Amandeep Brar

Bio: Amandeep Brar is an academic researcher from Central University of Rajasthan. The author has contributed to research in topics: Bioenergy & Biomass. The author has an hindex of 8, co-authored 12 publications receiving 201 citations.

Chitinases—Potential Candidates for Enhanced Plant Resistance towards Fungal Pathogens

Abstract: Crop cultivation is crucial for the existence of human beings, as it fulfills our nutritional requirements. Crops and other plants are always at a high risk of being attacked by phytopathogens, especially pathogenic fungi. Although plants have a well-developed defense system, it can be compromised during pathogen attack. Chitinases can enhance the plant’s defense system as they act on chitin, a major component of the cell wall of pathogenic fungi, and render the fungi inactive without any negative impact on the plants. Along with strengthening plant defense mechanisms, chitinases also improve plant growth and yield. Chitinases in combination with recombinant technology can be a promising tool for improving plant resistance to fungal diseases. The applicability of chitinase-derived oligomeric products of chitin further augment chitinase prospecting to enhance plant defense and growth.

Photoautotrophic microorganisms and bioremediation of industrial effluents: current status and future prospects

Abstract: Growth of the industrial sector, a result of population explosion has become the root cause of environmental deterioration and has raised the concerns for efficient wastewater management and reuse. Photoautotrophic cultivation of microorganisms is a boon and considered as a potential biological treatment for remediation of wastewater as it sequesters CO2 during growth. Photoautotrophs viz. cyanobacteria, micro-algae and macro-algae can photosynthetically assimilate the excessive pollutants present in the wastewater. The present review emphasizes on the achievability of microorganisms to bestow wastewater as the nutrient source for biomass production, which can further be reused for feed, food and fertilizers. To support this, various case studies have been cited that prove phycoremediation as a cost-effective and sustainable process over conventional wastewater treatment processes that requires high chemical load and more energy inputs.

Phycoremediation of textile effluent-contaminated water bodies employing microalgae: nutrient sequestration and biomass production studies

Abstract: Combinatorial process development for rationalized recycling of nutrients employing microalgae may provide realistic solutions to both environment management and energy generation. The present study was performed to investigate nutrient recycling potential of microalgal strains viz. Anabaena ambigua, Chlorella pyrenoidosa and Scenedesmus abundans in terms of biomass productivity and specific growth rate using textile wastewater as a nutrient source at different dilutions (25, 50, 75, 100%). Biomass production kinetics revealed that alga could grow even up to 100% textile wastewater. Comparative phycoremediation potential was evaluated for 25 days employing 75% textile wastewater under batch conditions. The microalgal species were observed to effectively reduce the chloride, nitrate and phosphate concentrations up to 61%, 74.43% and 70.79%, respectively. Maximum chemical oxygen demand reduction efficiency was observed employing S. abundans (< 85%). Spectral analysis revealed potentiality of applying microalgae for textile wastewater remediation and also provided insight into the possible mechanism involved.

A critical review on advances in the practices and perspectives for the treatment of dye industry wastewater.

Abstract: Rapid industrialization has provided comforts to mankind but has also impacted the environment harmfully. There has been severe increase in the pollution due to several industries, in particular due to dye industry, which generate huge quantities of wastewater containing hazardous chemicals. Although tremendous developments have taken place for the treatment and management of such wastewater through chemical or biological processes, there is an emerging shift in the approach, with focus shifting on resource recovery from such wastewater and also their management in sustainable manner. This review article aims to present and discuss the most advanced and state-of-art technical and scientific developments about the treatment of dye industry wastewater, which include advanced oxidation process, membrane filtration technique, microbial technologies, bio-electrochemical degradation, photocatalytic degradation, etc. Among these technologies, microbial degradation seems highly promising for resource recovery and sustainability and has been discussed in detail as a promising approach. This paper also covers the challenges and future perspectives in this field.

Enzymatic Modifications of Chitin, Chitosan, and Chitooligosaccharides.

Abstract: Chitin and its N-deacetylated derivative chitosan are two biological polymers that have found numerous applications in recent years, but their further deployment suffers from limitations in obtaining a defined structure of the polymers using traditional conversion methods. The disadvantages of the currently used industrial methods of chitosan manufacturing and the increasing demand for a broad range of novel chitosan oligosaccharides (COS) with a fully defined architecture increase interest in chitin and chitosan-modifying enzymes. Enzymes such as chitinases, chitosanases, chitin deacetylases, and recently discovered lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases had attracted considerable interest in recent years. These proteins are already useful tools toward the biotechnological transformation of chitin into chitosan and chitooligosaccharides, especially when a controlled non-degradative and well-defined process is required. This review describes traditional and novel enzymatic methods of modification of chitin and its derivatives. Recent advances in chitin processing, discovery of increasing number of new, well-characterized enzymes and development of genetic engineering methods result in rapid expansion of the field. Enzymatic modification of chitin and chitosan may soon become competitive to conventional conversion methods.