Comparative 16S rDNA metagenomics study of two samples of cassava peel heap from Nigeria and India

The microbiology of many cassava products and the wastes generated during the processing have been reported; however, majority of these reports used culture-dependent methods. This has resulted in a dearth of information on the bacterial diversity of cassava peels and peel heaps. Large amounts of cassava peels generated during the processing of cassava root are usually discharged on land or water as wastes and are allowed to rot in the open, especially in some developing countries. Culture-independent methods such as PCR-based amplification and sequencing of 16S rRNA genes, among others have been used in recent times to study the diversity of microbes in different environmental samples. In this study, bacterial isolates were screened for cellulase and xylanase enzyme activities on minimal agar and genomic DNA was isolated from cassava peel samples; metagenomics was carried out using MiSeq 2 × 300 with primers specific for V3-V4 bacterial region. Samples collected from Nigeria (AAG) had more species compared with samples from India (JHA) with 793 and 525 observed OTUs (operational taxonomic units), respectively. Five bacterial isolates from cassava peel-heap samples obtained from Ogbomoso, Nigeria showed no ability to produce cellulase enzyme, seven isolates from the Nigeria samples and three from Jorhat samples were positive for xylanase production; the highest amylase activity was shown by isolate AG18 (10,055 U/mL), while the lowest was recorded for isolate JA2 (2333 U/mL) with a significant difference observed in the amylase activities of isolates (p ≤ 0.05). Comparing the most abundant taxonomy for each of the samples at different taxonomic levels, the most abundant for sample AAG were phylum Firmicutes (42.11%), class Bacilli (41.27%), order Lactobacillales (33.11%), family Acetobacteraceae (31.30%), genus Acetobacter (30.02%) and unclassified species of Acetobacter (29.88%), while sample JHA had Actinobacteria (47.47%) as the highest phylum and class, order Actinomycetales (47.47%), family Brevibacteriaceae (46.97%), genus Brevibacterium (46.97%) and unclassified species of Brevibacterium (46.89%). This study provides an insight into the vast diversity of the bacteria associated with cassava peel heaps and the ability of some of the bacteria to produce selected extracellular enzymes.

Cellulase production by Trichoderma longi, Aspergillus niger and Saccharomyces cerevisae cultured on waste materials from orange

The wastes materials from the sweet orange (Citrus sinensis) were used as substrate for the production of cellulase. The rind, the pericarp or albedo and the pulp were hydrolyzed by cellulolytic enzymes of Trichoderma longibrachiatum, Aspergillus niger and Saccharomyces cerevisiae after they were treated with alkali and steam. The amount of glucose released from the substrates following the secretion of cellulase by the three microorganisms was measured. The orange wastes released amounts of glucose ranging from 0.76-0.96 mg mL(-1) by Trichoderma longibrachiatum, 0.90-1.08 mg mL(-1) by A. niger and 0.60-0.76 mg mL(-1) by S. cerevisiae after five days of fermentation. The conditions of the fermentation were then varied to determine their effect on cellulase production. Fermentation parameters varied were time, pH, substrate concentration, temperature and inoculum size. After this, conditions that produced highest amounts of glucose were combined in an optimization experiment. Glucose production under optimized conditions were 0.94 mg mL(-1) by T. longibrachiatum, 0.83 mg mL(-1) by A. niger and 0.67 mg mL(-1) by S. cerevisae. The activity of the test organisms' cellulase against CMC on the orange wastes was also determined with T. longibrachiatum producing 3.86 mg mL(-1), A. niger 2.94 mg mL(-1) and S. cerevisiae 2.30 mg mL(-1) glucose amounts all from orange pulp.