Synthesis of biodiesel from pongamia oil using heterogeneous ion-exchange resin catalyst.

Biodiesel is a clean-burning renewable substitute fuel for petroleum. Biodiesel could be effectively produced by transesterification reaction of triglycerides of vegetable oils with short-chain alcohols in the presence of homogeneous or heterogeneous catalysts. Conventionally, biodiesel manufacturing processes employ strong acids or bases as catalysts. But, separation of the catalyst and the by-product glycerol from the product ester is too expensive to justify the product use as an automobile fuel. Hence heterogeneous catalysts are preferred. In this study, transesterification of pongamia oil with ethanol was performed using a solid ion-exchange resin catalyst. It is a macro porous strongly basic anion exchange resin. The process parameters affecting the ethyl ester yield were investigated. The reaction conditions were optimized for the maximum yield of fatty acid ethyl ester (FAEE) of pongamia oil. The properties of FAEE were compared with accepted standards of biodiesel. Engine performance was also studied with pongamia oil diesel blend and engine emission characteristics were observed.

High-level expression of functionally active dengue-2 non-structural antigen 1 production in Escherichia coli.

Detection of nonstructural protein (NS1) is an important diagnostic marker during acute phase of dengue infection. Not only for diagnostic purpose, the protein had important role in vaccine design as well, as a candidate for studying virus assembly and maturation. Various researchers employed different expression systems and strategies for recombinant NS1 protein production. Attempts to express NS1 protein in prokaryotic and yeast expression system result in formation of insoluble protein which needs to undergo refolding to attain native structural and functional forms. Here, we report the production of soluble NS1 protein in E. coli by using appropriate vector and employing suitable culture conditions to maximize protein production. Proteins were purified using metal affinity chromatography. SDS-PAGE and western blot analysis reveal the native structure of NS1 protein. Solid phase ELISA using the recombinantly expressed antigen with positive and negative dengue samples showed that the expressed protein retains its antigenic and immunological properties. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the successful production of functionally active recombinant dengue-2 NS1 protein production without undergoing any in vitro posttranslational modification process.

Biodiesel production from marine cyanobacteria cultured in plate and tubular photobioreactors.

Carbon (neutral) based renewable liquid biofuels are alternative to petroleum derived transport fuels that contribute to global warming and are of a limited availability. Microalgae based biofuels are considered as promising source of energy. Lyngbya sp. and Synechococcus sp. were studied for the possibility of biodiesel production in different media such as ASNIII, sea water enrichment medium and BG11. The sea water enrichment medium was found superior in enhancing the growth rate of these microalgae. Nitrogen depletion has less effect in total chlorophyll a content, at the same time the lipid content was increased in both Lyngbya sp. and Synechococcus sp. by 1.4 and 1.2 % respectively. Increase in salinity from 0.5-1.0 M also showed an increase in the lipid content to 2.0 and 0.8 % in these strains; but a salinity of 1.5 M has a total inhibitory effect in the growth. The total biomass yield was comparatively higher in tubular LED photobioreactor than the fluorescent flat plated photobioreactor. Lipid extraction was obtained maximum at 60 degrees C in 1:10 sample: solvent ratio. GC-MS analysis of biodiesel showed high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA; 4.86 %) than saturated fatty acid (SFA; 4.10 %). Biodiesel production was found maximum in Synechococcus sp. than Lyngbya sp. The viscosity of the biodiesel was closely related to conventional diesel. The results strongly suggest that marine microalgae could be used as a renewable energy source for biodiesel production.

Molecular characterization of mosquitocidal Bacillus sphaericus isolated from Tamil Nadu, India.

Forty-two Bacillus sphaericus strains were isolated from soil around Tamil Nadu, India. The phylogenetic relationship among the B. sphaericus isolates was analysed by REP-PCR and multiplex PCR was performed for the detection of mosquito larvicidal genes binA, binB, mtx1, mtx2 and mtx3 in B. sphaericus isolates. According to the REP-PCR band pattern, B. sphaericus isolates were divided into group A comprising I-XI clusters and group B comprising cluster XII. Three of the isolates BSTN01, 23 and 24 were gathered under cluster XII showed a high level of larvicidal activity against Culex quinquefasciatus and Anopheles stephensi, the other 39 isolates grouped under I-XI clusters were non-toxic or weak or moderately toxic to mosquito larvae. Even though BSTN23 and 24 were isolated from the same location and both contained all the five mosquito larvicidal genes, their intraspecies difference was clearly elucidated by REP-PCR analysis. Among high toxic isolates, BSTN23 and 24 were observed to contain all the five toxin genes and BSTN01 showed the presence of binary toxin and Mtx1 toxin genes. The isolates BSTN02, 03, 07, 14, 16, 19, 20, 21, 25, 31, 36 and 39 were found to contain mtx1 gene with combination of mtx2 and/or mtx3 showed moderate or low toxicity against mosquito larvae. binA, binB and mtx1 genes were not present in non-toxic isolates. The present study revealed the genetic heterogeneity between both toxic and non-toxic isolates and indicates that there is a good correlation between the presence of toxin genes and toxicity of the strains. These techniques could be developed in screening of novel highly toxic B. sphaericus strains from environment without bioassay on mosquito larvae.

Cellulosic Ethanol Production by Recombinant Cellulolytic Bacteria Harbouring pdc and adh II Genes of Zymomonas mobilis.

The ethanol fermenting genes such as pyruvate decarboxylase (pdc) and alcohol dehydrogenase II (adh II) were cloned from Zymomonas mobilis and transformed into three different cellulolytic bacteria, namely Enterobacter cloacae JV, Proteus mirabilis JV and Erwinia chrysanthemi and their cellulosic ethanol production capability was studied. Recombinant E. cloacae JV was found to produce 4.5% and 3.5% (v/v) ethanol, respectively, when CMC and 4% NaOH pretreated bagasse were used as substrates, whereas recombinant P. mirabilis and E. chrysanthemi with the same substrates could only produce 4%, 3.5%, 1%, and 1.5 % of ethanol, respectively. The recombinant E. cloacae strain produced twofold higher percentage of ethanol than the wild type. The recombinant E. cloacae strain could be improved further by increasing its ethanol tolerance capability through media optimization and also by combining multigene cellulase expression for enhancing ethanol production from various types of lignocellulosic biomass so that it can be used for industrial level ethanol production.

Cellulosic ethanol production by Zymomonas mobilis harboring an endoglucanase gene from Enterobacter cloacae.

Enterobactercloacae was isolated from the gut of the wood feeding termite, Heterotermes indicola, and a 2.25-kb fragment conferring cellulase activity was cloned in Escherichia coli. The cloned fragment contained a 1083-bp ORF which could encode a protein belonging to glycosyl hydrolase family 8. The cellulase gene was introduced into Zymomonas mobilis strain Microbial Type Culture Collection centre (MTCC) on a plasmid and 0.134 filter paper activity unit (FPU)/ml units of cellulase activity was observed with the recombinant bacterium. Using carboxymethyl cellulose and 4% NaOH pretreated bagasse as substrates, the recombinant strain produced 5.5% and 4% (V/V) ethanol respectively, which was threefold higher than the amount obtained with the original E.cloacae isolate. The recombinant Z. mobilis strain could be improved further by simultaneous expression of cellulase cocktails before utilizing it for industrial level ethanol production.

Isolation and characterization of bacteria from the gut of Bombyx mori that degrade cellulose, xylan, pectin and starch and their impact on digestion.

Bombyx mori L. (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae) have been domesticated and widely used for silk production. It feeds on mulberry leaves. Mulberry leaves are mainly composed of pectin, xylan, cellulose and starch. Some of the digestive enzymes that degrade these carbohydrates might be produced by gut bacteria. Eleven isolates were obtained from the digestive tract of B. mori, including the Gram positive Bacillus circulans and Gram negative Proteus vulgaris, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Citrobacter freundii, Serratia liquefaciens, Enterobacter sp., Pseudomonas fluorescens, P. aeruginosa, Aeromonas sp., and Erwinia sp.. Three of these isolates, P. vulgaris, K. pneumoniae, C. freundii, were cellulolytic and xylanolytic, P. fluorescens and Erwinia sp., were pectinolytic and K. pneumoniae degraded starch. Aeromonas sp. was able to utilize the CMcellulose and xylan. S. liquefaciens was able to utilize three polysaccharides including CMcellulose, xylan and pectin. B. circulans was able to utilize all four polysaccharides with different efficacy. The gut of B. mori has an alkaline pH and all of the isolated bacterial strains were found to grow and degrade polysaccharides at alkaline pH. The number of cellulolytic bacteria increases with each instar.