Bioconversion of D-xylose to D-xylonic acid by Pseudoduganella danionis

Sugar acids are organic acids formed by the oxidation of carbonyl or hydroxyl group of monosaccharides to carboxylic acid group. D-xylonic acid derived via bioconversion of D-xylose is a promising platform chemical with various applications in food, chemical, agriculture, and pharmaceutical industries. The efficacy of a newly isolated culture identified as Pseudoduganella danionis to produce D-xylonic acid from D-xylose was investigated. The culture appeared to be potent for a feasible bioprocess development for xylonic acid production. Production medium containing 10 g/L D-xylose resulted in 6.5 g/L D-xylonic acid production after 120 h of incubation with 1% (v/v) inoculum of P. Danionis.

Catechin, an active constituent of green tea, preserves skeletal muscle activity in dexamethasone induced cachexia by increasing acetylcholine sensitivity in muscles of Wistar rats

Chronic administration of glucocorticoids produces cachexia like symptoms such as muscular dystrophy, weight loss and skeletal muscle dysfunction. However, only limited options are available for treatment of this disease. One of the tea catechins, epigallocatechin-3-gallate attenuated skeletal muscle atrophy in cancer cachexia. In this context, we explored here (+)-catechin hydrate (catechin) for of its anticachectic activity in dexamethasone induced muscle dystrophy. Dosing of catechin at 100 mg/kg p.o. was continued for 5 days along with a daily dosing of dexamethasone at 0.6 mg/kg i.p. On the 6th day, animals were assessed for cachectic condition using changes in body weight, functional aspect of skeletal muscle such as muscle integrity, locomotor activity, handgrip strength, glucose uptake, responsiveness of skeletal muscle to acetylcholine, by estimating inflammatory parameters such as nitrite, myeloperoxidase in the gastrocnemius muscle and by evaluating plasma biochemical parameters such as triglycerides, total protein, albumin, creatinine, urea and IL-6 levels. Except for a few parameters, such as body weight, glucose uptake by hemi-diaphragm and triglyceride level, remaining parameters were significantly reversed by catechin treatment. The underlying mechanism of the myoprotective action of catechin has been postulated by the increased sensitivity of muscle to acetylcholine as demonstrated in this study, which might be responsible for prevention of muscle inflammation.

Dilute acid pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis of sorghum biomass for sugar recovery—A statistical approach.

Sorghum is one of the commercially feasible lignocellulosic biomass and has a great potential of being sustainable feedstock for renewable energy. As with any lignocellulosic biomass, sorghum also requires pretreatment which increases its susceptibility to hydrolysis by enzymes for generating sugars which can be further fermented to alcohol. In the present study, sorghum biomass was evaluated for deriving maximum fermentable sugars by optimizing various pretreatment parameters using statistical optimization methods. Pretreatment studies were done with H2SO4, followed by enzymatic saccharification. The efficiency of the process was evaluated on the basis of production of the total reducing sugars released during the process. Compositional analysis was done for native as well as pretreated biomass and compared. The biomass pretreated with the optimized conditions could yield 0.408 g of reducing sugars /g of pretreated biomass upon enzymatic hydrolysis. The cellulose content in the solid portion obtained after pretreatment using optimised conditions was found to be increased by 43.37% with lesser production of inhibitors in acid pretreated liquor.