BioSym: Biomolecules et Bioreactors

Objective: Production and characterization of bioactive metabolites from microbial or vegetal origin. Control and optimization of fermentation processes of industrial interest. Biocontrol agents.

Production and characterization of bioactive metabolites from microbial or vegetal origin.

This research involves researching and characterising metabolites showing biological activities (antibiotics, antifungals, antimycotoxinogens, natural plant defence stimulators, anticancers, antioxidants, antidiabetics, anti Alzheimer’s drugs, anti-inflammatory drugs, etc.) potentially usefull in agronomy, health and cosmetics. The integration of new researchers over the period has allowed to expand the spectrum of the biological activities targeted and the origin of the molecules. These metabolites can be produced by microorganisms such as yeasts, bacteria or moulds. In other projects, they are extracted directly from plants or obtained after their fermentation

Control and optimization of fermentation processes of industrial interest

These fermentation processes rely on pure or mixed cultures under real conditions (industrial media  and strains). The approach is based on stoechiokinetic characterization of the biological response in order to understand the effects of biological and environmental factors on the microbial behaviour. Depending on the projects, a mathematical modelling completes this approach or a focus is given on the type of bioreactor and its driving mode.

The applications mainly concern biorefineries and vinification processes.

The main results are: in pure culture, the optimization of the butanediol production process from manioc hydrolysis and, in mixed culture the characterisation of a yeast peptid able to inhibit the malolactic fermentation

Biocontrol Agents

The design of a biocontrol agent is based on the implementation of a microorganism that is antagonistic to a food contaminant and/or mycotoxin producing population(s). The chosen strategy aims to understand the mechanisms of interactions between these microbial populations in order to develop preventive and/or curative processes. The target contaminants are:

– pathogenic bacteria of the genus Salmonella in the poultry chain (chicken, duck)

– Brettanomyces yeasts in oenology.

– mycotoxins such as AFB1, OTA and T2/HT2 which pose real health problems in the cereals, wine and brewery sectors, etc.

The main results of these projects are, on one hand, the selection of bacterial strains (actinomyces and lactic acid bacteria) for the biocontrol of mycotoxins and Salmonella; and on the other hand, the elucidation of the mode of action of the biocontrol agent used during the malting stage fin the brewing process