Production and harvesting of microalgae for wastewater treatment, biofuels, and bioproducts

Ionic liquids are remarkable chemical compounds, which find applications in many areas of modern science. Because of their highly tunable nature and exceptional properties, ionic liquids have become essential players in the fields of synthesis and catalysis, extraction, electrochemistry, analytics, biotechnology, etc. Apart from physical and chemical features of ionic liquids, their high biological activity has been attracting significant attention from biochemists, ecologists, and medical scientists. This Review is dedicated to biological activities of ionic liquids, with a special emphasis on their potential employment in pharmaceutics and medicine. The accumulated data on the biological activity of ionic liquids, including their antimicrobial and cytotoxic properties, are discussed in view of possible applications in drug synthesis and drug delivery systems. Dedicated attention is given to a novel active pharmaceutical ingredient-ionic liquid (API-IL) concept, which suggests using traditional drugs in ...

Biological Activity of Ionic Liquids and Their Application in Pharmaceutics and Medicine.

Ionic liquids were initially proposed as replacements for conventional organic solvents; however, their chemistry has developed remarkably and offers unexpected opportunities in numerous fields, ranging from electrochemistry to biology As a consequence of ionic liquids advancing towards potential and actual applications, a comprehensive determination of their environmental, health and safety impact is now required This critical review aims to present an overview of the current understanding of the toxicity and environmental impact of the principal ionic liquid groups, and highlights some emerging concerns Each cation type is considered separately, examining the significance of the biological data, and identifying the most critical questions, some yet unresolved The need for more, and more detailed, studies is highlighted (176 references)

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Ionic Liquids: A Pathway to Environmental Acceptability

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC) are compounds that alter the normal functioning of the endocrine system of both wildlife and humans. A huge number of chemicals have been identified as endocrine disruptors, among them several pesticides. Pesticides are used to kill unwanted organisms in crops, public areas, homes and gardens, and parasites in medicine. Human are exposed to pesticides due to their occupations or through dietary and environmental exposure (water, soil, air). For several years, there have been enquiries about the impact of environmental factors on the occurrence of human pathologies. This paper reviews the current knowledge of the potential impacts of endocrine disruptor pesticides on human health.

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00878623/document

Effect of endocrine disruptor pesticides: a review.

http://www.materias.unq.edu.ar/bq02/temas/Bibliografia%20Monografias%20Turno%20Manana%20-%20Enhanced%20CO2%20fixation%20and%20biofuel%20production%20via%20microalgae.%20recent%20developments%20and%20future%20directions.pdf

Enhanced CO2 fixation and biofuel production via microalgae: recent developments and future directions

Cultured phototrophic biofilms for phosphorus removal in wastewater treatment.

https://www.itqb.unl.pt/~imartins/Petkovic_etal_2009.pdf

Exploring fungal activity in the presence of ionic liquids

Effects of atrazine and endosulfan sulphate on the ecdysteroid system of Daphnia magna.

Embryo-toxic effects of environmental concentrations of chlorpyrifos on the crustacean Daphnia magna.

Trehalose accumulation is a common cell defense strategy against a variety of stressful conditions. In particular, our team detected high levels of trehalose in Propionibacterium freudenreichii in response to acid stress, a result that led to the idea that endowing Lactococcus lactis with the capacity to synthesize trehalose could improve the acid tolerance of this organism. To this end, we took advantage of the endogenous genes involved in the trehalose catabolic pathway of L. lactis, i.e., trePP and pgmB, encoding trehalose 6-phosphate phosphorylase and β-phosphoglucomutase, respectively, which enabled the synthesis of trehalose 6-phosphate. Given that L. lactis lacks trehalose 6-phosphate phosphatase, the respective gene, otsB, from the food-grade organism P. freudenreichii was used to provide the required activity. The trehalose yield was approximately 15% in resting cells and in mid-exponential-phase cells grown without pH control. The intracellular concentration of trehalose reached maximal values of approximately 170 mM, but at least 67% of the trehalose produced was found in the growth medium. The viability of mutant and control strains was examined after exposure to heat, cold or acid shock, and freeze-drying. The trehalose-producing strains showed improved tolerance (5- to 10-fold-higher survivability) to acid (pH 3) and cold shock (4°C); there was also a strong improvement in cell survival in response to heat shock (45°C), and no protection was rendered against dehydration. The insight provided by this work may help the design of food-grade strains optimized for the dairy industry as well as for oral drug delivery.

Andreas Bohn

Papers

Cultured phototrophic biofilms for phosphorus removal in wastewater treatment.

Exploring fungal activity in the presence of ionic liquids

Effects of atrazine and endosulfan sulphate on the ecdysteroid system of Daphnia magna.

Embryo-toxic effects of environmental concentrations of chlorpyrifos on the crustacean Daphnia magna.

Engineering Trehalose Synthesis in Lactococcus lactis for Improved Stress Tolerance