CrazyZebraPerson - 20-2-2005 at 02:39
In a recent school biology experiment we were informed that we would be making yeast beads out of yeast suspension and "alginate" by
flicking droplets of this little mixture into a beaker of calcium chloride.
On further investigation it appeared that beads could be formed out of just the "alginate", to form what I suppose are "alginate
beads".
What exactly are these wee beasties? How are they formed? I have looked them up on the net and found names such as sodium-alginate and
calcium-alginate beads but am left unenlightened. (Particularly in light of my relative lack of chemical knowledge.)
And, would they react with 0.5M of hydrogen peroxide?
Thankyou for your time!
Esplosivo - 20-2-2005 at 05:51
Sodium Alginate is used as the starting material for immobilizing either microorganisms or enzymes for use in biotechnology. A solution of sodium
alginate and (in you case) the yeast to which is added small droplets of a dilute CaCl2 solution forms calcium alginate. Calcium alginate is solid and
it forms the beads which have the yeasts embedded onto their surface. (if you would like some conc. of the solutions ask me, I think I have some
information laying aroun)
I don't know about any reaction of the alginate with hydrogen peroxide. Btw, is this some HW thingy? If you have embedded microorganisms to the
alginate the H2O2 would kill these organisms/or denature the enzymes. But this is always assuming that you are referring to the fact that the H2O2
'reacts' with what is embedded on the beads.
Hope this helps.
CrazyZebraPerson - 20-2-2005 at 14:25
Thanks Esplosivo, that makes a more sense.
It is related to homework, but a bit of sidetrack because I was simply interested in how they are formed, a question which my teacher appeared to find
odd and unnecessary!
Chalo - 27-8-2022 at 18:17
attached here are some cool applications of alginate beads
Attachment: High throughput method to produce and screen engineered antimicrobial lanthipeptides -- ScienceDaily.pdf (98kB)
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Attachment: Enzyme Entrapment in Alginate Gel.pdf (96kB)
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mayko - 27-8-2022 at 20:33
Food nerds make alginate beads from flavored liquids:
https://kitchen-theory.com/spherification/
I've also seen some cool applications of alginate gels in 3D bioprinting, for example:
Lehner, B. A. E., Schmieden, D. T., & Meyer, A. S. (2017). A Straightforward Approach for 3D Bacterial Printing. ACS Synthetic Biology, 6(7),
1124–1130. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssynbio.6b00395
Attachment: Lehner, Schmieden, Meyer - 2017 - A Straightforward Approach for 3D Bacterial Printing.pdf (4.2MB)
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