Regulation of glucose and protein syntheses by Micrococcus luteus during the fermentation of a Nigerian rice, &lt;i&gt;Oryza sativa&lt;/i&gt; variety “Igbimo”

Bolatito Esther Boboye,Ibiyemi Olufisayo Daramola

doi:10.4236/abb.2011.24035

Regulation of glucose and protein syntheses by Micrococcus luteus during the fermentation of a Nigerian rice, <i>Oryza sativa</i> variety “Igbimo”

Bolatito Esther Boboye, Ibiyemi Olufisayo Daramola

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4236/abb.2011.24035

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Abstract

Micrococcus luteus synthesises glucose and protein during the fermentation of a Nigerian rice. To regulate the formation of these substances, mutation was carried out with an alkylating agent: ethylmethyl sulphonate (EMS). Screening the mutants generated for the levels of the traits expressed, four major groups were obtained. These are poor, moderate, good and super producers of either glucose or protein. They produced the properties at 0 - 1.00, 1.01 to 1.99 (moderate) and 2.0 to 2.99 (good) and 3.0 and above (super) mg.mL–1 of each substance. The classes were made up of 37, 40, 20 and 3 mutants for glucose production and 13, 35, 40 and 12 mutants for protein synthesis. The wild strain bacterium made 0.86 mg.mL–1 glucose and 1.2 mg.mL–1 protein describing the M. luteus as poor glucose maker and moderate protein producer. It was also noticed that the mutation caused some variants (25%) to form more glucose than protein; the remaining 75% of the population are made up of two sets viz: mutants having better ability to synthesise protein at higher concentrations than glucose and those that formed about the same amounts of the substances. It thus follows that the glucose and protein productions in M. luteus are genetically based and can be regulated by genetic manipulation.

Highlights

Rice belonging to the genus Oryza has more than 20 different species out of which very few are cultivated
It was noticed that the mutation caused some variants (25%) to form more glucose than protein; the remaining 75% of the population are made up of two sets viz: mutants having better ability to synthesise protein at higher concentrations than glucose and those that formed about the same amounts of the substances
In order to investigate the genetic basis of synthesizing glucose and protein in rice during natural fermentation, Micrococcus luteus was mutated with ethylmethyl sulphonate (EMS)

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Rice belonging to the genus Oryza has more than 20 different species out of which very few are cultivated. In the sub-Saharan Africa, West Africa leads the producers and consumers of rice. Nigeria ranked highest as both producer and consumer of rice in the sub-Saharan Africa. Boboye and Alabi [16] showed that individual microorganisms isolated during the natural fermentation of the rice carried out specific functions in the synthesis and catabolism of nutrients. In order to investigate the genetic basis of synthesizing glucose and protein in rice during natural fermentation, Micrococcus luteus was mutated with EMS. The mutants were used to ferment rice individually and amounts of glucose and protein produced were assayed. This is important to show whether glucose and protein anabolisms in the bacterium are directly controlled by specific gene(s) or not

Mutation Experiment

Fermentation of Rice with Mutants and

Determination of Glucose and Protein Contents

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION