Production of Natural Food Colourants Using Food Grade Microbial Pigments: A New Focus in Industrial Microbiology

In today’s food industry, the new focus on large-scale microbial production of natural food colourants has emerged among the manufacturers due to the relatively costly production of plant-derived food colourants, and the doubtful safety status of inorganic and synthetic colourants. However, it is still very challenging to change the consumers’ reliance on synthetic colourants. In fact, the first European success on the launch of β-carotene from Blakeslea trispora in 1995 has headed more search for new sources of natural food grade microbial pigments. The acceptance and rejection of a microbial food grade pigment by a community of consumers depend on two main contributing factors i.e. the regional and the traditional-based legislations. This paper discusses the classification of natural pigments, the legislation on natural food colourants, the success and new sources of potential pigment-producing microbes, and the advantages of microbial fermentation

Identification of bacterial species from longevity spinach leaves

Gynura procumbens or longevity spinach plant is a type of medicinal plant that distributes widely in Southeast Asia including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Phillipines. In Malaysia, G. procumbens is commonly called as pokok Sambung Nyawa, Sabong Nyawa, Akar Sebiak or Kecam Akar; and often consumed as ulam or salad. Ulam means the food is served raw or freshly uncooked; thus there might be a number of microorganism particularly bacteria that are still inhabiting the leaves. As modern technology is growing rapidly, there is still little to no information in studies and researches focusing on the link between medicinal plants and bacteria that inhabit the plant specifically epiphytic bacteria on the leaf surface. Besides, studies on diversity of bacteria inhabiting the phyllosphere is still unclear. Thus, this study aimed to identify bacteria from the surface of G. procumbens leaves based on morphology through Gram-staining and genetics using 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing; and to determine the possible contribution of the bacteria to the medicinal properties of G. procumbens. The findings from this research suggested the presence of five species of bacteria i.e. Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Pantoea agglomerans, Sphingomonas melonis and Burkholderia cepacia. From further readings, it is known that some of the species have its potential towards medicinal application such as production of antibiotics. In addition, it is hypothesised that the production of some secondary metabolites in the plant might be due to the presence of the bacteria

Isolation of a pigment-producing bacterium chryseobacterium sp. from the tentacle of holothuria (lessonothuria) pardalis (Selenka 1867) from Pulau Tinggi, Johor

Chryseobacterium sp, a bacteria producing pigment was isolated from the tentacles of Holothuria (Lessonothuria) pardalis (Selenka 1867) from Pulau Tinggi, Johor. This study aimed to observe and genetically identified the presence of bacteria focusing on pigmentproducing bacteria. Thus, the partial 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequence of bacteria obtained and the shape, number of bacteria and gram staining observed using a digital compound microscope. Six gene sequence successfully obtained and the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) analysis suggested three species of bacteria identified from genus Pseudomonas, Chryseobacterium and Klebsiella. Besides, the neighbourhood-joining and Maximum Likelihood method had been used in the phylogenetic analysis to support the identification of bacteria species. The visible spectra of Chryseobacterium sp. were recorded between 400nm to 600nm which is a visible spectrum for carotenoid; orange pigment. However, further analysis is needed to confirm the characterisation and the potential of this pigment in industria

Isolation of bacteria associated with the tentacles of holothuria (lessonothuria) pardalis (selenka 1867) from Pulau Tinggi, Johor including pigment-producing chryseobacterium sp.

Pigment-producing microorganisms have become a main focus due to the search of food-grade microbial pigments for natural food colourant industry. Therefore, this study aimed to isolate and genetically identify bacteria including pigmentproducing bacterial strains associated with the tentacles of Holothuria (Lessonothuria) pardalis (Selenka 1867) from Pulau Tinggi, Johor. Morphological characteristics of bacteria based on Gram staining were observed using a digital compound microscope. Partial 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing was also incorporated to support the morphological approach. A number of six partial gene sequences of non-protein coding 16S rRNA were obtained and the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) analysis suggested the presence of three known bacteria species from the genera of Pseudomonas, Chryseobacterium and Klebsiella. The neighbourhood-joining method and Maximum Likelihood method used in the phylogenetic analysis supported the identification and classification of the bacteria species. Among the bacterial isolates, only strain B14 identified as Chryseobacterium sp. produced pigment i.e. orange pigment. The highest point of cell density of Chryseobacterium sp. was recorded at 16 hours. However, further analysis is needed to confirm the pigment characterisation and the potential of this pigment to be exploited as natural colourant in the food industry

A comparative study of smart city initiatives in Malaysia: Putrajaya and Iskandar Puteri

The Smart City concept has grown exponentially and is rapidly accepted by wider international communities and developed countries. Smart City implementation may lead to a high-quality, more resilient, liveable and sustainable development for a nation. Malaysia's urban population will increase from 74.3% in 2015 to 79.6% in 2025. By 2040, Malaysia is expected to reach 84% of the urbanisation rate. In managing and solving daily urban issues (e.g., congestion, energy, crime, pollution, waste management, etc.), urban planners are searching for implementing Smart Cities as a primary solution. This study aims to investigate two (2) cities’ experiences in implementing these initiatives, namely, Putrajaya and Iskandar Puteri. Both cities act as administrative centres at the national and state levels. Since established in 1995, Putrajaya promoted as the 'Garden City' and 'Intelligent City'. This is followed by the new administrative city of Johor State, Iskandar Puteri (previously known as Nusajaya), officiated in 2009 in the Southern part of Peninsular Malaysia. Both cities introduced their own Smart City blueprint, with 93 strategies in the Putrajaya Smart City Blueprint (2018), and 28 in Smart City Iskandar Malaysia (2012). By comparing the Smart City strategies or initiatives in both areas, this study concludes that Putrajaya’s strategies are more focused on micro-city-level implementation. Iskandar Puteri (in Iskandar Malaysia Development Region) has a brief and wider context at the regional level (macro). In both cities, there are still no clear measurement methods or indicators that can assess the achievement of Smart City initiatives implemented at the local level

The mitogenome data of Holothuria (Mertensiothuria) leucospilota (Brandt,1835) from Malaysia

White threads fish Holothuria (Mertensiothuria) leucospilota (Brandt, 1835) or locally known as bat puntil is a neritic marine organism, and it is widely distributed in Indo Pacific. They serve many important roles in ecosystem services and were discovered to contain many bioactive compounds that are useful for medicinal value. However, despite its abundance in Malaysian seawater, there is still a lack of records on H. leucospilota mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) from Malaysia. The mitogenome of H. leucospilota originating from Sedili Kechil, Kota Tinggi, Johor, Malaysia, is presented here. Whole genome sequencing was successfully sequenced using Illumina NovaSEQ6000 sequencing system and the mitochondrial-derived contigs were assembled using de novo approach. The size of the mitogenome is 15,982 bp which consists of 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 21 transfer RNAs, and 2 ribosomal RNAs. The overall composition of nucleotide bases was estimated to be 25.8% for T, 25.9% for C, 31.8% for A and 16.5% for G (with A + T content of 57.6%). Maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree analysis revealed that the mitochondrial Protein-Coding Genes (PCGs) sequence data from our H. leucospilota is closely related to H. leucospilota from accession number MK940237 and H. leucospilota from accession number MN594790, followed by H. leucospilota from accession number MN276190, forming sister group with H. hilla (MN163001), known as Tiger tail sea cucumber. The mitogenome of H. leucospilota will be valuable for genetic research, mitogenome reference and future conservation management of sea cucumber in Malaysia. The mitogenome data of H. leucospilota from Sedili Kechil, Kota Tinggi, Johor, Malaysia is available in the GenBank database repository with accession number ON584426

Preliminary Studies on Species Diversity of Coastal Bivalves and the Traditional Knowledge on Bivalve Fishery in Sedili Kechil, Johor

Research on bivalves in Malaysia and documentation on bivalve fishery is still lacking in the recent years. Study on the diversity of bivalves will help contribute to the Malaysian database and the documentation of traditional knowledge on bivalve fishery will prevent the knowledge from going extinct. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the species diversity of bivalves present in Sedili Kechil, Johor and also to gain access to the traditional knowledge of the fishermen involved in bivalve fishery practiced in the area. Bivalves were handpicked randomly throughout the coastal region and a total of 10 respondents make up the sample size of this study. The traditional knowledge were gathered with the aid of a semi-structured questionnaire through a combination of non-participant observation and in-depth interview method. This study has collected the first record of species of bivalves in Sedili Kechil. The bivalves’ diversity in Sedili Kechil is medium to low diversity by using Shannon Wiener Index (1.26) and Pielou’s Index of Evenness (0.41) and the traditional knowledge is documented regarding the variety of habitat preferences, fishery seasons, and exploitation and preservation methods. It is discovered that most bivalves occupy sandy substrates with four periods of availability and also with different exploitation methods with respective to species. No preservation method is practiced by the villagers. The association with abiotic components and non-abiotic components and preference timing and depth for bivalve fishery are also noted. This record on species diversity and the documentation of traditional knowledge is hoped to be contributing to the Malaysian database and become preliminary data for future researches

Species Identification and Relationship of Sea Cucumber species from Pulau Tinggi and Sedili Kechil, Johor Based on Ossicle Shape

Sea cucumbers are an abundant echinoderm group in Malaysia which provides commercial and medicinal values to local people. Due to the lack of data on sea cucumbers status in Johor coastal seawaters, this study was conducted. This study aimed to identify the species and relationship of sea cucumber from two selected Johor coastal seawater; Pulau Tinggi and Sedili Kechil based on ossicle shape. The current study recorded 53 individuals of sea cucumbers, of which 23 individuals were from Pulau Tinggi, Mersing District and 30 individuals were from Sedili Kechil, Kota Tinggi District. A number of 10 species of sea cucumber were found in the coastal waters of Pulau Tinggi, Mersing and three species in Sedili Kechil, Kota Tinggi, Johor. A total of 10 ossicle shapes were observed and extracted from the sea cucumber samples namely button, perforated plate, table, C-shaped rod, rosette, anchor, spider, I-shaped rod, boomerang, and J-shaped rod. The species relationship based on ossicle shapes was analysed using clustering option of PAST (PAleontological STatistics) software version 4.03. The analysis concluded that two groups of sea cucumber families i.e. Holothuriidae and Stichopodidae were present, although S. chloronotus clustered closer with the members of family Holothuriidae.. Although more specimens are required to generate better conclusive results, the outcomes provided updated data on sea cucumber species in Johor seawater

Species identification and relationship of sea cucumber species from Pulau Tinggi and Sedili Kechil, Johor based on ossicle shape

Sea cucumbers are an abundant echinoderm group in Malaysia which provides commercial and medicinal values to local people. Due to the lack of data on sea cucumbers status in Johor coastal seawaters, this study was conducted. This study aimed to identify the species and relationship of sea cucumber from two selected Johor coastal seawater; Pulau Tinggi and Sedili Kechil based on ossicle shape. The current study recorded 53 individuals of sea cucumbers, of which 23 individuals were from Pulau Tinggi, Mersing District and 30 individuals were from Sedili Kechil, Kota Tinggi District. A number of 10 species of sea cucumber were found in the coastal waters of Pulau Tinggi, Mersing and three species in Sedili Kechil, Kota Tinggi, Johor. A total of 10 ossicle shapes were observed and extracted from the sea cucumber samples namely button, perforated plate, table, C-shaped rod, rosette, anchor, spider, I-shaped rod, boomerang, and J-shaped rod. The species relationship based on ossicle shapes was analysed using clustering option of PAST (PAleontological STatistics) software version 4.03. The analysis concluded that two groups of sea cucumber families i.e. Holothuriidae and Stichopodidae were present, although S. chloronotus clustered closer with the members of family Holothuriidae.. Although more specimens are required to generate better conclusive results, the outcomes provided updated data on sea cucumber species in Johor seawater