The biotechnology of higher fungi - current state and perspectives

This review article concisely describes methodology of biotechnological processes with the use of cultures of higher fungi, their application in bioremediation and to obtain biologically active preparations. Advantages and disadvantages of biotechnological methods used to cultivate mushrooms are analyzed. This paper contains overview of higher fungi species most commonly used in biotechnological processes, of cultivation methods applied to produce fungal biomass, of enzymes and bioactive metabolites and of the strategies for submerged cultivation of the mycelial cultures. The problems of optimization of strains and biotechnological processes are briefly discussed.Niemniej pomimo trudności, producenci substancji leczniczych pochodzenia grzybowego (Lentinan, LEM, Grifon-D, PSK, PSP), suplementów diety oraz enzymów grzybowych, wprowadzają metody biotechnologiczne do produkcji. Zgodnie ze stosowanym od dawna w biotechnologii przemysłowej (np. przez producentów antybiotyków) zwyczajem, warunki procesu rzadko są opisywane w publikacjach, a czasami nie są nawet patentowane - co ułatwia zachowanie ich w tajemnicy. W latach 90-tych XX wieku pojawiły się pierwsze informacje o możliwości stosowania metod rekombinowanego DNA dla grzybów wyższych. Współcześnie, liczne publikacje donoszą o opracowaniu metod transformacji oraz o uzyskaniu modyfikowanych genetycznie grzybów jadalnyc

Biotechnological Processes in Fruit Vinegar Production

The production of fruit vinegars as a way of making use of fruit by-products is an option widely used by the food industry, since surplus or second quality fruit can be used without compromising the quality of the final product. The acetic nature of vinegars and its subsequent impact on the organoleptic properties of the final product allows almost any type of fruit to be used for its elaboration. A growing number of scientific research studies are being carried out on this matrix, and they are revealing the importance of controlling the processes involved in vinegar elaboration. Thus, in this review, we will deal with the incidence of technological and biotechnological processes on the elaboration of fruit vinegars other than grapes. The preparation and production of the juice for the elaboration of the vinegar by means of different procedures is an essential step for the final quality of the product, among which crushing or pressing are the most employed. The different conditions and processing methods of both alcoholic and acetic fermentation also affect significantly the final characteristics of the vinegar produced. For the alcoholic fermentation, the choice between spontaneous or inoculated procedure, together with the microorganisms present in the process, have special relevance. For the acetic fermentation, the type of acetification system employed (surface or submerged) is one of the most influential factors for the final physicochemical properties of fruit vinegars. Some promising research lines regarding fruit vinegar production are the use of commercial initiators to start the acetic fermentation, the use of thermotolerant bacteria that would allow acetic fermentation to be carried out at higher temperatures, or the use of innovative technologies such as high hydrostatic pressure, ultrasound, microwaves, pulsed electric fields, and so on, to obtain high-quality fruit vinegars

Applications of yeast flocculation in biotechnological processes

A review on the main aspects associated with yeast flocculation and its application in biotechnological processes is presented. This subject is addressed following three main aspects – the basics of yeast flocculation, the development of “new” flocculating yeast strains and bioreactor development. In what concerns the basics of yeast flocculation, the state of the art on the most relevant aspects of mechanism, physiology and genetics of yeast flocculation is reported. The construction of flocculating yeast strains includes not only the recombinant constitutive flocculent brewer’s yeast, but also recombinant flocculent yeast for lactose metabolisation and ethanol production. Furthermore, recent work on the heterologous β-galactosidase production using a recombinant flocculent Saccharomyces cerevisiae is considered. As bioreactors using flocculating yeast cells have particular properties, mainly associated with a high solid phase hold-up, a section dedicated to its operation is presented. Aspects such as bioreactor productivity and culture stability as well as bioreactor hydrodynamics and mass transfer properties of flocculating cell cultures are considered. Finally, the paper concludes describing some of the applications of high cell density flocculation bioreactors and discussing potential new uses of these systems.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) – PRAXIS XXI - BD11306/97

Biotechnological processes for water and energy saving

Anaerobic-based (waste)water treatment facilities producing biogas, possess multifunctional characteristics: besides nutrients and raw materials like sulphur, energy and water are recycled. Therefore, biogas either for power production or vehicle transport is one of the clearest examples of synergy between water and energy sectors. From the beginning of the eighties, high-rate anaerobic wastewater treatment technology (HR-AnWT) has become a standard for a certain range of biodegradable industrial wastewaters, including those from distilleries, pulp and paper, breweries and beverage industries. However, complex wastewaters with high lipids content are not effectively treated by HR-AnWT. On the other hand, addition of waste lipids to an animal waste-based biogas plant, without a proper feeding strategy, is risky, if accumulation of long-chain fatty acids (LCFA) is not prevented. Nevertheless, waste lipids are ideal substrates for methane production, since theoretically their degradation produces more biogas with higher methane content, when compared with proteins or carbohydrates. The energy value of lipids makes them an ideal co-substrate to increase the economical feasibility of any AD plant based on co-digestion concepts. The existing gap in HR-AnWT for complex wastewaters with lipids and the importance of lipids as co-substrates in AD plants make this issue of global interest in the environmental biotechnology field. New concepts to avoid inhibition by lipids and to enhance its degradation are presented. The research route, from lab-scale basics [1], to technological development [2], scale-up, and pilot testing is presented in this communication

New trends in biotechnological processes to increase the environmental protection

A sustainable development can be achieved by deepening into more effective and eco-friendly products and technologies. From this point of view, the development of biotechnological processes to increase the environmental protection could be included in the best available techniques reference documents, the so-called BREFs, that cover, as far as practicable, the industrial activities to achieve an integrated pollution prevention and control. Members of the European Union are required to take these documents into account when determining the best available techniques, generally or in specific cases under the European Commission Directives. In order to include biotechnological processes into the BREFs, for example, for obtaining food and pharmaceutical additives, these products have to be cost competitive with those synthesized by chemical ways. Biotechnological processes are advantageous compared to the chemical ones since various metabolites can be obtained simultaneously in the same process, and these metabolites are more eco-friendly than their chemical counterparts. Additionally, this feature also matches the increasing demand of consumers for natural products, which has intensified the biotechnological production of natural additives. This special issue reports advances in the use of biotechnological processes for the treatment of contaminated soil or water as well as the revalorization of agroindustrial residues through the production of valuable metabolites such as biosurfactants or antioxidants, with applications in biomedicine, food industry, pharmaceutical industry, or environmental bioremediation

Synthesis of biotechnological processes using generalized disjunctive programming

This article presents a model for the synthesis of a biotechnological process in which a set of biotechnological products must be elaborated. For each of these products, there is a set of hosts that can be used for production. According to the host selected for each product, there is a different set of stages involved in the process. Furthermore, to carry out the task involved at a particular stage, there are different units that can be selected. Depending on the kind of equipment used, different performances can be obtained in terms of the stage yield, dimension required by the unit, processing time, etc. A generalized disjunctive programming model is formulated to solve this problem. This problem is transformed into an MINLP using either a big-M or convex hull reformulation. Both alternatives are solved, and their performances are evaluated.Fil: Montagna, Jorge Marcelo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño; ArgentinaFil: Iribarren, Oscar Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño; ArgentinaFil: Vecchietti, Aldo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño; Argentin

Renewable Sources and their Applications in Biotechnological Processes

Brazil has edaphoclimatic conditions to produce a diversity of crops with energetic potential. Thus, the study aims to correlate the technological parameters of biomasses suitable for fermentation, quantify metabolites produced by yeast FT-858, as well as assess the yield and fermentative efficiency for bioethanol production. It was performed studies of technological qualities of the biomasses and fermentative capacity test. For metabolites production, the yeast FT-858 was pre-grown in liquid medium (YPD 2%), recovered and inoculated in the substrates, and aliquots were collected for analysis of ethanol concentration by gas chromatography and glycerol accumulation by enzymatic kit of triglycerides. The yield and fermentative efficiency were assessed by consumption of sugar using DNS method, and ethanol density using digital densimeter. According to the results, the yeast presented better performance in saccharine sorghum, which also presented more expressive values of fermentative efficiency and yield. Saccharine sorghum has great bioenergetic potential and can be used as complement to sugarcane to increase ethanol production

CONSUMER'S PERCEPTIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS AND THE DEMAND FOR FOOD SAFETY

Public concern regarding food safety has emerged as a major policy issue. Chemicals and biotechnological processes are perceived as risks of food safety despite their contribution to an efficient, low cost agriculture and food industry. Increases in uses of biotechnological processes for foods are expected to be a major potential source of productivity improvements for Alberta and Canadian agriculture in future years. However, the demand for food safety involves increasing awareness and concern by consumers of chemical inputs and biotechnological processes in the agriculture and food industries. Nonetheless, there is a lack of basic economic and agricultural economic theory and methodology to analyze these issues and a need for policy, socioeconomics and marketing research on biotechnology and other environmental risk situations in the agricultural and food industry. This project was directed at developing and applying economic theory and methodology to help fill this gap. A major contribution of the project is the identification and verification of methodologies of stated choice to analyse tradeoffs arising from food safety perceptions of concerns by consumers. One component of the research project involved assessment of Alberta consumers' stated preferences and purchase behaviour for foods exhibiting a range of environmental risks, including perceptions of pesticide residues and hormonal treatments derived from biotechnological processes. The results of this survey indicated that Albertans were more concerned about pesticide use in food production than about the use of hormones. In contingent valuation questions developed for the study, more Albertans wish to restrict pesticide use (relative to a base case of not restricting either hormones or pesticides). They tended to persist in these choices in the face of potential increases in food costs, reflecting a higher level of concern with pesticides than hormones. Increasing education increased this concern. Increasing food cost decreased the probability of choosing to restrict pesticide or hormone use. Women appeared to perceive pesticide use in food production as a greater food safety risk than was perceived by men. The inferred average willingness to pay to restrict pesticide and growth hormone use in food production amounted to about 25% and 13% respectively of the average Albertan's food expenditures respectively. In the second survey of consumers' food/environmental risk perceptions undertaken relative to this project, the responses of a random sample of consumers to the use of recombinant bovine somatotrophin (rBST) in milk production were elicited using a stated preference methodology. A conditional logit model of consumer choice was developed and tested to analyse consumers' choices of milk with varying characteristics of fat content, price, freshness and rBST treatment. Awareness of rBST presence or otherwise is implied by labelling. The approach attempts to simulate market conditions with and without rBST labelled milk and to predict consumers' responses to variations in these conditions. Welfare calculations for a representative consumer indicate welfare losses with the introduction of rBST. These were slightly less for a male than a female household food purchaser and were less for food purchasers with higher levels of income and education. There was a small welfare gain when the representative food purchaser was offered a full range of "rBST" and "non-rBST" milks. The results suggest that making appropriately labelled "rBST-free" milk available to consumers could decrease consumer welfare losses associated with any introduction of rBST. The outcomes from application of these methodologies were related to the evidence of consumers' purchasing behaviour after licensing of the technology of rBST for use in the United States; this introduction did not require labelling. The assessment suggests a critical impact of product labelling policies and strategies on potential market impacts. An assessment is also made of Canada's food safety regulatory framework. The need for increased transparency and greater public participation in regulatory processes as means to increase public confidence in such food safety regulatory processes, specifically relating to biotechnology, is also identified.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Book Review: Recent advances in marine biotechnology Volume 5. Immunobiology and pathology, Ed. by M. Fingerman and R. Nagabhushanam Inc. Enfield (NH). USA, Plymouth, UK.

Biotechnological processes are the interplay and Interaction of microbiology and biochemistry and are known to humanity from time immemorial through microbial fermentation of starch and sugars to alcohol

Development of monitoring and control systems for biotechnological processes

The field of biotechnology represents an important research area that has gained increasing success in recent times. Characterized by the involvement of biological organisms in manufacturing processes, its areas of application are broad and include the pharmaceuticals, agri-food, energy, and even waste treatment. The implication of living microorganisms represents the common element in all bioprocesses. Cell cultivations is undoubtedly the key step that requires maintaining environmental conditions in precise and defined ranges, having a significant impact on the process yield and thus on the desired product quality. The apparatus in which this process occurs is the bioreactor. Unfortunately, monitoring and controlling these processes can be a challenging task because of the complexity of the cell growth phenomenon and the limited number of variables can be monitored in real-time. The thesis presented here focuses on the monitoring and control of biotechnological processes, more specifically in the production of bioethanol by fermentation of sugars using yeasts. The study conducted addresses several issues related to the monitoring and control of the bioreactor, in which the fermentation takes place. First, the topic concerning the lack of proper sensors capable of providing online measurements of key variables (biomass, substrate, product) is investigated. For this purpose, nonlinear estimation techniques are analyzed to reconstruct unmeasurable states. In particular, the geometric observer approach is applied to select the best estimation structure and then a comparison with the extended Kalman filter is reported. Both estimators proposed demonstrate good estimation capabilities as input model parameters vary. Guaranteeing the achievement of the desired ethanol composition is the main goal of bioreactor control. To this end, different control strategies, evaluated for three different scenarios, are analzyed. The results show that the MIMO system, together with an estimator for ethanol composition, ensure the compliance with product quality. After analyzing these difficulties through numeric simulations, this research work shifts to testing a specific biotechnological process such as manufacturing bioethanol from brewery’s spent grain (BSG) as renewable waste biomass. Both acid pre-treatment, which is necessary to release sugars, and fermentation are optimized. Results show that a glucose yield of 18.12 per 100 g of dried biomass is obtained when the pre-treatment step is performed under optimized conditions (0.37 M H2SO4, 10% S-L ratio). Regarding the fermentation, T=25°C, pH=4.5, and inoculum volume equal to 12.25% v/v are selected as the best condition, at which an ethanol yield of 82.67% evaluated with respect to theoretical one is obtained. As a final step, the use of Raman spectroscopy combined with chemometric techniques such as Partial Least Square (PLS) analysis is evaluated to develop an online sensor for fermentation process monitoring. The results show that the biomass type involved significantly affects the acquired spectra, making them noisy and difficult to interpret. This represents a nontrivial limitation of the applied methodology, for which more experimental data and more robust statistical techniques could be helpful