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The increasing emergence of antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria and fungi is driving the need to increase the production of current antibiotics and produce novel antimicrobial compounds. This study worked to increase the production of cycloheximide and streptomycin antibiotics by co-culturing Streptomyces griseus with other industrially important microbes. 1-3 industrial challenge microbes at a time were added to a culture of S. griseus and allowed to grow for one week in shake flask cultures before harvesting and quantifying antibiotic production. Fifteen different industrial challenge microbes placed in 35 different combinations were used in the study and 17 of these combinations were found to significantly increase antibiotic production after analysis with ANOVA. Antibiotic production was confirmed using bioautograms. Three of the successful different co-cultures were then subjected to a study to see when industrial challenge microbe addition was optimal. Results suggest that the optimal time to add the challenge microbes was 1-3 days following the original S. griseus inoculation. Dead challenge microbes were also added to a culture of S. griseus and it was found that these significantly increased cycloheximide as much as the live co-cultures did. / Department of Biology

Retrograded starches are commonly found in foods due to the production and/or processing conditions they have received prior to consumption. These resistant starches escape digestion in the small intestine and are fermented in the colon by the microflora present, to produce gases and SCFA in varying amounts. These are utilised by the host animal as an energy source, with a low gut pH being maintained by the production of SCFA. The fermentation of carbohydrates within the colon is beneficial to the health of the gut, as the beneficial bacterial species such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium spp. are maintained, and a low pH reduces the activity of potentially harmful species such as the coliforms. The production of toxic metabolites from the breakdown of proteins will be reduced if these resistant starches persist further along the colon as a carbohydrate source. This is particularly important in the distal region of the colon, where the carbohydrate source usually becomes limited. The fermentation of both native and retrograded starches from various botanical sources containing varying amounts of the major components amylose and amylopectin, was examined. In particular, the effects on bacterial fermentation of variations in the ratios of amylose and amylopectin in starch, and of treatments such as retrogradation and/or pancreatin digestion was examined.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science. 2014. / Sugar cane bagasse and switch grass were used to investigate their potential in the remediation (decreasing metal ion concentration and increasing pH) of Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) and the possibility that the AMD residue sludge containing cellulose could be further hydrolysed using a commercial cellulase enzyme system to produce glucose for bioprocesses. In general both the feedstocks series appeared to increase pH and reduce dissolved iron concentration after being incubated with AMD for a period of 14 weeks at room temperature. The milled switch grass was shown to have a greater remediating effect on AMD, raising the pH from 2.11 to 5.46, and decreasing iron concentration from 500mg/l to 174mg/l, a decrease of 62%. The sugar cane bagasse was shown to have the least remedial effect, increasing pH from 2.11 to 2.38, and only reducing iron concentration by 30%. The 2‐5cm switch grass raised the pH from 2.11 to 3.86, and the iron concentration was reduced from 500mg/l to 283mg/l, a 42% reduction. The milled grass series was chosen for further enzymatic hydrolysis. The milling reduced the size of the switch grass and destroyed the cell structure making it more accessible to AMD treatment. This also allowed the enzyme in the hydrolysis to penetrate to the fibres and reach the sugar oligomers. The sludge of the AMD treated switch grass was incubated with cellulases enzymes for 24 hours at 50oC, producing glucose concentration of up to 4,86mg/ml.

Thesis (MTech (Food Technology))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / This study focused on alcoholic fermented fruit beverages that were produced from various types of fruit, value addition and thus potentially increasing the diversity of commercially available fruit wines. Non-grape alcoholic fermented fruit beverages is a complex mixture of water, alcohol, and other components, that are either initially present in the fruit, or are formed during the fermentation process. The evaluation of wine and similar fermented products quality is important for manufacturers and consumers. The routine analysis of alcoholic fermented fruit beverages acts as an important tool that is useful for wine classification, quality control and sensory evaluation. Therefore, the aims of this study were (1) to measure methanol, ethanol, titratable acidity, objective colour, total soluble solids and sensory profile as a function of yeast strain and percentage pulp in order to adapt existing technologies toward producing new fermented fruit beverage products using plums, an under-utilized agricultural produce; and (2) to measure methanol, ethanol, titratable acidity, objective colour, total soluble solids and sensory profile as a function of yeast strain, pulp percentage and sugar levels in order to adapt existing technologies toward producing new fermented fruit beverages based on red and white wine styles, while applying the technology developed in the first part of the study using red-fleshed plums, blueberries and blackberries. The independent variables (ID) were yeast strains (1) Saccharomyces cerevisiae VIN13, (2) Saccharomyces cerevisiae NT116, and (3) Saccharomyces bayanus N96, with formulations containing percentage pulp concentrations at (40%, 50% and 60%). The dependent variables (DV) constituted key quality parameters for white and red wine style, namely methanol, ethanol, titratable acidity, objective colour, total soluble solids, pH and sensory profile were measured. The optimal combination of independent variables was ascertained and in terms of the overall consumer response, for the red-fleshed plum beverage sample treatment N 96, 60% pulp showed the highest preference amongst consumers. In terms of the other dependent variables, namely methanol, ethanol, titratable acidity, objective colour, total soluble solids, pH and sensory profiles of alcoholic fermented fruit beverages based on white and red wine styles. The processing conditions developed and applied in this study towards the development of alcoholic fermented beverages utilizing plums and selected berries demonstrated ways of improving the utilization of fruit commodities by developing niche products. Hence, the development of alcoholic fermented beverages utilizing (plums and selected berries) showed potential for micro agro-industries, as well as the impact on its potential role in employment creation and income generation.

by Kwok-wai Lo. / Thesis (M.Ph.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1987. / Bibliography: leaves 183-194.

Current research efforts are focused on 'second generation biofuels', which includes biofuels produced from lignocellulosic material. Lignocellulosic material is primarily composed of cellulose, a glucose polymer, xylose rich hemicellulose and non-fermentable lignin. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is widely used on an industrial scale for the production of ethanol from glucose; however, native S. cerevisiae does not contain the genes required for fermentation of xylose into ethanol. Others have sequentially expressed trans-genes from xylose fermenting organisms to engineer strains of S. cerevisiae capable of fermenting this pentose. The goal of this thesis was to generate a single cassette of 9 genes which have been shown to ferment xylose and arabinose. The 17 kb DNA fragment harboring all the genes necessary was introduced into the yeast genome using one-step homologous recombination based transformation. Expression of this cassette was verified by demonstrating that the first and last genes on this cassette were transcribed. The modified strain exhibited xylose utilization under microaerobic fermentation conditions. Further genetic and process engineering methods may be employed to improve the yield. The experiments described here demonstrate that generating a functional cassette of pentose fermenting genes is still achievable.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:31:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2012-02-17Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:19:52Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 mirandajunior_m_dr_araiq.pdf: 884289 bytes, checksum: 19e1ba1c563a31b9cb660f1d7028b16c (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A principal meta deste trabalho foi a de realizar estudos com leveduras industriais brasileiras utilizadas em usinas, na tentativa de viabilizar o emprego da Tecnologia de Fermentação de Mostos com Altos Teores de Açúcares Fermentecíveis, na produção de etanol combustível. Inicialmente, foram realizados experimentos para obtenção de informações relativas as linhagens, na fermentação de sacarose, maltose e glicose, em meios contendo uma base nitrogenada e suplementado com fontes de nitrogênio com diferentes complexidades estruturais. Os estudos mostraram que as linhagens industriais apresentam diferentes perfis de crescimento nos meios suplementados com diferentes fontes de nitrogênio, que variaram de um simples sal de amônio, a um hidrolisado ácido de proteínas (casaminoácidos) e hidrolisado enzimático de proteínas (peptona). Entretanto, a maior capacidade de acúmulo de biomassa pode não ter um reflexo direto na capacidade de utilização de açúcares e a consequente produção de etanol pelas leveduras industriais. Além da natureza estrutural da fonte de nitrogênio e do tipo de açúcar, a presença do oxigênio, em maior quantidade nos cultivos agitados, interferiu sobremaneira no desempenho fermentativo das leveduras industriais, e até no acúmulo de trealose. No geral, foi a suplementação com peptona que propiciou maior produção de biomassa, preservação da viabilidade celular e consumo mais eficiente da fonte de carbono, em cultivos agitados e não agitados. Os estudos com alta densidade celular tiveram como objetivo definir condições experimentais para a condução da Fermentação de Mosto com Altos Teores de Açúcares Fermentescíveis, e que pudessem propiciar ao final do processo a completa utilização da sacarose, associada á preservação da viabilidade... / In this work studies with Brazilian yeast for ethanol production were conducted in order to verify the possibility of utilization of brazilian yeasts for ethanol production in an industrial process known as Very High Gravity Sucrose Fermentation Technology, to produce wine with high ethanol contends. This technology has the advantage to reduce production costs by increasing fermentation yields. Initially, studies were conducted with sucrose, maltose and glucose fermetation in medium containing YNB, supplemented with a nitrogen source varying from a single ammonium salt (ammonium sulfate) to free amino acids (casamino acids) and peptides (peptone). Data suggest that yeast strains vary in their response to nitrogen source complex structure, kind of sugar and to oxygen availabity. In general, under peptone supplementation all strains, in shaking and static conditions, showed higher biomass accumulation, efficient sugar utilization and yeast viability was preserved. Sugar utilization by industrial strains not always was directly correlated with higher biomass accumulation. Trehalose accumulation was also influenced by the structural complexity of nitrogen sources, the kind of sugar and the presence of oxygen. Studies with high cell density were conducted to define experimental parameters for Very High Gravity Sucrose Fermentation, in order to induce at the end of process full sugar exhaustion together cell viability preservation. Complete sucrose utilization was detected only in media with 22 and 25% (w/v) sucrose. In the presence of higher sucrose contends (30% (w/v)), total sucrose exhaustion was obtained in a sugar cane based medium, supplemented with 2% (w/v) peptone. The results described in this thesis suggest that industrial yeasts show differing nitrogen demand, and the utilization of Very High Gravity Sucrose Fermentation technology could be carried only after finding the appropriated nutritional and fermentation conditions