Recovery of Salts from Synthetic Erythritol Culture Broth via Electrodialysis: An Alternative Strategy from the Bin to the Loop

Sustainability and circularity are currently two relevant drivers in the development and optimisation of industrial processes. This study assessed the use of electrodialysis (ED) to purify synthetic erythritol culture broth and for the recovery of the salts in solution, for minimising the generation of waste by representing an efficient alternative to remove ions, ensuring their recovery process contributing to reaching cleaner standards in erythritol production. Removal and recovery of ions was evaluated for synthetic erythritol culture broth at three different levels of complexity using a stepwise voltage in the experimental settings. ED was demonstrated to be a potential technology removing between 91.7–99.0% of ions from the synthetic culture broth, with 49–54% current efficiency. Besides this, further recovery of ions into the concentrated fraction was accomplished. The anions and cations were recovered in a second fraction reaching concentration factors between 1.5 to 2.5 times while observing low level of erythritol losses (<2%), with an energy consumption of 4.10 kWh/m3.

Purification Process of a Recombinant Human Follicle Stimulating Hormone Biosimilar (Primapur®) to Yield a Pharmaceutical Product with High Batch-to-Batch Consistency

Recombinant human follicle stimulating hormone (r-hFSH) is widely used for infertility treatment and is subject to the development of biosimilars. There are different purification strategies that can yield r-hFSH of pharmaceutical quality from Chinese hamster ovary cell culture broth. We developed a purification process for r-hFSH centered on immunoaffinity chromatography with single-domain recombinant camelid antibodies. The resulting downstream process is simple and devoid of ultrafiltration operations. Studies on chromatography resin resource and ligand leakage showed that the immunoaffinity matrix employed was suitable for industrial use and stable for at least 40 full chromatography cycles, and the leaked single-domain antibody ligand was completely removed by subsequent purification steps. All chromatography resins employed withstood the same 40 cycles of use without significant changes in separation efficiency and product binding capacity. The resulting industrial purification process yielded batches of r-hFSH with consistent levels of purity and bioactivity.

Saccharobisindole, Neoasterric Methyl Ester, and 7-Chloro-4(1H)-quinolone: Three New Compounds Isolated from the Marine Bacterium Saccharomonospora sp.

Analysis of the chemical components from the culture broth of the marine bacterium Saccharomonospora sp. CNQ-490 has yielded three novel compounds: saccharobisindole (1), neoasterric methyl ester (2), and 7-chloro-4(1H)-quinolone (3), in addition to acremonidine E (4), pinselin (5), penicitrinon A (6), and penicitrinon E (7). The chemical structures of the three novel compounds were elucidated by the interpretation of 1D, 2D nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) data. Compound 2 generated weak inhibition activity against Bacillus subtilis KCTC2441 and Staphylococcus aureus KCTC1927 at concentrations of 32 μg/mL and 64 μg/mL, respectively, whereas compounds 1 and 3 did not have any observable effects. In addition, compound 2 displayed weak anti-quorum sensing (QS) effects against S. aureus KCTC1927 and Micrococcus luteus SCO560.

The Effect of Surfactants of Microbial Origin on Phytopathogenic Microorganisms

Biodegradable non-toxic surfactants of microbial origin are multifunctional preparations, which due to antimicrobial activity are promising for use in crop production to control phytopathogenic microorganisms. Studies on the prospects of using microbial surfactants to control the number of phytopathogenic microorganisms are conducted in three directions: laboratory studies of antimicrobial activity of surfactants in vitro, determination of the effect of surfactants on phytopathogens in vegetative experiments in the process of plants growing in a laboratory or greenhouse, post-harvest treatment of fruits and vegetables with solutions of microbial surfactants to extend their shelf life. The review presents literature data on antimicrobial activity of surfactants against phytopathogenic bacteria and fungi in vitro. Antimicrobial activity of surfactants is evaluated by three main parameters: minimum inhibitory concentration, zones of growth retardation of test cultures on agar media and inhibition of growth of test cultures on agar or liquid media. The vast majority of available publications relate to the antifungal activity of surfactant lipopeptides and rhamnolipids, while data on the effect of these microbial surfactants on phytopathogenic bacteria (representatives of the genera Ralstonia, Xanthomonas, Pseudomonas, Agrobacterium, Pectobacterium) are few. The researchers determined the antimicrobial activity of either total lipopeptides extracted with organic solvents from the culture broth supernatant, or individual lipopeptides (iturin, surfactin, fengycin, etc.) isolated from a complex of surfactants, or culture broth supernatant. Lipopeptides synthesized by members of the genus Bacillus exhibit antimicrobial activity on phytopathogenic fungi of the genera Alternaria, Verticillium, Aspergillus, Aureobasidium, Botrytis, Rhizoctonia, Fusarium, Penicillium, Phytophora, Sclerotinia, Curvularia, Colletotrichum, etc. in sufficiently high concentrations. Thus, the minimum inhibitory concentrations of lipopeptides against phytopathogenic fungi are orders of magnitude higher (in average 0.04–8.0 mg/mL, or 40–8000 μg/mL) than against phytopathogenic bacteria (3–75 μg/mL). However, the antifungal activity of lipopeptidecontaining supernatants is not inferior by the efficiency to the activity of lipopeptides isolated from them, and therefore, to control the number of phytopathogenic fungi in crop production, the use of lipopeptidecontaining supernatants is more appropriate. Rhamnolipids synthesized by bacteria of the genus Pseudomonas are more effective antimicrobial agents comparing to lipopeptides: the minimum inhibitory concentrations of rhamnolipids against phytopathogenic fungi are 4–276 μg/mL, which is an order of magnitude lower than lipopeptides. In contrast to the data on the antifungal activity of rhamnolipids against phytopathogens, there are only a few reports in the literature on the effect of these surfactants on phytopathogenic bacteria, whilst the minimal inhibitory concentrations are quite high (up to 5000 μg/mL). The advantage of rhamnolipids as antimicrobial agents compared to lipopeptides is the high level of synthesis on cheap and available in large quantities industrial waste. Currently in the literature there is little information about the effect of surface-active sophorolipids of microbial origin on phytopathogenic fungi, and all these works are mainly about the antifungal activity of sophorolipids. We note that in contrast to surfactant lipopeptides and rhamnolipids, the effective concentration of most sophorolipids, which provides the highest antimicrobial activity against phytopathogens, is higher and reaches 10,000 μg/mL.

Secondary Metabolites with Cytotoxic Activities from Streptomyces sp. BM-8 Isolated from the Feces of Equusquagga

A new aliphatic acid, compound 1, together with six known metabolites, including nonactic acid (2), homononactic acid (3), ethyl homononactate (4), homononactylhomononactate (5), valinomycin (6), and cyclo-(Pro-Leu) (7), was isolated from the culture broth of Streptomyces sp. BM-8, an actinobacterial strain isolated from the feces of Equus quagga. The structures of these compounds were established by analyses of spectroscopic data, including 1D and 2D nuclear magnetic resonance spectra (NMR), as well as by HR-ESI-MS spectrometry and chemical derivative analyses. Additionally, a serial analogue of nonactic acid and homononacticacid (8–21) was synthesized. The cytotoxicity of 1–21 wastested against a panel of cancer cell lines, such as HT-29, MCF-7, A375 and K562, with MTT assay. In addition, the cytotoxicity tests revealed that 1 was less cytotoxic toward a panel of cancerous cells, as compared with valinomycin (6).

Sneathia amnii bacteraemia and chorioamnionitis leading to second trimester abortion: a case report

Background. Sneathia amnii (formerly designated as Leptotrichia amnionii ) was first described in 2002 in the USA. Members of the genus Sneathia can be part of the normal flora of the genitourinary tract, but have been implicated in invasive (mostly gynaecological) infections. Case presentation. To the best of our knowledge, here we present the first case of S. amnii infection in Belgium, in a young woman presenting with fever leading to second trimester septic abortion. Conclusions. Despite its pathogenicity, S. amnii remains an underrated cause of infections due to inherent difficulties with conventional laboratory methods. By extracting the bacterial DNA directly from the blood culture broth and performing a 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequence analysis we succeeded in identifying S. amnii as the most probable cause of the septic abortion in our patient.

Cholesterol-lowering Potential and Exopolysaccharide Biosynthesis of Lactobacillus spp. isolated from Human Milk

Recent research generated information that human milk is not only a valuable source of nutrition, but it also provides a complex microbial community, containing especially Lactobacillus species - the major components of a great number of commercial probiotics. New findings on potential applications of Lactobacillus species revealed that these bacteria have abilities to produce anti-microbial exopolysaccharides (EPS) and to reduce cholesterol in culture broth. In this study, we successfully isolated and screened for Lactobacillus bacteria from human milk samples, and finally obtained four strains, including L. plantarum BM7.13, L. plantarum BM29.7, L. acidophilus BM10.8 and L. rhamnosus BM30.4. Researching the probiotic activities of these strains showed that all strains were tolerant to the low pH (3.0) and 0.3% bile salts. Characterization of the probiotic properties indicated that all selected Lactobacillus isolates had ESP (125-326 mg/L) and exhibited strong antimicrobial activities against pathogenic microbes, such as Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Shigella flexneri and Salmonella typhimurium. Our results also indicated that all strains displayed cholesterol assimilation capabilities in culture broth with the maximum figure recorded for L. plantarum BM7.13.

Development of a Continuous System for 2-Phenylethanol Bioproduction by Yeast on Whey Permeate-Based Medium

2-Phenylethanol (2-PE) is an alcohol with a rosy scent and antimicrobial activity, and therefore, it is widely used in the food and cosmetic industries as an aroma and preservative. This work was aimed to draw up a technology for 2-PE bioproduction on whey permeate, which is waste produced by the dairy industry, rich in lactase and proteins. Its composition makes it a harmful waste to dispose of; however, with a properly selected microorganism, it could be converted to a value-added product. Herein, two yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus strains and one Kluyveromyces lactis, isolated from dairy products, were tested for 2-PE production, firstly on standard media and then on whey permeate based media in batch cultures. Thereafter, the 2-PE bioproduction in a continuous system in a 4.8 L bioreactor was developed, and subsequently, the final product was recovered from culture broth. The results showed that the yield of 2-PE production increased by 60% in the continuous culture compared to batch culture. Together with a notable reduction of chemical oxygen demand for whey permeate, the present study reports a complete, effective, and environmentally friendly strategy for 2-PE bioproduction with a space-time yield of 57.5 mg L−1 h−1.