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Revista de Bioprocessamento e Biotécnicas

Volume 1, Emitir 3 (2011)

Artigo de Pesquisa

Total Microbial Populations in Air-Conditioned Spaces of a Scientific Museum: Precautions Related to Biodeterioration of Scientific Collections

Antonio Carlos Augusto da Costa, Lucia Alves da Silva Lino and Ozana Hannesch

Air-conditioned areas of a museum were monitored for the presence of total microbes in the air. The results were evaluated based on a Brazilian resolution that regulates accepted contamination levels in air-conditioned spaces, as well as based on the parameters from the World Health Organization. The results indicated low levels of bacterial and fungal populations in four distinct spaces, with total counts smaller than 50CFU m-3. These results, compared to the monitoring performed in the outside area of the museum indicated a very low internal to external count ratio, the highest one around 0.131, a value far beyond the acceptable limit of 1.5, as predicted by the Brazilian legislation. Even though those values clearly indicate low levels of contamination for human comfort, in the spaces monitored, the marked presence of fungi from the genera Cladosporium, Aspergillus and Penicillium deserve particularly attention due to their possible cellulolytic activity. The spaces are permanently controlled for their temperature and relative humidity levels, to be used as a permanent repository for scientific and historical documents in Brazil, and the presence of these potential cellulose-degrading microbes can markedly jeopardize the effective occupation of the areas due to their biodeterioration effects. 
Editorial

Molecular Diagnosis of Helicobacter Pylori Strain by 16S rDNA PCR Amplification and Direct Sequencing

Hirendra nath Banerjee, Monique Gramby and Zack Hawkins

Aim: Rapid detection of H. pylori strains by PCR-Sequencing.
Methods: 16S rDNA amplification by PCR from template genomic DNA,confirmation of amplicon size by agarose gel electrophoresis ,sequencing of amplicons by automated sequencer,analysis of sequences by NCBI -BLAST software.
Results: The PCR -Sequencing and analysis of the sequence data by BLAST resulted in detection of the strain to be of H. pylori strain#26695.
Conclusion: The pathogenicity of H. pylori depends on the strain of the bacteria, PCR-Sequencing and analysis of the sequence data by BLAST can be a very quick and useful diagnostic method of the pathogen.

Editorial

Perspectives on Computational Structural Bio-Systems

Stefano Piccoli and Alejandro Giorgetti

Non-molecular systems biology is aimed at the prediction of the functional features of bio-systems on the basis of known cell proteomes and interactomes. Understanding the interactions between all the involved molecules is therefore the key for gaining a deep understanding of such processes. Albeit many thousands of interactions are known, accurate molecular insights are available for only a small fraction of them. The difficulties found in the resolution of atomic level structures for interacting pairs, make the predictive power of molecular computational biology methods essential for the advancement of the field. Indeed, bridging the gap formed due to the lack of structural details can therefore transform systems biology into models that more accurately reflect biological reality.

Artigo de Pesquisa

Effect of Media Sterilization Time on Penicillin G Production and Precursor Utilization in Batch Fermentation

Kishore Kumar Gopalakrishnan and Swaminathan Detchanamurthy

Benzyl Penicillin (Penicillin G) is a secondary metabolite (Antibiotic) derived from Penicillium chrysogenum. Batch fermentation is widely used in the production of Penicillin G in laboratory scale and as well as in Industrial scale. The fermentation media for the production is sterilised at 121o C for 30 minutes as a usual practise in both scales of production. In our present study the production media used to produce Penicillin G was sterilized at various time intervals and the change in penicillin production along with the level of precursors utilized by the P. chrysogenum were analysed. The change in sterilization time varied the proportion of fermentation media converted from complex to simple. Studies were carried out in both shake flask level and also in laboratory scale fermenter (3 litres) with media containing PAA (Phenyl acetic acid) as precursor. The fermentation media used in this study contained K2SO4, KH2PO4, (NH4)2SO4, corn steep liquor (N2 source), Lactose (Carbon source) and CaCO3. The steam batch sterilisation at 121oC was attempted with different time intervals between 25 to 50 minutes with 5 minutes increment. It was observed that change in the sterilization time increased the Penicillin-G production by 30 % upto 30 minute and only 6% upto 45 minute and then it started to drop. HPLC method was used to carry out quantitative analysis of the product Penicillin G and the precursor Phenyl acetic acid. The results further concluded that though the rise in the sterilization temperature increased the Penicillin G production rate, it was cost effective as more energy required to rise the sterilization temperature which in turn increased the cost of production of Penicillin G.  

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