This document discusses the application of biomolecules in aquatic environments. It begins by defining biomolecules as chemicals composed mainly of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus that are found in living organisms. It then discusses various types of biomolecules like micro and macromolecules, carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids. The document also discusses the roles and functions of lipids, proteins and enzymes. It explores the trophic transfer of essential biomolecules like fatty acids, vitamins and amino acids in aquatic food webs. Finally, it discusses forces influencing the environmental distribution of biomolecules and calls for further research on their role in food web dynamics.

1. Application of Bio-molecules in
Aquatic Environment
PRESENTED BY:
Bhukya Bhaskar,
FRM

2. Introduction
•
Ancient Greek βίος (bíos, meaning “life”)
•
French molécule, from New Latin molecula (“a
molecule”)
•
Chemicals or molecules present in the living
organisms are known as Biomolecules.
•
A biomolecule is a chemical compound found in
living organisms.
•
These include chemicals that are composed of
mainly carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur
and phosphorus.

3. •
Biodegradation
is the breakdown of organic matter by microorganis
fungi.

4. Bio Molecules
•
Micro molecules
•
Small sized, low mol wt Between 18 and 800
daltons Found in the acid soluble pool.
•
Eg: Minerals, Gases, Water, Sugars, Amino
acids,nucleotides
•
Macromolecules
•
Large sized, high mol wt Above 10000 daltons
•
Found in the acid insoluble pool.
•
Eg: Carbohydrates, Lipids, Proteins, Nucleic acids

6. ELEMENT
Non living
(Earth crust)
Living Matter
Hydrogen 0.14 0.5
Carbon 0.03 18.5
Oxygen 46.6 65.0
Nitrogen Very less 3.3
Sulphur 0.03 0.3
Sodium 2.8 0.2
Calcium 3.6 1.5
Magnesium 2.1 0.1
Silicon 27.7 Very less

7. vBio-molecules
Minerals,
Gases &
Water
Inorganic
Carbohydrates
Lipids Amino
acids Proteins
Enzymes
Nucleotides
Nucleic acids
Vitamins
Organic

8. Functional classification of
proteins
Receptor proteins e.g. for hormones and viruses
Defence proteins e.g. Imunoglobulins
Genetic proteins e.g. Nucleoproteins
Storage proteins e.g. Ovalbumin
Contractile proteins e.g. Actin, myosin
Hormonal proteins e.g. Insulin, Growth hormone
Transport proteins e.g. Haemoglobin
Enzymatic proteins e.g. pepsin
Structural proteins e.g. keratin, collagen

9. Lipids and their functions
•
Lipids are the chief concentrated storage form of
energy forming about 3.5% of the cell content.
•
Lipids are organic substances relatively insoluble
in water but
•
soluble in organic solvents (alcohol, ether)
•
Functions :
– They are the concentrated fuel reserve of the body.
– Lipids are constituents of membrane structure and
regulate the
•
membrane permeability.

10. THE ROLE OF ESSENTIAL BIOMOLECULES IN
THE FOOD WEB
•
The main ω3- and ω6PUFA producer in aquatic
systems are eukaryotic algae.
•
The synthesis of LC- ω3PUFA in algae is tightly
connected to photosynthesis, because they are
part of the glycolipids in thylakoid membranes of
chloroplasts (Guschina and Harwood, 2009).

11. •
Due to their high absolute EPA content, diatoms are
the greatest EPA supplier, both in most marine and
freshwater (except dystrophic) systems, followed
by chryptophytes, haptophytes, dinophytes and
eustigmatophytes.
•
From their absolute DHA content, dinophytes are
the main supplier, followed by haptophytes.
•
Heterotrophic stramenopiles (e.g.,
thraustochytrids) used in pharmaceutical DHA
production (Gupta et al., 2012) may be a so far
underestimated DHA provider.

12. Trophic Transfer and Biomarkers
•
PUFA itself can be as twice as efficiently
transferred from the first
to the second trophic level compared to bulk
carbon (Gladyshev et al., 2011; Mayor et al., 2011).
•
LC-ω3PUFA are particularly retained and
accumulated in consumer lipids of aquatic food
webs (Strandberg et al., 2015; Guo et al., 2016),
which is also a central issue in aquaculture (e.g.,
Navarro et al., 2014).
•
Generally, fatty acids from the diet can be
incorporated into consumer body tissue without

13. Main Producers of Lipid soluble vitamins
•
The syntheses of the lipophilic vitamins A and E are
tightly connected to the metabolic capacity of algae
in aquatic (Huang et al., 2017) and of plants in
terrestrial (Saini et al., 2015) ecosystems. In marine
and freshwater, microalgae as well as makrophytes
represent the dominant source (Cuvelier et al.,
2003; Huang et al., 2017).
•
Pro-vitamin A dominates in leaves and fruits,
whereas seeds comprise the highest amounts of
vitamin E, and leaves of vitamin K (Aseni-Fabado
and Munné- Bosch, 2010).

14. Water soluble vitamins
•
In aquatic systems, red and green algae are a good
source of B vitamins, especially B1, and B9 (Croft et
al., 2006).
•
In contrast, main B12 producer seem to be
ammonium oxidizing thaumarchaeota, primarily
under cold conditions, i.e., at greater depth, during
winter and in polar-regions (Doxey et al., 2015).
•
most algae—especially those groups known to
provide LC-ω3PUFA to food webs—are only minor
vitamin B suppliers, as many of them are auxotroph
in respect to B1 (20%), B7 (5%) and especially B12
(50%) (Provasoli and Carlucci, 1974; Croft et al.,

15. Trophic Transfer and Biomarkers
•
Lipophilic vitamins synthesized by algae or
vascular plants are generally transferred to
heterotrophic consumers via predator-prey
interactions.
•
In contrast, syntrophic relationships with microbes
seem to be important to overcome certain vitamin
B limitations, as shown for marine algae co-
cultured with bacteria (Paerl et al., 2015)
•
In nature, B12 is acquired from soluble
surroundings with specific transporters by B12
auxotrophic algal cells (Bertrand and Allen, 2012),

16. Main Producers of Amino acids
•
In aquatic food webs, phytoplankton, particularly
protein-rich algae (above 50% dry weight - Bleakley
and Hayes, 2017) are a main source for AA.
•
Aquatic macrophytes, in contrast, display a much
lower protein (Rather and Nazir, 2015) and
consequently AA content, due to more structural
components (cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin).
•
Microbial derived proteins further represent an
important resource for essential AA in detritivore
food webs as shown by Steffan et al. (2017)
analyzing invertebrates (moths, beetles) and

17. Trophic Transfer and Biomarkers
•
In contrast to terrestrial systems, protein limitation
per se is rather unlikely in pelagic aquatic systems,
but certain essential AA may become in short
supply (review by Müller-Navarra,2008). Moreover,
trophic transfer of AA can be impaired by co-limiting
resources such as sterols (Wacker and Martin-
Creuzburg, 2012 for a rotifer).
•
In addition, a meta-analysis of zooplankton across
29 oligotrophic lakes by Guisande et al. (2003)
revealed taxa specific AA composition, likely
indicating distinct food sources.
•

18. Types of Enzymes and eg: of some of the catalyzed
reactions
Group of Enzymes Reactions catalysed Examples
1. Oxidoreductases
Transfer of O2 or H2 atoms or
electrons from one substrate to
another
Dehydrogenase
Oxidases
2.Transferases
Transfer of a specific group from
one substrate to another
Transaminase
3.Hydrolases Hydrolysis of a substrate Digestive enzymes
4. Isomerases
Change of the molecular
form of the substrate
Phospho Hexo
isomerase
5.Lyases
Non hydrolytic removal or
addition of a group to a
substrate
Decarboxylase
Aldolase
6. Ligases
Joining of 2 molecules by
formation of new bonds
Citric acid
synthetase

19. FORCES BEHIND ENVIRONMENTAL
DISTRIBUTION
•
Natural Environmental Conditions
•
ω3PUFA—Aquatic vs. Terrestrial Food Webs and
Interlinks
•
Anthropogenic Impact
•
EVOLUTIONARY ASPECTS

38. Application of metagenomics for enviromental re remediation
approcachfor bioprospecting

43. Microalgae production, from cultivation to harvesting & cell
disruption, for extraction or recovery

44. Cell disruption methods

46. Comparison of GC applicability & main Chromatographic
methods for Biomolecules separation

47. Purification of Microalgal biomolecules by Liquid
biphasic flotation

48. Methods employed for micro algal cell disruption and components
extraction

53. Fish used as traditional medicine

54. Therapeutic use of MNP derived from Fish

55. Elasmobranchs used as Traditional medicines

56. Therapeutic use of MNP derived from Sharks

57. Biological activity of Biomaterials
derived from Mussels

58. Biological activity of Biomaterials derived from
Gastropods

59. Biological activity derived from
Bivalves

60. MNP derived from Sea hare

61. Marine natural products & Their use in health benefits

62. Bio active components derived from plants and their
application

63. Biomolecules from Microbes

64. Antioxidants and their application

65. Nanoparticles Carrying Biological Molecules: Recent
Advances and Applications
•
Integration of nanotechnology and biotechnology
has paved the way to the development of biological
nanoparticles, derived from biomolecules, and
biomolecule-nanoparticle conjugates for numerous
applications.
•
Nanotechnology is a rapidly growing field that deals
with the processing of materials with size less than
1000 nm, from the production to its applications.

66. Types of biological nano-particles
•
Biological nanoparticles are particles with size
ranging from 10 nm to 1 μm, derived from
biomolecules or or- ganic compounds.
•
They can be divided into four major categories
which are proteins, nucleic acids, lipids and
polysaccharides based.

67. •
in recent years, considerable interest has been
shown in the utilisation of biological
nanoparticles, derived from biomolecules as an
alternative to the chemically synthesised
nanoparticles.
•
Biomolecules can also be engineered to possess
unique compositions and functionalities and can
be conjugated with various types of nanoparticles
such as metals and metal oxides, to complement
the unique properties of nanoparticles with
intrinsic features of biomolecules, to yield novel

68. Conclusion
•
Essential biomolecules play an important role in
trophic interactions across taxa in aquatic and
terrestrial ecosystems.
•
Their availability at the base of the food web
matters for the mode of trophic transfer, affecting
food web structure as well as response to
environmental changes.
•
For example, algae and higher plants as primary
carbon fixers do not provide all essential
biomolecules, and e.g., Archaea are the main
producer of B12. As its’ biochemical functioning is

69. •
Terrestrial and aquatic food webs differ
considerably in the amount and distribution of
essential biomolecules, e.g., in FAs, and interlinks
are important, especially from water to land.
•
Our knowledge on the function of essential
biomolecules in food webs is far from complete.
•
Future food web research questions to be
addressed are:
•
(1) How are food web assemblages in different
biomes adapted to the local sources of essential
nutritional compounds?
•
(2) Are there considerable exchanges/fluxes in

70. •
(4) How does the availability of essential
biomolecules affect the organization of biotic
consortia, e.g., aquatic biofilms or rhizosphere
microbiomes? (
•
5) What is the impact of hidden sources, e.g.,
gut microbiota, on the reconstruction of food
webs using essential biomolecules as trophic
markers?
•
(6) What is the general role of essential
biomolecules in food web dynamics at higher
trophic levels compared to the frequently
investigated plant-herbivore interface?

71. Thank you

72. Thank you for time