Bacteria as reagents

Surfactants are used to permeabilise or lyse the cells to recover the product. E. coli cells can be made permeable to facilitate extraction by biosurfactants (Singh et al., 2007). Biosurfactants can be used as reagents for membrane permeabilisation for proteins (Desai and Banat, 1997). Recently Bhadoriyaet al. (2013) described role ofbiosiufactants producing bacteria in development of pharmaceutical additives and its use in solubility enhancement of poorly soluble drugs. Antimicrobial activity and anti-adhesive properties of biosurfactants are also greatly used in pharmaceutical industries. 

To identify the specific aldehyde that is actually involved in the light-emitting reaction of living luminous bacteria, Shimomura et al. (1974a) extracted and purified the aldehyde from 40 g each of the bacterial cells of P. phosphoreum, Achromobacter (Vibrio or Photobacterium) fischeri, and an aldehydeless mutant of A. fischeri. The aldehyde fractions were purified, and then oxidized with Tollens reagent (silver oxide dissolved in ammonia) to convert the CHO group into the COOH group. Then the acids obtained were analyzed by mass spectrometry. The results indicated that P. phosphoreum had contained a mixture of aldehydes dodecanal (5%), tetradecanal (63%) and hexadecanal (30%), as shown in Table 2.2. Thus, tetradecanal was clearly predominant in... 

A variety of particles have been utilized in flow cytometric phagocytosis assays, including latex microspheres (7,8,12), bacteria (10,13,16), zymosan (9,13), and baker s yeast (11). Most of these particles are commercially available as fluorescent reagents. However, microorganisms may also be directly fluoro-chrome-conjugated (see Notes 1 and 2). 

The adapted bacteria, so obtained, then function as rapid-acting, specific reagents for metabolizing such compounds. The technique has the following advantages ... 

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