Lipases are the most versatile industrial enzymes and are known to bring about a range of bioconversion reactions. This compendium throws light on the developments in the field of fermentation of lipases and their scale up. Recently, interests have been shown on solid-state fermentation of lipases in order to facilitate the use of low cost agricultural wastes as substrates. Whole cell immobiliz...

A new cytochrome P450 monooxygenase, FcpC, from Streptomyces virginiae IBL-14 has been identified. This enzyme is found to be responsible for the bioconversion of a pyrano-spiro steroid (diosgenone) to a rare nuatigenin-type spiro steroid (isonuatigenone), which is a novel C-25-hydroxylated diosgenone derivative. A whole-cell P450 system was developed for the production of isonuatigenone via th...

Coclaurine N-methyltransferase from Coptis japonica catalyzes the N-methylation of coclaurine as well as simple tetrahydroisoquinoline. We examined the possibility of converting 6,7-dimethoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline into its N-methylated product using transgenic Escherichia coli, which expressed recombinant coclaurine N-methyltransferase, without the addition of a methyl-group donor. Tra...

Several aspects concerning the bioconversion of xylose-containing hydrolysates (obtained from Eucalyptus wood) into xylitol were assessed. Debaryomyces hansenii yeast strains were adapted to fermentation media (obtained either by prehydrolysis or autohydrolysis-posthydrolysis of wood) supplemented with low-cost nutrients. Media containing up to 80 g/L xylose were efficiently fermented when the ...

We demonstrate a general approach for metabolic engineering of biocatalytic systems comprising the uses of a chemostat for strain improvement and radioisotopic tracers for the quantification of pathway fluxes. Flux determination allows the identification of target pathways for modification as validated by subsequent overexpression of the corresponding gene. We demonstrate this method in the ind...

Ethambutol (EMB), the first line drug in the treatment of tuberculosis, is an inhibitor of the biosynthesis of the cell wall compound - arabinogalactan. It was found that EMB at sub-inhibitory concentration increases the permeability of the M. vaccae cell wall, which was monitored by cell sensitization to erythromycin and rifampicin. The high permeability of the cell wall to hydrophobic compoun...

The potential of microalgae for steroid transformation has been studied less than other microorganisms. They have been applied for the years in the treatment of environmental pollutions and preparation of nutrients. At the first time, Abul-Hajj and Qian indicated the conversion of androstendione (AD) to testosterone with eleven different strains of microalgae. Previtera’s group showed the trans...

Lignin is one of the most abundant biomasses in nature. It is composed of aromatic moieties and has great potential for use in the production of chemical alternatives to petroleum products. Because of increasing interest in biocatalysis, the potential for industrial application of microbial metabolism of lignin-derived compounds has gained considerable recent attention. Functional screenings of...

Hydrogen may be considered a potential fuel for the future since it is carbon-free and oxidized to water as a combustion product. Bioconversion of synthesis gas (syngas) to hydrogen was demonstrated in continuous stirred tank bioreactor (CSTBR) utilizing acetate as a carbon source. An anaerobic photosynthetic bacterium, Rhodospirillum rubrum catalyzed water-gas shift reaction which was applied ...

10 Astaxanthin is the dominant carotenoid pigment found in the marine copepod, Tigriopus 11 californicus (Baker), giving these animals orange-red coloration. Like all metazoans, T. 12 californicus must convert carotene or hydroxy-carotenoids present in their algal diet to 13 astaxanthin. Other astaxanthin-pigmented crustaceans have been shown to use a precursor14 specific bioconversion pathway ...