with acetonitrile and phosphoric acid (pH 3.0) as a mobile phase

An Overview of Palm, Jatropha & Algae as a Potential Biodiesel Feedstock in Malaysia

The high demand to replace the petroleum fuel makes renewable and sustainable sources such as Palm oil, Jatropha oil and Algae as main focus feedstock for biodiesel production in Malaysia. There are many studies conducted on Palm oil and Jatropha oil, however, the use of Algae as an alternative fuel is still in its infancy. Malaysia already implemented B5 based Palm oil as a feedstock and this biodiesel has been proven safe and can be used without any engine modification. The use of biodiesel produced from these feedstock will also developed domestic economic and provide job opportunities especially in the rural area. In addition, biodiesel has many advantages especially when dealing with the emissions produce as compared to petroleum fuel such as; it can reduce unwanted gases and particulate matter harmful to the atmosphere and mankind. Thus, this paper gathered and examines the most prominent engine emission produced from Palm oil and Jatropha feedstock and also to observe the potential of Algae to be one of the sources of alternative fuel in Malaysia

The Potency of endophytic fungi from the bark of

The bark of Syzygium cumini is potential as an antimicrobial agent, so this bark is a reservoir of endophytic fungi. The purpose of this study was to isolate endophytic fungi and determine its antifungal activity. Several methods used in this research are surface sterilization, endophytic isolation on plain media and media containing host plant, morphology identification of endophytic fungi and determine antifungal activity. Thirteen endophytic fungi have been isolated from the bark of S. cumini, in which seven and six endophytic fungi grow on the plain media and media containing host plants, respectively. Based on the morphology identification, these endophytic fungi include the genus Phomopsis, Colletotrichum and Aspergillus. Seven endophytic fungi displayed antifungal activity against pathogenic microorganisms. The results demonstrated that endophytic fungi isolate from S. cumini bark could be a source of antifungal agents