Recent advances and discoveries of microbial-based glycolipids: Prospective alternative for remediation activities

Ng YJ 1 , Chan SS 2 , Khoo KS 3 , Munawaroh HSH 4 , Lim HR 5 , Chew KW 6 Show all authors , Ling TC 7 , Saravanan A 8 , Ma Z 9 , Show PL 10

Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Jalan Broga, 43500 Semenyih, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia. Electronic address: ebyyn1@nottingham.edu.my
  • 2 Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Electronic address: s2038616@siswa.um.edu.my
  • 3 Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Yuan Ze University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Centre for Herbal Pharmacology and Environmental Sustainability, Chettinad Hospital and Research Institute, Chettinad Academy of Research and Education, Kelambakkam 603103, Tamil Nadu, India. Electronic address: kuanshiong.khoo@saturn.yzu.edu.tw
  • 4 Chemistry Program, Department of Chemistry Education, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung 40154, West Java, Indonesia. Electronic address: heli@upi.edu
  • 5 Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Jalan Broga, 43500 Semenyih, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
  • 6 School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Nanyang Technological University, 62 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 637459, Singapore. Electronic address: kitwayne.chew@ntu.edu.sg
  • 7 Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Electronic address: tcling@um.edu.my
  • 8 Department of Sustainable Engineering, Institute of Biotechnology, Saveetha School of Engineering, SIMATS Chennai, India
  • 9 Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory for Subtropical Water Environment and Marine Biological Resources Protection, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: mazengling@wzu.edu.cn
  • 10 Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Jalan Broga, 43500 Semenyih, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia; Department of Chemical Engineering, Khalifa University, P.O. Box 127788, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Electronic address: PauLoke.Show@nottingham.edu.my
Biotechnol Adv, 2023 Nov;68:108198.
PMID: 37330152 DOI: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2023.108198

Abstract

Surfactants have always been a prominent chemical that is useful in various sectors (e.g., cleaning agent production industry, textile industry and painting industry). This is due to the special ability of surfactants to reduce surface tension between two fluid surfaces (e.g., water and oil). However, the current society has long omitted the harmful effects of petroleum-based surfactants (e.g., health issues towards humans and reducing cleaning ability of water bodies) due to their usefulness in reducing surface tension. These harmful effects will significantly damage the environment and negatively affect human health. As such, there is an urgency to secure environmentally friendly alternatives such as glycolipids to reduce the effects of these synthetic surfactants. Glycolipids is a biomolecule that shares similar properties with surfactants that are naturally synthesized in the cell of living organisms, glycolipids are amphiphilic in nature and can form micelles when glycolipid molecules clump together, reducing surface tension between two surfaces as how a surfactant molecule is able to achieve. This review paper aims to provide a comprehensive study on the recent advances in bacteria cultivation for glycolipids production and current lab scale applications of glycolipids (e.g., medical and waste bioremediation). Studies have proven that glycolipids are effective anti-microbial agents, subsequently leading to an excellent anti-biofilm forming agent. Heavy metal and hydrocarbon contaminated soil can also be bioremediated via the use of glycolipids. The major hurdle in the commercialization of glycolipid production is that the cultivation stage and downstream extraction stage of the glycolipid production process induces a very high operating cost. This review provides several solutions to overcome this issue for glycolipid production for the commercialization of glycolipids (e.g., developing new cultivating and extraction techniques, using waste as cultivation medium for microbes and identifying new strains for glycolipid production). The contribution of this review aims to serve as a future guideline for researchers that are dealing with glycolipid biosurfactants by providing an in-depth review on the recent advances of glycolipid biosurfactants. By summarizing the points discussed as above, it is recommended that glycolipids can substitute synthetic surfactants as an environmentally friendly alternative.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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