Anuradha S. Nerurkar
The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India
Title: Biotechnological applications of Functional Bacterial Amyloid (FuBa) proteins of gram positive bacteria
Biography
Biography: Anuradha S. Nerurkar
Abstract
Functional bacterial amyloids are a group of proteinaceous surface structures that are resistant to many enzymes, chemicals and thermal denaturants. Amyloid formation is hallmark of certain human diseases like Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and Prion diseases. However, in bacteria the amyloids have been found to be biologically functional molecules. Significance of these structures that include fimbriae and other appendages in Gram negative bacteria like E. coli and Psuedomonads have been studied in depth. Biotechnogical applications of amyloid proteins have not been exploited as yet. In our two separate studies Gram positive bacterial amyloid proteins have been found to be associated with interesting biotechnological characteristics. Solibacillus silvestris AM1, an estuarine isolate has been found to produce a bio-emulsifier that emulsifies diverse hydrocarbons. The biochemical characterization of this bio-emulsifier revealed it to be an amyloid protein of 30 kDa subunit which aggregates into fibrils as observed in electron micrographs. Purification and further characterization of this confirmed it to be related to flagellar proteins. In another study amyloid protein producing Sporosarcina sp. CR4 isolated from aeration tank of sewage treatment plant was found to possess flocculating activity. Purification and characterization of this bioflocculant was also carried out. Flocculation activity has been demonstrated to present in the amyloid protein.