Biomedical subjects

G K Suraishkumar

Publications and source records attributed to G K Suraishkumar.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2007

Responses of the photosynthetic machinery of Spirulina maxima to induced reactive oxygen species.

The photosynthetic machinery of Spirulina maxima was studied when subjected to induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) to examine the organism's responses to stress. Significant decreases in both photosynthetic efficiency and growth rate were observed. Exposure to 0.01 mmol H(2)O(2)/(g cell), which induced the lowest specific intracellular ROS level (siROS) led to a 15% decrease in specific growth rate; an increase in siROS by 70-fold led to a 25% decrease in specific growth rate. Similarly, siROS induced by 0.01 mmol H(2)O(2)/(g cell) led to 15% inhibition in photosynthetic efficiency, while an increase in siROS by 40- or 70-fold led to about 60% inhibition in photosynthetic efficiency. To further understand the effects of induced ROS on photosynthetic machinery, we performed a detailed pigmentation analysis as well as analyzed Phycobilisomes (PBS), Photosystem II (PSII), and Photosystem I (PSI), the three important components of cyanobacterial photosynthetic apparatus. We found carotenoids (beta-carotene and lutein) to be most sensitive to siROS. Also, specific levels of phycocyanin and allophycocyanin, which are important PBS pigments, decreased significantly in response to H(2)O(2). Further, electron transport assays revealed that ROS cause damage primarily to PSII, whereas they do not significantly affect PSI in comparison; siROS induced by 0.01 mmol H(2)O(2)/(g cell) led to a 15% inhibition of PSII, and increase in siROS by 9-, 40-, and 70-fold led to 22%, 36%, and 46% inhibition, respectively.

Carotenoids↗

PubMed2006

Kinetic modeling for the biosorption of copper by pretreated Aspergillus niger biomass.

In this present work, a kinetic model for biosorption of copper was developed considering the possibility of different forms of functional groups being present on the surface of the biomass prepared from Aspergillus niger. Results showed that metal uptake by A. niger was a mass transfer driven process, requiring only 30min to achieve 70% adsorption efficiency. Copper sorption by A. niger was influenced by the biomass dose, initial metal ion concentration, and pH of the solution. The Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms were used to describe the behavior of the system at different pH. The retention capacity of the biomass was determined at pH 6.0 to be equal to 23.62mg/g of biomass. The pretreatment with formalin improved the uptake of metal ion.

Adsorption↗

PubMed2006

Reactive oxygen species induced by shear stress mediate cell death in Bacillus subtilis.

Exposure of Bacillus subtilis to a shear rate of 1,482/s leads to a rapid loss of cell viability after 10 h of growth. Biochemical and molecular evidences provided below strongly suggest that cell death under high shear results from an apoptosis-like process similar to that described in eukaryotes, with activation of a caspase-3-like protease (C(3)LP) followed by DNA fragmentation. Shear stress leads to an increase in specific intracellular reactive oxygen species (siROS), possibly through activation of NADH oxidase (NOX). The formation of siROS precedes the activation of C(3)LP and DNA fragmentation, thus establishing siROS as the molecular link between shear stress and apoptosis-like cell death. A model is proposed in which NOX is viewed as being strategically placed on the plasma membrane of B. subtilis that senses and converts a mechanical force arising from shear stress into a chemical signal leading to activation of C(3)LP, DNA fragmentation, and thus, apoptosis-like cell death.

Apoptosis↗

PubMed2005

Multi-objective optimization in Aspergillus niger fermentation for selective product enhancement.

A multi-objective optimization formulation that reflects the multi-substrate optimization in a multi-product fermentation is proposed in this work. This formulation includes the application of epsilon-constraint to generate the trade-off solution for the enhancement of one selective product in a multi-product fermentation, with simultaneous minimization of the other product within a threshold limit. The formulation has been applied to the fed-batch fermentation of Aspergillus niger that produces a number of enzymes during the course of fermentation, and of these, catalase and protease enzyme expression have been chosen as the enzymes of interest. Also, this proposed formulation has been applied in the environment of three control variables, i.e. the feed rates of sucrose, nitrogen source and oxygen and a set of trade-off solutions have been generated to develop the pareto-optimal curve. We have developed and experimentally evaluated the optimal control profiles for multiple substrate feed additions in the fed-batch fermentation of A. niger to maximize catalase expression along with protease expression within a threshold limit and vice versa. An increase of about 70% final catalase and 31% final protease compared to conventional fed-batch cultivation were obtained. Novel methods of oxygen supply through liquid-phase H2O2 addition have been used with a view to overcome limitations of aeration due to high gas-liquid transport resistance. The multi-objective optimization problem involved linearly appearing control variables and the decision space is constrained by state and end point constraints. The proposed multi-objective optimization is solved by differential evolution algorithm, a relatively superior population-based stochastic optimization strategy.

Aspergillus niger↗

PubMed2004

Intracellular reactive oxygen species mediate suppression of sporulation in Bacillus subtilis under shear stress.

Sporulation is an important cellular response to stress that is also significant from a bioreactor operation viewpoint. While sporulating organisms are known to show an enhanced sporulation response under several stress situations, the sporulation response to shear stress has not been investigated thus far. Such a study could be of interest since shear stress, to a greater or lesser degree, is always present in bioreactor operation. In this article, we investigate the sporulation extents of the Gram-positive bacteria Bacillus subtilis at various defined shear levels. We show that, contrary to expectations, shear inhibits sporulation. We found an inverse correlation between the shear rate-dependent specific intracellular reactive oxygen species level (siROS), and the sporulation extent. A 10-fold increase in siROS resulted in about 17-fold decrease in sporulation extent. The involvement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in sporulation was unknown thus far. Further, through experiments that specifically increased and reduced intracellular ROS (iROS), we established that siROS is responsible for the inhibition of sporulation under shear stress. In addition, we found that shear induced siROS regulated the expression levels of the general stress proteins Ctc and sigma(B). Based on the above, we hypothesize that siROS may regulate suppression of sporulation under high shear by altering sigma(B) and Ctc expression levels, and a model for the same is presented.

Bacillus subtilis↗

PubMed2003

Induced reactive oxygen species improve enzyme production from Aspergillus niger cultivation.

Intracellular reactive oxygen species (iROS) induction by HOCl was used as a novel strategy to improve enzyme productivities in Aspergillus niger growing in a bioreactor. With induced iROS, the specific intracellular activities of alpha-amylase, protease, catalase, and glucose oxidase were increased by about 170%, 250%, 320%, and 260%, respectively. The optimum specific iROS level for achieving maximum cell concentration and enzyme production was about 15 mmol g cell-1. The type of iROS inducing the enzyme production was identified to be a derivative of the superoxide radical.

Aspergillus niger↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Productivity improvement in xanthan gum fermentation using multiple substrate optimization.

A novel and more comprehensive formulation of the optimal control problem that reflects the operational requirements of a typical industrial fermentation has been proposed in this work. This formulation has been applied to a fed-batch bioreactor with three control variables, i.e., feed rates of carbon source, nitrogen source, and an oxygen source, to result in a 148.7% increase in product formation. Xanthan gum production using Xanthomonas campestris has been used as the model system for this optimization study, and the liquid-phase oxygen supply strategy has been used to supply oxygen to the fermentation. The formulated optimization problem has several constraints associated with it due to the nature of the system. A robust stochastic technique, differential evolution, has been used to solve this challenging optimization problem. The infinite dimensional optimization problem has been approximated to a finite dimensional one by control vector parametrization. The state constraints that are path constraints have been addressed by using penalty functions and by integrating them over the total duration to ensure a feasible solution. End point constraints on final working volume of the reactor and on the final residual concentrations of carbon and nitrogen sources have been included in the problem formulation. Further, the toxicity of the oxygen source, H(2)O(2), has been addressed by imposing a constraint on its maximum usable concentration. In addition, the initial volume of the bioreactor contents and feed concentrations have been handled as decision variables, which has enabled a well-grounded choice for their values from the optimization procedure; adhoc values are normally used in the industry. All results obtained by simulation have been validated experimentally with good agreements between experimental and simulated values.

Algorithms↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Macro-level and genetic-level responses of Bacillus subtilis to shear stress.

Responses of bacterial (Bacillus subtilis) cells under different shear levels, from both the macro and genetic viewpoints, have been presented. The responses were studied using a novel, couette flow bioreactor (CFB), in which the entire cultivation can be performed under defined shear conditions. Oxygen supply, the normal limiting factor for entire cultivations under defined shear conditions, has been achieved by passing air through a poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) membrane fixed on the inner cylinder of the CFB. More importantly, analyses of the oxygen transfer capabilities as well as the shear rates show that in this CFB, the effects of defined shear can be studied without interference from the effects of oxygen supply. Further, the shake flask can be used as a proper control for studying the shear effects, mainly because the shear rate in the shake flask under normal shaker operating conditions of 190 rpm has been estimated to be a negligible 0.028 s(-1) compared to a value of 445 s(-1) at the lowest rpm employed in the CFB. At the macro level the cell size decreased by almost 50% at 1482 s(-1) compared to that at 0.028 s(-1), the growth rate increased by 245%, and the maximum cell concentration increased by 190% when the shear rate was increased from 0.028 to 1482 s(-1). The specific intracellular catalase level increased by 335% and protease by 87% at 1482 s(-1) as compared to the control cultures at a shear rate 0.028 s(-1). In addition, the specific intracellular reactive oxygen species level (siROS) at the highest shear rate was 9.3-fold compared to the control conditions. At the genetic level we have established the involvement of the transcription factor, sigma(B), in the bacterial responses to shear stress, which was unknown in the literature thus far; the sigma(B) expression correlated inversely with the siROS. Further, through experiments with ROS quenchers, we showed that ROS regulated sigma(B) expression under shear.

Adaptation, Physiological↗