Ebru Toksoy Oner

Marmara University · Department of Bio-Engineering

Sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) fruits are prone to quality and quantity loss in shelf-life conditions and cold storage due to their short post-harvest life. Until now efforts have been made to extend the shelf life of the sweet cherry. However, an efficient and commercially scalable process remains elusive. To contribute to this challenge, here in...

Halophilic organisms are a novel attractive option as cell factories for the production of industrially valuable bioproducts. Halomonas elongata is the cell factory of choice for ectoine production, but its levan production has not been well researched. Based on this scientific motivation, in this study, we evaluated the chemical and biological pro...

A new exopolysaccharide (EPS) producing Gram-positive bacterium was isolated from the rhizosphere of Bouteloua dactyloides (buffalo grass) and its EPS product was structurally characterized. The isolate, designated as LB1-1A, was identified as Bacillus paralicheniformis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence and phylogenetic tree analysis. The EPS produce...

The rhizosphere context of inulin-accumulating plants, such as Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus), is an ideal starting basis for the discovery of inulolytic enzymes with potential for bio fructose production. We isolated a Glutamicibacter mishrai NJAU-1 strain from this context, showing exo-inulinase activity, releasing fructose from fruct...

A combined strategy of computational, protein engineering and cross-linked enzyme aggregates (CLEAs) approaches was performed on Bacillus lehensis G1 maltogenic amylase (Mag1) to investigate the preferred amino acids and orientation of the cross-linker in constructing stable and efficient biocatalyst. From the computational analysis, Mag1 exhibited...

Halomonas smyrnensis AAD6T is a moderately halophilic bacterium proven to be a powerful biotechnological tool with its ability to accumulate valuable biopolymers such as levan and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB). Levan is a fructose homopolymer with β-2,6 fructofuranosidic linkages on the polymer backbone, and its distinctive applications in various...

Parageobacillus thermantarcticus strain M1 is a Gram-positive, motile, facultative anaerobic, spore forming, and thermophilic bacterium, isolated from geothermal soil of the crater of Mount Melbourne (74°22′ S, 164°40′ E) during the Italian Antarctic Expedition occurred in Austral summer 1986–1987. Strain M1 demonstrated great biotechnological and...

Carbohydrates such as fructans are naturally derived molecules that can be implemented in priming or defence stimulation, providing new strategies for crop protection against biotic stress. Chicory is a model plant for fructan research and a crop with many known health benefits. Using the chicory-Botrytis cinerea pathosystem, we tested the effectiv...

In the burgeoning demand for optimization of cheese production, ascertaining cheese flavour formation during the cheese making process has been the focal point of determining cheese quality. In this research reflection, we have highlighted how valuable volatile organic compound (VOC) analysis has been in assessing contingent cheese flavour compound...

Considering the need for systematic studies on levan based hydrogels to widen their use in drug delivery systems and biomedical applications, this study is mainly focused on the synthesis and comprehensive characterization as well as drug release properties of hydrogels based on Halomonas levan (HL) and its chemical derivatives. For this, hydrolyze...

Conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into bioethanol is essential to reduce dependency on fossil fuels. After the grass pea and wild oat straws were characterized, they were hydrolyzed by live fungi (in situ), crude fungal enzymes, and chemical methods (sodium hydroxide and sulphuric acids at 0.5, 1, 2, and 3%). The fungi used for in situ degradat...

Considering the significant advances in nanostructured systems in various biomedical applications and the escalating need for levan-based nanoparticles as delivery systems, this study aimed to fabricate levan nanoparticles by the electrohydrodynamic atomization (EHDA) technique. The hydrolyzed derivative of levan polysaccharide from Halomonas smyrn...

Chemoresistance (CR) is one of the reasons why chemotherapy agents like Gemcitabine (GMC) remain insufficient in healing breast cancer. Activation of Nuclear Factor-kappa B (NF-κB) during chemotherapy is known as an important factor in the development of CR. The hydrophobic polyphenol curcumin is shown to inhibit NF-κB and hence CR. The aim of this...

Fructansucrases (FSs), including inulosucrase (IS) and levansucrase (LS), are the members of the Glycoside Hydrolase family 68 (GH68) enzymes. IS and LS catalyze the polymerization of the fructosyl moiety from sucrose to inulin- and levan-type fructans, respectively. Lactobacillus-derived FSs have relatively extended N- and C-terminal sequences. Ho...

Fructans are fructose-based (poly)saccharides with inulin and levan being the best-known ones. Thanks to their health-related benefits, inulin-type fructans have been under the focus of scientific and industrial communities, though mostly represented by plant-based inulins, and rarely by microbial ones. Recently, it was discovered that some extreme...

Yeasts are important microorganisms used for ethanol production; however, they are not equally efficient in the amount of ethanol production under different environmental conditions. It is, therefore, necessary to screen for elite strains to utilize them for commercial production of these commodities. In this study, yeasts were isolated from differ...

Aims: Isolating a novel bacterial source of fructan from a saltern and analysis of its genome to better understand the possible roles of fructans in hypersaline environments. Methods and results: Bacteria were isolated from crude salt samples originating from Çamaltı Saltern in Western Turkey and screened for fructanogenic traits in high-salt an...

Ethanol production from non-food substrate is strongly recommended to avoid competition with food production. Whey, which is rich in nutrients, is one of the non-food substrate for ethanol production by Kluyveromyces spp. The purpose of this study was to optimize ethanol from different crude (non-deproteinized, non-pH adjusted, and non-diluted) whe...

This article deliberates about the importance of polymer-based bioadhesive biomaterials’ medical application in healthcare and in redefining healthcare management. Nowadays, the application of bioadhesion in the health sector is one of the great interests for various researchers, due to recent advances in their formulation development. Actually, th...

Several exopolymers with different chemical composition and correspondingly variety in their physico-chemical properties from halophilic microorganisms have still been described, however, with a low production yield. Chromohalobacter canadensis 28 isolated from Pomorie saltern synthesized an unusual exopolymer (EP) containing 72% γ-polyglutamic aci...

Novel core-shell structured nano-particles (NP) were developed, applying a new strategy to deliver paclitaxel (PTX) to human lung A549 cancer cells. PTX loaded and ionically cross-linked lipidic nanoparticles (PTX-LNPs), having negative surface charges, were coated with low molecular weight quaternized Halomonas levan (QHL) through Coulomb interact...

In this study, we have investigated the cheese starter culture as a microbial community through a question: can the metabolic behaviour of a co-culture be explained by the characterized individual organism that constituted the co-culture? To address this question, the dairy-origin lactic acid bacteria Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris, Lactococcus...

Sponge-derived natural bioactive glass microspheres with self-assembled surface channel arrays opening into a hollow core for bone tissue and controlled drug release applications, Chemical Engineering Journal (2020), doi: https://doi. ABSTRACT Porous, bioactive microspheres have always been a dream material to biomedical scientists for bone regener...

Naturally derived molecules can be used as priming or defense stimulatory agents to protect against biotic stress. Fructans have gained strong interest due to their ability to induce resistance in a number of crop species. In this study, we set out to establish the role of fructan-induced immunity against the fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea in Ara...

Conservation of paper-based materials, namely, manuscripts, includes repair of tears, gap filling, consolidation, and fixation, which requires the use of adhesives. The adhesive in use for these purposes should be compatible with the chemical and physical properties of paper and should present good aging characteristics. In this study, we conducted...

Unusual composition of an exopolymer (EP) from an obligate halophilic bacterium Chromohalobacter canadensis 28 has triggered an interest in development of an effective bioreactor process for its production. Its synthesis was investigated in 2‐L bioreactor at agitation speeds at interval 600‐1000 rpm, at a constant air flow rate of 0.5 vvm; aeration...

Fructans are fructose-based oligo- and polysaccharides synthesized using sucrose as substrate. Depending on the glycosidic bonds in their structure, they are classified as inulin and levan types or a mixture of these, namely graminans and agavins. Fructans constitute one of the most widespread functional biomolecules in nature and they occur in mic...

The hydrolysis of levan using compressed hot water for the production of functional fructooligosaccharides (FOSs) was investigated. Levans from Erwinia herbicola (EH) and Halomonas smyrnensis (HS) were characterized using scanning electron microscopy and light scattering techniques, and hydrolyzed using compressed hot water at four temperatures (12...

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that causes high morbidity and mortality rates due to its biofilm form. Biofilm formation is regulated via quorum sensing (QS) mechanism and provides up to 1000 times more resistance against conventional antibiotics. QS related genes are expressed according to bacterial population density via sign...

Hydrogels from Halomonas levan polysaccharide were prepared at different crosslinking densities. Swelling results demonstrated pH dependent rather than temperature dependent swelling of the hydrogel and the highest swelling value was achieved at basic conditions with a swelling ratio of 9.1 ± 0.1 which is the highest reported for levan based hydrog...

Fructans are homopolymers of fructose that are widely synthesized by many Eubacteria and flowering plants in nature. They function as important parts of biofilms in microorganisms, and as storage carbohydrates or immune system mediators in plants. Both main types of fructans, levans and inulins, have found themselves a plethora of applications in f...

Microbial polymers, also referred to as biopolymers, have been used in various applications in food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and other industries. In food industry, the controlled microbial fermentation has allowed the use of these significant components as thickening, coating, packaging, stabilizing, or gelling ingredients. As an additive, thes...

Bone health and regeneration is crucial to human survival. With the advancement in the bone research area, bone implants have been under scrutiny to find a better material that could help in bone regeneration and growth. A wide range of material has been studied and examined to find the ideal combination. In this paper, a new blend of Tri-calcium p...

This study aimed to develop a PLGA, Levan-based drug delivery system (DDS) of Curcumin using a quality-by-design (QbD) approach to reveal how formulation parameters affect the critical quality attributes (CQAs) of this DDS and to present an optimal design. First, a risk assessment was conducted to determine the impact of various process parameters...

Fructans are fructose-based oligo- and polysaccharides derived from sucrose that occur in a plethora of Eubacteria and plants. While fructan-producing (fructanogenic) Eubacteria are abundant in hypersaline environments, fructan production by Archaea has never been reported before. Exopolysaccharides accumulated by various Archaea from the Halobacte...

Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. cremoris is an obligate heterolactic fermentative lactic acid bacterium that is mostly used in industrial dairy fermentations. The phosphoketolase pathway (PKP) is a unique feature of the obligate heterolactic fermentation, which leads to the production of lactate, ethanol, and/or acetate, and the final product prof...

In this study, the potential use of phosphonated Halomonas Levan (PhHL) as a natural and cost effective adsorbent for Bisphenol A (BPA), was systematically investigated via the study of the adsorption equilibrium, kinetics, and reuse potential as well as the interpretation of adsorption mechanism. The effects of pH and temperature on the adsorption...

Brevibacillus thermoruber 423 is a thermophilic bacterium capable of producing high levels of exopolysaccharide (EPS) that has broad applications in nutrition, feed, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries, not to mention in health and bionanotechnology sectors. EPS is a natural, nontoxic, and biodegradable polymer of sugar residues and...

A novel biomimetic vascular graft scaffolds were produced by electrospinning method with the most superior characteristics to be a proper biomimetic small diameter blood vessel using Polycaprolactone(PCL), Ethyl Cellulose(EC) and Collagen Type-1 were used to create the most convenient synergy of a natural and synthetic polymer to achieve similarity...

Electrospraying assures many advantages such as economical manufacturing and less time-consuming when compared with other conventional particle production methods. In this research, we investigated the encapsulation of melatonin (MEL) hormone in polycaprolactone (PCL) microparticles by using electrospraying method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM...

Deinococcus radiodurans is a Gram-positive, red-pigmented, non-sporulating, nonmotile, high radioresistant bacterium. The bacterium tolerates up to 6000 kGy γ radiation with remarkable resistance a dose that would be lethal for almost all forms of life. Deinoxanthin is a unique carotenoid synthesized by D. radiodurans. Deinoxanthin with high antiox...

Designing the 3D bioprinted scaffolds has been a promising tool which assists cells to adhere and supports the self-repair mechanism of native tissues. In order to practice this hypothesis, we used 3D bioprinting methods and fabricated Polylactic acid (PLA) and β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) scaffolds and incorporated them with four different hydro...

In the last decade, nerve tissue engineering has attracted much attention due to the incapability of self-regeneration. Nerve tissue regeneration is mainly based on scaffold induced nanofibrous structures using both bio and synthetic polymers. The produced nanofibrous scaffolds have to be similar to the natural extracellular matrix and should provi...

Pathogenesis of microorganisms mostly relies on quorum sensing, a plethora of population density-dependent chemical signaling molecules. Plants interact with pathogenic and symbiotic microorganisms via the recognition of microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) such as chitin, lipopolysaccharides or fructans but they can also detect bacterial...

Fructooligosaccharides (FOSs) obtained from the hydrolysis of fructans can be used as additives in the food industry, for example as sweeteners or dietary fiber. Given its capacity to improve gut absorption of calcium and magnesium, to prevent urinal infections (by promoting proliferation of lactobacilli), to reduce the risk of colon cancer, to enh...

Fructans, homopolymers of fructose produced by fructosyltransferases (FTs), are emerging as intriguing components in halophiles since they are thought to be associated with osmotic stress tolerance and overall fitness of microorganisms and plants under high-salinity conditions. Here, we report on the full characterization of the first halophilic FT...

Levan is a fructose homopolysaccharide which gained attention recently for its unusual combination of properties distinguishing it from other natural biodegradable polysaccharides like chitosan, cellulose or starch. Among the strongest bioadhesives, film-forming levan is garnering interest for its role in some simple solutions to difficult problems...

Combinatorial Matrix-Assisted Pulsed Laser Evaporation (C-MAPLE) was recently introduced to the fast generation of compositional libraries of two biopolymers in a single-step process, for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications. Synchronized laser irradiation of two distinct cryogenic targets, one consisting of Sulfated Halomonas...

Levan polysaccharide is an industrially important natural polymer with unique properties and diverse high-value applications. However, current bottlenecks associated with its large-scale production need to be overcome by innovative approaches leading to economically viable processes. Besides many mesophilic levan producers, halophilic Halomonas smy...

Levan is a fructan type polysaccharide that has long been considered as an industrially important biopolymer however its limited availability is mainly due to the bottlenecks associated with its large-scale production. To overcome such bottlenecks in the commercialization of this very promising polysaccharide, co-production of levan with polyhydrox...

Saline and hypersaline environments make up the largest ecosystem on earth and the organisms living in such water-restricted environments have developed unique ways to cope with high salinity. As such these organisms not only carry significant industrial potential in a world where freshwater supplies are rapidly diminishing, but they also shed ligh...

High temperature in thermophilic niches determines unusual metabolic processes based on an ability of thermophilic microorganisms to synthesize unusual compounds. One of the strategies for active growth of this type of extremophiles is a synthesis of exopolysaccharides (EPSs). EPSs from thermophiles are characterized by unknown before composition o...

Metabolic systems engineering is being used to redirect microbial metabolism for the overproduction of chemicals of interest with the aim of transforming microbial hosts into cellular factories. In this study, a genome-based metabolic systems engineering approach was designed and performed to improve biopolymer biosynthesis capability of a moderate...

This represents the first systematic study where levan polysaccharide was used to fabricate fibrous matrices by co-axial and single-needle electrospinning techniques. For this, hydrolyzed (hHL) and sulfated hydrolyzed (ShHL) Halomonas levan were chemically synthesized and used together with polycaprolactone (PCL) and polyethyleneoxide (PEO) for the...

Statement of significance: Sutures remain as the "gold standard" for wound closure and bleeding control; however they still have limitations such as, high infection rate, inconvenience in handling, and concern over possible transmission of blood-borne disease through the use of needles. One of the challenges of tissue engineering consist on the de...

The interest in bio-based polymers, especially extracellular polysaccharides (EPSs), has increased considerably in recent years due to their useful physicochemical and rheological properties and diverse functionality. Microbial polysaccharides have many commercial applications in different industrial sectors like chemical, food, petroleum, health,...

Levan is a high molecular weight fructose-based biotechnologically available polysaccharide with a range of interesting properties qualifying this molecule for applications in biomedicine. In this study, new levan derivatives containing methacrylate groups attached either via ester or urethane linkages to the fructan backbone could be synthesized a...

Fructans are multifunctional fructose-based water soluble carbohydrates found in all biological kingdoms but not in animals. Most research has focused on plant- and microbial fructans and has received a growing interest because of their practical applications. Nevertheless, the origin of fructan production, the so-called ‘fructan syndrome’, is stil...