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Background: Due to the rapid rise of allergies, anti-allergy medications are commonly being utilised to reduce inflammation; however, allergen-specific inhibitors may also be utilised. Objective: Our in silico study is aimed at finding out a promising anti-allergic compound that can act against a wide range of allergens. Methods: The inhibitory efficacies of potential anti-allergic compounds were investigated by ADMET studies and were followed by high throughput molecular docking. Binding energy was calculated by AUTODOCK, which led to the identification of binding sites between the allergens and antiallergic compounds. Each of the five anti-allergic compounds interacted with allergens at various levels. The docked poses showing significant binding energy were subjected to molecular docking simulation. Results: Marrubiin exhibits higher binding affinities to the catalytic pocket against allergens from chicken, European white birch plant, bacteria, fungus, and numerous food allergens. Conclusions: We propose Marrubiin, which appears to be a promising anti-allergic candidate and antiinflammatory agent against a wide spectrum of allergens. The future directions of this research are to analyze the effects of anti-allergic mechanisms in vivo.

Background: Laccases are among the oldest known multi-copper enzymes from a di-verse array of species, including bacteria and fungi, and are of great importance in different indus-tries like beverage, biosensors, textile, paper, and pulp. From the aspect of origin, interestingly, bac-terial 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 hy-drocarbons, 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.

Cantharellus cibarius is a wild edible mushrooms and considered as a plethora of compounds with potential biotechnological applications. This study highlighted the utilization of C. cibarius mushroom 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 Ca

Background Arsenic, a ubiquitous toxic metalloid, is a threat to the survival of all living organisms. Bioaccumulation of arsenic interferes with the normal physiological pathway. To overcome arsenic toxicity, organisms have developed arsenite methyltransferase enzyme, which methylates inorganic arsenite to organic arsenic MMA (III) in the presence of S-adenosylmethionine (SAM). Bacteria-derived arsM might be horizontally transported to different domains of life as arsM or as3mt (animal ortholog). A systematic study on the functional diversity of arsenite methyltransferase from various sources will be used in arsenic bioremediation. Results Several arsenite methyltransferase protein sequences of bacteria, fungi, fishes, birds, and mammals were retrieved from the UniProt database. In silico physicochemical studies confirmed the acidic, hydrophilic, and thermostable nature of these enzymes. Interkingdom relationships were revealed by performing phylogenetic analysis. Homology modeling was performed by SWISS-MODEL, and that was validated through SAVES-v.6.0. QMEAN values ranged from − 0.93 to − 1.30, ERRAT score (83–96), PROCHECK (88–92%), and other parameters suggested models are statistically significant. MOTIF and PrankWeb discovered several functional motifs and active pockets within the proteins respectively. The STRING database showed protein–protein interaction networks. Conclusion All of our in silico studies confirmed the fact that arsenite methyltransferase is a cytosolic stable enzyme with conserved sequences over a wide range of organisms. Thus, because of its stable and ubiquitous nature, arsenite methyltransferase could be employed in arsenic bioremediation.

The interaction between microbes and plants in rhizospheric environment is evident regarding sustainable development in agriculture. Microbes are involved in various metabolic activities in plant systems, which in turn help in plant health improvement. Eventually, plant-microbe interactions are connected with biogeochemical cycles. In this context, metagenomic study helps us to survey the microbial diversity in their natural niches, especially in rhizospheric regions. Noticeably, a diverse group of bacteria, fungi, and archaea are likely to be involved in plant growth promoting (PGP) activities. Variation in microbial communities in the rhizosphere depends on various parameters, such as soil organic matter, plant genotype, plant exudates, crop rotation, soil pH, nutrient cycling, etc. Some abiotic factors and chemical fertilizers have negative impact on crop productivity, influencing sustainable development of environment. Despite having negative impacts from climate change, microbes cope with this altered scenario and try to adjust themselves successfully and consequently promote plant growth by nutrient acquisition and stress tolerance approaches. Therefore, climate change has appeared as a big threat to the agricultural sector in recent past and this might be persistent in near future. However, the conservation of microbial diversity in the rhizospheric regions appears as one of the most promising options for long-term environmental sustainability.

Formalin is extensively used by traders to preserve various food items like fish and mushrooms, but it has serious health hazards. Detection of formalin content in foods is a challenging problem and in the proposed work, an electrochemical sensor based on a molecular imprinted polymer of acrylonitrile over graphite platform (MiPAN@GP electrode) is pioneered for the recognition of formalin (FAL). The synthesized MiPAN@GP electrode material was characterized with Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) spectroscope, UV-visible (UV-vis) spectroscope, and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The analytical performance of the electrode was evaluated by a three electrode system using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). A wide linear range from 10 μM to 1000 μM with a limit of detection of 0.63 μM was obtained. The MiPAN@GP sensor exhibited various advantages, such as low cost, high repeatability, high reproducibility, long term stability, and good selectivity. The practical applicability of the MiPAN@GP electrode was tested with mushroom and fish extracts which yielded satisfactory results and high accuracy (≈ 99%) when compared with the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis results.

Background: Arsenic contamination in the ground water of rural India is a recurrent problem and decontamination is mostly based on the chemical or physical treatments until now. Microbial bioremediation is eco-friendly, cheap, time-efficient and does not produce any toxic by-products. Result: In the present study, a high arsenic tolerant bacteria Brevundimonas aurantiaca PFAB1 was isolated from Panifala hot spring located in West Bengal, India. Previously Panifala was also reported to be an arsenic-rich hot spring. B. aurantiaca PFAB1 exhibited both positive arsenic reductase and arsenite oxidase activity. It was tolerant to arsenite up to 90 mM and arsenate up to 310 mM. Electron microscopy has proved significant changes in cellular micromorphology and stalk appearance under the presence of arsenic in growth medium. Bioaccumulation of arsenic in As (III) treated cells were 0.01% of the total cell weight, while 0.43% in case of As (V) treatment. Conclusions: All experimental lines of evidence prove the uptake/accumulation of arsenic within the bacterial cell. All these features will help in the exploitation of B. aurantiaca PFAB1 as a potent biological weapon to fight arsenic toxicity in the near future.How to cite: Banerjee A, Sarkar S, Gorai S, et al. High arsenic tolerance in Brevundimonas aurantiaca PFAB1 from an arsenic-rich Indian hot spring. Electron J Biotechnol 2021:52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejbt.2021.05.006

Extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) produced by a deep-sea, psychrotolerant Bacillus altitudinis SORB11 was evaluated by considering physiochemical nature and structural constituents. The productivity of crude EPS was measured ~ 13.17 g L−1. The surface topography of the crude EPS showed a porous, webbed structure along with a branched coil-like configuration. The crystalline crude EPS contained a high amount of sulfur. Further, the crude EPS was subjected for purification. The molecular weight of purified EPS was determined ~ 9.8 × 104 Da. The purified EPS was appeared to show glucomannan-like configuration that is composed of → 4)-β-Manp-(1 → and → 4)-β-Glcp-(1 → residues. So, this polysaccharide was comparable to the structure of plant-derived glucomannan. Subsequently, EPS biosynthesis protein clusters like EpsC, EpsD, EpsE, and glycosyltransferase family proteins were predicted from the genome of strain SORB11, which may provide an insight into the production of glucomannan-type of polysaccharide. This low molecular weight linear form of glucomannan-type EPS might be involved to form a network-like unattached aggregation, and helps in cell-to-cell interaction in deep-sea microbial species.

Environmental health is a critical concern, continuously contaminated by physical and biological components (viz., anthropogenic activity), which adversely affect on biodiversity, ecosystems and human health. Nonetheless, environmental pollution has great impact on microbial communities, especially bacteria, which try to evolve in changing environment. For instance, during the course of adaptation, bacteria easily become resistance to antibiotics and heavy metals. Antibiotic resistance genes are now one of the most vital pollutants, provided as a source of frequent horizontal gene transfer. In this review, the environmental cause of multidrug resistance (MDR) that was supposed to be driven by either heavy metals or combination of environmental factors was essentially reviewed, especially focussed on the correlation between accumulation of heavy metals and development of MDR by bacteria. This kind of correlation was seemed to be non-significant, i.e. paradoxical. Gram-positive bacteria accumulating much of toxic heavy metal (i.e. highly stress tolerance) were unlikely to become MDR, whereas Gram-negative bacteria that often avoid accumulation of toxic heavy metal by efflux pump systems were come out to be more prone to MDR. So far, other than antibiotic contaminant, no such available data strongly support the direct influence of heavy metals in bacterial evolution of MDR; combinations of factors may drive the evolution of antibiotic resistance. Therefore, Gram-positive bacteria are most likely to be an efficient member in treatment of industrial waste water, especially in the removal of heavy metals, perhaps inducing the less chance of antibiotic resistance pollution in the environment.

Nowadays when control of environmental toxicity is a matter of concern, the focus of the researchers is to find an eco-friendly process. Considering the hazards associated with chemical synthesis of nanoparticles, green synthesis approaches have gained considerable attention for their sustainable nature in nanomedicine and nanobiotechnology. Here, exopolysaccharide (EPS) synthesized by a geothermal spring origin B. anthracis PFAB2 is used for green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). Elemental analysis of EPS-coated AgNPs exhibited solid peaks of silver (39.66%) along with oxygen and carbon. TEM analysis confirmed the hexagonal shape of the AgNPs. Polydispersity index (PDI) reinforced the moderately monodisperse nature of the nanoparticles. High negative zeta potential indicated longer shelf life, good colloidal nature and high dispersive nature of the AgNPs. The B. anthracis PFAB2 EPS-coated AgNPs demonstrated prospective biocidal characters for both gram positive and gram negative bacteria along with some potentially hazardous fungi compared with the conventional antimicrobials. The results can be much expedient in the future for treatment of microorganisms that are otherwise resistant to traditional antibiotics or antifungal drugs.

Production of green pigments has drawn great attention recently in various applications like foods, cosmetics, nutraceuticals, and pharmaceuticals as it counters the harmful effects of synthetic dyes. Use of green natural products, especially microbe-derived colours in food and cosmetics is rapidly developing for its eco-friendly nature and cost effectiveness. In this study, a red pigment producing rod-shaped, Gram-negative bacterium Serratia rubidaea HB01 was isolated from domestic sewage. The isolate exhibited wide resistance to various groups of antibiotics, including Aminoglycosides, Lincosamides, Macrolides, Nitroimidazoles, Penicillins, Quinolones, and Tetracyclines. The isolate S. rubidaea HB01 significantly produced red prodigiosin pigment (17.9 mg ml−1). The production of prodigiosin was highly pH sensitive and growth media specific. The UV–Vis spectrum of the red pigment dissolved in methanol showed a maximum absorption at 536 nm in neutral pH. Red fraction with Rf value 0.38 purified by thin layer chromatography (TLC) was further subjected to liquid chromatography and mass spectrometric (LC–MS) analysis. Moreover, a strong band of pyrrolenine (C = N) at vmax 1639 was found comparable to prodigiosin as observed from Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectra. Alongside, the presence of a typical methoxy group with chemical shifts at δ 4.0 ppm and δ 58.5 ppm was revealed by 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra respectively, confirming the red pigment produced to be prodigiosin. The molecular weight of the prodigiosin was identified as 323 (m/z 324, [M + H]+). Serratia species that typically develop antibiotic resistance mechanisms are already known to produce antibiotics (carbapenem and bacteriocins) and prodigiosin pigment by integrating Quorum Sensing (QS) with overlapping pigment production regulatory systems (pigP). Consequently, mutations in this regulatory region may influence the production of prodigiosin and antibiotic resistance mechanisms.

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.

Extremophilic microorganisms often produce novel bioactive compounds to survive under harsh environmental conditions. Exopolysaccharides (EPSs), a constitutive part of bacterial biofilm, are functional biopolymers that act as a protecting sheath to the extremophilic bacteria and are of high industrial value. In this study, we elucidate a new EPS produced by thermophilic

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

Copper (Cu) is a vital micronutrient for all living organisms below its toxicity limit. Various industrial activities, mining deposits, excessive use of harmful chemicals, waste discharges, and drugs are the main reason for the emerging copper concentration. Emphases of the current study were to isolate and characterize highly copper-tolerating bacterial (CTB) species from a copper-contaminated site. In enrichment culture techniques, 24 copper tolerant microbial isolates were evaluated and the maximum tolerable concentration (MTC) was determined using various concentrations of copper sulfate pentahydrate (CuSO4.5H2O) solution. Three bacterial strains named GKSM2, GKSM6, and GKSM11 were tolerant to 350 mg/l of CuSO4.5H2O. The 16S rRNA gene sequencing and phylogeny data revealed that these CTB belong to species Bacillus zanthoxyli, Bacillus stercoris, and Pseudomonas alcaliphila species. CTB showed their optimized growth at moderate salt concentration (0.1-0.5M NaCl), temperature range (20-45˚C) and wide pH range (pH 5.0-11). All the strains can produce various Plant growth stimulating (PGS) traits viz., phytohormones (IAA, GA), proline, nitrogen fixation, ammonification, and antioxidant enzymes in presence and absence of Cu2+ stress. The result displays that adsorption of Cu2+ ions evidenced by TEM, SEM, and SEM-EDX analysis.

Various microorganisms thrive under extreme environments, like hot springs, hydrothermal vents, deep marine ecosystems, hyperacid lakes, acid mine drainage, high UV exposure, and more. To survive against the deleterious effect of these extreme circumstances, they form a network of biofilm where exopolysaccharides (EPSs) comprise a substantial part. The EPSs are often polyanionic due to different functional groups in their structural backbone, including uronic acids, sulfated units, and phosphate groups. Altogether, these chemical groups provide EPSs with a negative charge allowing them to (a) act as ligands toward dissolved cations as well as trace, and toxic metals; (b) be tolerant to the presence of salts, surfactants, and alpha-hydroxyl acids; and (c) interface the solubilization of hydrocarbons. Owing to their unique structural and functional characteristics, EPSs are anticipated to be utilized industrially to remediation of metals, crude oil, and hydrocarbons from contaminated wastewaters, mines, and oil spills. The biotechnological advantages of extremophilic EPSs are more diverse than traditional biopolymers. The present review aims at discussing the mechanisms and strategies for using EPSs from extremophiles in industries and environment bioremediation. Additionally, the potential of EPSs as fascinating biomaterials to mediate biogenic nanoparticles synthesis and treat multicomponent water contaminants is discussed.

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2018 was awarded jointly to Arthur Ashkin, Gerard Mourou and Donna Strickland for giving new beam of light in the field of laser physics. Unravelling new mechanical properties of biological molecule has made an interdisciplinary approach with physics creating significant insight into solving devil diseases.

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.

Deep marine microorganisms survive under extreme ecological settings and harsh environmental conditions of low temperature, high salinity, and high atmospheric pressure making it significant of scientific interest. Southern Ocean (SO) is one such example of deep marine ecosystem and the microorganisms inhabiting in such hostile environment may produce different bioactive secondary metabolites. SO (Indian Sector) is relatively less documented in terms of microbial composition and community dynamics. The present study involves isolation of exopolysaccharides (EPSs) from three potent SO (Indian Sector) bacteria, optimization of the EPS production and partial characterization of them. Three different EPSs show varying structural conformation, that is from porous to strong flakes mimicking polymeric structure with C/N ratio ranging between 4 - 11. FTIR spectra have exhibited the presence of different active groups of carbohydrate moieties, water molecules and protein-associated amides. EPSs produced by marine microorganisms show high biotechnological promises such as drug carrier in pharmaceutical field, emulsifier and cryo- protectant in food-processing industry, detoxification of petrochemical oils and much more. The three bacterial isolates in this study showed potential of producing EPS biopolymer that can be further explored in terms of its proper biotechnological applications.

Thermal ecosystems like hot springs are exclusive habitat of thermotolerant microorganisms that produce exopolysaccharides (EPS). In this study, EPS produced by a hot spring origin Pseudomonas species is structurally elucidated.The EPS is highly thermostable (Td 289.98 °C), has low molecular weight (1510 Da) and is rhamnoglucose type consisting α-(1 → 3) linked to L-Rhap and α-(1 → 6) linked to d-Glc substituted with O-acetyl groups. Irregular EPS sheets with smooth surface were observed that signify the compact structure of the biopolymer; a characteristic plasticized film-like feature. Intra- and inter-molecular aggregation of EPS units are observed in atomic force microscopy. The EPS showed good rheological property at neutral pH. EPS-mediated green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNP) was performed using co-precipitation method. Size of individual AgNPs had a Z-average of 93.6 nm and 0.437 polydispersity index. The EPS-coated AgNPs were moderately monodisperse. These AgNPs also exhibited biocidal property preferentially against gram negative bacteria and some fungi. Incorporating EPS to the metal nanoparticles confers them biocompatibility. Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles has gained considerable attention for its eco-friendliness in nano-medicine and nano-biotechnology. Keeping in context, the results of our study will support a new polysaccharide-mediated green synthesis approach of metal nanoparticles that shows profound antimicrobial property.

In this article, we present an analysis of the parasitic artifacts in five working electrodes (WEs) of different metals in circular geometry using three terminal analysis proposed by Fletcher. The electrical parameters of the electrodes have been determined by extended Kalman filtering (EKF) using measured input–output responses. We have been able to extract the stray parasitic elements and establish their variations with relative positions. It has been found that the WEs closer to the counter electrode (CE) responds better with less parasitic effect. The impedance spectra of the network reveal that the measured response currents depends on the impedance of the three-terminal network not merely on the two terminal impedance between WE and CE. The parasitic leaking currents were compensated considerably by a using an external bridging capacitor.

Sikkim 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 si...

To circumvent the problems (such as volatilization, photolytic decomposition, chemical instability, easy permeability through the skin) associated with low molecular weight antimicrobial agents, our strategy employed graft copolymerization of cationic monomer with the polymeric substrate viz. psyllium husk. The surface graft concentration of quaternary ammonium ion on psyllium was optimized by measuring the extent of grafting in the microwave-induced process. The surface modification of graft copolymers was evident by different physico–chemical techniques like 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Thermo gravimeteric analysis (TGA), and viscometric study. The synthesized water soluble product resulted good antibacterial activity against Gram positive Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus anthracis but failed to produce any antibacterial activity against Gram negative Salmonella typhi and Escherichia coli. The reason to failure has been explained on the basis of differences in the electrokinetic property between Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Optimum minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for the polymeric grade which showed good biocidal effect evaluated by both zone of inhibition and absorbance is found at 1000 µg/ml.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) is commonly resistant to various drugs. Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-MTB) is mostly caused by mutation in drug-binding proteins and protein folding. The aim of the study was to identify the pattern of mutations in embC, inhA and rpoB proteins and investigate its interactions with available drug such as rifampicin, ethambutol and isoniazid, using a computer docking method. The evolution of drugs resistant mechanisms of MTB was analyzed using an in silico approach. The model proteins were considered to be in a protein-protein interaction network among the twenty transmembrane proteins. The changes in structural conformation may describe the significance of the proton pumps system. The docking analysis revealed that unlike isoniazid, both rifampicin and ethambutol, bound to the same residues in mutant and wild forms. Moreover, multiple-sequence alignment (MSA) showed mutational hotspot regions where the substitution of amino acids in these three target proteins was position specific under stress. The molecular basis of drug resistance in M. tuberculosis can be represented by a protein network which is a well-regulated system for efflux pump activation by popularly used drugs. Ethambutol and rifampicin form stable complexes with EmbC and RpoB, respectively. Isoniazid shows no binding affinity to mutant InhA (2015). Analysis of the cellular network associated with drug regulatory proteins suggest that mmpl3, Rv1634 and Rv1258c play a major role by altering the protein pump to remove the active drug compounds from the bacterial cell.

Glycosyltransferase (GTs) is a wide class of enzymes that transfer sugar moiety, playing a key role in the synthesis of bacterial exopolysaccharide (EPS) biopolymer. In recent years, increased demand for bacterial EPSs has been observed in pharmaceutical, food, and other industries. The application of the EPSs largely depends upon their thermal stability, as any industrial application is mainly reliant on slow thermal degradation. Keeping this in context, EPS producing GT enzymes from three different bacterial sources based on growth temperature (mesophile, thermophile, and hyperthermophile) are considered for in silico analysis of the structural–functional relationship. From the present study, it was observed that the structural integrity of GT increases significantly from mesophile to thermophile to hyperthermophile. In contrast, the structural plasticity runs in an opposite direction towards mesophile. This interesting temperature-dependent structural property has directed the GT–UDP-glucose interactions in a way that thermophile has finally demonstrated better binding affinity (−5.57 to −10.70) with an increased number of hydrogen bonds (355) and stabilizing amino acids (Phe, Ala, Glu, Tyr, and Ser). The results from this study may direct utilization of thermophile-origin GT as best for industrial-level bacterial polysaccharide production.

Background: The incidence of allergy has been increasing at an alarming rate over the last few decades. Objective: Our present study aims to find out the structurally homologous motifs present in different proteinaceous allergens. Methods: Significant number of protein sequences and their corresponding structures of various pollen, fungal, bacterial, and food allergens were retrieved and the sequence and structural identity were analyzed. Results: Intra- and inter-sequence along with their structural analysis of the proteinaceous allergens revealed that no significant relationships exist among them. A few, but not the negligible number of high structural similarities, were observed within different groups of allergens from fungus, angiosperms, and animals (Aves and Mammalia). Conclusion: Our in silico study on thirty-six different allergens showed a significant level of structural similarities among themselves, regardless of their sequences.

Nowadays, nanoscale matter has started a revolution in manufacturing and industrialization processes like metal recovery. However, the chemical synthesis of nanoparticles has several disadvantages such as high initial capital cost, hazardous environmental effects, and slow metal recovery. To overcome these situations, the green synthesis of nanoparticles has gained attention due to its cost-effectiveness and ecofriendly nature. In the present era, nanobiotechnology is a major approach to recover several valuable metals. Different organisms like plants, fungi, algae, and bacteria have the ability to synthesize nanoparticles. Polyphenolic compounds from plant extracts have great antioxidant and reducing properties that can enable the reduction of metal ions into zero-valent metal atoms. NADH-dependent nitrate reductase enzymes act as a stabilizer in the formation of nanoparticles. Microbes like Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Shewanella, Geobacter, Klebsiella, and Desulfovibrio are capable of synthesizing nanoparticles and recover valuable metals like platinum, palladium, gold, silver, selenium, uranium, and copper.

Plants are always exposed to the wide variety of pathogens. In compatible interaction, pathogen can successfully invade into the host plant by manipulating host immune system and causes plant disease. On the other hand, during incompatible interaction plant recognizes variable pathogen elicitor molecules and induces its defense response. The molecular mechanism of plant-pathogen interaction is very specific, complex and dynamic. A plethora of research has explored the multifaceted defense mechanisms of plant against pathogen infection which has definite implication in the identification of superior plant genotype with durable resistance to variable pathogens. Thus this treatise is an attempt to summarize the key approaches about the plant-pathogen interaction. Collectively, such information indeed will provide the insight on the molecular mechanism of plant immune response against pathogen infection and the possible protective role of different phytohormones in plant defense system.

Halophilic bacteria isolated from Indian Sundarban Wetland, identified as Salinicoccus roseus strain RF1H, were screened for extracellular esterase production. Media components for esterase production under submerged fermentation were optimised using Plackett–Burman Design followed by Box-Behnken Design of Response Surface Methodology (RSM) at pH 4.0, 3.5 g/L of MgSO4, and tributyrin concentration of 1(%v/v). The regression model was significant with a determination coefficient (R2) value of 0.826. Using RSM, the experimental value of maximum enzyme activity (2.442 UmL−1) was 1.35 fold increased. The kinetic parameters Km and Vmax for hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl acetate were 9.98 mM and 2.26 µmol/min/mg respectively, establishing a high affinity for the substrate. Further, the enzyme conferred promising results in decolorisation of synthetic dyes -Malachite Green, Congo Red, Brilliant Yellow, and Orange G. Molecular docking was used to investigate the binding pockets of the esterase, enzyme-ligand interactions, and amino acids which played a key role in dye decolorisation. Docking score results and decolorisation percentage were found in good agreement. This is the first report on the biotransformation of synthetic dyes to non-toxic products using esterase from Salinicoccus roseus.

The present study deals with the design of the hybrid structure of the particle swarm optimization (PSO)-based back propagation multilayer perceptron –artificial neural network (BPMLP-ANN) and technique used for the classification of monofloral honey samples. The transient response is collected from the multielectrode electronic tongue (ET) system for the rapid floral classification of honey. Forty samples of five different floral types (eucalyptus, til, leechi, pumpkin, and mustard) are recorded based on the cyclic voltammetric technique. The obtained electronic tongue response matrix has been treated with various preprocessing techniques. Principal component analysis (PCA) is done to observe the capability of cluster formation. Further, the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) method has been used for feature selection and compression of data set. The resultant compressed data is used as the input variable for classification using back propagation multilayer perceptron-based neural network model. The weights are updated using particle swarm optimization (PSO) during the training of BPMLP-ANN. The result indicates that the proposed hybrid model is effective for classification of different floral origins of honey samples with increased in the classification rate up to 97%.

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.

Microbial contamination, the consequences of both anthropogenic and geogenic activity, includes high health and environmental threats and may adversely affects the ecological niche. The present work is a successful attempt towards the fabrication of anti-bacterial agent by incorporation of cationic monomer, diallyldimethylammonium chloride (DADMAC) on sesbania gum through microwave assisted method. The grafted chains of poly (DADMAC) provide positive charge to sesbania gum which in turn confers antibacterial activity. The synthesized product was characterized through FTIR, SEM, TGA, DSC elemental and viscometric analysis. The inhibitory activity of the synthesized product has been evaluated in vitro against both Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus NCIM 2122 and Bacillus anthracis) as well as Gram-negative (Salmonella typhi NCIM 2501 and Escherichia coli NCIM 2832) bacteria through standard agar cup method. Optimum minimum inhibitory concentration for each grade of graft copolymer measured by calculating the zone of inhibition has been found at 750 µg/ml.

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.

Exopolysaccharide produced by a unique avirulent Bacillus anthracis strain PFAB2 of hot spring origin has been characterized and its functional properties are investigated which is a first report. Maximum yield of EPS is 7.66 g/l with 2% glucose and 1% peptone as optimum carbon and nitrogen source respectively. The EPS is found to be a homopolymer consisting of only glucose as principle monosaccharide component. Through 1H NMR study, different dextran-like proton peaks are observed. Molecular weight of the EPS resembles low molecular weight bacterial origin polysaccharides. Melting transition of the EPS has started after 276 °C which indicates good thermal stability. The EPS also shows potent antioxidant activity in terms of DPPH and ABTS mediated free radical scavenging property compared to standard ascorbic acid. Emulsifying property of the EPS is also observed and has shown good emulsification of vegetable oils. The polysaccharide forms a thermo resistant gel during the heating phase, with G' higher than G″ indicating excellent shear-thinning behaviour and viscoelastic nature of the EPS.