Papers by Bello Aminu Bello
Carbohydrates and lignocellulose biomass are the major feedstock for the bioethanol production. T... more Carbohydrates and lignocellulose biomass are the major feedstock for the bioethanol production. The processing of starch to bioethanol is a challenging process that requires several agents and varying conditions. The starch liquefaction and saccharification are key processing steps in the bioethanol industry. The rate-limiting α-amylase plays an important role due to its endoglycosidic activity. α-amylaseendo-glycosidic action on long glucan chains may be rate limiting in starch. The purpose of this study is to develop an approach that will ensure a maximum yield and be cost effective in the processing of starch to bioethanol. Water soluble proteins were extracted from fully ripened plantains, and α-amylase activities were measured. It was observed that there is a strong variation in α-amylase activities among individual plantains, although the protein concentration was generally low. The proteins were fractionated using ammonium sulphate, the α-amylase precipitated at 30% of the sa...
A B ST R A C T The challenge to feed the increasing world’s population with nutritionally balance... more A B ST R A C T The challenge to feed the increasing world’s population with nutritionally balanced food is enormous hence determining the nutritional value of food is highly valuable in order to ensure the status of food. In our study, we determined the carbohydrate, protein, lipid, ash, fibre, energy and moisture content of Colocynthis citrullus and Sesanum indicum consumed in Nigeria, particularly in Nasarawa State. The Na, K, Ca, Mg, P, Zn, Fe, Cr, Cd, Pb and Cu contents of the two samples were also determined. High contents of carbohydrate, proteins and fat of 11.89, 27.67, and 52.48%; and 12.58, 24.92 and 49.44% were found in Colocynthis citrullus and Sesanum indicum respectively. The mineral contents of the two seeds showed a relatively high content of some of the minerals.
Green Processing and Synthesis, 2020
This study was focused to synthesize silver nanoparticles (AgNps) from the aqueous extract of Bis... more This study was focused to synthesize silver nanoparticles (AgNps) from the aqueous extract of Bistorta amplexicaule and to evaluate their antimicrobial, antifungal, and 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) degradation potential. The AgNps from B. amplexicaule were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies. The biological activity of the AgNps was checked against the three bacterial and two fungal strains. The inhibition activities of the synthesized nanoparticles on pathogenic bacteria and fungi were equally studied using the colony-forming unit method. The AgNps synthesized showed excellent bactericidal and fungicidal activities against pathogenic Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Candida albicans, and Candida tropicalis. The removal of nitrophenols is one of the most demanding tasks, due to their injurious impact on th...
Introduction A major threat to agriculture is the issue of adapting both biotic and abiotic stres... more Introduction A major threat to agriculture is the issue of adapting both biotic and abiotic stresses that affects agricultural productivity. Various strategies are used to enhance crops’ adaptability to the stresses. The introduction and application of biotechnology strategy which saw the development of genetically modified (GM) crops is one of the integrated approaches used to bring about agricultural sustainability. This has led to the development of GM foods using Bacillus thuringiensis, Galanthus nivalis among others (Atherton, 2002; Kier and Petrick, 2008). Consequently, a number of strategies to improve plant resistance to pests and diseases are being developed using genetic engineering. GM foods that can withstand stresses such as those transformed using Bacillus thuringiensis and Galanthus nivalis (snowdrop) are being developed. GM foods have become part of the food chain; the adoption and commercialization of GM food is due to their numerous roles in tackling biotic and abi...
enna occidentalis is among the shrubs that are widely distributed in the temperate or warm region... more enna occidentalis is among the shrubs that are widely distributed in the temperate or warm regions across the globe. The leaves of this plant were reported to exhibit abroad pharmacological effects including; antibacterial, antimalarial, antifungal as well as anticancer activities. This study accounts for the toxicological effects of oral administration of the aqueous Senna occidentalis leaves extract on organ body weight ratio, some biochemical, hematological as well as histopathological parameters in male albino rats. The results indicate a significant decrease in organ body weight ratio for liver, kidney, spleen, pancreas, lungs and heart in the test groups. The result also revealed a significant increase in the hematological S Dutse Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences (DUJOPAS) Vol. 3 No. 1 June 2017 162 parameters, indicating that, the extract burst the hematopoietic capacity of the animals. The administration of low dosage of the extracts does not remarkably alter the liver a...
Bayero Journal of Pure and Applied Sciences, 2019
Enzymes are highly valuable in the industry, such industries are food, beverage industry and the ... more Enzymes are highly valuable in the industry, such industries are food, beverage industry and the biofuel sector. Amylases are very important in starch proc liquefaction, hydrolysis and saccharification. Alpha amylase has liquefying ability by hydrolysing the glycosidic bonds at internal positions. This paper aims to present a brief overview of the sequence comparison between plant alpha amylase sequences were obtained from the NCBI, aligned using the clustal phylogenetic trees were constructed using the Mega 7.0 tool. The proteins can be classified into three distinct families; one, two and three. Each family has some features, family one amylases are proteins of about 450 amino acids long with signal peptides at their N-terminus, family two proteins are similar in size to those of family one but are cytosolic with no targeting peptide. In contrast, family thr targeted to the chloroplast with transit peptides at their N 900 amino acids long. In addition, the last family of protein has an additional domain that is yet to be fully characterized. Across the three thus conservation of the catalytic domain which is at the C the proteins are evolutionary related and perform similar functions. The unknown domain in family three amylases is also conserve may be a starch binding domain that is required for the family three amylases to digest storage starch in the plastid.
Journal of Advances in Biology & Biotechnology, 2017
Carbohydrates and lignocellulose biomass are the major feedstock for the bioethanol production. T... more Carbohydrates and lignocellulose biomass are the major feedstock for the bioethanol production. The processing of starch to bioethanol is a challenging process that requires several agents and varying conditions. The starch liquefaction and saccharification are key processing steps in the bioethanol industry. The rate-limiting α-amylase plays an important role due to its endoglycosidic activity. α-amylase endo-glycosidic action on long glucan chains may be rate limiting in starch. The purpose of this study is to purify an alpha amylase from plantains. Water soluble proteins were extracted from fully ripened plantains, and α-amylase activities were measured. It was observed that there is a strong variation in α-amylase activities among individual plantains, although the protein concentration was generally low. The proteins were fractionated using ammonium sulphate, the α-amylase precipitated at 30% of the salt. This is characteristically low and desirable since most proteins precipitate at higher ammonium sulphate concentration. It suggested that majority of contaminating proteins and other molecules may be removed in the single step; dialysis was used to remove the salt. Consequently, significant enrichment in αamylase activity was recovered after dialysis. Subsequent purification of the protein was attempted using ion exchange chromatography. The protein binds to Q-sepharose at neutral pH but this was not successful at acidic pH. Therefore, the result revealed that the protein could be negatively charged at that condition. Hence, a new alpha amylase like protein was purified from plantains.
Journal of photochemistry and photobiology. B, Biology, Jan 19, 2017
The study concentrate on the biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNps) from the leaves extract... more The study concentrate on the biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNps) from the leaves extract of Guiera senegalensis with focus on its; antiproliferation effect on prostate (PC3), breast (MCF7) and liver (HepG2) cancer cell lines, antibacterial effect on Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and the degradation on 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) and congo red dye (CR). The synthesized AgNps were characterized by FTIR, TEM, FESEM, XRD and EDX analysis. The EDS spectrum revealed that the synthesized nanoparticles (Nps) were composed of 55.45% Ag atoms of spherical shape with approximately 50nm size, identified from TEM and FESEM data. The antiproliferation effect of the AgNps varies with cell lines in a concentration dependent manner. The result showed that the AgNps were more effective on PC3 (IC50 23.48μg/mL) than MCF7 (29.25μg/mL) and HepG2 (33.25μg/mL) by the virtue of their IC50 values. The AgNps were highly effective against E. coli and S. aureus by killing 9...
Biochemical and biophysical research communications, Aug 22, 2017
We present here the biosynthesis of AgNps from the aqueous extract of H. thebaica fruit, and moni... more We present here the biosynthesis of AgNps from the aqueous extract of H. thebaica fruit, and monitored through UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The functional group were characterized through ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, the particle size, morphologies and elemental composition of the nanoparticles were investigated by using TEM, FESEM and EDS respectively. The anti-proliferation activity of the synthesized AgNps was carried out using MTT assay on human prostate (PC3), breast (MCF7) and liver (HepG2) cancer cell lines. The anti-proliferation assay showed that the AgNps were able to inhibit the proliferation of the cancer cell lines in a dose depending manner. The effect was found more pronounced on prostate (IC50 2.6 mg/mL) followed by breast (IC50 4.8 mg/mL) and then liver cancer cell lines (IC50 6.8 mg/mL). The prepared AgNps were found to inhibit 99% growth of both E. coli and S. aureus after 24 h of incubation. The nanoparticles were used for the degradation of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) and Congo...
Journal of photochemistry and photobiology. B, Biology, Jan 26, 2018
The eco-friendly biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNps) from bark extract of Albizia cheval... more The eco-friendly biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNps) from bark extract of Albizia chevalier are reported here for their anti-proliferative, antibacterial and pollutant degradation potentials. The synthesized AgNps were characterized by FTIR spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive X-rays spectrometry (EDS) and X-ray diffraction studies. The TEM and FESEM images show a monodispersed spherical shaped particles of approximately 30 nm. Crystalline peaks were obtained for the synthesized AgNps in XRD spectrum. The AgNps were investigated for in vitro anticancer and antibacterial activities and its potential to degrade 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) and congo red dye (CR). The MTT results shows a significant dose-dependent antiproliferation effect of the AgNps on the cell lines HepG2, MDA-MB-231 and MFC7. The effect was found more pronounced in MDA-MB-231 as compared to MFC-7 cell lines. The antibacterial r...
rowning is a biochemical process that occur in fruits, it affects the quality of fruits and their... more rowning is a biochemical process that occur in fruits, it affects the quality of fruits and their products. This led to a concern by the food and beverage industry due to clouding and other undesirable effects that affect consumer acceptability. The enzyme polyphenol oxidase (PPO) is implicated in browning reaction. It oxidises O-diphenols to O-quinones, a process that leads to browning reactions in wounded fruits, vegetables and plants including apple and garden egg. Inhibition studies of polyphenol oxidase from apple (Malus domestica) and garden egg (Solanium aethiopicum) extracts was performed. Higher protein concentration (5.2mg/ml) was recovered from apple compared to 3.81mg/ml from garden egg, while the enzyme (PPO) activity and specific activities were higher in garden egg extract compared to apple. Browning of the fruit was rapid at pH 7.0 for apple as compared to pH 6.0 for the same effect in garden egg. The optimum temperature for the two fruits was discovered to be 25ºC. Inhibitors such as EDTA, ascorbic acid and metabisulphite could potentially be used to control enzymatic browning. Metabisulphite was found to be the most effective inhibitor against PPOs extracted from apple and garden egg. Similarly, processing of the fruits under acidic condition and at high temperature may inhibit enzymatic browning.
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Papers by Bello Aminu Bello