Photocatalytic elimination of indoor air biological and chemical pollution in realistic conditions.

The photocatalytic elimination of microorganisms from indoor air in realistic conditions and the feasibility of simultaneous elimination of chemical contaminants have been studied at laboratory scale. Transparent polymeric monoliths have been coated with sol-gel TiO(2) films and used as photocatalyst to treat real indoor air in a laboratory-scale single-step annular photocatalytic reactor. The analytical techniques used to characterize the air quality and analyze the results of the photocatalytic tests were: colony counting, microscopy and PCR with subsequent sequencing for microbial quantification and identification; automated thermal desorption coupled to gas chromatography with mass spectrometry detection for chemical analysis. The first experiments performed proved that photocatalysis based on UVA-irradiated TiO(2) for the reduction of the concentration of bacteria in the air could compete with the conventional photolytic treatment with UVC radiation, more expensive and hazardous. Simultaneously to the disinfection, the concentration of volatile organic compounds was greatly reduced, which adds value to this technology for real applications. The fungal colony number was not apparently modified.

Structural close-related aromatic compounds have different effects on laccase activity and on lcc gene expression in the ligninolytic fungus Trametes sp. I-62.

Nine phenolic compounds (p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, guaiacol, syringol, p-methoxyphenol, pyrocatechol, phloroglucinol, 3,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid, and syringaldazine) were tested for their ability to increase laccase production in the ligninolytic basidiomycete Trametes sp. I-62. All these compounds resulted in increases in laccase activity, with the highest levels being detected in the presence of p-coumaric acid (273-fold) and guaiacol (73-fold). The three laccase isozyme genes in this fungus lcc1, lcc2, and lcc3 are differentially expressed in the presence of some of these aromatics with total lcc transcript levels differing markedly depending on the aromatic compound tested. Guaiacol (the best inducer of lcc gene transcription) and p-coumaric acid selectively induced expression of lcc1 and lcc2; ferulic acid induced lcc3 expression, while 3,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid had no marked effect on laccase gene transcription. The results demonstrate that close-related aromatic compounds appear to have different effects on both laccase activity levels and lcc gene expression in this basidiomycete.

Comparative analysis of laccase-isozymes patterns of several related Polyporaceae species under different culture conditions.

The study of isozymes has to date been successfully applied in the identification of a number of different microorganisms, particularly fungi. Trametes sp. I-62 (CECT20197) is a white-rot fungus with potential biotechnological applications. It has been identified as Trametes on the basis of the mycelium morphology, but the features observed are not sufficient for its classification at the species level. Given that this strain produces a very characteristic laccase isozyme pattern, in the present work we compared its isozyme profile with the profiles produced by ten other very closely phylogenetically related fungi from the Polyporaceae family. The data indicates that Trametes sp. I-62 could not be included in any of the taxonomically related species which were analysed in the present work. Extracellular laccases were detected in nine of the fungi studied and in four of them namely Trametes subectypus, Trametes pavonia, Trametes ochracea and Trametes gallica, this is the first report of such activity. Given that phylogenetically related fungi growing in the same culture conditions exhibit different laccase patterns, these isozymes could be used as an additional criterion for fungal identification.

Use of multiplex reverse transcription-PCR to study the expression of a laccase gene family in a basidiomycetous fungus.

Laccases produced by white rot fungi are involved in the degradation of lignin and a broad diversity of other natural and synthetic molecules, having a great potential for biotechnological applications. They are frequently encoded by gene families, as in the basidiomycete Trametes sp. strain I-62, from which the lcc1, lcc2, and lcc3 laccase genes have been cloned and sequenced. A multiplex reverse transcription-PCR method to simultaneously study the expression of these genes was developed in this study. The assay proved to be quick, simple, highly sensitive, and reproducible and is particularly valuable when numerous samples are to be analyzed and/or if the amount of initial mRNA is limited. It was used to analyze the effect of 3,4-dimethoxybenzyl alcohol (veratryl alcohol) and two of its isomers (2,5-dimethoxybenzyl alcohol and 3,5-dimethoxybenzyl alcohol) on differential laccase gene expression in Trametes sp. strain I-62. These aromatic compounds produced different induction patterns despite their chemical similarity. We found 2,5-dimethoxybenzyl alcohol to be the best inducer of laccase activity while also producing the highest increase in gene expression; 3,5-dimethoxybenzyl alcohol was the next best inducer. Transcript amounts of each gene fluctuated dramatically in the presence of these three inducers, while the total amounts of laccase mRNAs seemed to be modulated by a coordinated regulation of the different genes.

The white-rot fungus Pleurotus ostreatus secretes laccase isozymes with different substrate specificities.

Four laccase isozymes (LCC1, LCC2, LCC3 and LCC4) synthesized by Pleurotus ostreatus strain V-184 were purified and characterized. LCC1 and LCC2 have molecular masses of about 60 and 65 kDa and exhibited the same pI value (3.0). Their N termini were sequenced, revealing the same amino acid sequence and homology with laccases from other microorganisms. Laccases LCC3 and LCC4 were characterized by SDS-PAGE, estimating their molecular masses around 80 and 82 kDa, respectively. By native isoelectrofocusing, their pI values were 4.7 and 4.5, respectively. When staining with ABTS and guaiacol in native polyacrilamide gels, different specificities were observed for LCC1/LCC2 and LCC3/LCC4 isozymes.

Tannic acid induces transcription of laccase gene cglcc1 in the white-rot fungus Coriolopsis gallica.

Laccase, a phenoloxidase enzyme secreted by white-rot fungi, has a significant role in the degradation of lignin and environmental pollutants. Coriolopsis gallica is a ligninolytic basidiomycete that produces high levels of this extracellular enzyme. A laccase gene cglcc1 from this fungus has been cloned and sequenced. The capacity of C. gallica to efficiently degrade polyphenols has been successfully applied in our laboratory to the biotreatment and decolorization of several industrial wastewaters. This study focused on the effect of tannic acid, a natural compound widely distributed in plants, on the production of laccase activity by C. gallica. Our results showed an evident increase of extracellular laccase levels when C. gallica was grown in the presence of tannic acid. Concentrations of 50 and 100 microM of this compound increased laccase activity when compared with control samples grown without tannic acid. In addition, we found an increase in laccase transcript levels in C. gallica grown in culture media supplemented with tannic acid. The role of tannic acid was shown to be an inductor of laccase activity in this fungus, due to the enhancement of expression of the laccase gene at the transcriptional level.