Abstract
This study presents an individual encapsulation of fungal conidia in an oil-in-water Pickering emulsion at a single-conidium encapsulation yield of 44%. The single-conidium encapsulation yield was characterized by analysis of confocal microscopy micrographs. Mineral oil-in-water emulsions stabilized by amine-functionalized titania dioxide (TiO2-NH2 or titania-NH2) particles were prepared. The structure and the stability of the emulsions were investigated at different compositions by confocal microscopy and a LUMiSizer® respectively. The most stable emulsions with a droplet size suitable for single-conidium encapsulation were further studied for their individual encapsulation capabilities. The yields of individual encapsulation in the emulsions; i.e., the number of conidia that were individually encapsulated out of the total number of conidia, were characterized by confocal microscopy assay. This rapid, easy to use approach to single-conidium encapsulation, which generates a significantly high yield with eco-friendly titania-based emulsions, only requires commonly used emulsification and agitation methods.
Highlights
Encapsulation of living cells at the individual level has recently attracted much attention
We developed a new strategy for singlecell encapsulation of an entomopathogenic fungus M. brunneum Mb7 that used an eco-friendly paraffin oil/water Pickering emulsion stabilized by silica NPs
Different amine functionalized titania content and oil/water ratios were implemented to determine the optimal conditions for a stable Pickering emulsion system that would meet the requirements of single-cell encapsulation
Summary
Encapsulation of living cells at the individual level has recently attracted much attention. Two immiscible liquids can be combined through a process of emulsification by mixing surfactants; i.e., amphiphilic molecules that self-assemble at the liquid-liquid interface and lower the surface tension of the emulsion droplets, or by mixing solid colloidal particles that adsorb droplets at the surface of the emulsion by partially wetting the solid by the two liquids The former is known as classical or conventional emulsion, whereas the latter is labelled a Pickering emulsion (Yaakov et al, 2018), (Li et al, 2017), (van Wijk et al, 2014), (Wei et al, 2016), (Sharkawy et al, 2020). Pickering emulsions were extensively studied in the 20th century Their high colloidal stability and controllable droplet size make them suitable for single-cell encapsulation (Yaakov et al, 2018), (Bashir et al, 2016), (Chen et al, 2015), (Röllig et al, 2019). Desorption into oil is indicated by a plus sign, and desorption into water is shown by a minus sign (Binks and Yin, 2016)
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