Importance Of Microbes

Microbes are single-cell organisms that play an important role in various ecological processes (27). Xylose/Glucose isomerase is an important industrial enzyme which is being used for the conversion of glucose into fructose for decades and obtained from Escherichia coli DH5α. Xylose isomerase (E.C. 5.3.1.5) is an intracellular enzyme, encoded by gene xyl-A. It is an enzymes used in the metabolism of xylose. In an in vivo process xylose is converted into xylulose, it is phosphorylated and shifted to the pentose-phosphate pathway. On the other hand, in an in vitro process it isomerizes the D-glucose to D-frutose. Mostly mesophilic organisms are used to isolate the most industrially used xylose isomerases (XIs) (e.g. Actinoplanesspp and Streptomyces

The membrane is responsible for creating a barrier that separates the cell contents for the extracellular environment. While the animal cells only have a cell membrane, the plant cells have an additional rigid barrier; the cell wall. Bacterial cell walls consist of peptidoglycan, surrounded by an outer layer of mannan (carbohydrate) rich glycoprotein, whereas, plant cell walls are comprised of several layers of cellulose. The outer layers or barriers are what determine the shape of the cells. Due to the presence of an extra rigid outer layer, plant cells are particularly harder to disrupt both mechanically and chemically, while due to the lack of an extra cell wall, animal cells are easier to

Along with these disadvantages, it has been seen that the traditional physical disruption methods are not encouraging for high output and smaller volumes that are distinctive of modern laboratory research. However, in recent years, the use of chemical lysis method (mainly detergent based) have become common.

Using practical testing, by trial and error, various detergent based solutions have been developed that comprise of specific kinds and concentrations of detergents, buffers, salts and reducing agents, to yield the highest potential of results for a particular species and type of cells. Detergents have both lysing and solubilizing effects (3).

Thus, while selecting the method for cell disruption, the researcher must take into consideration the origin of the cells/ tissues that is to be examined and the natural ease of disruption of the outer layer of the cell (whether cell wall in plants or the cell membrane in animals). In addition, the technique to be used should be compatible with the amount of the processing material and the planned downstream applications