MDR cases of tuberculosis are increasing and they are difficult to treat. This study was conducte... more MDR cases of tuberculosis are increasing and they are difficult to treat. This study was conducted to assess prevalence of drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Study comprises of 67 sputum specimen received for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) culture. Culture was done in Middlebrook broth using BacT Alert 3D automated culture system. The study period was from Dec 2018 to Nov 2019. Out of these MTB was grown in 31 (46.27%) cases. The first line sensitivity testing was done in liquid culture media (BacT Alert3D) against Isonizid, Rifampicin, Ethambutol, Streptomycin. Isonizid and Rifampicin resistance was seen in 3 (9.68%) cases. Only Isonizid resistance was seen in 9 (29.03%) cases. This indicates that multidrug resistance is present to the tune of 9.68 % while monoresistance to isonizid is more common in 29.03%. Monoresistance to rifampicin was not observed. Resistance to ethambutol and streptomycin was not observed in the present study. The advantage of doing Drug suscep...
The bioremediation of chromium-contaminated soil by a rhamnolipid biosurfactant produced by Pseud... more The bioremediation of chromium-contaminated soil by a rhamnolipid biosurfactant produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain BS2 has been explored through column studies using uncontaminated soil spiked with toxic concentrations of heavy metals i.e. 1000 mg/kg chromium. Results on removal of chromium from the spiked soil by using di-rhamnolipid and tap water have shown a high potential of di-rhamnolipid in mobilization and decontamination of contaminated soil. Within 36 h of the leaching study, di-rhamnolipid facilitated the removal of chromium 10-13-fold compared to tap water. These results indicated that the specificity of this biosurfactant towards chromium was very high and 92% removal of chromium was observed. Hence, di-rhamnolipid selectively favours mobilization of chromium from contaminated soil. Biosurfactant specificity observed towards a specific metal will help the preferential elution of a specific contaminant using di-rhamnolipid. Leachates collected from chromium-spiked soil column treated with di-rhamnolipid solution had a lower pH (6.60-6.78) than leachates from heavy metal-spiked soil column treated with tap water (pH 6.90-7.25), which showed high dissolution of metal species from the spiked soil, and effective leaching of metals.
Methods used for biosurfactant recovery include solvent extraction, precipitation, crystallizatio... more Methods used for biosurfactant recovery include solvent extraction, precipitation, crystallization, centrifugation and foam fractionation. These methods cannot be used when distillery wastewater (DW) is used as the nutrient medium for biosurfactant production by Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain BS2, because recovery of biosurfactant by any of these methods imparts color to the biosurfactant. The biosurfactant has a nonaesthetic appearance with lowered surface active properties. These methods cannot be used for continuous recovery of biosurfactant during cultivation. Hence, a new downstream technique for biosurfactant recovery from fermented DW comprised of adsorption-desorption processes using wood-based activated carbon (WAC) was developed. This study involves batch experiments to standardize the factors affecting the rate of biosurfactant adsorption onto WAC. WAC was the most efficient adsorbent among various ones tested (i.e., silica gel, activated alumina and zeolite). The WAC (1% w v-1), equilibrium time (90 min), pH range of 5-10 and temperature of 40°C were optimum to achieve 99.5% adsorption efficiency. Adsorption kinetics and intraparticle diffusion studies revealed the involvement of both boundary layer diffusion and intraparticle diffusion. The Langmuir adsorption isotherm of WAC indicated the formation of a monolayer coverage of the biosurfactant over a homogeneous carbon surface, while the Freundlich isotherm showed high adsorption at strong solute concentrations and low adsorption at dilute solute concentrations. WAC concentration of 4% w v-1 facilitated complete removal of the biosurfactant from collapsed foam (contained 5-fold higher concentration of biosurfactant than was present in fermented DW). Biosurfactant adsorption was of chemisorption type. Acetone (polar solvent) was a specific viable eluant screened among various ones tested because it selectively facilitated maximum recovery, i.e., 89% biosurfactant from WAC. By acetone treatment, complete regeneration of WAC was feasible and WAC can be reused for biosurfactant recovery up to 3 cycles. The recovered biosurfactant showed improved surface-active property (i.e., much lower critical micelle concentration value of 0.013 verses 0.028 mg mL-1 for biosurfactant recovered by classical methods). The reuse potential of WAC was assessed and results suggest that the carbon can be reused for three consecutive cycles for biosurfactant adsorption from fermented wastewater without any decrease in adsorption efficiency. Thus, this process forms a basis for continuous recovery of biosurfactant from fermented DW and concentrated foam. This process reduces the use of high cost solvent, avoids end product inhibition and minimizes product degradation.
This research focuses on column experiments conducted to evaluate the potential of environmentall... more This research focuses on column experiments conducted to evaluate the potential of environmentally compatible rhamnolipid biosurfactant produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain BS2 to remove heavy metals (Cd and Pb) from artificially contaminated soil. Results have shown that di-rhamnolipid removes not only the leachable or available fraction of Cd and Pb but also the bound metals as compared to tap water which removed the mobile fraction only. Washing of contaminated soil with tap water revealed that approximately 2.7% of Cd and 9.8% of Pb in contaminated soil was in freely available or weakly bound forms whereas washing with rhamnolipid removed 92% of Cd and 88% of Pb after 36 h of leaching. This indicated that di-rhamnolipid selectively favours mobilization of metals in the order of Cd>Pb. Biosurfactant specificity observed towards specific metal will help in preferential elution of specific contaminant using di-rhamnolipid. It was further observed that pH of the leachates collected from heavy metal contaminated soil column treated with di-rhamnolipid solution was low (6.60-6.78) as compared to that of leachates from heavy metal contaminated soil column treated with tap water (pH 6.90-7.25), which showed high dissolution of metal species from the contaminated soil and effective leaching of metals with treatment with biosurfactant. The microbial population of the contaminated soil was increased after removal of metals by biosurfactant indicating the decrease of toxicity of metals to soil microflora. This study shows that biosurfactant technology can be an effective and nondestructive method for bioremediation of cadmium and lead contaminated soil.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain BS2 has been demonstrated to have an ability to produce potent bios... more Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain BS2 has been demonstrated to have an ability to produce potent biosurfactant, an ecofriendly substitute to synthetic surfactants from distillery and whey wastes and capable of reducing the pollution load of these wastes in the range of 85-90%. To determine the basis for future identification of the genes responsible for biosurfactant production from wastes, studies on the presence of plasmid if any, its profile and role in biosurfactant production were performed. Suitable plasmid screening technique was selected because strain BS2 produced excessive slime in Luria Burnetti broth, which interfered with the migration and detection of plasmid. Among the several methods, alkaline lysis method was the most suitable which aided in recovery of slime-free cell lysate and resulted in the formation of a discrete band of plasmid in agarose gel. Plasmid profile study demonstrated that plasmid had high molecular weight of 32.08×10 6 Da and possessed the genetic dete...
The bioremediation of chromium-contaminated soil by a rhamnolipid biosurfactant produced by Pseud... more The bioremediation of chromium-contaminated soil by a rhamnolipid biosurfactant produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain BS2 has been explored through column studies using uncontaminated soil spiked with toxic concentrations of heavy metals i.e. 1000 mg/kg chromium. Results on removal of chromium from the spiked soil by using di-rhamnolipid and tap water have shown a high potential of di-rhamnolipid in mobilization and decontamination of contaminated soil. Within 36 h of the leaching study, di-rhamnolipid facilitated the removal of chromium 10-13-fold compared to tap water. These results indicated that the specificity of this biosurfactant towards chromium was very high and 92% removal of chromium was observed. Hence, di-rhamnolipid selectively favours mobilization of chromium from contaminated soil. Biosurfactant specificity observed towards a specific metal will help the preferential elution of a specific contaminant using di-rhamnolipid. Leachates collected from chromium-spiked ...
Present work presents utilization of industrial wastes such as distillery spent wash, curd whey, ... more Present work presents utilization of industrial wastes such as distillery spent wash, curd whey, fruit pro- cessing waste and sugar industry effluent for cost-effective production of biosurfactant by four new microbial isolates designated as BS-A, BS-J, BS-K and BS-P isolated from soil sample contaminated with lube oil and distillery spent wash) collected from a distillery unit. These isolates have the potential to produce biosurfactant from mineral salt medium and also from individual wastes viz. distillery waste, sugar industry effluent, fruit processing waste and curd whey waste. Results have shown that highest biomass and biosurfactant yields were obtained in curd whey followed by distillery waste, fruit processing waste and sugar industry effluent by all the four isolates. The surface tension of the fermented wastes reduced from an initial range of 56-60 mN/m to 27-39 mN/m. The fermented wastes showed good emulsification property and the emulsification index (E24) obtained was ...
International Journal of Researches in Biosciences and Agriculture Technology
The ability of the biosurfactant producing Kocuria turfanesis to mineralize monocrotophos was inv... more The ability of the biosurfactant producing Kocuria turfanesis to mineralize monocrotophos was investigated through an experimental set up using different treatments of soil with carrier based bioaugmentation package of egg shell coated with biosurfactant and biosurfactant producing microbial isolates BS-J cells. Dual capabilities of biosurfactant production and degradation of monocrotophos are the two main attributes of strain BS-J which was isolated from lube oil and distillery spent wash contaminated soil collected from a distillery unit. On the basis of the cellular morphology, physiological and chemotaxonomic characteristics and phylogenetic similarity of 16S rDNA gene sequences, the strain BS-J was identified as a Kocuria turfanesis. Present study has shown that degradation of monocrotophos in contaminated soil was facilitated after using carrier based bioaugmentation package of egg shell coated with biosurfactant producing microbial isolate BS-J cells and its biosurfactant resulted 86-89 % degradation of monocrotophos after 7-days of treatment. Without biosurfactant producing microbial cells the degradation of pesticide was comparatively lower indicating the need of live biosurfactant producing microbial cells and their surfactants for efficient degradation of pesticide. Results indicate that Kocuria turfanesis strain BS-J has great potential utility for the bioremediation of soil contaminated with monocrotophos.
Journal of Petroleum & Environmental Biotechnology, 2013
In the present study, combinations of Distillery Waste (DW) with other industrial wastes viz. cur... more In the present study, combinations of Distillery Waste (DW) with other industrial wastes viz. curd Whey Waste (WW), Fruit Processing Waste (FPW) and Sugar Industry Effluent (SIE) were evaluated to replace the use of water that was reported earlier for biosurfactant production from 1: 3 diluted distillery waste by using four new bacterial cultures BS-A, BS-J, BS-K and BS-P, isolated from soil collected from a distillery unit. These isolates have the potential to produce biosurfactant from these individual wastes and in their combinations. Highest biomass and biosurfactant yields with higher reduction in the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), total sugars, nitrogen and phosphate levels were obtained in 1:1:1 proportion of DW+WW+FPW followed by DW+WW+ SIE and individual wastes. The combinations of wastes improved the yields of biosurfactants by 18-41% and reduced COD of the combined wastes by 76-84.2%. Total sugars, nitrogen and phosphate levels reduced in the range of 79-86%, 58-71% and 45-59%, respectively. Among the four microbial isolates tested, BS-J and BS-P were the efficient biosurfactant producers and were identified as Kocuria turfanesis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa based on the 16S rDNA sequence and phylogenetic analyses. Benefits derived by using combined distillery waste with other wastes are improved production of biosurfactant as resource and saving precious water and the costly nutrients with concomitant reduction in pollution load of the wastes.
An unconventional nutrient medium, distillery spent wash ((1:3) diluted) was used to produce di-r... more An unconventional nutrient medium, distillery spent wash ((1:3) diluted) was used to produce di-rhamnolipid biosurfactant by Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain BS2. This research further assessed the potential of the biosurfactant as a washing agent for metal removal from multimetal contaminated soil (Cr-940 ppm; Pb-900 ppm; Cd-430 ppm; Ni-880 ppm; Cu-480 ppm). Out of the treatments of contaminated soil with tap water and rhamnolipid biosurfactant, the latter was found to be potent in mobilization of metal and decontamination of contaminated soil. Within 36 hours of leaching study, di-rhamnolipid as compared to tap water facilitated 13 folds higher removal of Cr from the heavy metal spiked soil whereas removal of Pb and Cu was 9-10 and 14 folds higher respectively. Leaching of Cd and Ni was 25 folds higher from the spiked soil. This shows that leaching behavior of biosurfactant was different for different metals. The use of wastewater for production of biosurfactant and its effi cient use in metal removal make it a strong applicant for bioremediation.
Surface-active potential of biosurfactants produced cost-effectively in curd whey by Pseudomonas ... more Surface-active potential of biosurfactants produced cost-effectively in curd whey by Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain-PP2 and Kocuria turfanesis strain-J were tested using parameters viz. surface tension (ST) reduction, F(CMC) (highest dilution factor to reach critical micelle concentration) and emulsification index (EI-24) of pesticides; monocrotophos and imidacloprid at extreme environmental conditions. Results have shown that ST reduction of biosurfactants was stable at pH 2-11. High F(CMC) of the biosurfactant in the fermented whey at low pH improved emulsification of pesticides. ST marginally increased at 5% and 15% NaCl, resulting in high EI-24 and F(CMC). Over a range of temperatures 30-121 °C, ST remained low with a higher F(CMC) and EI-24 at 60 °C than at 121 and 30 °C. The biosurfactants have shown differences in their surface-active property and have marked specificity to emulsify pesticides in extreme environmental conditions.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain BS2 has been demonstrated to have an ability to produce potent bios... more Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain BS2 has been demonstrated to have an ability to produce potent biosurfactant, an ecofriendly substitute to synthetic surfactants from distillery and whey wastes and capable of reducing the pollution load of these wastes in the range of 85-90%. To determine the basis for future identification of the genes responsible for biosurfactant production from wastes, studies on the presence of plasmid if any, its profile and role in biosurfactant production were performed. Suitable plasmid screening technique was selected because strain BS2 produced excessive slime in Luria Burnetti broth, which interfered with the migration and detection of plasmid. Among the several methods, alkaline lysis method was the most suitable which aided in recovery of slime-free cell lysate and resulted in the formation of a discrete band of plasmid in agarose gel. Plasmid profile study demonstrated that plasmid had high molecular weight of 32.08×10 6 Da and possessed the genetic determinants for antibiotics (chloramphenicol, tetracycline and sulphonamide) and heavy metal salt (mercuric chloride) resistance and were used as markers in curing experiment. To determine the role of megaplasmid in biosurfactant production, curing of megaplasmid was performed at highest sublethal doses of acridine orange (100 g/ml) and mitomycin-C (15 g/ml). Results indicated that only mitomycin-C treatment resulted in 28% of cell population which turned sensitive towards marker antibiotics and heavy metal salt due to loss of megaplasmid, which was further confirmed by agarose gel electrophoresis. Comparative analysis of biosurfactant production potential of cured cells with that of wild cells in both the wastes showed that the cured cells had similar potential capability of biosurfactant production as of wild strain which illustrates that genes responsible for biosurfactant production in distillery and whey wastes utilizing strain BS2 were not plasmid borne but resided on the chromosome where they are more stable.
World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology, 2001
Biosurfactant production from synthetic medium and industrial waste, viz. distillery and whey was... more Biosurfactant production from synthetic medium and industrial waste, viz. distillery and whey wastes was investigated by using an oily sludge isolate Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain BS2. In synthetic medium separately supplemented with glucose and hexadecane as ...
International Journal of Researches in Biosciences and Agriculture Technology
The ability of the biosurfactant producing Kocuria turfanesis to mineralize monocrotophos was inv... more The ability of the biosurfactant producing Kocuria turfanesis to mineralize monocrotophos was investigated through an experimental set up using different treatments of soil with carrier based bioaugmentation package of egg shell coated with biosurfactant and biosurfactant producing microbial isolates BS-J cells. Dual capabilities of biosurfactant production and degradation of monocrotophos are the two main attributes of strain BS-J which was isolated from lube oil and distillery spent wash contaminated soil collected from a distillery unit. On the basis of the cellular morphology, physiological and chemotaxonomic characteristics and phylogenetic similarity of 16S rDNA gene sequences, the strain BS-J was identified as a Kocuria turfanesis. Present study has shown that degradation of monocrotophos in contaminated soil was facilitated after using carrier based bioaugmentation package of egg shell coated with biosurfactant producing microbial isolate BS-J cells and its biosurfactant resulted 86-89 % degradation of monocrotophos after 7-days of treatment. Without biosurfactant producing microbial cells the degradation of pesticide was comparatively lower indicating the need of live biosurfactant producing microbial cells and their surfactants for efficient degradation of pesticide. Results indicate that Kocuria turfanesis strain BS-J has great potential utility for the bioremediation of soil contaminated with monocrotophos.
In the present study, combinations of Distillery Waste (DW) with other industrial wastes viz. cur... more In the present study, combinations of Distillery Waste (DW) with other industrial wastes viz. curd Whey Waste (WW), Fruit Processing Waste (FPW) and Sugar Industry Effluent (SIE) were evaluated to replace the use of water that was reported earlier for biosurfactant production from 1: 3 diluted distillery waste by using four new bacterial cultures BS-A, BS-J, BS-K and BS-P, isolated from soil collected from a distillery unit. These isolates have the potential to produce biosurfactant from these individual wastes and in their combinations. Highest biomass and biosurfactant yields with higher reduction in the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), total sugars, nitrogen and phosphate levels were obtained in 1:1:1 proportion of DW+WW+FPW followed by DW+WW+ SIE and individual wastes. The combinations of wastes improved the yields of biosurfactants by 18-41% and reduced COD of the combined wastes by 76-84.2%. Total sugars, nitrogen and phosphate levels reduced in the range of 79-86%, 58-71% and 45-59%, respectively. Among the four microbial isolates tested, BS-J and BS-P were the efficient biosurfactant producers and were identified as Kocuria turfanesis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa based on the 16S rDNA sequence and phylogenetic analyses. Benefits derived by using combined distillery waste with other wastes are improved production of biosurfactant as resource and saving precious water and the costly nutrients with concomitant reduction in pollution load of the wastes.
MDR cases of tuberculosis are increasing and they are difficult to treat. This study was conducte... more MDR cases of tuberculosis are increasing and they are difficult to treat. This study was conducted to assess prevalence of drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Study comprises of 67 sputum specimen received for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) culture. Culture was done in Middlebrook broth using BacT Alert 3D automated culture system. The study period was from Dec 2018 to Nov 2019. Out of these MTB was grown in 31 (46.27%) cases. The first line sensitivity testing was done in liquid culture media (BacT Alert3D) against Isonizid, Rifampicin, Ethambutol, Streptomycin. Isonizid and Rifampicin resistance was seen in 3 (9.68%) cases. Only Isonizid resistance was seen in 9 (29.03%) cases. This indicates that multidrug resistance is present to the tune of 9.68 % while monoresistance to isonizid is more common in 29.03%. Monoresistance to rifampicin was not observed. Resistance to ethambutol and streptomycin was not observed in the present study. The advantage of doing Drug suscep...
The bioremediation of chromium-contaminated soil by a rhamnolipid biosurfactant produced by Pseud... more The bioremediation of chromium-contaminated soil by a rhamnolipid biosurfactant produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain BS2 has been explored through column studies using uncontaminated soil spiked with toxic concentrations of heavy metals i.e. 1000 mg/kg chromium. Results on removal of chromium from the spiked soil by using di-rhamnolipid and tap water have shown a high potential of di-rhamnolipid in mobilization and decontamination of contaminated soil. Within 36 h of the leaching study, di-rhamnolipid facilitated the removal of chromium 10-13-fold compared to tap water. These results indicated that the specificity of this biosurfactant towards chromium was very high and 92% removal of chromium was observed. Hence, di-rhamnolipid selectively favours mobilization of chromium from contaminated soil. Biosurfactant specificity observed towards a specific metal will help the preferential elution of a specific contaminant using di-rhamnolipid. Leachates collected from chromium-spiked soil column treated with di-rhamnolipid solution had a lower pH (6.60-6.78) than leachates from heavy metal-spiked soil column treated with tap water (pH 6.90-7.25), which showed high dissolution of metal species from the spiked soil, and effective leaching of metals.
Methods used for biosurfactant recovery include solvent extraction, precipitation, crystallizatio... more Methods used for biosurfactant recovery include solvent extraction, precipitation, crystallization, centrifugation and foam fractionation. These methods cannot be used when distillery wastewater (DW) is used as the nutrient medium for biosurfactant production by Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain BS2, because recovery of biosurfactant by any of these methods imparts color to the biosurfactant. The biosurfactant has a nonaesthetic appearance with lowered surface active properties. These methods cannot be used for continuous recovery of biosurfactant during cultivation. Hence, a new downstream technique for biosurfactant recovery from fermented DW comprised of adsorption-desorption processes using wood-based activated carbon (WAC) was developed. This study involves batch experiments to standardize the factors affecting the rate of biosurfactant adsorption onto WAC. WAC was the most efficient adsorbent among various ones tested (i.e., silica gel, activated alumina and zeolite). The WAC (1% w v-1), equilibrium time (90 min), pH range of 5-10 and temperature of 40°C were optimum to achieve 99.5% adsorption efficiency. Adsorption kinetics and intraparticle diffusion studies revealed the involvement of both boundary layer diffusion and intraparticle diffusion. The Langmuir adsorption isotherm of WAC indicated the formation of a monolayer coverage of the biosurfactant over a homogeneous carbon surface, while the Freundlich isotherm showed high adsorption at strong solute concentrations and low adsorption at dilute solute concentrations. WAC concentration of 4% w v-1 facilitated complete removal of the biosurfactant from collapsed foam (contained 5-fold higher concentration of biosurfactant than was present in fermented DW). Biosurfactant adsorption was of chemisorption type. Acetone (polar solvent) was a specific viable eluant screened among various ones tested because it selectively facilitated maximum recovery, i.e., 89% biosurfactant from WAC. By acetone treatment, complete regeneration of WAC was feasible and WAC can be reused for biosurfactant recovery up to 3 cycles. The recovered biosurfactant showed improved surface-active property (i.e., much lower critical micelle concentration value of 0.013 verses 0.028 mg mL-1 for biosurfactant recovered by classical methods). The reuse potential of WAC was assessed and results suggest that the carbon can be reused for three consecutive cycles for biosurfactant adsorption from fermented wastewater without any decrease in adsorption efficiency. Thus, this process forms a basis for continuous recovery of biosurfactant from fermented DW and concentrated foam. This process reduces the use of high cost solvent, avoids end product inhibition and minimizes product degradation.
This research focuses on column experiments conducted to evaluate the potential of environmentall... more This research focuses on column experiments conducted to evaluate the potential of environmentally compatible rhamnolipid biosurfactant produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain BS2 to remove heavy metals (Cd and Pb) from artificially contaminated soil. Results have shown that di-rhamnolipid removes not only the leachable or available fraction of Cd and Pb but also the bound metals as compared to tap water which removed the mobile fraction only. Washing of contaminated soil with tap water revealed that approximately 2.7% of Cd and 9.8% of Pb in contaminated soil was in freely available or weakly bound forms whereas washing with rhamnolipid removed 92% of Cd and 88% of Pb after 36 h of leaching. This indicated that di-rhamnolipid selectively favours mobilization of metals in the order of Cd>Pb. Biosurfactant specificity observed towards specific metal will help in preferential elution of specific contaminant using di-rhamnolipid. It was further observed that pH of the leachates collected from heavy metal contaminated soil column treated with di-rhamnolipid solution was low (6.60-6.78) as compared to that of leachates from heavy metal contaminated soil column treated with tap water (pH 6.90-7.25), which showed high dissolution of metal species from the contaminated soil and effective leaching of metals with treatment with biosurfactant. The microbial population of the contaminated soil was increased after removal of metals by biosurfactant indicating the decrease of toxicity of metals to soil microflora. This study shows that biosurfactant technology can be an effective and nondestructive method for bioremediation of cadmium and lead contaminated soil.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain BS2 has been demonstrated to have an ability to produce potent bios... more Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain BS2 has been demonstrated to have an ability to produce potent biosurfactant, an ecofriendly substitute to synthetic surfactants from distillery and whey wastes and capable of reducing the pollution load of these wastes in the range of 85-90%. To determine the basis for future identification of the genes responsible for biosurfactant production from wastes, studies on the presence of plasmid if any, its profile and role in biosurfactant production were performed. Suitable plasmid screening technique was selected because strain BS2 produced excessive slime in Luria Burnetti broth, which interfered with the migration and detection of plasmid. Among the several methods, alkaline lysis method was the most suitable which aided in recovery of slime-free cell lysate and resulted in the formation of a discrete band of plasmid in agarose gel. Plasmid profile study demonstrated that plasmid had high molecular weight of 32.08×10 6 Da and possessed the genetic dete...
The bioremediation of chromium-contaminated soil by a rhamnolipid biosurfactant produced by Pseud... more The bioremediation of chromium-contaminated soil by a rhamnolipid biosurfactant produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain BS2 has been explored through column studies using uncontaminated soil spiked with toxic concentrations of heavy metals i.e. 1000 mg/kg chromium. Results on removal of chromium from the spiked soil by using di-rhamnolipid and tap water have shown a high potential of di-rhamnolipid in mobilization and decontamination of contaminated soil. Within 36 h of the leaching study, di-rhamnolipid facilitated the removal of chromium 10-13-fold compared to tap water. These results indicated that the specificity of this biosurfactant towards chromium was very high and 92% removal of chromium was observed. Hence, di-rhamnolipid selectively favours mobilization of chromium from contaminated soil. Biosurfactant specificity observed towards a specific metal will help the preferential elution of a specific contaminant using di-rhamnolipid. Leachates collected from chromium-spiked ...
Present work presents utilization of industrial wastes such as distillery spent wash, curd whey, ... more Present work presents utilization of industrial wastes such as distillery spent wash, curd whey, fruit pro- cessing waste and sugar industry effluent for cost-effective production of biosurfactant by four new microbial isolates designated as BS-A, BS-J, BS-K and BS-P isolated from soil sample contaminated with lube oil and distillery spent wash) collected from a distillery unit. These isolates have the potential to produce biosurfactant from mineral salt medium and also from individual wastes viz. distillery waste, sugar industry effluent, fruit processing waste and curd whey waste. Results have shown that highest biomass and biosurfactant yields were obtained in curd whey followed by distillery waste, fruit processing waste and sugar industry effluent by all the four isolates. The surface tension of the fermented wastes reduced from an initial range of 56-60 mN/m to 27-39 mN/m. The fermented wastes showed good emulsification property and the emulsification index (E24) obtained was ...
International Journal of Researches in Biosciences and Agriculture Technology
The ability of the biosurfactant producing Kocuria turfanesis to mineralize monocrotophos was inv... more The ability of the biosurfactant producing Kocuria turfanesis to mineralize monocrotophos was investigated through an experimental set up using different treatments of soil with carrier based bioaugmentation package of egg shell coated with biosurfactant and biosurfactant producing microbial isolates BS-J cells. Dual capabilities of biosurfactant production and degradation of monocrotophos are the two main attributes of strain BS-J which was isolated from lube oil and distillery spent wash contaminated soil collected from a distillery unit. On the basis of the cellular morphology, physiological and chemotaxonomic characteristics and phylogenetic similarity of 16S rDNA gene sequences, the strain BS-J was identified as a Kocuria turfanesis. Present study has shown that degradation of monocrotophos in contaminated soil was facilitated after using carrier based bioaugmentation package of egg shell coated with biosurfactant producing microbial isolate BS-J cells and its biosurfactant resulted 86-89 % degradation of monocrotophos after 7-days of treatment. Without biosurfactant producing microbial cells the degradation of pesticide was comparatively lower indicating the need of live biosurfactant producing microbial cells and their surfactants for efficient degradation of pesticide. Results indicate that Kocuria turfanesis strain BS-J has great potential utility for the bioremediation of soil contaminated with monocrotophos.
Journal of Petroleum & Environmental Biotechnology, 2013
In the present study, combinations of Distillery Waste (DW) with other industrial wastes viz. cur... more In the present study, combinations of Distillery Waste (DW) with other industrial wastes viz. curd Whey Waste (WW), Fruit Processing Waste (FPW) and Sugar Industry Effluent (SIE) were evaluated to replace the use of water that was reported earlier for biosurfactant production from 1: 3 diluted distillery waste by using four new bacterial cultures BS-A, BS-J, BS-K and BS-P, isolated from soil collected from a distillery unit. These isolates have the potential to produce biosurfactant from these individual wastes and in their combinations. Highest biomass and biosurfactant yields with higher reduction in the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), total sugars, nitrogen and phosphate levels were obtained in 1:1:1 proportion of DW+WW+FPW followed by DW+WW+ SIE and individual wastes. The combinations of wastes improved the yields of biosurfactants by 18-41% and reduced COD of the combined wastes by 76-84.2%. Total sugars, nitrogen and phosphate levels reduced in the range of 79-86%, 58-71% and 45-59%, respectively. Among the four microbial isolates tested, BS-J and BS-P were the efficient biosurfactant producers and were identified as Kocuria turfanesis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa based on the 16S rDNA sequence and phylogenetic analyses. Benefits derived by using combined distillery waste with other wastes are improved production of biosurfactant as resource and saving precious water and the costly nutrients with concomitant reduction in pollution load of the wastes.
An unconventional nutrient medium, distillery spent wash ((1:3) diluted) was used to produce di-r... more An unconventional nutrient medium, distillery spent wash ((1:3) diluted) was used to produce di-rhamnolipid biosurfactant by Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain BS2. This research further assessed the potential of the biosurfactant as a washing agent for metal removal from multimetal contaminated soil (Cr-940 ppm; Pb-900 ppm; Cd-430 ppm; Ni-880 ppm; Cu-480 ppm). Out of the treatments of contaminated soil with tap water and rhamnolipid biosurfactant, the latter was found to be potent in mobilization of metal and decontamination of contaminated soil. Within 36 hours of leaching study, di-rhamnolipid as compared to tap water facilitated 13 folds higher removal of Cr from the heavy metal spiked soil whereas removal of Pb and Cu was 9-10 and 14 folds higher respectively. Leaching of Cd and Ni was 25 folds higher from the spiked soil. This shows that leaching behavior of biosurfactant was different for different metals. The use of wastewater for production of biosurfactant and its effi cient use in metal removal make it a strong applicant for bioremediation.
Surface-active potential of biosurfactants produced cost-effectively in curd whey by Pseudomonas ... more Surface-active potential of biosurfactants produced cost-effectively in curd whey by Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain-PP2 and Kocuria turfanesis strain-J were tested using parameters viz. surface tension (ST) reduction, F(CMC) (highest dilution factor to reach critical micelle concentration) and emulsification index (EI-24) of pesticides; monocrotophos and imidacloprid at extreme environmental conditions. Results have shown that ST reduction of biosurfactants was stable at pH 2-11. High F(CMC) of the biosurfactant in the fermented whey at low pH improved emulsification of pesticides. ST marginally increased at 5% and 15% NaCl, resulting in high EI-24 and F(CMC). Over a range of temperatures 30-121 °C, ST remained low with a higher F(CMC) and EI-24 at 60 °C than at 121 and 30 °C. The biosurfactants have shown differences in their surface-active property and have marked specificity to emulsify pesticides in extreme environmental conditions.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain BS2 has been demonstrated to have an ability to produce potent bios... more Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain BS2 has been demonstrated to have an ability to produce potent biosurfactant, an ecofriendly substitute to synthetic surfactants from distillery and whey wastes and capable of reducing the pollution load of these wastes in the range of 85-90%. To determine the basis for future identification of the genes responsible for biosurfactant production from wastes, studies on the presence of plasmid if any, its profile and role in biosurfactant production were performed. Suitable plasmid screening technique was selected because strain BS2 produced excessive slime in Luria Burnetti broth, which interfered with the migration and detection of plasmid. Among the several methods, alkaline lysis method was the most suitable which aided in recovery of slime-free cell lysate and resulted in the formation of a discrete band of plasmid in agarose gel. Plasmid profile study demonstrated that plasmid had high molecular weight of 32.08×10 6 Da and possessed the genetic determinants for antibiotics (chloramphenicol, tetracycline and sulphonamide) and heavy metal salt (mercuric chloride) resistance and were used as markers in curing experiment. To determine the role of megaplasmid in biosurfactant production, curing of megaplasmid was performed at highest sublethal doses of acridine orange (100 g/ml) and mitomycin-C (15 g/ml). Results indicated that only mitomycin-C treatment resulted in 28% of cell population which turned sensitive towards marker antibiotics and heavy metal salt due to loss of megaplasmid, which was further confirmed by agarose gel electrophoresis. Comparative analysis of biosurfactant production potential of cured cells with that of wild cells in both the wastes showed that the cured cells had similar potential capability of biosurfactant production as of wild strain which illustrates that genes responsible for biosurfactant production in distillery and whey wastes utilizing strain BS2 were not plasmid borne but resided on the chromosome where they are more stable.
World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology, 2001
Biosurfactant production from synthetic medium and industrial waste, viz. distillery and whey was... more Biosurfactant production from synthetic medium and industrial waste, viz. distillery and whey wastes was investigated by using an oily sludge isolate Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain BS2. In synthetic medium separately supplemented with glucose and hexadecane as ...
International Journal of Researches in Biosciences and Agriculture Technology
The ability of the biosurfactant producing Kocuria turfanesis to mineralize monocrotophos was inv... more The ability of the biosurfactant producing Kocuria turfanesis to mineralize monocrotophos was investigated through an experimental set up using different treatments of soil with carrier based bioaugmentation package of egg shell coated with biosurfactant and biosurfactant producing microbial isolates BS-J cells. Dual capabilities of biosurfactant production and degradation of monocrotophos are the two main attributes of strain BS-J which was isolated from lube oil and distillery spent wash contaminated soil collected from a distillery unit. On the basis of the cellular morphology, physiological and chemotaxonomic characteristics and phylogenetic similarity of 16S rDNA gene sequences, the strain BS-J was identified as a Kocuria turfanesis. Present study has shown that degradation of monocrotophos in contaminated soil was facilitated after using carrier based bioaugmentation package of egg shell coated with biosurfactant producing microbial isolate BS-J cells and its biosurfactant resulted 86-89 % degradation of monocrotophos after 7-days of treatment. Without biosurfactant producing microbial cells the degradation of pesticide was comparatively lower indicating the need of live biosurfactant producing microbial cells and their surfactants for efficient degradation of pesticide. Results indicate that Kocuria turfanesis strain BS-J has great potential utility for the bioremediation of soil contaminated with monocrotophos.
In the present study, combinations of Distillery Waste (DW) with other industrial wastes viz. cur... more In the present study, combinations of Distillery Waste (DW) with other industrial wastes viz. curd Whey Waste (WW), Fruit Processing Waste (FPW) and Sugar Industry Effluent (SIE) were evaluated to replace the use of water that was reported earlier for biosurfactant production from 1: 3 diluted distillery waste by using four new bacterial cultures BS-A, BS-J, BS-K and BS-P, isolated from soil collected from a distillery unit. These isolates have the potential to produce biosurfactant from these individual wastes and in their combinations. Highest biomass and biosurfactant yields with higher reduction in the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), total sugars, nitrogen and phosphate levels were obtained in 1:1:1 proportion of DW+WW+FPW followed by DW+WW+ SIE and individual wastes. The combinations of wastes improved the yields of biosurfactants by 18-41% and reduced COD of the combined wastes by 76-84.2%. Total sugars, nitrogen and phosphate levels reduced in the range of 79-86%, 58-71% and 45-59%, respectively. Among the four microbial isolates tested, BS-J and BS-P were the efficient biosurfactant producers and were identified as Kocuria turfanesis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa based on the 16S rDNA sequence and phylogenetic analyses. Benefits derived by using combined distillery waste with other wastes are improved production of biosurfactant as resource and saving precious water and the costly nutrients with concomitant reduction in pollution load of the wastes.
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