Optimisation of biodegradation conditions for waste canola oil by cold-adapted Rhodococcus sp. AQ5-07 from Antarctica

BACKGROUND: The potential waste canola oil-degrading ability of the cold-adapted Antarctic bacterial strain Rhodococcus sp. AQ5-07 was evaluated. Globally, increasing waste from food industries generates serious anthropogenic environmental risks that can threaten terrestrial and aquatic organisms and communities. The removal of oils such as canola oil from the environment and wastewater using biological approaches is desirable as the thermal process of oil degradation is expensive and ineffective. RESULTS: Rhodococcus sp. AQ5-07 was found to have high canola oil-degrading ability. Physico-cultural conditions influencing its activity were studied using one-factor-at-a-time (OFAT) and statistical optimisation approaches. Considerable degradation (78.60%) of 3% oil was achieved by this bacterium when incubated with 1.0 g/L ammonium sulphate, 0.3 g/L yeast extract, pH 7.5 and 10% inoculum at 10°C over a 72-h incubation period. Optimisation of the medium conditions using response surface methodology (RSM) resulted in a 9.01% increase in oil degradation (87.61%) when supplemented with 3.5% canola oil, 1.05 g/L ammonium sulphate, 0.28g/L yeast extract, pH 7.5 and 10% inoculum at 12.5°C over the same incubation period. The bacterium was able to tolerate an oil concentration of up to 4.0%, after which decreased bacterial growth and oil degradation were observed. CONCLUSIONS: These features make this strain worthy of examination for practical bioremediation of lipid-rich contaminated sites. This is the first report of any waste catering oil degradation by bacteria originating from Antarctica.

Optimization of Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum KAKii cultivation conditions for exopolysaccharide production by using response surface methodology

Aims@#Bifidobacteria is a non-motile, Gram-positive, strictly anaerobic and non-spore-forming bacteria that can produce exopolysaccharide (EPS). EPS is a polymer of sugars, long chained polysaccharide which have been shown to give benefit towards human health. The optimum conditions for EPS production by Bifidobacterium are still scarce. Therefore, a study was conducted to optimize the growth conditions (pH, temperature and cultivation time) for a better improvement of EPS production. @*Methodology and results@#Three Bifidobacterium strains were cultured and the highest EPS producing strain was selected for optimization. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the growth conditions for a maximum EPS production. Subsequently, EPS was characterized by using FT-IR and GC-MS. Based on the result obtained, B. pseudocatenulatum KAKii had the highest EPS production compared to the other two strains namely B. pseudocatenulatum ATCC 27919 and B. animalis. Meanwhile, the optimization of the three factors towards selected strain found that EPS produced crucially depends on time of cultivation (23.59 h) other than pH (5.0) and temperature (34.75 °C). The validation showed that the predicted and experimental values were not significantly different (P > 0.05), indicating that the developed model is fitted well for the optimization. Meanwhile, FT-IR and GC-MS results showed that the EPS was composed of D-glucose, mannose, galactose, maltose and acetic acid as by-product. @*Conclusion, significance and impact of study@#This result showed that the EPS produced by B. pseudocatenulatum KAKii is from hetero-exopolysaccharide group with acetic acid as by-product made them a possible anticancer agent in future.

Antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from patients of respiratory tract infections in a Tertiary Care Hospital, Peshawar

Objective: This study aims to determine the prevalence and susceptibility pattern of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and multidrug-resistant [MDR] isolates in patients suffering from respiratory tract infection

Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted from January to December 2014 in Northwest General Hospital and Research Centre, Peshawar. A total of 615 sputum samples were collected from both in and out-patients. Sputum samples were collected as per standard procedure and were inoculated on Blood, MacConkey and Chocolate agar. The isolates were identified by standard protocols using biochemical tests. The antibiotic susceptibility pattern of each isolate was checked as per Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute [CLSI] guidelines using Kirby- Bauer's disc diffusion method

Results: Out of 615 sputum samples, 354 [57.56%] were culture positive. Out of these a total of 71 [20.05%] strains of Pseudomonas were isolated, where 54.93% was from males and 45.07% were from females [Mean age was 44.29 +/- 22.72]. Highest sensitivity was seen to Amikacin [92.86%] followed by Meropenem [91.55%] while lowest sensitivity was seen to Cefoperazone + Sulbactam [16.9%]. There were 39.44% MDR strains, out of which 25% were Extensively Drug Resistant [XDR] and 10.71% were Pan Drug Resistant [PDR]. In vitro susceptibility of MDR isolates showed highest sensitivity to Amikacin [82.14%] followed by Carbapenems [78.57%]. All MDR isolates were resistant to Cefoperazone + Sulbactam. Resistance to Piperacillin + Tazobactam was 96.43%

Conclusion: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the commonly isolated organisms and it is becoming more resistant to commonly used antibiotics. Carbapenems and aminoglycosides were the two classes of drugs that showed highest activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Isolation and identification of lactic acid bacteria from different stages of traditional Malaysian tempeh production

Aims: There are many methods of soybean tempeh production as they vary according to the producers. Isolation of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from tempeh was carried out at different stages of the tempeh production to examine the occurrence of LAB and to identify the isolates. Methodology and results: Morphological, physiological and chemical characteristics with the use of API 20 Strep, API 50 CHL kit and 16S rRNA gene sequences were employed to identify LAB. By using API 20 Strep and API 50 CHL kit, fourteen LAB were obtained and twelve isolates have been successfully identified: seven coccus LAB isolates as Enterococcus faecium, four cocci-bacilli as Leuconostoc mesenteroides ssp. mesenteroides, one bacilli as Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. delbrueckii. Meanwhile, two bacilli isolates were categorised as unidentified strain. On the other hand, molecular identification using 27f and 1429r primer had revealed that L. mesenteroides and L. delbrueckii were identified as Leuconostoc lactis and Leuconostoc sp. respectively. Whereas, two previously unidentified bacilli isolates were identified as Alicyclobacillus sp. Conclusion, significance, and impact of study: This result shows that various types of LAB was detected at every stages of tempeh production and had been identified by using two different techniques. The unique characteristics of LAB offer their potential towards food and pharmaceutical industry.