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A training workshop on Mangrove Biodiversity Exploration and Restoration at Baikunthapur, Sundarban, West Bengal has been organized by Howrah Vigyan Chetana Samannaya (HVCS), a nodal agency of Vigyan Prasar, Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India. The programme was technically supported by Directorate of Forest, South 24 Parganas Division, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), and Department of Environmental Science, University of Calcutta. Research Scholars, Post Graduate and Graduate students from different Universities of India and one student from Germany have attended the workshop. Although Indian Sundarban is recognized as Wetland of International Importance, yet the place is threatened by climate change and anthropogenic activities. Therefore, immediate attention required to conserve its unique biodiversity and restore mangrove plants that can help to sustain the development. Hence, biodiversity conservation and mangrove restoration was the main mission of this workshop. The activities included exploration, understanding the pattern of plant distribution and observation of faunal diversity, interplay of biotic and abiotic factors, mangrove adaptation and behaviour, and mangrove plantation. These activities were conducted under the supervision of resource persons of HVCS, coming from different universities and colleges. Resource persons provided hands-on training to the participants. Students were also encouraged to investigate the socio-economic determinants of the coastal communities, circulating around mangrove forest of Sundarbans. As a result, a capacity-building training for mangrove biodiversity and ecosystem exploration has been implemented. The workshop offered students a deep dive into sustainable use of biodiversity, ensuring the critical need for conservation in Sundarban and other intertidal ecosystem too.

Abstract: A huge population of the world is regularly drinking arsenic contaminated groundwater and as a consequence, they are suffering from different diseases, including cancer. Besides the conventional methods of arsenic remediation through physical and chemical techniques, bioremediation by using arsenic tolerable bacteria is comparatively cost-effective and wise approach. For this reason, dead biomasses of two arsenic contaminated groundwater inhabiting bacterial strains, Bacillus pacificusAKS1a and Micrococcus luteusAKS4c were used to remove arsenic from distilled water supplemented with 100 mg/L arsenite. Bioadsorption mediated arsenic removal potentialities were optimized by using various dosages of bacterial biomasses (250–1250 µg/mL) in different pH (2.0 - 11) and contact time (0.5–24 h) at room temperature. In case of strain AKS1a, in pH 9.0, 1000 µg/mL concentration bacterial biomass at 6 h contact time showed > 50% of arsenic removal. On the other hand, strain AKS4c removed > 77% of arsenic from water in pH 9.0, in 750 µg/mL of biomass dosage, at 24 h of contact time. So, these potential bacterial biomasses could be used to remove arsenic from contaminated groundwater in future. Significance Statement: Dried biomasses of two bacterial strains were applied for optimizing arsenic removal from water by spectrophotometric methods; among them, application of Bacillus pacificusin in arsenic bioremediation is the first-time report. They were able to remove arsenic in lower dosage along with higher efficiency in comparison to many other studies.

James P. Allison from the MD Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas, and Tasuku Honjo from Kyoto university were jointly awarded the prestigious Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine 2018. Their therapeutic research is on the inhibition of CTLA-4 and PD-1, two proteins which act as a blockade and prevent the immune system from attacking tumor cells.

Fluoride contamination of groundwater poses a global threat to humans. The current study focused on the defluoridation efficacy of a fluoride-resistant bacterium, isolated from fluoride-contaminated areas of Birbhum district, West Bengal, India. Strain MLN15 was able to tolerate a maximum fluoride concentration of 3500 mgL−1. Based on morphological, biochemical, and 16S rDNA gene sequence, strain MLN15 was identified as Exiguobacterium indicumMLN15. Optimal growth conditions were observed at pH 7, temperature 35˚C, and 0.5 molar NaCl. The selected strain also showed maximum defluoridation efficiency of 53.5% at optimal growth conditions of 24 h incubation. In addition, fluoride adsorption on bacterial cell surfaces was confirmed using SEM, SEM–EDX, and TEM analyses. All the results indicate that the bacterial strain Exiguobacterium indicumMLN15 could be a potential organism for fluoride-bioremediation.

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2017 is awarded jointly to Hall, Rosbash and Young for their phenomenal discovery of tiny biological clock working in every living being helping the anticipation and adaptation of biological rhythms to get synchronized with Earth’s evolution.

Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson are jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2017 for developing an effective method of biological three-dimensional molecular image generation. Biochemistry has reached a new era with this achievement by portraying Ångströmic resolution even after freezing the samples.

Nobel committee has awarded William G. Kaelin, Jr., Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza Nobel Prize in Medicine this year for their remarkable discoveries in how cell sense low level of oxygen and rapidly adapts to the changing environment. Hypoxia is often considered to be the main regulator of cancer, since it promotes metabolic changes of the cell. Inhibition of signal transduction pathway and transcriptional regulators can be used as a therapeutic approach to control cancer progression.

The Nobel committee has awarded Harvey J Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 2020 for the discovery of HCV from contaminated blood. Hepatitis is a liver inflammatory disease caused by the Hepatitis B virus (HBV). Till date, HBV is known to cause liver inflammation through blood transfusion. However, a novel “non-A non-B hepatitis” (NANBH) has recently emerged responsible for liver inflammation, following the same route as HBV. At the beginning (after infection), the NANBH viral proteins gradually alter the function and pathways of normal hepatocyte cells in the liver to promote fibrosis to cirrhosis and eventually to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This phenomenon is presented in the present communication. Hepatocarcinogenesis is attributed to asymptomatic infection by ss ( +) RNA virus, Hepatitis C of family Flaviviridae. Specific drugs that target HCV life cycle or patient immune response are in the process of development.

Cantharellus cibariusis a wild edible mushrooms and considered as a plethora of compounds with potential biotechnological applications. This study highlighted the utilization of C. cibariusmushroom in the production of extracellular lipase under submerged fermentation, representing the first report on lipase production by this mushroom. Various physicochemical factors were optimized via one-factor-at-a time (OFAT) method. Maximum enzyme production was recorded when the mushroom mycelium was grown at 30 °C on pH 6.0 for 96 h in the medium supplemented with 1% [(v/v)] olive oil. Productivity of enzyme was affected by variation in the nitrogen sources, carbon sources, metal ions and NaCl salt. Glucose and peptone significantly enhanced enzyme production as carbon and nitrogen sources, respectively. Stimulatory and inhibitory effects were found by Ca2+and Zn2+ions, respectively. Furthermore, Box-Behnken Design (BBD) of Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was employed to optimize the interactive effects of specific media components like glucose, olive oil and CaCl2. The regression model was significant with a coefficient of determination (R2) value of 0.9483. Statistically optimized design (RSM) resulted approximately two-fold increase (23.5–42.283 UmL−1) of lipase production than classical optimization method (OFAT), confirmed the validation of model. The kinetic parameters for p-nitrophenyl palmitate hydrolysis, Kmand Vmaxwere 5.24 mM and 0.768 mmol/min/mg respectively, established a high affinity for the substrate.

Background: Laccases are among the oldest known multi-copper enzymes from a diverse array of species, including bacteria and fungi, and are of great importance in different industries like beverage, biosensors, textile, paper, and pulp. From the aspect of origin, interestingly, bacterial laccase is of two kinds, namely, 3-domain conventional laccase and 2-domain small laccase. This enzyme is capable of degrading synthetic textile azo dyes, xenobiotic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, biogenic amines etc. Over the last few years, research on laccase has steadily increased based on biosensors and the understanding of known unknowns. Objective: In this extensive review, we focus on classification, structural differences based on assorted origins, and applications that will help to know the unknown factors about this strenuous enzyme. Conclusion: To better understand the origin-function relationship, hypothetical proteins of selected bacterial laccase are reviewed.

This review discusses the use of natural colours in artwork, textile, culture etc. throughout the historical time and their prospective future. The colourful artworks play an important role, as pigment makes paintings vibrant and portrays symbolic meaning of human cultures throughout the world. In primordial times, only natural pigments isolated from different sources (like plants, animals) and minerals were used. From late nineteenth century, the extensive use of synthetic colorants started, which were proved to be hazardous for the environment. In recent times, natural colorants from pigmented bacteria becomes a promising source of eco-friendly colours in terms of sustainable development.

Baratang mud volcano of Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a noteworthy earthquake-triggered mud volcanic signature of India where only a few detailed works are done on microfossils and gas composition. This updated compilation and present-day detailing on Baratang may draw more attention of researchers to it resulting in important findings.

Cancer therapy describes the treatment of cancer, often with surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. Additionally, RNA interference (RNAi) is likely to be considered a new emerging, alternative therapeutic approach for silencing/targeting cancer-related genes. RNAi can exert antiproliferative and proapoptotic effects by targeting functional carcinogenic molecules or knocking down gene products of cancer-related genes. However, in contrast to conventional cancer therapies, RNAi based therapy seems to have fewer side effects. Transcription signal sequence and conserved sequence analysis-showed that microorganisms could be a potent source of non-coding RNAs. This review concluded that mapping of RNAi mechanism and RNAi based drug delivery approaches is expected to lead a better prospective of cancer therapy.

Background: Thermophilic bacilli in both aerobic or facultative anaerobic forms have been isolated for over a hundred years from different mesophilic or thermophilic environments as they are potential source of bioactive secondary metabolites. But the taxonomic resolution in the Bacillus genus at species or at strain level is very challenging for the insufficient divergence of the 16S rRNA genes. One such recurring problem is among Bacillus anthracis, B. cereus and B. thuringiensis. The disease-causing B. anthracis strains have their characteristic virulence factors coded in two wellknown plasmids, namely pXO1 (toxin genes) and pXO2 (capsule genes). Objective: The present study aimed at the molecular and genomic characterization of a recently reported thermophilic and environmental isolate of B. anthracis, strain PFAB2. Methods: We performed comparative genomics between the PFAB2 genome and different strains of B. anthracis, along with closely related B. cereus strains. Results: The pangenomic analysis suggests that the PFAB2 genome harbors no complete prophage genes. Cluster analysis of Bray-Kurtis similarity resemblance matrix revealed that gene content of PFAB2 is more closely related to other environmental strains of B. anthracis. The secretome analysis and the in vitro and in vivo pathogenesis experiments corroborate the avirulent phenotype of this strain. The most probable explanation for this phenotype is the apparent absence of plasmids harboring genes for capsule biosynthesis and toxins secretion in the draft genome. Additional features of PFAB2 are good spore-forming and germinating capabilities and rapid replication ability. Conclusion: The high replication rate in a wide range of temperatures and culture media, the nonpathogenicity, the good spore forming capability and its genomic similarity to the Ames strain together make PFAB2 an interesting model strain for the study of the pathogenic evolution of B. anthracis.

ABSTRACTSikkim is the second smallest state in India. It has a human population of approximately 619,000 and covers a mountain-locked area of 7,096 km2. Recognised as a biodiversity ‘Hot Spot’ of global significance, it is situated within the Eastern Himalaya Biodiversity Hotspot and is rich in affluent flora and fauna diversity. Eighty-three per cent of Sikkim’s land area is covered with forest distributed in five ecoregions: 1) Tropical, 2) Sub-Tropical, 3) Temperate, 4) Alpine Forest and Scrub, 5) and Trans-Himalayan ecoregions. Sikkim encompasses 8 protected areas covering 47% of the State’s total geographical area and 11 Important Bird Areas (IBA), declared by Birdlife International. It also has undocumented mountain peaks, glaciers, rivers/streams, high-altitude lakes and geothermal springs which are yet to be explored. Sikkim, with its high biodiversity, is situated in a fragile ecosystem of tropical mountains in the Eastern Himalaya. It is currently under threat of irreparable damage as a result of several factors, including the melting of glaciers due to global warming, floods, landslides, invasive hydrothermal projects, road construction, deforestation and the destruction of trees for fuel and domestic purposes, growth in tourism – and much more. All these issues must be properly addressed in order to protect and conserve the unique biodiversity of the Sikkim Himalaya.

A comparative study on the basic structural characteristics of exopolysaccharide (EPS) and capsular polysaccharide (CPS) produced by the Southern Ocean (Indian Sector) origin Pseudoalteromonassp. MB-16 has been conducted. It has a higher production rate of EPS as compared to that of CPS and the maximum production rate is 0.7 g/l when glucose is the carbon source. Elemental analysis and infrared spectroscopic study have given a brief compositional insight on the EPS and CPS produced by the marine bacterium, whereas scanning electron micrographs have revealed the morphological structure of Pseudoalteromonassp. derived EPS and CPS. Both the polysaccharides show significant thermal stability as confirmed by thermogravimetric analysis. In all the experiments, Pseudoalteromonassp. derived EPS and CPS have given similar results when compared to standard bacterial polysaccharides dextran and guar gum. This present study gave an important preliminary idea about the nature of bacterial polysaccharides produced by the Southern Ocean (Indian Sector) origin microbe.

Yoshinori Ohsumi from Tokyo Institute of Technology of Japan had received the prestigious Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2016 for discovering the mechanism of cell’s self-eating autophagy, which is remarkable research in itself for cellular suicidal mediated cell recycling.

By releasing of azo dye through textile effluent, textile industry is the main cause of water pollution resulting into acute effect on environment and human health. Development of any eco-friendly and cost-effective method that may address the drawbacks to physical or chemical methods of dye removal is the recent global priority. Physical or chemical methods for textile wastewater pretreatment are of high cost, extremely energy consuming, and environmentally low efficient and generate toxic sludge. Thus, the use of microbial technique for textile dye degradation will be eco-friendly and is probably a lucrative alternative to physico-chemical processes. Microbial enzymes, viz. laccase and azoreductase, are cost-efficient, easy to harvest, easily downstream processable, and effortlessly mobilizable. Recent research trends on nanoparticle-microbial enzyme conjugates are also highly efficient to remove the azo dye from textile waste within a few minutes. But unfortunately, due to some gap between academia and industry, these methods remain only limited up to laboratory and its industrialization is still a challenge. The present review is an illustrated compilation of the use of microbial enzymes in removal of textile dyes.

Fluoride (F-) contamination of groundwater is a silent killer of human health that has now become a global problem. In the present study, we sought to isolate fluoride-resistant, urease producing bacteria from F-contaminated groundwater to evaluate their potential F-biomineralization. Strain MLN9, isolated from the fluoride-contaminated village of Madhabpur in Birbhum, could resist up to 5600 mg L−1F-concentration. Taxonomic classification of strain MLN9 based on whole genome sequence identified it as Proteus columbaeMLN9. Strain MLN9 showed 88.9% of maximum F- removal efficiency at pH 8.0, 1.0 g L−1CaCl2, and 10.0 g L−1urea concentration. Scanning electron micrographs showed dense and porous biological crystal precipitates surrounding the surface of the bacterial cells, and the adherence of F-to the cell surface was confirmed by the energy dispersion spectrum. Moreover, the X-ray diffraction pattern showed that the F-precipitates on the cell surface were biological crystals of Ca5(PO4)3F and CaF2. Genomic analysis of strain MLN9 revealed the presence of crcBgene homologs possibly encoding F-transporters and urease regulatory proteins such as UreA, UreB, UreC, UreD, and UreG suggesting a role in defluoridation. Our findings provide new insights into the urease based MICP technology using a noble bacterium Proteus columbaeMLN9 for fluoride removal.

Background: Halophiles are extremophilic organisms represented by archaea, bacteria and eukaryotes that thrive in hypersaline environment. They apply different osmoadaptation strategies to survive in hostile conditions. Habitat diversity of halophilic microorganisms in hypersaline system provides information pertaining the evolution of life on Earth. Main body: The microbiome-gut-brain axis interaction contributes greatly to the neurodegenerative diseases. Gut resident halophilic bacteria are used as alternative medication for chronic brain diseases. Halophiles can be used in pharmaceuticals, drug delivery, agriculture, saline waste water treatment, biodegradable plastic production, metal recovery, biofuel energy generation, concrete crack repair and other sectors. Furthermore, versatile biomolecules, mainly enzymes characterized by broad range of pH and thermostability, are suitable candidate for industrial purposes. Reflectance pattern of halophilic archaeal pigment rhodopsin is considered as potential biosignature for Earth-like planets. Short conclusions: This review represents important osmoadaptation strategies acquired by halophilic archaea and bacteria and their potential biotechnological applications to resolve present day challenges. Graphical Abstract: