Food and fruit waste valorisation for pectin recovery: Recent process technologies and future prospects.

Pectin possesses a dual property of resistance and flexibility and thus has diverse commercial value which has generated research interest on this versatile biopolymer. Formulated products using pectin could be useful in food, pharma, foam, plasticiser and paper substitute industries. Pectin is structurally tailor-made for greater bioactivity and diverse applications. Sustainable biorefinery leaves greener footprints while producing high-value bioproducts like pectin. The essential oils and polyphenols obtained as byproducts from a pectin-based biorefinery are useful in cosmetics, toiletries and fragrance industries. Pectin can be extracted from organic sources following eco-friendly strategies, and the extraction techniques, structural alterations and the applications are continually being upgraded and standardized. Pectin has great applications in diverse areas, and its green synthesis is a welcome development. In future, growing industrial application of pectin is anticipated as research orients on biopolymers, biotechnologies and renewable source-based processes. As the world is gradually adopting greener strategies in sync with the global sustainable development goal, active involvement of policy makers and public participation are prime. Governance and policy framing are essential in the transition of the world economy towards circularity since green circular bioeconomy is ill-understood among the public in general and within the administrative circles in particular. Concerted efforts by researchers, investors, innovators, and policy and decision makers to integrate biorefinery technologies as loops within loop of biological structures and bioprocesses is suggested. The review focusses on generation of the different nature of food wastes including fruits and vegetables with cauterization of their components. It discusses the innovative extraction and biotransformation approaches for these waste conversions into value-added products at cost-effective and eco-friendly way. This article compiles numerous effective and efficient and green way pectin extraction techniques with their advantages with varying success in an integrated manner.

Bluetongue virus: Past, present, and future scope.

Bluetongue (BT), once considered a disease of sheep confined to the southern African region, has spread all over the world. BT is a viral disease caused by the bluetongue virus (BTV). BT is regarded as an economically important disease in ruminants of compulsory notification to OIE. BTV is transmitted by the bite of Culicoides species. Research over the years has led to a better understanding of the disease, the nature of the virus life cycle between ruminants and Culicoides species, and its distribution in different geographical regions. Advances have also been made in understanding the molecular structure and function of the virus, the biology of the Culicoides species, its ability to transmit the disease, and the persistence of the virus inside the Culicoides and the mammalian hosts. Global climate change has enabled the colonization of new habitats and the spread of the virus into additional species of the Culicoides vector. This review highlights some of the current findings on the status of BT in the world based on the latest research on disease aspects, virus-host-vector interactions, and the different diagnostic approaches and control strategies available for BTV.

Environmental remediation using metals and inorganic and organic materials: a review.

In recent times, environmental pollution has been an alarming concern. This is increasing day-in-and-day-out, especially in the Asia-Pacific region due to the increasing population, urbanization, industrialization and inappropriate waste management measures. Pollution abatement is the need of the hour to sustain the biosphere in general and the human life in particular. A range of physical, chemical and biological strategies are commonly employed to remove pollutants from the contained water, soil and air. Physical, chemical or physicochemical remediation processes are commonly employed owing to their high efficiency, stability, recyclable property and low procurement cost as compared to metals, inorganic and organic materials. Materials of the later type include biocomposites, thin films, modified (bio)polymers, nanoparticles, nanofilters, sorbent like activated charcoal, and carbon nanotubes and nanosensors. Remediation mechanism largely follows sorption, degradation, oxidation, reduction, catalytic conversion, detection and microbial toxicity principles. This review details the mechanisms of action by these various remediating entities, their successful applications in pollution abatement, drawbacks and future prospects.HighlightsEnvironmental remediation using metals, inorganic and organic materials are discussed extensively.Major remediating approaches, viz., physical, physicochemical and chemical are elaborated citing latest references.The significance of biocomposites, biopolymers, polymers, thin films, nanoparticles, nanofilters, nanosensors and sorbents in remediation are highlighted.Pollutant removal from water, air and soil has been precisely discussed.A note on drawbacks, improvement and future prospects of remediating agents is presented.

Biochemistry, Synthesis, and Applications of Bacterial Cellulose: A Review.

The potential of cellulose nanocomposites in the new-generation super-performing nanomaterials is huge, primarily in medical and environment sectors, and secondarily in food, paper, and cosmetic sectors. Despite substantial illumination on the molecular aspects of cellulose synthesis, various process features, namely, cellular export of the nascent polysaccharide chain and arrangement of cellulose fibrils into a quasi-crystalline configuration, remain obscure. To unleash its full potential, current knowledge on nanocellulose dispersion and disintegration of the fibrillar network and the organic/polymer chemistry needs expansion. Bacterial cellulose biosynthesis mechanism for scaled-up production, namely, the kinetics, pathogenicity, production cost, and product quality/consistency remain poorly understood. The bottom-up bacterial cellulose synthesis approach makes it an interesting area for still wider and promising high-end applications, primarily due to the nanosynthesis mechanism involved and the purity of the cellulose. This study attempts to identify the knowledge gap and potential wider applications of bacterial cellulose and bacterial nanocellulose. This review also highlights the manufacture of bacterial cellulose through low-cost substrates, that is, mainly waste from brewing, agriculture, food, and sugar industries as well as textile, lignocellulosic biorefineries, and pulp mills.

Virus as a Nanocarrier for Drug Delivery Redefining Medical Therapeutics - A Status Report.

Over the last two decades, drug delivery systems have evolved at a tremendous pace. Synthetic nanoparticles have played an important role in vaccine design and delivery as these have shown improved safety and efficacy over conventional formulations. Nanocarriers formulated by natural, biological building blocks have become an important tool in biomedicine. A successful nanocarrier must possess specific properties like evading the host immune system, target specificity, cellular entry, escape from endosomes, and the ability to release the active material into the cytoplasm. The virus can perform some or all of these functions, making it a suitable candidate as a naturally occurring nanocarrier. Viruses could be made non-infectious and non-replicative without compromising their ability to penetrate cells, making them useful for a vast spectrum of applications. Currently, many such carrier molecules as bio-nanocapsules are at various development stages. This review covers the advances in the field of viruses as potential nanocarriers and discusses the related technologies and strategies to target specific cells by using virus-inspired nanocarriers. These virus-based nanocarriers could provide solutions to address pressing and emerging concerns in infectious diseases in the future.

Response surface methodology based optimization and scale-up production of amylase from a novel bacterial strain, Bacillus aryabhattai KIIT BE-1.

A novel strain KIIT BE-1 isolated from a specialized environment, screened through starch iodine test from a set of eighty-five biodigestate isolates, produced amylase maximally when cultured for 48 h at 37 °C. The molecular and biochemical characterization confirmed it as a strain of Bacillus aryabhattai. It exhibited optimal amylase activity (3.20 U/ml) at 36 h post incubation with a media combination of starch and yeast extract for C-N source respectively. Statistical optimisation by response surface modeling showed R2 values of 0.9645 for biomass and 0.9831 for amylase activity, suggesting the significance of the model. The optimised medium (10.25 % starch, 5.0 % peptone, 5.18 % yeast extract, pH 7.3) enhanced the enzyme activity to 4.16 U/ml (1.39-fold) from 3.20 U/ml of un-optimised medium. Further, the biomass yield and the enzymatic activity in optimized medium and process conditions increased by 1.14 and 1.21 folds subjected to a 5 l scaled-up operation in a lab-scale bioreactor.

Microbial pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass for enhanced biomethanation and waste management.

Biogas obtained from organic remains entails a developed technology and an appreciable methane yield, but its use may not be sustainable. The potential methane yield of various lignocellulose biomass and the operational conditions employed are inherently reviewed. Although of lower methane yields compared to conventional substrates, agricultural biomass is a cheap option. The major challenges encountered during its biogasification are its recalcitrance nature primarily due to the presence of crystalline cellulose and lignin. This necessitates an essential pretreatment step through physical, chemical or biological interventions for enhanced biomethanation potential. Various pretreatment-physical, chemical, and biological-strategies have been developed to overcome the inherent recalcitrance of lignocellulose to anaerobic degradation. Biological pretreatment approach, however, outcompete other pretreatments due to their application in milder conditions, little corrosiveness, and lower byproduct formation. Such pretreatment importantly aids in selectively reducing the lignin content and crystalline nature of the lignocellulosic biomass, which would evidently enhance the hydrolysis and production of monomers for their further anaerobic digestion (AD) for methanation. A variety of applied biological pretreatment strategies comprises microaerobic treatments, ensiling or composting, separation of digestion stages, and pretreatments using various lignocellulolytic fungi alongside. The net energy output through such approaches is substantially more and relatively inexpensive compared to other established chemical and mechanical approaches. The present review highlights the use of biological agents including bacterial, fungal and/or their enzymes which trigger biodegradation of wastes and utilization of lignocellulose for biofuel production. Additionally, the different physical, chemical, and biological pretreatment strategies for biogas yield enhancement are presented.