To combat the shortage of single agro-residue and overcome the problem of seasonal availability, it is beneficial to use mixture of lignocellulosic biomasses. In the present study, efforts were made ...to use mixed lignocellulosic biomass for production of bioethanol, along with microbial lipids and lactic acid. Upon enzymatic hydrolysis of mixed biomass at varied proportions it was observed that mixture of paddy straw and jute in the ratio 3:1 resulted in best sugar yield (41.50 g/L) at 10% substrate loading. Ethanolic fermentation of mixed substrate hydrolysate by thermotolerant yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae JRC6 resulted in 8.39 g/L of ethanol. To maintain sustainability and economic impact, oleaginous yeast (Trichosporon mycotoxinivorans S2) and lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus plantarum LP-9) were used for lipid production (14.5 g/L) and lactic acid production (11.08 g/L), respectively. Therefore, this study explored the potential of mixed lignocellulosic biomass to be exploited for production of various value-added products.
The production of petroleum-based plastics increased dramatically following industrialization. Because of multifaceted properties such as durability, thermostability, water resistance, and many ...others, these plastics have become an indispensable part of daily life. However, while improving people's quality of life, indiscriminate use of plastics has caused pollution and raised environmental concerns. To address this situation and reduce environmental risks, microbially produced biopolymers such as poly-3-hydroxyalkanoates can be used to make bioplastics that are completely biodegradable under normal environmental conditions. At the moment, the cost of bioplastic production is high when compared to petroleum-based plastics, so alternate strategies for making the bioplastic process economical are urgently needed. Agricultural waste is abundant around the world and can be efficiently used as a low-cost renewable feedstock after pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis. Fungi are well known as primary degraders of lignocellulosic waste, and this property was used in the current study to enzymatically hydrolyze the pretreated paddy straw for the production of reducing sugars, which were then used in the microbial fermentation for the production of PHB. In this study, Aspergillus nidulans was used to advance a low-cost and efficient enzyme hydrolysis system for the generation of reducing sugars from lignocellulosic biomass. For the production of the holocellulosic enzyme complex, the fungus was grown on wheat straw with Reese mineral medium as a wetting agent. After 216 h of solid-state fermentation at 30 °C, pH 6.0, the enzyme extract from A. nidulans demonstrated the highest activity, CMCase 68.58 (± 0.55), FPase 12.0 (± 0.06), Xylanase 27.17 (± 0.83), and β-glucosidase 1.89 (± 0.037). The initial pH, incubation temperature, and time all had a significant impact on final enzyme activity. Enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated paddy straw produced reducing sugars (8.484 to 30.91 gL
) that were then used to produce poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) using halophilic bacterial isolates. Burkholderia gladioli 2S4R1 and Bacillus cereus LB7 accumulated 26.80% and 20.47% PHB of the cell dry weight, respectively. This suggests that the holocellulosic enzyme cocktail could play a role in the enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic materials and the production of PHA from less expensive feedstocks such as agricultural waste.
Methane utilizing bacteria (MUB) are known to inhabit the flooded paddy ecosystem where they play an important role in regulating net methane (CH
4
) emission. We hypothesize that efficient MUB ...having plant growth-promoting (PGP) attributes can be used for developing novel bio-inoculant for flooded paddy ecosystem which might not only reduce methane emission but also assist in improving the plant growth parameters. Hence, soil and plant samples were collected from the phyllosphere, rhizosphere, and non-rhizosphere of five rice-growing regions of India at the tillering stage and investigated for efficient methane-oxidizing and PGP bacteria. Based on the monooxygenase activity and percent methane utilization on NMS medium with methane as the sole C source, 123 isolates were identified and grouped phylogenetically into 13 bacteria and 2 yeast genera. Among different regions, a significantly higher number of isolates were obtained from lowland flooded paddy ecosystems of Aduthurai (33.33%) followed by Ernakulum (20.33%) and Brahmaputra valley (19.51%) as compared to upland irrigated regions of Gaya (17.07%) and Varanasi (8.94%). Among sub-samples, a significantly higher number of isolates were found inhabiting the phyllosphere (58.54%) followed by non-rhizosphere (25.20%) and rhizosphere (15.45%). Significantly higher utilization of methane and PGP attributes were observed in 30 isolates belonging to genera
Hyphomicrobium, Burkholderia, Methylobacterium, Paenibacillus
,
Pseudomonas
,
Rahnella
, and
Meyerozyma
.
M. oryzae
MNL7 showed significantly better growth with 74.33% of CH
4
utilization at the rate of 302.9 ± 5.58 and exhibited half-maximal growth rate, K
s
of 1.92 ± 0.092 mg CH
4
L
−1
. Besides the ability to utilize CH
4
,
P. polymyxa
MaAL70 possessed PGP attributes such as solubilization of P, K, and Zn, fixation of atmospheric N and production of indole acetic acid (IAA). Both these promising isolates can be explored in the future for developing novel biofertilizers for flooded paddies.
Graphic abstract
Microbial conversion of agro-residues into valuable products such as GABA and lactic acid is of considerable environmental and biotechnological significance. In this study, twenty-nine lactic acid ...bacteria were isolated from traditional fermented milk and screened for lactic acid and GABA production. Among these, one strain LP-9, identified as Lactobacillus plantarum demonstrated co-production of GABA (0.86 g/L) and lactic acid (19.81 g/L) in De Man, Rogosa and Sharpe (MRS) broth supplemented with 1% monosodium glutamate (MSG). Under RSM optimized conditions, cumulative effect of factors influencing microbial product formation led to a two-fold increase in production of GABA (1.53 g/L) as compared to unoptimized conditions along with substantial production of lactic acid (21.87 g/L). Further, to develop an economical bioprocess on these lines, L. plantarum LP-9 was tested for its capability to utilize agro residues (wheat bran, rice bran and corn bran) and cassava (starchy food crop as control) in form of carbon source for GABA and lactic acid production using conditions optimized in RSM. The substrates were saccharified with enzyme cocktail containing α-amylase, amyloglucosidase, and cellulase followed by fermentation with L. plantarum LP-9 in MRS medium supplemented with 1% MSG but without sugar. The results showed that the saccharified agroresidues tested gave significant and comparable production of GABA (1.14–1.30 g/L) and lactic acid (22.83–29.82 g/L) as that obtained with cassava (1.39 g/L GABA and 31.76 g/L LA). This study illustrated the potential of isolate L. plantarum LP-9 to co-produce GABA and lactic acid from agro residues via biorefinery approach. The developed bioprocess will also help in safe, efficient and ecofriendly disposal of agriwastes.
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•Co-production of GABA and lactic acid in synthetic media from L. plantarum LP-9.•RSM optimization of culture conditions led to 2-fold increase in GABA production.•The isolate could also produce GABA and lactic acid from saccharified agroresidues.•L. plantarum LP-9 is a potential microbe to co-produce GABA & lactic acid.•Economical and environment-friendly bioprocess is developed in biorefinery approach.
Ferulic acid is a known precursor for vanillin production but the significance of agro waste as substrates for its extraction, in combination with microbes is a less explored option. Various lactic ...acid bacteria were screened for the production of ferulic acid esterase (FAE) and
Enterococcus lactis
SR1 was found to produce maximum FAE (7.54 ± 0.15 IU/ml) in the synthetic medium under submerged fermentation. To make the process cost effective, various lignocellulosic agroresidues were evaluated for the production of FAE from the bacterium. It was found that wheat bran serves as the best substrate for FAE production (4.18 ± 0.12 IU/ml) from
E. lactis
SR1. Further, optimization of fermentation conditions for FAE production from
E. lactis
SR1 using wheat bran as carbon source led to an increase in the enzyme production (7.09 ± 0.21 IU/ml) by 1.5 fold. The FAE produced was used alone or in combination with commercial holocellulase for biological release of FA from the tested agroresidues. The highest release of FA (mg/g) by enzymatic extraction occurred in sugarbeet pulp (2.56), followed by maize bran (1.45), wheat bran (1.39) and rice bran (0.87), when both the enzymes (FAE and holocellulase) were used together. Alkaline extraction and purification of ferulic acid (FA) from these agro residues also showed that sugarbeet pulp contains the highest amount of FA (5.5 mg/g) followed by maize bran (3.0 mg/g), wheat bran (2.8 mg/g) and rice bran (1.9 mg/g), similar to the trend obtained in biological/enzymatic extraction of FA from these residues. Furthermore, the substrates were found to release higher reducing sugars when both commercial holocellulase and FAE were used in combination than by the use of holocellulase alone. Thus, FAEs not only release FA but also enabled hemicellulase and cellulase to release more sugars from plant material.
The halophilic bacteria Bacillus cereus LB7 and Burkholderia gladioli 2S4R1 were found utilizing mixed sugars which are released upon saccharification of paddy straw. The C:N ratio for growth and PHB ...production by LB7 and 2S4R1 was optimized at 30:1 and 38:1, respectively and a novel growth media (PMS-NaCl) containing saccharified paddy straw leachate as the sole C source was formulated. The PMS-NaCl was used for studying the growth kinetics and PHB production rate. At optimized parameters, B. cereus LB7 and B. gladioli 2S4R produced PHB @ 0.387 g L−1 h−1 and 0.309 g L−1 h−1, respectively which was statistically at par with the PHB yield obtained by utilizing pure glucose as the sole C source. Based on findings, it is suggested that paddy straw hydrolysates can be used as a substrate to produce PHB by halophilic bacteria and explored further for industrial-scale applications.
Bacterial production of Poly-β-hydroxybutyrate using saccharified paddy straw leachate as a substrate. Display omitted
•Utilization of paddy straw as potential feedstock for PHB production.•PHB production by halophilic bacteria by using saccharified paddy straw leachate.•Effect of C:N ratio and bacterial growth stage on PHB production.•Alkali pretreatment and enzymatic saccharification of paddy straw.
Due to growing consumer preference towards natural ingredients in food products, the production of flavors by microbial biotransformation of agrowastes provides an eco-friendly, cost-effective and ...sustainable pathway for biovanillin production. In the present study, biovanillin was produced by microbial biotransformation of ferulic acid (FA) using
Streptomyces
sp. ssr-198. The strain was able to grow in glucose medium supplemented with 1 g/L FA and produce 20.91 ± 1.11 mg/L vanillin within 96 h, along with 5.78 ± 0.13 mg/L vanillic acid in 144 h. Estimation of enzymes involved in FA degradation detected maximum feruloyl-CoA synthetase activity (1.21 ± 0.03 U/mg protein) at 96 h and maximum vanillin dehydrogenase activity (0.31 ± 0.008 U/mg protein) at 168 h, with small amounts of ferulic acid esterase activity (0.13 ± 0.002 U/mg protein) in the fermentation medium. Further, the glucose deficient production medium supplemented with 3 g/L of ferulic acid when inoculated with
Streptomyces
sp. ssr-198 (6% wet weight) produced maximum vanillin (685 ± 20.11 mg/L) within 72 h at 37 °C under agitation (150 rpm) and declined thereafter. Furthermore, in a one-pot experiment, wherein crude ferulic acid esterase (700 IU/g of substrate) from
Enterococcus lactis
SR1 was added into 10% w/v wheat bran (natural source of ferulic acid) based medium and was inoculated with 1% w/v of
Streptomyces
sp. ssr-198 resulted in maximum vanillin production (1.02 ± 0.02 mg/g of substrate) within 60 h of incubation. The study provides an insight into synergistic effect of using FAE of
E. lactis
SR1 and
Streptomyces
sp. ssr-198 for bioproduction of biovanillin using agro residues.
The association of plant beneficial
Azospirillum
and
Bacillus
spp. strains expressing different sets of PGP traits may have complementary or supplementary effects on host plants. In the present ...investigation,
A.
formosense
and
Bacillus
spp. strains showing diverse PGP traits (IAA production, nitrogenase activity, phosphate, zinc and potassium solubilization, siderophores, antagonism against phytopathogens, osmotic stress tolerance, etc.) were assessed for compatibility by cross-streaking and co-culturing. Under co-culture (
Azospirillum
+
Bacillus
), a significant increase in the expression of PGP traits, nitrogenase activity (up to 89%), phosphate solubilization (upto 236%), siderophore production (upto 20%) was observed as compared to individual
Azospirillum
culture, indicating synergistic effect of co-culture. IAA production was higher in
Azospirillum
sp. strains as compared to
Bacillus
spp. strains, when cultured individually; however, when co-cultured, the IAA levels were in the mid-range indicating the contributory effects of compatible strains. The effect of individual
Azospirillum
and
Bacillus
strains and their co-inoculation was also assessed on the growth of pearl millet at early stages under moisture-deficit stress imposed using PEG6000 (0, 10, and 20%). Co-inoculation enhanced seed germination (up to 10, 3, and 6% increase under 0, 10, and 20% PEG, respectively, over individual
Azospirillum
treatment), root traits (increased root hair density and lateral branches), and seedling vigor indices (up to 22, 32, 43% increase in seed vigor index I and 8, 14, and 10% increase in seed vigor index II under 0, 10, 20% PEG, respectively, over individual
Azospirillum
treatment) under normal as well as moisture-deficit conditions suggesting the role of
Bacillus
spp. strains in better adaptation of the plants to stress and higher yield potential. The synergistic effect of co-cultured
Azospirillum
and
Bacillus
strains on PGP traits indicated metabolic interplay between the two strains which needs to be further understood. The positive effect of co-inoculation on plant growth under moisture-deficit stress indicated the promise of
Azospirillum
and
Bacillus
as a synergistic bioformulation for combating nutrient and drought stress in pearl millet, particularly in nutrient-poor dryland agricultural systems.
Breast cancer, a global health concern predominantly affecting women, recorded 2.3 million new cases and 685,000 deaths in 2020. Alarmingly, projections suggest that by 2040, there could be over 3 ...million new cases and 1 million deaths. To assess breast cancer prevalence in 24 rural villages within a 60 km radius of NIMS Hospital, Tala Mod, Jaipur, Rajasthan, North India 303,121. A study involving 2023 participants conducted initial screenings, and positive cases underwent further tests, including ultrasound, mammography, and biopsy. SPSSv28 analysed collected data. Among 2023 subjects, 3 screened positive for breast lumps. Subsequent clinical examination and biopsy identified 1 normal case and 2 with breast cancer, resulting in a prevalence proportion of 0.0009 or 98 per 100,000. This study helps fill gap in breast cancer prevalence data for rural Rajasthan. The results highlight a concerning prevalence of breast cancer in the rural area near NIMS hospital, emphasizing the urgent need for increased awareness, early detection, and better healthcare access. Challenges like limited resources, awareness programs, and delayed diagnosis contribute to this high incidence. To address this, comprehensive approach is necessary, including improved screening programs and healthcare facilities in rural areas. Prioritizing rural healthcare and evidence-based strategies can reduce the burden of breast cancer and improve health outcomes.
Background and Aim
The literature on medication adherence in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is heterogeneous. The present study aimed to identify the rates and predictors of ...nonadherence to medications in IBD.
Methods
This cross‐sectional study included patients of IBD (ulcerative colitis UC and Crohn's disease CD) recruited between November 2016 and March 2017. Adherence was assessed with a questionnaire (interview based) that evaluated patients' sociodemographic and disease profile and rates and predictors of medication adherence.
Results
A total of 266 patients (204 UC, 62 CD) were included (mean age: 38.5 ± 12.7 years, males: 142 53.4%, mean disease duration: 6.4 ± 5.2 years). The overall adherence rate was 82.3%, with the lowest for topical therapy (67.3%) and the highest for steroids (95.9%). Predominant reasons for nonadherence were forgetting dose (18.8%), unavailability of medications (13.2%), felt better (11.7%), adverse effects (6.8%), and cost of treatment (6.0%). Patients' education (P < 0.001), occupation (P = 0.097), and socioeconomic status (P = 0.021) had a negative association with adherence. Patients in upper socioeconomic strata with professional education/occupation were the least adherent (47%), whereas patients from lower socioeconomic strata who were illiterate and unemployed had the highest adherence (100%).
Conclusion
More than 80% of patients were adherent to their medications; adherence was the lowest for topical therapy. Higher education, occupation, and upper socioeconomic status were negatively associated with adherence.
Current literature on medication adherence in patients with inflammatory bowel disease is heterogeneous. Adherence rates were least among patients in upper socio‐economic strata with professional education/occupation whereas patients from the lower socioeconomic strata who were illiterate and unemployed had the highest adherence rates.