Enhanced Reactive Blue 4 Biodegradation Performance of Newly Isolated white rot fungus Antrodia P5 by the Synergistic Effect of Herbal Extraction Residue

In this study, a white rot fungus Antrodia was newly isolated and named P5. Then its dye biodegradation ability was investigated. Our results showed that P5 could effectively degrade 1,000 mg/L Reactive Blue 4 (RB4) in 24 h with 95% decolorization under shaking conditions. It could tolerate a high dye concentration of 2,500 mg/L as well as 10% salt concentration and a wide range of pH values (4–9). Herbal extraction residues (HER) were screened as additional medium elements for P5 biodegradation. Following the addition of Fructus Gardeniae (FG) extraction residue, the biodegradation performance of P5 was significantly enhanced, achieving 92% decolorization in 12 h. Transcriptome analysis showed that the expression of multiple peroxidase genes was simultaneously increased: Lignin Peroxidase, Manganese Peroxidase, Laccase, and Dye Decolorization Peroxidase. The maximum increase in Lignin Peroxidase reached 10.22-fold in the presence of FG. The results of UV scanning and LC-HRMS showed that with the synergistic effect of FG, P5 could remarkably accelerate the biodegradation process of RB4 intermediates. Moreover, the fungal treatment with FG also promoted the abatement of RB4 toxicity. In sum, white rot fungus and herbal extraction residue were combined and used in the treatment of anthraquinone dye. This could be applied in practical contexts to realize an efficient and eco-friendly strategy for industrial dye wastewater treatment.

Agarose-Chitosan Based Hydrogel Waveguide Matrix: Comparison Synthesis and Performance for Optical Leaky Waveguide (OLW) Biosensor

In this work, a hydrogel-based optical leaky waveguide (OLW) biosensor was developed to detect biomolecules using changes in refractive index (Dn). Hydrogels formed from chitosan and agarose were synthesised to be used as a waveguiding thin film in OLW biosensor. The concentration and thickness of the hydrogels defined by the spin coater speeds and time were optimised to produce a device chip with a single waveguide moded operation of OLW biosensor. The cladding layer was fabricated using 9.5nm titanium coated glass substrate for metal-clad (MCLW) and addition of dye particles (reactive blue 4) for dye-clad (DCLW) format. For the performance of the fabricated device for detection of Dn of a glycerol solution, the highest sensitivity of detection was obtained from MCLW chip made of 2% w/v of chitosan-agarose hydrogel spun at 6000 rpm with LOD: 4.28 x 10–6 RIU, while for DCLW format, the LOD measured at 7.46 x 10–6 RIU. The performance of the device to monitor the protein (bovine serum albumin; BSA and anti-BSA) interaction, the binding affinity in respect of change in peak angle (DӨ°) of chitosan matrix to the protein was measured at DӨ°~(6.2 ± 0.5°)x10–6.