Journal of Applied Biotechnology Reports
Volume:7 Issue: 1, Winter 2020

Increased energy consumption leads to a reduction in limited nonrenewable resources called fossil fuels. Due to this fact, researchers look for alternative energy sources to satisfy the need of the current generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. As a result, nowadays the production of energy from biological sources is highly applicable and takes advantage of fossil fuel due to the limited impact on the environment. On the other hand, food cost, land use for some other purposes, and carbon emissions have risen due to the increased production of first-generation bioethanol. Even though the second-generation bioethanol from lignocellulose agricultural waste solved this problem, it again faced difficulties-to-overcome technological barriers. This, in turn, pushed researchers to come up with another alternative called the third-generation biofuel production. The renewed promise is held in microalgae biomass as an alternative feedstock. This review deals with the important aspects of biofuel production from algae as a renewable resource. The production processes and their merits and demerits of algae capacity in producing biofuel are also discussed.

Bacteriophages, viruses which infect the bacteria are the most abundant organisms on the earth. Among them, the best studied and the most-exploited group is the filamentous phages especially M13 phage. They have shown a lot of interesting applications because of their unique features. Therefore, to get maximum performance of bacteriophage like M13, techniques need to be engaged for proper concentrations. In this review, most of these methods were explored in PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar, using keywords including M13 bacteriophage, phage concentration, phage purification, phage display. Accordingly, the most important research papers about this subject have been collected, categorized and discussed. As a conclusion, to select an appropriate method for the concentration of M13 bacteriophages different criteria should be considered, including cost, equipment, yield and purity of the product. In general, subsequent applications of M13 phage is the most important factor for the selection of the concentration method.

Aspartic proteases produced by different non-pathogenic fungi belonging to mucorales, are commonly used as milk-coagulants. The present study aims to optimize conditions for milk-clotting protease production by a new strain of Mucor genus and to assess its ability in soft cheese making.

About 20 fungal strains isolated from soil were investigated for their potential to produce milk-clotting proteases for further applications in cheese making. The hyper producer strain Mucor circinelloides 2095-2047 was selected for optimization of rennin-like enzyme production under solid-state fermentation (SSF) using the stepwise modifications of the selected parameters. The enzyme produced under the optimal conditions was partially purified and then applied in Camembert cheese making trials compared to the crude extract and commercial rennet.

The maximum milk-curdling activity achieved after optimization (571.43 SU/mL) was obtained using wheat bran (10 g) as the mainly source of carbon containing 1% galactose; moistened with the M-9 solution (pH 6.0) and incubated at 30°C for 96 hours. The enzyme of M. circinelloides was partially purified with a high recovery of 105% and 6.23-fold purity after (NH4)2SO4 fractionation and dialysis. The physicochemical properties of the three produced cheeses were very close. A low sensory quality of cheese was obtained with the crude extract which was getting better using the pre-purified enzyme. This extract was able to develop a very close or even a similar sensory quality to that obtained by the commercial rennet.

According to findings, it is possible to propose the purified enzyme of M. circinelloides as a new alternative for rennet, but further optimization, purification and cheese production tests are required.

Resveratrol is an antioxidant secondary metabolite which belongs to a specific phytoalexins called stilbenes. Grape has been considered as the main source of resveratrol in the human diet. Many studies have been conducted on genus Vitis due to the presence of high levels of polyphenolic compounds in different tissues. In recent years, a lot of effort has been made to increase resveratrol yield in Vitis vinifera via tissue and hairy roots culture. In the present study, hairy roots have been produced by Agrobacterium rhizogenes strain ATCC15834 and successfully produced resveratrol in internode of grape genotype W16. Transformations of hairy roots were recognized by PCR using specific primers of rolB gene. After stimulation, the effect of abiotic elicitors with different concentrations including methyl jasmonate, sodium acetate, acetic acid and ammonium nitrate were tested on the production of hairy root biomass and resveratrol. Resveratrol content was measured by TLC and HPLC methods. Results showed that the capacity of hairy roots for resveratrol production is higher than natural roots. A significant difference was observed between different elicitors in terms of hairy root biomass and resveratrol amount. Findings revealed that treatment with 3 mM acetic acid and 50 μM methyl jasmonate led to the highest and lowest amount of hairy roots biomass and resveratrol content, respectively. According to the fidings of the present study it can be stated that both hairy roots and different elicitors are effective in biomass and resveratrol production. This method can be used to increase the yield of resveratrol for large scale production via tissue culture.

Bone replacement materials used for void filling and healing the bone injuries with antibacterial characteristics is of interest to many researchers. The main inorganic material in human and animal bones makes calcium phosphate suitable to interact with neighboring bones and enhances the healing process. A few drawbacks of using neat Ca/P powder such as low solubility and its brittle nature makes it difficult to manipulate. Therefore, the composition of these bio-ceramics with biopolymers makes an ideal injectable mixture with proper mechanical properties. In this study a hybrid composite of sodium alginate (SA) and calcium phosphate was prepared and its antibacterial characteristics were investigated.

In this study, hydrogel composites of SA/brushite and SA/hydroxyapatite (HA) were fabricated with different fabrication methods as well as the final compositions. The filler properties of these hybrid composites were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Also, to determine the antibacterial effects, the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) were assessed on two strands of microorganisms including Escherichia coli and Streptococcus agalactiae which are known as causative agents for biofilm formation on implant surfaces.

Findings reveal that calcium phosphate in the form of brushite in combination with alginate and carboxy-methyl-cellulose (CMC) has intrinsic antibacterial efficiency in concentrations lower than 250 μg/mL.

The composition of SA/brushite with CMC carrier is a promising injectable filler with antibacterial properties which could be used to treat bone injuries and orthopedic applications.

Protelos (Pr) is a drug treatment for osteoporosis which reduces the risk of broken bones. The drug is unusual in that it both increases the deposition of new bone by osteoblasts and reduces the resorption of bone by osteoclasts. In this study, the effect of different amounts of Pr on the properties of gelatin-based scaffolds has been investigated.

Halloysite nanotube (HNT) was used to control the release of Pr, while the HNT: Pr ratios changed. (2:1 (0.5-GHPr) and 1: 2 (2-GHPr)). For characterization of the scaffolds, the morphology, structure, mechanical behavior, and release behavior of this nanocomposite scaffold were studied. Also, cellular studies such as 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazole-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and calcium deposition of the nanocomposite scaffolds were investigated.

As a result, it can be stated that the 2-GHPr nanocomposite scaffold showed the best osteogenesis and release behavior between prepared scaffolds. In the case of mechanical properties, also 2-GHPr scaffolds had the best mechanical strength and modulus.

According to the results, it can be mentioned that 2-GHPr composite scaffolds are a good choice in bone tissue engineering (TE).

Omega 3 desaturase (fatty acid desaturase 3 or delta 15 desaturase) is an important polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) in oilseeds which plays a great role in converting 18:2 to 18:3. Omega 3 fatty acids have a crucial function in human and plants physiological activity due to presence in cell transmembrane.

In the present study, at first the fatty acid desaturase 3 (FAD3) gene was cloned from Camelina sativa by cloning via T/A cloning vector (pTG19-T plasmid) and sequenced it. Second, some different bioinformatics software were used to characterize the CsFAD3 gene and its protein.

Sequencing analysis of the CsFAD3 gene showed that this fragment contains 1164 bp and the start and stop codons were ATG and TAA, respectively. The bioinformatics analysis of this gene can provide important information on the gene and protein structure. The alignment of cloned sequence was done with other FAD3 sequences which revealed three conserved histidine boxes. The results based on Neighbor-Joining (NJ) alignment showed that there is a close relationship between the oilseeds from the same family such as Brassica napus and Camelina sativa in relation with their bioinformatics characteristics.

It can be concluded that isolated gene (CsFAD3) can be used to increase the conversion of 18:2 to 18:3 unsaturated fatty acid to improve oilseed quality for human food. It was found that CsFAD3 is a transmembrane protein which can convert ω6 to ω3 fatty acids and may simultaneously act as an ion channel in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER).

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is one of the infectious diseases and health problems in tropical regions. Glucantime is commonly used to treat CL and it, not only has some side effects but also observation shows the drug resistance of some of the various Leishmania species. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and bioresonance waves on Leishmania, in vitro.

In the present experimental study, Leishmania major promastigotes were cultured in RPMI-1640 supplemented with 10% FBS and 1% penicillin and streptomycin at 23°C. After 6 days, the parasites achieved stationary phases of promastigotes, Then the effects of different concentrations of AgNPs (1, 3, 5, 10 and 25 μg/mL) and different radiation times of bioresonance wave (5 and 20 minutes) were investigated. Herein, the effects of various treatment on parasites proliferation were evaluated with live promastigotes counting after 24, 48 and 72 hours treatment.

The parasite count showed that the various concentrations of AgNPs, radiation of bioresonance wave and combination significantly decreased the numbers of live promastigotes over time compared with the control group after 72 hours. The highest antileishmanial activity was seen for AgNPs at concentration of 1 μg/mL when combined with 20 minutes radiation of bioresonance wave (proliferation inhibition: 79.92%).

Based on our result, AgNPs and bioresonance waves are potent antileishmanial agents. The authors declare that the more studies should be done.