Studies towards biotechnological applications of Mucor sp. isolated from Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels

• Grant number: 11/09580-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: August 01, 2011
• End date: September 30, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Organic Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Edson Rodrigues Filho
• Grantee: Enzo Monte Canedo
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 15/18692-1 - Studies on the biotechnological potential of Mucor inaequisporus and other mucoralean isolates for value-added products, BE.EP.DD

Abstract

This present PhD project, proposed for the student Enzo Monte Canedo, has as main goal an extensive biotechnological study of Mucor sp., a new fungal strain isolated as a dominant microorganism in Syzygium cumini fruit's microbiot. During his scientific initiation, the student has traced the chemical profile of the microorganism after liquid medium growth and found that it is a great producer of akanes, saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, phenolic compounds, triterpenes and steroids. It has been also verified that this Mucor grows in some carbon sources, like glycerol and xylose, which can be interesting for the biodiesel and polyunsaturated fatty acids production. Furthermore, the microorganism has showed an excellent potential to perform biotransformation reactions. Thus, it is our goal to explore this strain in biotechnological applications, which includes our common research area, as microbial secondary metabolism (using OSMAC's approach), biofuel and polyunsaturated fatty acids production, and biotransformation reactions of endogenous plant secondary metabolites, and including the microbiological profiling of the host plant. This aims to contribute for the complex relationships between endophytes microorganisms and their hosts. This PhD project will involve the development of new LC-MS methodologies in order to identify secondary metabolites after the fungus growth at many liquid media under different environmental conditions, to study biotransformation reactions, to trace the chemical profile of the host plant and to detect fungal metabolites in the host plant. A complete proteome analysis of this Mucor will also be conducted using MALDI-TOF/TOF MS technology. (AU)