Faculty of Applied Sciences
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Item Cloning, expression, characterization and application of cyanase from a thermophilic fungus Thermomyces lanuginosus SSBP(2018) Ranjan, Bibhuti; Singh, Suren; Pillai, Santhosh Kumar Kuttan; Permaul, KugenRapid industrialization and proliferative development of chemical and mining industries have resulted in increased global pollution and environment deterioration, due to the release of numerous toxic substances. This has extreme relevance in the South African context due to the high amount of cyanide used by local mines in comparison to that utilized globally. This has created the need for the development of novel approaches viz., using microbial enzymes for its remediation because of lower process times, lower energy requirements, and their cost-effective, nontoxic and eco-friendly characteristics. From previous work in our lab, the whole genome sequencing and secretome analysis of the industrially-important fungus Thermomyces lanuginosus SSBP revealed the presence of a cyanate hydratase gene and enzyme, respectively. Cyanate hydratase detoxifies cyanate in a bicarbonate-dependent reaction to produce ammonia and carbon dioxide. The cyanate hydratase gene (Tl-Cyn) from this fungus was therefore cloned, overexpressed, purified, characterized and its potential in cyanate detoxification has also been evaluated. The recombinant cyanate hydratase (rTl-Cyn) showed high catalytic efficiency, suggesting that it could be used for bioremediation applications. Though, cyanate hydratase catalyzes the decomposition of cyanate, the requirement of bicarbonate is a major drawback for its effective utilization in large-scale applications. Hence, a novel strategy was developed to limit the bicarbonate requirement in cyanate remediation, by the combinatorial use of two recombinant enzymes viz., cyanate hydratase (rTl-Cyn) and carbonic anhydrase (rTl-CA) from T. lanuginosus. This integrative approach resulted in the complete degradation of cyanate using 80% less bicarbonate, compared to the cyanate hydratase alone. In addition, co-immobilization of these recombinant enzymes onto magnetic nanoparticles and evaluation of their potential in bio-remediation of cyanurated wastes together with their reusability resulted in more than 80% of cyanate detoxification in wastewater samples after 10 cycles. Another novel strategy was also developed for the simultaneous removal of heavy metals and cyanate from synthetic wastewater samples, by immobilizing the rTl-Cyn on magnetic multi- walled carbon nanotubes (m-MWCNT-rTl-Cyn). The m-MWCNT-rTl-Cyn simultaneously reduced the concentration of chromium (Cr), iron (Fe), lead (Pb) and copper (Cu) by 39.31, 35.53, 34.48 and 29.63%, respectively, as well as the concentration of cyanate by ≥85%. The crystal structure of Tl-Cyn in complex with inhibitors malonate or formate at 2.2 Å resolution was solved for the first time to elucidate the molecular mechanism of cyanate hydratase action. This structure enabled the creation of a mutant enzyme with ~1.3-fold enhanced catalytic activity as compared to the wild-type Tl-Cyn. In addition, the active site region of Tl-Cyn was found to be highly conserved among fungal cyanases. Information from the 3D structure could enabled the creation of novel fungal cyanases, which may have potential for biotechnological applications, biotransformation and bioremediation.Item Enhanced production of N-acetyl-d-neuraminic acid by whole-cell bio-catalysis of Escherichia coli(Elsevier, 2016) Zhou, Junbo; Chen, Xianzhong; Lu, Liping; Govender, Algasan; Haiquan, Yang; Shen, WieN-acetyl-d-neuraminic acid (Neu5Ac) has been considerably focused due to its promising potential appli-cations in pharmaceuticals and dairy products. A whole-cell biocatalyst process is an important tool for synthesis of pharmaceutical intermediates and fine chemicals. In this study, a whole cell process using engineered Escherichia coli strain was developed and stepwise optimization was employed for Neu5Ac production. N-acetyl-D-glucosamine 2-epimerase and Neu5Ac aldolase were overexpressed in E. coli individually and the activity ratio was optimized by varying recombinant amounts of cell biomass for syn-thesis of Neu5Ac. Moreover, substrate concentrations and ratio of pyruvate and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (GlcNAc) and detergent concentrations were optimized to increase product synthesis. The resulting process generated 237.4 mM Neu5Ac with a yield of 40.0% mol/mol GlcNAc. Furthermore, transporter pathways involved in Neu5Ac and GlcNAc were engineered and their impact on the Neu5Ac synthesis was evaluated. Using a stepwise optimization, an overall whole-cell biocatalytic process was developed and a maximum titer of 260.0 mM Neu5Ac (80.4 g/L) with a conversion yield of 43.3% from GlcNAc was achieved. The process can be used for industrial large-scale production of Neu5Ac in terms of efficiency and economy.Item Improvement of d-lactate productivity in recombinant Escherichia coli by coupling production with growth(Springer Netherlands, 2012-06) Zhou, Li; Tian, Kang-Ming; Niu, Dan-Dan; Shen, Wei; Shi, Fui-Yang; Singh, Suren; Wang, Zheng-XiangCoupling lactate fermentation with cell growth was investigated in shake-flask and bioreactor cultivation systems by increasing aeration to improve lactate productivity in Escherichia coli CICIM B0013-070 (ackA pta pps pflB dld poxB adhE frdA). In shake-flasks, cells reached 1 g dry wt/l then, cultivated at 100 rpm and 42°C, achieved a twofold higher productivity of lactic acid compared to aerobic and O2-limited two-phase fermentation. The cells in the bioreactor yielded an overall volumetric productivity of 5.5 g/l h and a yield of 86 g lactic acid/100 g glucose which were 66% higher and the same level compared to that of the aerobic and O2-limited two-phase fermentation, respectively, using scaled-up conditions optimized from shake-flask experiments. These results have revealed an approach for improving production of fermentative products in E. coli.Item Fine tuning the transcription of ldhA for D-lactate production(Springer-Verlag, 2012-03-20) Singh, SurenNonlinear ion cyclotron and ion-acoustic waves have been studied in an electron–positron–ion plasma. Using Boltzmann distributions for the electrons and positrons and fluid equations for the ions, a set of nonlinear equations in the rest frame of the propagating wave is derived and numerically solved for the electric field. A scan of parameter space reveals a range of solutions for the parallel electric field, from sinusoidal to sawtooth to highly spiky waveforms. The results are compared with satellite observations.Item Genetically switched D-lactate production in Escherichia coli(Elsevier, 2012-06-08) Singh, SurenDuring a fermentation process, the formation of the desired product during the cell growth phase competes with the biomass for substrates or inhibits cell growth directly, which results in a decrease in production efficiency. A genetic switch is required to precisely separate growth from production and to simplify the fermentation process. The ldhA promoter, which encodes the fermentative d-lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in the lactate producer Escherichia coli CICIM B0013-070 (ack-pta pps pflB dld poxB adhE frdA), was replaced with the λ pR and pL promoters (as a genetic switch) using genomic recombination and the thermo-controllable strain B0013–070B (B0013-070, ldhAp::kan-cIts857-pR–pL), which could produce two-fold higher LDH activity at 42 °C than the B0013-070 strain, was created. When the genetic switch was turned off at 33 °C, strain B0013-070B produced 10% more biomass aerobically than strain B0013-070 and produced only trace levels of lactate which could reduce the growth inhibition caused by oxygen insufficiency in large scale fermentation. However, 42 °C is the most efficient temperature for switching on lactate production. The volumetric productivity of B0013-070B improved by 9% compared to that of strain B0013-070 when it was grown aerobically at 33 °C with a short thermo-induction at 42 °C and then switched to the production phase at 42 °C. In a bioreactor experiment using scaled-up conditions that were optimized in a shake flask experiment, strain B0013-070B produced 122.8 g/l d-lactate with an increased oxygen-limited productivity of 0.89 g/g·h. The results revealed the effectiveness of using a genetic switch to regulate cell growth and the production of a metabolic compound.