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<p align="left">The popularization and health benefits associated with the &ldquo / Mediterranean diet&rdquo / saw a world wide increase in the production and consumption of processed olives and olive oil. During the brining of table olives large quantities of processed olive waste water is seasonally generated. This blackish-brown, malodours liquid is rich in organic and phenolic compounds, which cause environmental problems upon discarding. Currently, processed wastewater is discarded into large evaporation ponds where it poses serious environmental risks. The biodegradation of organic substrates present in the olive wastewater is inhibited by the high concentrations of phenolic compounds. <font face="Times New Roman">In order to identify organisms which could potentially be used in the bioremediation of olive wastewater, 36 microbial strains were isolated from evaporation ponds in the Boland region of South Africa. Twenty five isolates were capable of growth on 50% olive wastewater and their bioremediation potential as well as their ability to produce valuable intermediate compounds were subsequently characterized. Based on the RPHPLC results, which showed that a number of chemical intermediates were produced in fermentation of olive wastewater, isolate AS-35 was selected for further analysis. Strain AS-35, identified as a </font><font face="Times New Roman"><em>Bacillus megaterium,</em> </font><font face="Times New Roman">was significantly influenced by the exposure to olive waste. The total cellular protein profile, generation time and cellular morphology of this isolate were dramatically affected by the introduction of olive waste. <font face="Times New Roman">This study investigated the differential gene display of </font><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><em>Bacillus megaterium</em></font> </font><font face="Times New Roman">following exposure to olive wastewater. Proteomic and transcriptomic differences of the organism cultured in nutrient rich LB and olive wastewater were compared. These results indicated that AS-35 expressed genes involved in glycolysis, tryptophan and nucleotide synthesis as well as the chaperones GroEL and DnaK during its growth in LB. In contrast, genes induced following the abolishment of glucose dependent catabolite repression, genes involved in biotin synthesis and ß / -oxidation of fatty or organic acids as well as a gene whose expression is regulated by stress induced s</font><font face="Times New Roman" size="1">B</font><font face="Times New Roman">-dependent regulon were expressed during olive waste growth.</font></font></p>
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| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uwc/oai:UWC_ETD:http%3A%2F%2Fetd.uwc.ac.za%2Findex.php%3Fmodule%3Detd%26action%3Dviewtitle%26id%3Dinit_7443_1174656493 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Van Schalkwyk, Antoinette |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Theses and Dissertations |
| Format | |
| Coverage | ZA |
| Rights | Copyright: University of the Western Cape |
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