Date: 1.8.2011
Surfactants, which are wetting agents that lower a liquid's surface tension, have a long list of uses, from detergents and cosmetics to paints and pesticides. Most surfactants are petroleum-based. But in Peoria, Ill., a team of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists has focused their attention on sophorolipids, surfactant-like molecules produced by naturally occurring yeasts.
As expected, C. bombicola and C. apicola boasted the highest sophorolipid yields. They weren't the only ones, though: The team's analysis also turned up three other high-producing yeasts, including a new Candida species.
The findings add to a short list of candidate yeasts with potential use in fermentation-based methods of mass-producing the sophorolipids as green alternatives to petroleum-derived surfactants.
More on:
Gate2Biotech - Biotechnology Portal - All Czech Biotechnology information in one place.
ISSN 1802-2685
This website is maintained by: CREOS CZ
© 2006 - 2024 South Bohemian Agency for Support to Innovative Enterprising (JAIP)
Interesting biotechnology content:
Biotechnology projects - Plant biotechnology, Animal biotechnology, environmetal, ..
Biotech dictionary - Useful biotech dictionary
Using bacteriophage-derived lysin to target odor-causing bacteria in armpits
Meet pAblo·pCasso: A new leap in CRISPR technologies for next-gen genome engineering