BACKGROUND Recent incidents, such as the SARS and influenza epidemics, have highlighted the need for readily available antiviral drugs. One important precursor currently used for the production of Relenza, an antiviral product from GlaxoSmithKline, is N-acetylneuraminic acid (NeuNAc). This substance has a considerably high market price despite efforts to develop cost-reducing (biotechnological)...

Halophilic archaea, also referred to as haloarchaea, dominate hypersaline environments. To survive under such extreme conditions, haloarchaea and their enzymes have evolved to function optimally in environments with high salt concentrations and, sometimes, with extreme pH and temperatures. These features make haloarchaea attractive sources of a wide variety of biotechnological products, such as...

Xylanases are hydrolytic enzymes produced by different microorganisms which convert xylooligomers to its constituent xylose units. The growing interests in xylanase production could be linked to its diverse industrial applications. The use of agricultural residues contributed in overcoming one of the major challenges of enzyme production, which is the production cost. This study involves the us...

Kombucha, one of the ordinary fermented beverages consumed worldwide, is produced by fermenting tea and sugar with a symbiotic culture bacteria yeasts or so-called SCOBY. Kombucha can be made from different types tea, such as black, green, white, red, oolong teas, yielding various health benefits properties. Several species are involved in fermentation process, which generates many beneficial c...

The enzymatic response of a natural deep-sea microbial community to input of organic matter was investigated by substrate enrichment experiments. Sediments from the BIOTRANS area at 47"N 20°W in the NE Atlantic (4500 m depth) were supplied with particulate and dissolved organic matter from stenhzed net plankton and incubated under in situ pressure and temperature. Changes in the potential hydro...

A histochemical study of hydrolytic enzymes such as acid phosphatase and beta-glucuronidase was made on cultured brain tumor cells. Well-differentiated astrocytic cells, oligodendroglioma cells, and medulloblastoma cells showed low activities. Migrating cells and macrophage-like cells showed intense activities. Meningioma cells and schwannoma cells showed relatively intense activities at the ea...

The ocean is considered to be a great reservoir of biodiversity. Microbial communities in marine environments are ecologically relevant as intermediaries of energy, and play an important role in nutrient regeneration cycles as decomposers of dead and decaying organic matter. In this sense, marine-derived fungi can be considered as a source of enzymes of industrial and/or environmental interest....

Aspergillus oryzae koji plays a crucial role in fermented food products due to the hydrolytic activities of secreted enzymes. In the present study, we performed a comparative secretome analysis of the industrial strain of Aspergillus oryzae 3.042 and its spontaneous mutantZJGS-LZ-21. One hundred and fifty two (152) differential protein spots were excised (p<0.05), and 25 proteins were identifie...