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Worldwide concern about the energy security and search for alternate energy source as fuel has created attention because of increased demand and fast depleting nonrenewable resources of fuel. In order to meet the increasing energy demand, we need to approach the sustainable, cost-effective alternates which should be able to cater unlimited resource utilization potential. Among the next-generation biofuels, butanol is the one which shows the ability to meet both the current and upcoming future energy crisis over the existing biofuels, for its distinguished merits; high energy density, high air-fuel ratio and lower hygroscopicity which make butanol superior over the other. In this review, we summarized all the methods attempted to screen out a high-stress tolerant strain through the various approach like; variation in sampling methods, media optimization, manipulation in physiochemical parameters etc. and then adapting them to high butanol environment. Secondly, the possible techniques involved in the identification of butanol tolerant gene and its overexpression in heterologous host or butanol tolerant microbes through genetic engineering, manipulating the metabolic pathway through engineering synergistically integrated with other disciplines such as synthetic biology as well as systems biology, has been discussed in detail. Apart from this, the present review also highlights the various bottlenecks, achievements and prospects for the commercialization of the butanol as the next generation of biofuel.

Lipase based formulations has been a rising interest to laundry detergent industry for their ecofriendly property over phosphate-based counterparts and compatibility with chemical detergents ingredients. A thermo-stable Anoxybacillus sp. ARS-1 isolated from Taptapani Hotspring, India was characterized for optimum lipase production employing statistical model central composite design (CCD) under four independent variables (temperature, pH, % moisture and bio-surfactant) by solid substrate fermentation (SSF) using mustard cake. The output was utilized to find the effect of parameters and their interaction employing response surface methodology (RSM). A quadratic regression with R2¼0.955 established the model to be statically best fitting and a predicted highest lipase production of 29.4IU/g at an optimum temperature of 57.5oC, pH 8.31, moisture 50% and 1.2mg of bio-surfactant. Experimental production of 30.3IU/g lipase at above conditions validated the fitness of model. Anoxybacillus sp. ARS-1 produced lipase was found to resist almost all chemical detergents as well as common laundry detergent, proving it to be a prospective additive for incorporation.

Oral biofilm formation is the defense mechanism exhibited by oral pathogens against antimicrobial agents responsible for causing several oral infections. Lipase mediated catalytic degradation of biofilm formed in-vitro by oral pathogens Enterococcus faecalis and Streptococcus mutans is attempted in the present approach. Lipase was produced from sesame oil cake biomass using thermophilic Pseudomonas formosensis TB5 isolated from sediment of Tarabalo hot spring, Odisha. The experiment was designed by using Design-Expert (v.6.0.7). The statistical method central composite design and response surface methodology was carried out to study the interaction between various parameters (pH, temperature, moisture and biosurfactant) on lipase production in a solid-state fermentation process. A quadratic regression model with (R2 = 0.8642), was found to be best fitting and predicted maximum lipase production to be 47.2IU/g at an optimum pH (8.34), temperature (51.63 °C), moisture (52.51%) and biosurfactant (1.36 mg) using sesame oil cake. Experimentally, lipase was produced at a concentration of 50.78IU/g at above predicted optimum conditions which validated the fitness of model, the value being very close to the predicted one. Lipase from P. formosensis was found to degrade biofilm of oral pathogens, proving to be scope of its use a prospective biological agent for dental biofilm treatment after undertaking further analysis.

An efficient, reliable and reproducible plant regeneration protocol was developed for Lawsonia inermis L. using mature nodal explants. Shoot proliferation (81.6 %) with 7.8 shoots/explant was achieved on Murashige and Skoog’s (MS) medium supplemented with 1.0 mg l−1 6-benzyladenine. Shoot numbers were up-scaled by inducing multiple shoots from axenic nodal segments derived from the primary shoots on the shoot regeneration medium. Thus the authors could achieve ca. 129–134 shoots from single nodal explant. Ninety-three percent rooting of in vitro regenerated shoots was achieved on growth regulator free half-strength MS medium. Regenerated plantlets were successfully transferred to soil with 85 % survival rate. Genetic stability analyses of the in vitro regenerated plants using random amplified polymorphic DNA and inter simple sequence repeat markers revealed a homogeneous amplification profile for all micropropagated plants. This is the first report that evaluates the use of molecular markers to establish genetic fidelity of micropropagated L. inermis for the rapid clonal multiplication and true-to-type production of plant for attaining the ever increasing demand in pharmaceutical industries.

Extreme environments are the main source of industrially suitable biocatalysts. The non-cultivable approach of searching enzymes is known to provide ample scope to accomplish novelty for their industrial applications. Lip479 clone out of seven lipase-producing clones obtained from Taptapani hot spring was found to be optimally active at pH 8.0 and temperature 65 °C. The recombinant Lip479 was highly stable in organic solvents, methanol, DMF, DMSO, acetone, and dichloromethane. Lip479 lipase activity was enhanced in the presence of K+, Mn2+, Na+, Zn2+, and Ca2+ except for Fe3+. The ability of Lip479 lipase to act on long carbon chain of 4-nitrophenyl myristate suggests it might be a true lipase. Lip479 clone was found to have ORF of 1251 bp encoding 416 amino acid residues of 42.57 KDa size (theoretically calculated). The presence of conserved motif Ala-His-Ser-Gln-Gly and Zn2+-binding consensus sequence (GAAHAAKH) of the clone assigns the protein to lipase family 1.5. Phylogenetic lineage of the protein sequence of Lip479 was traced to family 1.5 as it was clubbed up with those of reported lipases of the same family. The above biochemical features indicated that Lip479 lipase can be a potential biocatalyst for its use in various industries.

The rapid lifestyle of industrialization and increasing demand of fossil oil that are going to be scarce in future date have led to think the alternative source of renewable energy as fuels to meet our energy demands. Fossil fuel is challenged with increasing price and a decreasing quantity, and burning of the fuels is putting the environment into threat toward pollution and global warming. Various steps toward cultivating oil crops such as Jatropha, corn, coconut, soybean, and oil palm have been encouraged, but productivity of oil has been very less, i.e., 5% of total biomass, and it needs vast acres of cultivated land. Therefore, to overcome the problem, today’s world is moving toward microalgae cultivation, which in comparison can grow faster in wastelands/uncultivated lands and can produce up to 80% of the dry weight of algae biomass. Microalgae are phototrophic and are able to transform carbon dioxide into biofuels, valuable bioactive compounds, foods, and feeds. In spite of all positivity, microalgae biofuel is still not common man’s fuel due to various hurdles. Overhead harvesting cost is 20–30% higher to the cultivation cost of algae; it can reduce the nonrenewable resources (nitrogen, phosphorus) for which still date it cannot reach to common man. However, limited supply of these renewable oils and high cost stop it to be a potential challenger in the face of other petroleum-based fuels. Overall, economic feasibility and environmental suitability cannot be forgotten when venturing into scaling up for future commercialization.

Ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.), a well-known member of family Zingiberaceae, is bestowed with number of medicinal properties which is because of the secondary metabolites, essential oil and oleoresin, it contains in its rhizome. The drug yielding potential is known to depend on agro-climatic conditions prevailing at the place cultivation. Present study deals with comparative transcriptome analysis of two sample of elite ginger variety Suprabha collected from two different agro-climatic zones of Odisha. Transcriptome assembly for both the samples was done using next generation sequencing methodology. The raw data of size 10.8 and 11.8GB obtained from analysis of two rhizomes S1Z4 and S2Z5 collected from Bhubaneswar and Koraput and are available in NCBI accession number SAMN03761169 and SAMN03761176 respectively. We identified 60,452 and 54,748 transcripts using trinity tool respectively from ginger rhizome of S1Z4 and S2Z5. The transcript length varied from 300bp to 15,213bp and 8988bp and N50 value of 1415bp and 1334bp respectively for S1Z4 and S2Z5. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comparative transcriptome analysis of elite ginger cultivars Suprabha from two different agro-climatic conditions of Odisha, India which will help to understand the effect of agro-climatic conditions on differential expression of secondary metabolites.