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This study reports the high susceptibility of Propionibacterium acnes to four medicinal plants collected from western regions of Saudi Arabia. Plant extracts were obtained by using methanol and acetone. The susceptibility was tested by agar well diffusion method. Plants of interest, namely, Rhazya stricta, Azadirachta indica, Camellia sinensis and Ocimum basilicum, exhibited good antibacterial activity with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 50 mg/mL, 25 mg/mL, 100 mg/mL and 100 mg/mL respectively. The maximum antibacterial effect was observed by A. indica followed by R. stricta. In addition, C. sinensis, and O. basilicum had moderate activities. The results show that these plants could be tested for use in skin care products to prevent or improve acne.

This study aimed to compare the fungal rhizosphere communities of Rhazya stricta, Enneapogon desvauxii, Citrullus colocynthis, Senna italica, and Zygophyllum simplex, and the gut mycobiota of Poekilocerus bufonius (Orthoptera, Pyrgomorphidae, "Usherhopper"). A total of 164,485 fungal reads were observed from the five plant rhizospheres and Usherhopper gut. The highest reads were in S. italica rhizosphere (29,883 reads). Species richness in the P. bufonius gut was the highest among the six samples. Ascomycota was dominant in all samples, with the highest reads in E. desvauxii (26,734 reads) rhizosphere. Sordariomycetes and Dothideomycetes were the dominant classes detected with the highest abundance in C. colocynthis and E. desvauxii rhizospheres. Aspergillus and Ceratobasidium were the most abundant genera in the R. stricta rhizosphere, Fusarium and Penicillium in the E. desvauxii rhizosphere and P. bufonius gut, Ceratobasidium and Myrothecium in the C. colocynthis rhizosphere, Aspergillus and Fusarium in the S. italica rhizosphere, and Cochliobolus in the Z. simplex rhizosphere. Aspergillus terreus was the most abundant species in the R. stricta and S. italica rhizospheres, Fusarium sp. in E. desvauxii rhizosphere, Ceratobasidium sp. in C. colocynthis rhizosphere, Cochliobolus sp. in Z. simplex rhizosphere, and Penicillium sp. in P. bufonius gut. The phylogenetic results revealed the unclassified species were related closely to Ascomycota and the species in E. desvauxii, S. italica and Z. simplex rhizospheres were closely related, where the species in the P. bufonius gut, were closely related to the species in the R. stricta, and C. colocynthis rhizospheres.

Obesity is a chronic disorder that is associated with body mass index (BMI) of greater or equal to 30 kg/m2. The prevalence of obesity in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is increasing at an alarming rate and is expected to reach 41% in men and up to 78% in women by 2022. Since chemokines are associated with involuntary weight loss, the objective of this study was to elucidate their association with BMI among Saudis. A questionnaire was used to collect information about diet, health conditions, and demographics from 15 men and 16 women who participated in the study. BMI was calculated based on clinical measurements and participants were classified according to their BMI category as: normal, underweight, overweight, or obese. Serum samples were collected for a multiplex assay using the Human Chemokine Magnetic 30-plex panel. The serum concentration of either the monokine induced by gamma interferon (MIG) or the CXC-motif chemokine ligand 9 (CXCL-9) was significantly increased in obese men (P = 0.0194) and women (P = 0.043) as compared to underweight men and women, respectively. However, the serum levels of other chemokines were not significantly different among the groups. We found that MIG levels are differentially regulated in serum, based on individuals’ BMI. Keywords: Chemokines, Body mass index, Obesity, Saudi Arabia, Multiplex assay

Background Over the years, diphtheria was known as contagious fatal infection caused by Corynebacterium diphtheria that affects upper respiratory system. The spread of diphtheria epidemic disease is best prevented by vaccination with diphtheria toxoid vaccine. Aluminum adjuvants were reported to stimulate the immune responses to killed and subunit vaccines. Objective Our study aimed to minimize adjuvant particles size, to gain insight of resulting immunity titer and impact on immune response antibody subtypes. Methods Aluminum salts and calcium phosphate adjuvants were prepared, followed by micro/nanoparticle adjuvants preparation. After formulation of diphtheria vaccine from diphtheria toxoid and developed adjuvants, we evaluated efficacy of these prepared vaccines based on their impact on immune response via measuring antibodies titer, antibodies isotyping and cytokines profile in immunized mice. Results A noteworthy increase in immunological parameters was observed; antibodies titer was higher in serum of mice injected with nanoparticle adjuvants-containing vaccine than mice injected with standard adjuvant-containing vaccine and commercial vaccine. Aluminum compounds adjuvants (nanoparticles and microparticles formulation) and microparticles calcium phosphate adjuvant induce TH2 response, while nanoparticles calcium phosphate and microparticles aluminum compounds adjuvants stimulate TH1 response. Conclusions Different treatments to our adjuvant preparations (nanoparticles and microparticles formulation) had a considerable impact on vaccine immunogenicity.

International audience; The gut microbiota is often affected by the dietary and lifestyle habits of the host, resulting in a better efficacy that favors energy harvesting from the consumed food. Our objective was to characterize the composition of gut microbiota in adult Saudis and investigate possible association with lifestyle and dietary practices. Feces from 104 Saudi volunteers (48% males) were tested for microbiota by sequencing the V3-V4 region of bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA). For all participants, data were collected related to their lifestyle habits and dietary practices. The relative abundance (RA) of Fusobacteria was significantly higher in normal weight Saudis (P = 0.005, false discovery rate-FDR = 0.014). Individuals who consumed more coffee presented marginally significant more RA of Fusobacteria (P = 0.02, FDR = 0.20) in their gut microbiota compared to those reporting low or no coffee intake, but the RA of Fusobacteria was significantly higher in smokers compared to nonsmokers (P = 0.009, FDR = 0.027). The RA of Fusobacteria was also significantly higher in those reporting daily consumption of bread (P = 0.005, FDR = 0.015). At the species level, the gut microbiota of people who consumed coffee was dominated by Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron followed by Phascolarctobacterium faecium and Eubacterium rectale. Similarly, the gut microbiota of smokers was also enriched by B. thetaiotaomicron and Lactobacillus amylovorus. Smoking cessation, bread and coffee consumption induce changes in the intestinal microbial composition of Saudis. This indicates the significance of diet and lifestyle practices in the determination of the composition of the gut microbiota, which could possibly lead later to changes in metabolic profile and weight.

Traditional herbal medicines have been part of human healthcare systems since ancient times. The studies on herbal medicines have mainly focused on their beneficial aspects and hence their harmful effects have been usually overlooked. Throughout Middle East and South Asia, Rhazya stricta Decne. and Thymus vulgaris L. are used as traditional medicines for various diseases. We evaluated R. stricta and T. vulgaris aqueous extracts for their genotoxicity and mutagenicity through comet assay and Ames Salmonella mutagenicity test respectively. An overall treatment effect (p

Numerous dietary products are supplemented with probiotics that may be beneficial for human health. Recently, bifidobacteria have received increasing attention as a genus of probiotic bacteria with high efficiency and few side effects. To examine potential effects of different bifidobacteria concentrations on the mucosal immune response, we fed mice with (a) 108 colony-forming units (CFU) of bifidobacteria (group 108B), and (b) with 1012 CFU of bifidobacteria (group 1012B) over 42 days and assessed gene expression in intestinal mucosa and immune marker concentrations in serum samples; ten untreated female mice were used as a control. Continuous exposure to 108 CFU of bifidobacteria activated both macrophages and Treg immune cells through significantly increasing the expression of mucosal TLR2 and IL10-mRNA genes, but inhibited Th1 and Th2 cells via significant downregulation of IL4 and IFNγ gene expression, compared to untreated mice. Interestingly, group 1012B showed down-regulated expression of TLR2, IL10, and IL4 genes but up-regulated expression of IFNγ, compared to group 108B and to the control. Also, polyclonal immunoglobulins IgG, IgM, and IgA showed a significant increase in all treated mice compared to the control. We conclude that high concentrations of bifidobacteria reduced innate immune functions. Furthermore, adaptive immunity seemed to be enhanced by increasing stimulation of T and B lymphocytes, suggesting aberration of the immune system following intestinal inflammation due to constant exposure to high concentrations of bifidobacteria. Both experimental bifidobacteria concentrations increased the total levels of circulating Igs, particularly of IgA., Microbiology; IL4; Probiotics; Mucosal immunity; Bifidobacteria; IFN gamma; IL10.; Mice; TLR2

It's known that diphtheria and tetanus are a contagious lethal diseases over the years, they caused by pathogenic microbes corynebacterium diphtheria and Clostridium tetani, respectively. The diseases result from the production of bacterial toxin. Vaccination with bacterial toxoid vaccines adsorbed on particulates adjuvants still are the best way to prevent this epidemic diseases from spread. The particulate vaccines have been shown to be more efficient than soluble one for the induction of the immune responses. Nanoparticles can be engineered to enhance the immune responses. As well known the immune response to inactivate killed and subunit vaccine enhances by alum adjuvants. The adjuvants examined and tested after reducing its size to particle size, thus mimic size of viruses which is considered smallest units can derive the immune system. The major issue is minimizing the adjuvant particles, to gain insight of resulting immunity types and impact on immune response. The adjuvant effect of micro/nanoparticles appears to largely be a consequence of their uptake into antigen presenting cells.

// Waqas Iqbal 1 , Saleh Alkarim 1 , Ahmed AlHejin 1 , Hasan Mukhtar 1,2 and Kulvinder S. Saini 1,3 1 Embryonic and Cancer Stem Cell Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 2 Department of Dermatology, University of Wisconsin Medical Sciences Center, Madison, WI, USA 3 School of Biotechnology, Eternal University, Baru Sahib, Himachal Pradesh, India Correspondence to: Hasan Mukhtar, email: // Kulvinder Saini, email: // Keywords : stem cells, cancer, metastasis, therapeutic, signaling Received : May 16, 2016 Accepted : July 13, 2016 Published : July 29, 2016 Abstract Tumor comprises of heterogeneous population of cells where not all the disseminated cancer cells have the prerogative and “in-build genetic cues” to form secondary tumors. Cells with stem like properties complemented by key signaling molecules clearly have shown to exhibit selective growth advantage to form tumors at distant metastatic sites. Thus, defining the role of cancer stem cells (CSC) in tumorigenesis and metastasis is emerging as a major thrust area for therapeutic intervention. Precise relationship and regulatory mechanisms operating in various signal transduction pathways during cancer dissemination, extravasation and angiogenesis still remain largely enigmatic. How the crosstalk amongst circulating tumor cells (CTC), epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) process and CSC is coordinated for initiating the metastasis at secondary tissues, and during cancer relapse could be of great therapeutic interest. The signal transduction mechanisms facilitating the dissemination, infiltration of CSC into blood stream, extravasations, progression of metastasis phenotype and angiogenesis, at distant organs, are the key pathologically important vulnerabilities being elucidated. Therefore, current new drug discovery focus has shifted towards finding “key driver genes” operating in parallel signaling pathways, during quiescence, survival and maintenance of stemness in CSC. Understanding these mechanisms could open new horizons for tackling the issue of cancer recurrence and metastasis-the cause of ~90% cancer associated mortality. To design futuristic & targeted therapies, we propose a multi-pronged strategy involving small molecules, RNA interference, vaccines, antibodies and other biotechnological modalities against CSC and the metastatic signal transduction cascade.

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics, first a major concern in the 1960s, has re-emerged worldwide over the last 20 years. The World Health Organization (WHO) and other health organizations have, therefore, declared ‘war’ against human microbial pathogens, particularly hospital-acquired infections, and have made drug discovery a top priority for these diseases. Because these bacteria are refractory to conventional chemotherapy, medicinal and herbal plants used in various countries should be assessed for their therapeutic potential; these valuable bio-resources are a reservoir of complex bioactive molecules. Earlier studies from our laboratory on Rhazya stricta, a native herbal shrub of Asia, have shown that this plant has a number of therapeutic properties. In this study, we evaluated the antimicrobial activities of various concentrations of five solvent extracts (aqueous alkaloid, aqueous non-alkaloid, organic alkaloid, organic non-alkaloid and whole aqueous extracts) derived from R. stricta leaves against several multidrug-resistant, human-pathogenic bacteria, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-positive Escherichia coli. In vitro, molecular and electron microscopy analyses conclusively demonstrated the antimicrobial effects of these extracts against a panel of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. The organic alkaloid extract was the most effective against E. coli and MRSA, resulting in cell membrane disruption visible with transmission electron microscopy. In the near future, we intend to further focus and delineate the molecular mechanism-of-action for specific alkaloids of R. stricta, particularly against MRSA.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) causes major healthcare problems in many countries, as it is present as several hospital- and community-associated strains. Hospital-associated MRSA is one of the most prevalent nosocomial pathogens throughout the world and infections caused by community-acquired MRSA are rising. This emphasizes the need for new and efficient anti-MRSA agents. We evaluated the antibacterial effects of camel lactoferrin (cLf) and human lactoferrin (hLf) alone and in combination with several antibiotics against MRSA. Antimicrobials were tested against MRSA and an S. aureus control strain by the agar disc diffusion method. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined for antimicrobials by the broth microdilution method. Synergy between cLf or hLf and antibiotics was examined by checkerboard and time-kill assays. The agar disc diffusion assay showed that MRSA growth was inhibited by cLf at 0.25-3 mg/ml and hLf at 1-3 mg/ml. cLf demonstrated 3 times higher inhibitory activity against MRSA than hLf in terms of MIC values (250 vs. 750 μg/ml, respectively). Biotinylated cLf was recognized by two membrane proteins of MRSA, 66-67 KDa. Combinations of cLf or hLf and oxacillin or vancomycin at sub-MIC levels enhanced in vitro antibacterial activity against MRSA compared with each agent alone.

Butyrophilins (BTNs) are a group of the moonlighting proteins, some members of which are secreted in milk. They constitute a large family of structurally similar type 1 transmembrane proteins from the immunoglobulin superfamily. Although the founding member of this family is related to lactation, participating in the secretion, formation and stabilization of milk fat globules, it may also have a cell surface receptor function. Generally, the BTN family members are known to modulate co-stimulatory responses, T cell selection, differentiation, and cell fate determination. Polymorphism of these genes was shown to be associated with the pathology of several human diseases. Despite their biological significance, structural information on human butyrophilins is rather limited. Based on their remarkable multifunctionality, butyrophilins seem to belong to the category of moonlighting proteins, which are known to contain intrinsically disordered protein regions (IDPRs). However, the disorder status of human BTNs was not systematically investigated as of yet. The goal of this study is to fill this gap and to evaluate peculiarities of intrinsic disorder predisposition of the members of human BTN family, and to find if they have IDPRs that can be attributed to the multifunctionality of these important proteins.

Ensifer sp. PC2 is an aerobic, motile, Gram-negative, non-spore-forming rod that was isolated from a nitrogen-fixing nodule of the tree legume P. cineraria (L.) Druce (Khejri), which is a keystone species that grows in arid and semi-arid regions of the Indian Thar desert. Strain PC2 exists as a dominant saprophyte in alkaline soils of Western Rajasthan. It is fast growing, well-adapted to arid conditions and is able to form an effective symbiosis with several annual crop legumes as well as species of mimosoid trees and shrubs. Here we describe the features of Ensifer sp. PC2, together with genome sequence information and its annotation. The 8,458,965 bp high-quality permanent draft genome is arranged into 171 scaffolds of 171 contigs containing 8,344 protein-coding genes and 139 RNA-only encoding genes, and is one of the rhizobial genomes sequenced as part of the DOE Joint Genome Institute 2010 Genomic Encyclopedia for Bacteria and Archaea-Root Nodule Bacteria (GEBA-RNB) project proposal. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40793-016-0157-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Increase in the incidence of Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (IDDM) among people from developed and developing countries has created a large global market for insulin. Moreover, exploration of new methods for insulin delivery including oral or inhalation route which require very high doses would further increase the demand of cost-effective recombinant insulin. Various bacterial and yeast strains have been optimized to overproduce important biopharmaceuticals. One of the approaches we have taken is the production of recombinant human insulin along with C-peptide in yeastPichia pastoris. We procured a cDNA clone of insulin from Origene Inc., USA. Insulin cDNA was PCR amplified and cloned into yeast vector pPICZ-α. Cloned insulin cDNA was confirmed by restriction analysis and DNA sequencing. pPICZ-α-insulin clone was transformed intoPichia pastoris SuperMan5strain. Several Zeocin resistant clones were obtained and integration of insulin cDNA inPichiagenome was confirmed by PCR using insulin specific primers. Expression of insulin inPichiaclones was confirmed by ELISA, SDS-PAGE, and Western blot analysis. In vivo efficacy studies in streptozotocin induced diabetic mice confirmed the activity of recombinant insulin. In conclusion, a biologically active human proinsulin along with C-peptide was expressed at high level usingPichia pastorisexpression system.