Universidade do Minho. Departamento de Engenharia Biológica (DEB)
Abstract
In the biotechnology field, it has been suggested that extractions in two-phase aqueous
complex-fluid systems can possibly be used instead of, or as complementary processes to,
the more typical chromatographic operations, to reduce the cost of the downstream
processing of many biological products (Lam et al., 2004; Mazzola et al., 2006). This method
offer attractive conditions to be applied in this study, thereby two-phase systems can be
exploited in separation science for the extraction/purification of desired biomolecules directly
on the culture medium (Mazzola et al., 2008). This study aimed to evaluate the aqueous two
phase system (ATPS) composed by a nonionic surfactant, Triton X-114 (TX), in presence or
absence of electrolytes, to separate two interesting biomolecules: nisin and recombinant
green fluorescent protein (GFP). Results indicated that nisin partitions preferentially to the
micelle rich-phase, with significant antimicrobial activity increase (up to 10-fold). GFP
partitioned evenly between the phases in TX system without electrolytes.Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de
Pessoal de Nível Superior, Brazil (CAPES)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Brazil (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, Brazil (FAPESP
