In our modern world, biotechnology products play important roles not only in our health and culture, but also various industries such as food, agriculture, sewage treatment, biofuels, nutraceuticals, and pharmaceuticals. Rapid technological advances in biotechnology over the last few decades have allowed industrial integration of mammalian cells (like the Chinese hamster ovary cells) and algae cells in pharmaceutical and biofuel industries to produce commercial products and valuable biomolecules. However, the cost of cell harvest and recovery can become expensive depending on the harvesting technique, degree of purification, and intended use of the end-products.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe discovery of multi-species synchronous spawning of scleractinian corals on the Great Barrier Reef in the 1980s stimulated an extraordinary effort to document spawning times in other parts of the globe. Unfortunately, most of these data remain unpublished which limits our understanding of regional and global reproductive patterns. The Coral Spawning Database (CSD) collates much of these disparate data into a single place.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThird generation biofuels, also known as microalgal biofuels, are promising alternatives to fossil fuels. One attractive option is microalgal biodiesel as a replacement for diesel fuel. Chlamydomonas sp.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this work, the extraction of microalgal protein from wet Chlorella sorokiniana species using alcohol/salt liquid biphasic flotation (LBF) with the aid of ultrasonication for cell rupturing was proposed. The effect of varying crude feedstock concentration, flotation time, salt type, salt concentration, alcohol type, alcohol concentration, initial volumes of salt and alcohol were investigated. After the optimization process, the highest proportion of protein recovered in the top phase was achieved with 250g/L ammonium sulphate, 60% (v/v) 2-propanol, 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFish meal is currently the major protein source for commercial aquaculture feed. Due to its unstable supply and increasing price, fish meal is becoming more expensive and its availability is expected to face significant challenges in the near future. Therefore, feasible alternatives to fish meal are urgently required.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicroalgae have caught the world's attention for its potential to solve one of the world's most pressing issues-sustainable green energy. Compared to biofuels supplied by oil palm, rapeseed, soybean and sugar cane, microalgae alone can be manipulated to generate larger amounts of biodiesel, bioethanol, biohydrogen and biomass in a shorter time. Apart from higher productivity, microalgae can also grow using brackish water on non-arable land, greatly reducing the competition with food and cash crops.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrobial lipases are popular biocatalysts due to their ability to catalyse diverse reactions such as hydrolysis, esterification, and acidolysis. Lipases function efficiently on various substrates in aqueous and non-aqueous media. Lipases are chemo-, regio-, and enantio-specific, and are useful in various industries, including those manufacturing food, detergents, and pharmaceuticals.
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