Browsing Faculty of Natural Science by Author "Cowan, Don A."
Now showing items 1-17 of 17
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Analysis of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria associated with the roots of Proteaceae plant species in soils of Fynbos ecosystem
Lako, Joseph (University of the Western Cape, 2005)The major objective of this study was to investigate soil ammonia-oxidizing bacterial diversity and composition associated with plant roots of Proteaceae plants and to compare it with non-plant associated soil. -
Characterisation of microbial communities associated with hypolithic environments in Antarctic Dry Valley soils
Khan, Nuraan (University of the Western Cape, 2008)The Eastern Antarctic Dry Valley region is a polar desert, where conditions of extreme aridity, high temperature fluctuations and high irradiation levels make it one of the most extreme environments on earth. Despite the ... -
Cloning, expression and characterisation of Amidase Genes from a psychrotolerant Nesterenkonia isolate
Kwon, Hanna (University of the Western Cape, 2009)A nitrile and amide hydrolysing Nesterenkonia sp. was isolated from Antarctic soil and was characterised as a psychrotolerant, halotolerant and alkaliphilic extremophile. Amidases are widely distributed in both prokaryotic ... -
Cloning, expression and characterization of novel lipase and esterases from burkholderia multivorans UWCIO
Rashamuse, Konanani J. (University of the Western Cape, 2005)An esterase and lipase producing Burkholderia multivorans strain was isolated by culture enrichment strategies. A shotgun library of Burkholderia multivorans genomic DNA (prepared in E. coli/pUC18) was screened for lipase ... -
Engineering homoaromatic substrate specificity into aliphatic-specific Geobacillus pallidus RAPc8 nitrile hydratase
Kowlessur, Parikshant (University of the Western Cape, 2007)Geobacillus pallidus RAPc8 is a thermophilic nitrile-degrading isolate, obtained from thermal sediment samples of a New Zealand hot spring. The G. pallidus RAPc8 NHase gene has been cloned and expressed in E. coli. The ... -
Identification and characterisation of novel cellulolytic genes using metagenomics
Hu, Xiao Ping (University of the Western Cape, 2010)Metagenomics has been successfully used to discover novel enzymes from uncultured microorganisms in the environment. In this study, metagenomic DNA from a Malawian hot spring soil sample was used to construct a fosmid ... -
Investigation of South African estuarine microbial species and genome diversity
Kaambo, Eveline (University of the Western Cape, 2006)A study of the microbial diversity in sediments of the Great Berg River estuary is carried out using modern molecular phylogenetic methods. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of (pollution by) the effluents ... -
Isolation and characterisation of esterases from thermophilic Actinomyces
Oldale, Megan (University of the Western Cape, 2010)Alternative sources of fuel are required worldwide, and bio-ethanol is the leading candidate. Lignocellulosic biomass, a waste component of the agricultural industry, is a promising renewable source. Due to its complex ... -
Metagenomic approaches to gene discovery
Meyer, Quinton Christian (University of the Western Cape, 2006)The classical approach to gene discovery has been to culture micro-organisms demonstrating a specific enzyme activity and then to recover the gene of interest through shotgun cloning. The realization that these standard ... -
Microbial diversity and gene mining in Antarctic Dry Valley mineral soils
Smith, Jacques J. (University of the Western Cape, 2006)Soil communities are regarded as among the most complex and diverse assemblages of microorganisms with estimated bacterial numbers in the order of 109-1 cells.g. Studies on extreme soils however, have reported lower cell ... -
Microbiology of fly ash-acid mine drainage co-disposal processes
Kuhn, Eloise M. R. (University of the Western Cape, 2005)The waste products acid mine drainage formed during coal mining and fly ash from coal burning power generation, pose substantial environmental and economic problems for South Africa. Eskom has developed a remediation system ... -
Mining a Chinese hyperthermophilic metagenome
Du Plessis, Morne Graham (University of the Western Cape, 2007)Metagenomic sequencing of environmental samples provide direct access to genomic information of organisms within the respective environments. This sequence information represents a significant resource for the identification ... -
Phylogenetic diversity of nifH genes in Marion Island soil
Rapley, Joanne (University of the Western Cape, 2006)The microbial life of sub-Antarctic islands plays a key role in the islands ecosystem, with microbial activities providing the majority of nutrients available for primary production. Knowledge of microbial diversity is ... -
The relationship between structure and thermostability of a nitrile hydratase from Goebacillus pallidus RAPc8
Van Wyk, Jennifer Caroline (University of the Western Cape, 2008)Nitrile hydratases (NHases) are very important biocatalysts for the enzymatic conversion of nitriles to industrially important amides such as acrylamide and nicotinamide. An “ideal” NHase should fulfil several essential ... -
Screening for subtate tolerant Geobacillus pallidus RAPc8 nitrile hydratase
Mketsu, Moses Clive Masisange (University of the Western Cape, 2009)In this study G. pallidus RAPc8 NHase mutants were screened for reduced substrate inhibition compared to the wild type enzyme. Wild type and mutant enzymes were expressed and purified using hydrophobic interaction ... -
Spartial distribution of cyanobacterial phylotypes in Antarctic Dry Valley soil biotopes
Keyster, Marshall (University of the Western Cape, 2007)Recent advances in moleculr methods have enabled the analysis of cyanobacterial diversity using PCR- based approaches. Snap-shot techniques such as 16S rDNA library construction and DGGE have allowed for increased access ... -
Structure, enzymology and genetic engineering of Bacillus sp. RAPc8 nitrile hydratase
Tsekoa, Tsepo L. (University of the Western Cape, 2005)Microbial nitrile hydratases (NHases) are important industrial enzymes that catalyse the conversion of nitriles to the corresponding amides. A thermostable, cobalt-type Bacillus sp. RAPc8 NHase was previously cloned and ...