Flocculent activity of a recombinant protein from Moringa oleifera Lam. seeds.

M Broin, C Santaella, S Cuine, K Kokou, G Peltier, T Joët

CEA/Cadarache, Direction des Sciences du Vivant, Département d'Ecophysiologie Végétale et Microbiologie, Laboratoire d'Ecophysiologie de la Photosynthèse, UMR 163 CNRS CEA, Univ-Méditerranée CEA 1000, 13108 Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, France.

Applied microbiology and biotechnology 2002 Oct

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Seeds of the tropical tree Moringa oleifera contain small storage proteins able to flocculate particles in suspension in water. The cDNA encoding one of these flocculent proteins, MO(2.1), was cloned and the recombinant protein was expressed in Escherichia coli. The flocculent activity of the purified recombinant MO(2.1)was assayed on clays and bacteria using light and confocal microscopy and GFP-overexpressing bacteria. We show that MO(2.1)is able to aggregate montmorillonite clay particles as well as gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. We discuss the use of recombinant proteins to study flocculating properties and improve water purification processes.

Citation

M Broin, C Santaella, S Cuine, K Kokou, G Peltier, T Joët. Flocculent activity of a recombinant protein from Moringa oleifera Lam. seeds. Applied microbiology and biotechnology. 2002 Oct;60(1-2):114-9