Effect of Novel Quercetin Titanium Dioxide-Decorated Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Nanocomposite on Bacillus subtilis Biofilm Development.

The present work was targeted to design a surface against cell seeding and adhering of bacteria, Bacillus subtilis. A multi-walled carbon nanotube/titanium dioxide nano-power was produced via simple mixing of carbon nanotube and titanium dioxide nanoparticles during the sol-gel process followed by heat treatment. Successfully, quercetin was immobilized on the nanocomposite via physical adsorption to form a quercetin/multi-walled carbon nanotube/titanium dioxide nanocomposite. The adhesion of bacteria on the coated-slides was verified after 24 h using confocal laser-scanning microscopy. Results indicated that the quercetin/multi-walled carbon nanotube/titanium dioxide nanocomposite had more negativity and higher recovery by glass surfaces than its counterpart. Moreover, coating surfaces with the quercetin-modified nanocomposite lowered both hydrophilicity and surface-attached bacteria compared to surfaces coated with the multi-walled carbon nanotubes/titanium dioxide nanocomposite.

Application of quercetin and its bio-inspired nanoparticles as anti-adhesive agents against Bacillus subtilis attachment to surface.

The aim of this study was directed to reveal the repulsive effect of coated glass slides by quercetin and its bio-inspired titanium oxide and tungsten oxide nanoparticles on physical surface attachment of Bacillus subtilis as an ab-initio step of biofilm formation. Nanoparticles were successfully synthesized using sol-gel and acid precipitation methods for titanium oxide and tungsten oxide, respectively (in the absence or presence of quercetin). The anti-adhesive impact of the coated-slides was tested through the physical attachment of B. subtilis after 24h using Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy (CLSM). Here, quercetin was presented as a bio-route for the synthesis of tungsten mixed oxides nano-plates at room temperature. In addition, quercetin had an impact on zeta potential and adsorption capacity of both bio-inspired amorphous titanium oxide and tungsten oxide nano-plates. Interestingly, our experiments indicated a contrary effect of quercetin as an anti-adhesive agent than previously reported. However, its bio-inspired metal oxide proved their repulsive efficiency. In addition, quercetin-mediated nano-tungsten and quercetin-mediated amorphous titanium showed anti-adhesive activity against B. subtilis biofilm.

Potential biodegradation of crude petroleum oil by newly isolated halotolerant microbial strains from polluted Red Sea area.

Two microbial isolates from oil polluted Red Sea water in Egypt, designated as RS-Y1 and RS-F3, were found capable of degrading Belayim mix (BX) crude oil. Strains RS-Y1 and RS-F3 were assigned to the genera Lipomyces tetrasporus and Paecilomyces variotii based on their morphological and physiological characteristics. Both isolates were compared for the biodegradation of crude petroleum-oil hydrocarbons in basal salt medium supplemented with 5% (w/v) of BX-crude oil. Gas chromatography profile showed that the biodegradation of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) inoculated with L. tetrasporus (68.3%) and P. variotii (58.15%) along with their consortium (66%) significantly reduced TPHs levels as compared to the control after 30days. L. tetrasporus (44.5%) was more effective than P. variotii strain (32.89%) in reducing the unresolved complex mixtures (UCM) content from the medium. Both isolates exhibited a strong growth over a wide range of salinity (5-45g/L NaCl).

Biosorption of Astrazone Blue basic dye from an aqueous solution using dried biomass of Baker's yeast.

In this study dried biomass of Baker's yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is used as a sorbent for Astrazone Blue basic dye aqueous solution. Factors affecting the adsorption process: dye concentration, contact time, temperature and pH were investigated. The equilibrium concentration and the adsorption capacity at equilibrium were determined using three different sorption models namely: Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherms. It was found that increasing temperature and pH result in higher dye loadings per unit weight of the sorbent. The results gained from this study were described by Langmuir isotherm model better than Freundlich and Temkin isotherm models. The calculated heat of adsorption of the dye-yeast system indicates that the bio-sorption process is taking place by chemical adsorption and has an endothermic nature. The maximum adsorption capacity at 30 degrees C and pH 7 was calculated as 70 mg/g for dried biomass of Baker's yeast compared to 18.5mg/g for commercial granular activated carbon, indicating that dried biomass of Baker's yeast can be considered as a good sorbent material for Astrazone Blue solution.