Search

Even though the genus Mycobacterium is a diverse group consisting of a majority of environmental bacteria known as non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), it also contains some of the deadliest pathogens (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) in history associated with chronic disease called tuberculosis (TB). Formation of biofilm is one of the unique strategies employed by mycobacteria to enhance their ability to survive in hostile conditions. Biofilm formation by Mycobacterium species is an emerging area of research with significant implications for understanding its pathogenesis and treatment of related infections, specifically TB. This review provides an overview of the biofilm-forming abilities of different species of Mycobacterium and the genetic factors influencing biofilm formation with a detailed focus on M. tuberculosis. Biofilm-mediated resistance is a significant challenge as it can limit antibiotic penetration and promote the survival of dormant mycobacterial cells. Key genetic factors promoting biofilm formation have been explored such as the mmpL genes involved in lipid transport and cell wall integrity as well as the groEL gene essential for mature biofilm formation. Additionally, biofilm-mediated antibiotic resistance and pathogenesis highlighting the specific niches, sites of infection along with the possible mechanisms of biofilm dissemination have been discussed. Furthermore, drug targets within mycobacterial biofilm and their role as potential biomarkers in the development of rapid diagnostic tools have been highlighted. The review summarises the current understanding of the complex nature of Mycobacterium biofilm and its clinical implications, paving the way for advancements in the field of disease diagnosis, management and treatment against its multi-drug resistant species., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Prochlorococcus marinus MIT 9303 is a marine cyanobacterium found in sea waters. It was first isolated from a depth of 100 m in the Sargasso Sea in the year 1992. This cyanobacterium serves as a good model system for scientific research due to the presence of many desirable characteristics like smaller in size, ability to perform photosynthesis and the ease of culture maintenance. The genome of this cyanobacterium encodes for about 3022 proteins. Out of these 3022 proteins, few proteins were annotated as hypothetical proteins. We performed a computational study to characterize one of the hypothetical proteins "P9303_05031" to deduce its functional role in the cell using various bioinformatics techniques. After in-depth analysis, this hypothetical protein showed the conserved domain as of Hsp10 of molecular chaperonins of GroES. In this work, we have predicted the bidirectional best hits for the hypothetical protein P9303_05031 followed by the prediction of protein properties such as primary, secondary and tertiary structures. The existence of the Hsp10 domain indicates its role is essential for the folding of proteins during heat shock. This work represents the first structural and physicochemical study of the hypothetical protein P9303_05031 in Prochlorococcus marinus MIT 9303.

Tuberculosis (TB) is the deadly infectious disease challenging the public health globally and its impact is further aggravated by co-infection with HIV and the emergence of drug resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In this study, we attempted to characterise the Rv2004c encoded protein, a member of DosR regulon, for its role in drug resistance. In silico docking analysis revealed that Rv2004c binds with streptomycin (SM). Phosphotransferase assay demonstrated that Rv2004c possibly mediates SM resistance through the aminoglycoside phosphotransferase activity. Further, E. coli expressing Rv2004c conferred resistance to 100μM of SM in liquid broth cultures indicating a mild aminoglycoside phosphotransferase activity of Rv2004c. Moreover, we investigated the role of MSMEG_3942 (an orthologous gene of Rv2004c) encoded protein in intracellular survival, its effect on in-vitro growth and its expression in different stress conditions by over expressing it in Mycobacterium smegmatis (M. smegmatis). MSMEG_3942 overexpressing recombinant M. smegmatis strains grew faster in acidic medium and also showed higher bacillary counts in infected macrophages when compared to M. smegmatis transformed with vector alone. Our results are likely to contribute to the better understanding of the involvement of Rv2004c in partial drug resistance, intracellular survival and adaptation of bacilli to stress conditions., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Health care organizations worldwide are constantly under pressure to deliver quality services. Reducing the waiting time of patients is considered to be a significant issue in hospitals. In this study, a radio-diagnosis department in a healthcare organization is considered. The present study mainly focuses on the queuing system of a computed tomography scan section of a public hospital in South India. Simulation is used as an aid to study the behavior of the system. This article also contributes a Visual Basic with Applications based excel tool to tackle the need for a user-friendly tool for scheduling the patients.