Gallic Acid Production with Mouldy Polyurethane Particles Obtained from Solid State Culture of Aspergillus niger GH1

Development and Application of Whole-Cell Biosensors for the Detection of Gallic Acid

Gallic acid is a prevalent secondary plant metabolite distinguished as one of the most effective free-radical scavengers among phenolic acids. This compound is also known for its cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial activities. Bulk quantities of gallic acid are conventionally produced by acid hydrolysis of tannins, a costly and environmentally hazardous process. With the aim to develop more sustainable approaches, microbial bioproduction strategies have been attempted recently. To advance synthetic biology and metabolic engineering of microorganisms for gallic acid production, we characterize here a transcription factor-based inducible system PpGalR/P_{PP_RS13150} that responds to the extracellular gallic acid in a dose-dependent manner in Pseudomonas putida KT2440. Surprisingly, this compound does not mediate induction when PpGalR/P_{PP_RS13150} is used in non-native host background. We show that the activation of the inducible system requires gallate dioxygenase activity encoded by galA gene. The 4-oxalomesaconic acid, an intermediate of gallic acid-metabolism, is identified as the effector molecule that interacts with the transcription factor GalR mediating activation of gene expression. Introduction of galA gene along galR enables development of biosensors suitable for detection and monitoring of gallic acid extracellularly using non-native hosts such as E. coli and C. necator. Moreover, the P. putida-based biosensor's applicability is demonstrated by detecting and measuring gallic acid in extracts of Camellia sinensis leaves. This study reports the strategy, which can be applied for developing gallic acid biosensors using bacterial species outside Pseudomonas genus.

Developing Aspergillus niger as a cell factory for food enzyme production

Aspergillus niger has become one of the most important hosts for food enzyme production due to its unique food safety characteristics and excellent protein secretion systems. A series of food enzymes such as glucoamylase have been commercially produced by A. niger strains, making this species a suitable platform for the engineered of strains with improved enzyme production. However, difficulties in genetic manipulations and shortage of expression strategies limit the progress in this regard. Moreover, several mycotoxins have recently been detected in some A. niger strains, which raises the necessity for a regulatory approval process for food enzyme production. With robust strains, processing engineering strategies are also needed for producing the enzymes on a large scale, which is also challenging for A. niger, since its culture is aerobic, and non-Newtonian fluid properties are developed during submerged culture, making mixing and aeration very energy-intensive. In this article, the progress and challenges of developing A. niger for the production of food enzymes are reviewed, including its genetic manipulations, strategies for more efficient production of food enzymes, and elimination of mycotoxins for product safety.

Modeling and optimization of tannase production with Triphala in packed bed reactor by response surface methodology, genetic algorithm, and artificial neural network

In this research, optimization of the production medium to enhance tannase production by Bacillus gottheilii M2S2 in laboratory-scale packed bed reactor was studied. Amount of substrate Triphala, moisture content, aeration rate, and fermentation period was chosen for optimization study. During one variable at a time optimization, the highest tannase activity of 0.226 U/gds was shown with Triphala as a substrate at the fermentation period of 32 h. Furthermore, the optimum conditions predicted by response surface methodology (RSM) and genetic algorithm (GA) were found to be 11.532 g of substrate Triphala, 47.071% of the moisture content, and 1.188 L/min of an aeration rate with uppermost tannase activity of 0.262 U/gds. In addition, the single hidden layer feedforward neural network (SLFNN) and the radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) of an artificial neural network (ANN) were adopted to compare the prediction performances of the RSM and GA. It revealed that the ANN models (SLFNN, R ² = 0.9930; and RBFNN, R ² = 0.9949) were better predictors than the RSM (R ² = 0.9864). Finally, the validation experiment exhibited 0.265 U/gds of tannase activity at the optimized conditions, which is an 11-fold increase compared to unoptimized media in shake flask.

Solid state fermentation of Bacillus gottheilii M2S2 in laboratory-scale packed bed reactor for tannase production

Production of tannase was performed in packed bed reactor filled with an inert support polyurethane foam (PUF) using Bacillus gottheilii M2S2. The influence of process parameters such as fermentation time (24-72 h), tannic acid concentration (0.5-2.5% w/v), inoculum size (7-12% v/v), and aeration rate (0-0.2 L/min) on tannase production with PUF were analyzed using one variable at a time (OVAT) approach. The outcome of OVAT was optimized by central composite design. Based on the statistical investigation, the proposed mathematical model recommends 1% (w/v) of tannic acid, 10% (v/v) of inoculum size and 0.13 L/min of aeration rate for maximum production (76.57 ± 1.25 U/L). The crude enzyme was purified using ammonium sulfate salt precipitation method followed by dialysis. The biochemical properties of partially purified tannase were analyzed and found the optimum pH (4.0), temperature (40 °C) for activity, and K_m (1.077 mM) and V_max (1.11 µM/min) with methyl gallate as a substrate. Based on the SDS-PAGE analysis, tannase exhibited two bands with molecular weights of 57.5 and 42.3 kDa. Briefly, the partially purified tannase showed 4.2 fold increase (63 ± 1.60 U/L) in comparison to the submerged fermentation and the production of tannase was validated by using NMR spectrometer.

Biotransformation of industrial tannins by filamentous fungi

Tannins are secondary metabolites that are widely distributed in the plant kingdom. They act as growth inhibitors for many microorganisms: they are released upon microbial attack, helping to fight infection in plant tissues. Extraction of tannins from plants is an active industrial sector with several applications, including oenology, animal feeding, mining, the chemical industry, and, in particular, the tanning industry. However, tannins are also considered very recalcitrant pollutants in wastewater of diverse origin. The ability to grow on plant substrates rich in tannins and on industrial tannin preparations is usually considered typical of some species of fungi. These organisms are able to tolerate the toxicity of tannins thanks to the production of enzymes that transform or degrade these substrates, mainly through hydrolysis and oxidation. Filamentous fungi capable of degrading tannins could have a strong environmental impact as bioremediation agents, in particular in the treatment of tanning wastewaters.

Evaluation of model parameters for growth, tannic acid utilization and tannase production in Bacillus gottheilii M2S2 using polyurethane foam blocks as support

Production of tannase from B. gottheilii M2S2 was studied under solid-state fermentation with an optimized medium consisting of polyurethane foam matrix of dimension 40 × 40 × 5 mm, impregnated with a liquid medium comprising (w/v): 4% tannic acid; 2% NH₄NO₃; 0.1% KH₂PO₄; 0.2% MgSO₄; 0.1% NaCl and 0.05% CaCl₂·2H₂O in distilled water, having a pH of 4.7. Maximum tannase production of 56.87 U/L was obtained after 32 h of fermentation at 32 °C in static condition. This study deals with the evaluation of unstructured kinetic models to understand the behavior of biomass, tannase production and tannic acid degradation, with the fermentation time. The growth rate of B. gottheilii M2S2 was 0.0703 h^-1 at 32 h of fermentation. Product (Y_x/s) and biomass yield (Y_p/s) coefficients were estimated as 1.77 U/g of tannic acid and 0.276 g of biomass/g of tannic acid. All the kinetic constants µ, α, β, m and n were evaluated using MATLAB 2015Rb program. The experimental and model-generated data showed a good correlation, which indicated that these models will describe tannase production and fermentation process.

Variability among strains of Aspergillus section Nigri with capacity to degrade tannic acid isolated from extreme environments

Tannins are polyphenolic compounds that cause astringent flavor and turbidity in food. Tannase is an enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of tannins and is used in food industry. This study was conducted to determine the genetic variability and the tannase alleles variation in fungal strains isolated from soil and plants at five extreme areas of Coahuila, México. Two screening assays under 1 and 20 % of tannic acid were performed, with the isolations. In these assays, it was possible to identify 756 and 128 fungal strains, respectively. The major fungal variability was observed in "Cuatro Ciénegas" with 26 strains. The microorganisms were distributed in 11 groups, which correspond to Aspergillus section Nigri. AN7 and AN1 groups showed the major number of isolates from "Paila" and "Cuatro Ciénegas" locations, respectively. In the last location, the major diversity and specific richness were found. But in "Ojo Caliente," tannase allele conservations were observed.