Cerato-Platanins from Marine Fungi as Effective Protein Biosurfactants and Bioemulsifiers.

ABSTRACT: Two fungal strains, Aspergillus terreus MUT 271 and Trichoderma harzianum MUT 290, isolated from a Mediterranean marine site chronically pervaded by oil spills, can use crude oil as sole carbon source. Herein, these strains were investigated as producers of biosurfactants, apt to solubilize organic molecules as a preliminary step to metabolize them. Both fungi secreted low molecular weight proteins identified as cerato-platanins, small, conserved, hydrophobic proteins, included among the fungal surface-active proteins. Both proteins were able to stabilize emulsions, and their capacity was comparable to that of other biosurfactant proteins and to commercially available surfactants. Moreover, the cerato-platanin from T. harzianum was able to lower the surface tension value to a larger extent

SUBMITTER: Pitocchi R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7215997 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature