Potential biotechnological capabilities of cultivable mycobiota from carwash effluents

Tumor-Specificity, Neurotoxicity, and Possible Involvement of the Nuclear Receptor Response Pathway of 4,6,8-Trimethyl Azulene Amide Derivatives

Background: Very few papers covering the anticancer activity of azulenes have been reported, as compared with those of antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activity. This led us to investigate the antitumor potential of fifteen 4,6,8-trimethyl azulene amide derivatives against oral malignant cells. Methods: 4,6,8-Trimethyl azulene amide derivatives were newly synthesized. Anticancer activity was evaluated by tumor-specificity against four human oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) cell lines over three normal oral cells. Neurotoxicity was evaluated by cytotoxicity against three neuronal cell lines over normal oral cells. Apoptosis induction was evaluated by Western blot and cell cycle analyses. Results: Among fifteen derivatives, compounds 7, 9, and 15 showed the highest anticancer activity, and relatively lower neurotoxicity than doxorubicin, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), and melphalan. They induced the accumulation of a comparable amount of a subG₁ population, but slightly lower extent of caspase activation, as compared with actinomycin D, used as an apoptosis inducer. The quantitative structure–activity relationship analysis suggests the significant correlation of tumor-specificity with a 3D shape of molecules, and possible involvement of inflammation and hormone receptor response pathways. Conclusions: Compounds 7 and 15 can be potential candidates of a lead compound for developing novel anticancer drugs.

Contemporary proteomic research on lignocellulosic enzymes and enzymolysis: A review

This review overviewed the current researches on the isolation of novel strains, the development of novel identification protocols, the key enzymes and their synergistic interactions with other functional enzyme systems, and the strategies for enhancing enzymolysis efficiencies. The main obstacle for realizing biorefinery of lignocellulosic biomass to biofuels or biochemicals is the high cost of enzymolysis stage. Therefore, research prospects to reduce the costs for lignocellulose hydrolysis were outlined.

Yarrowia lipolytica Strains and Their Biotechnological Applications: How Natural Biodiversity and Metabolic Engineering Could Contribute to Cell Factories Improvement

Among non-conventional yeasts of industrial interest, the dimorphic oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica appears as one of the most attractive for a large range of white biotechnology applications, from heterologous proteins secretion to cell factories process development. The past, present and potential applications of wild-type, traditionally improved or genetically modified Yarrowia lipolytica strains will be resumed, together with the wide array of molecular tools now available to genetically engineer and metabolically remodel this yeast. The present review will also provide a detailed description of Yarrowia lipolytica strains and highlight the natural biodiversity of this yeast, a subject little touched upon in most previous reviews. This work intends to fill this gap by retracing the genealogy of the main Yarrowia lipolytica strains of industrial interest, by illustrating the search for new genetic backgrounds and by providing data about the main publicly available strains in yeast collections worldwide. At last, it will focus on exemplifying how advances in engineering tools can leverage a better biotechnological exploitation of the natural biodiversity of Yarrowia lipolytica and of other yeasts from the Yarrowia clade.

All-around management of a fungal isolate obtained from cheese spoilage as an environmental source: Direct approach from an undergrad student to a biotechnological characterization

In this work, we present the results of an undergrad student from the perspective of its first approach as a principal researcher in a project. In order to gain practical experience, one of the options for students that have interest in pursuing a postgraduate program corresponds to a research stay in a laboratory of their selected field conducting a project for a period of 6 months. In this particular project, a fungal sample was isolated from Parmesan cheese spoilage and its enzymatic activity evaluated. Using simple and standardized protocols, the student was capable of identifying a possible biotechnological application for the isolate by detecting and categorizing the lipolytic activity. Through microculture characterization in potato dextrose agar (PDA) the genus of the sample was determined as Penicillium and confirmed by molecular analysis of the ITS1 and ITS4 regions. In order to examine comprehensively the potential of the new isolate, the extracellular and intracellular enzymatic activities were analyzed as well as four methods of cell rupture. From these results, sonication was determined as the best technique with 211 U/L as a maximum lipolytic value. To finalize the evaluation of the sample, the student determined the optimal pH and temperature as well as the thermotolerance of the crude extract obtaining a residual activity of 13% after 60 minutes of incubation at 45 °C. Upon conclusion of the research we could recognize that through a direct characterization of a fungal isolate using techniques that are widely known, the student was capable of determining and value one of the most interesting capabilities fungi has to offer; enzymatic activity, and that the knowledge obtained from established protocols enables and encourages the students to correlate the source from where they were obtained with potential biotechnological applications. © 2019 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 47(6):681-688, 2019.

Potential biotechnological capabilities of cultivable mycobiota from carwash effluents

Urban life has created man‐made extreme environments like carwashes. These environments have, however, not been sufficiently explored for mycobiota that can be sources of biotechnologically useful products, as has been the case with natural extreme environments. Using a combination of culture and molecular techniques, fungi from carwash effluents was characterized for production of lipase and cellulase enzymes, nonpolar and polar biotechnologically relevant secondary metabolites and hydrocarbon utilization. The isolated fungal strains belonged to the genera Alternaria, Cladosporium, Penicillium, Peyronellaea, Rhizopus, Spegazzinia, Trichoderma, Ulocladium and Yarrowia. Sixty‐six percent (66%) of the fungal isolates were found to be able to metabolize naphthalene and benzanthracene, showing potential for application in bioremediation of hydrocarbon polluted sites. Lipase production by the isolates Penicillium sp. BPS3 (2.61 U/ml), Trichoderma sp. BPS9 (2.01 U/ml), Rhizopus sp. CAL1 (2.05 U/ml), Penicillium sp. PCW1 (2.99 U/ml) and Penicillium sp. SAS1 (2.16 U/ml) compared well with previously recorded lipase production levels by other fungi. The highest producers of cellulase were Penicillium sp. SAS1 (12.10 U/ml), Peyronella sp. CAW5 (4.49 U/ml) and Cladosporium sp. SAS3 (4.07 U/ml), although these activities were lower than previously reported levels. GC‐MS analysis of the fungal secondary metabolites resulted in identification of 572 compounds, including azulene, methanamine, N‐pentylidene, metoclopramide, and mepivacaine while compounds determined by UHPLC‐MS included 10‐undecen‐1‐ol, piquerol A, 10‐undecyn‐1‐ol, cyclo(leucylprolyl) and rac‐etomidate. These compounds were previously determined to have various activities including anticancer, antibacterial, antifungal, antihypertensive, antidiabetic and anti‐inflammatory properties. The study demonstrated that fungi from carwash effluents are natural sources of some biotechnologically important products.