Biotechnology Research and Innovation最新文献

The present work describes a novel attempt to produce three different stable formulations (myco-granules, myco-tablets and myco-capsule) of Beauveria bassiana fungi targeted against multimetal (Cu, Cr, Cd, Ni, Zn and Pb) containing synthetic wastewater. Locally available low cost substrate (rice flour) was used for the production of these formulations. Shelf life of the above the formulations stored at 30 °C temperature was evaluated in terms of viability, biomass production and multimetal removal over the period of one year at a regular interval of 4 months. It was observed that myco-granules and myco-capsules were more stable formulations as compared to myco-tables in control conditions as well as with multimetal. In the initial phase of studies, maximum multimetal removal (93%) were observed with myco-granules and myco-capsules followed by myco-tablet (83.5%). The multimetal removal ability of all three formulation decreased by 37.6%, 53.1% and 48.5% for myco-granules, myco-capsules and myco-tablet, respectively, after 12 months of storage. Further, morphological changes caused by the multimetal toxicity were analyzed using SEM, AFM and FTIR. The developed formulations have the potential of remediating multimetal containing wastewater. Further, its prolonged shelf life at ambient temperature highlighted its superiority over conventional means of microbial storage.

The “OECD Conference on Genome Editing: Applications in Agriculture – Implications for Health, Environment and Regulation”, brought together policy makers, academia, innovators and other stakeholders involved in the topic, in order to take stock of the existing research and applications of genome editing, and to thereby provide science-based input to the discussion of the potential impact of genome editing in the context of overarching agricultural and food policies. The conference provided a timely opportunity for information exchange between scientific experts, risk assessors, policy makers, regulators, private sector innovators and other stakeholders from around the world. In this paper, we summarise the conference session on the “Regulatory aspects” concerning genome editing (Session 3), during which government representatives from six different countries around the world reported on the policy frameworks pertaining to genome editing in their respective countries, and discussed their specificities, as well as the common issues encountered.

Amino acids (AAs) are abundantly found in the food plants and their individual concentration is of enormous importance in terms of nutrition. Therefore it is mandatory to explore the food plants for their nutritional importance. This review gives the overview of AA composition in different food plants. However, in most of the studies the complete AA concentration of food plants has not been reported. The data of 142 economical important plant species were collected from Google Scholar, Scopus and Google. Because the techniques applied by various authors, the units of content, and the conditions of analysis were different, in this review paper, for the purpose of statistical analysis the concentrations of AAs were changed into comparative units on Lys content basis, which is the utmost limiting, most variable species specific essential AAs in plants. The average concentration of relative AAs is: Leu > Asp > Glu > Ala > Glu > Arg > Gly > Ile > Ser > Pro > Lys > Thr > Val > His > Phe > Tyr > Cys > Met > Trp. The average relative content of non-essential AAs was recorded maximum, whereas relative content of aromatic AAs was low. The data was statistically analyzed by Pearson's correlation, cluster analysis (CA), heatmap analysis, principal component analysis (PCA) and non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS). Among the analyzed plant species, plants of Pentadipandraceae family recorded maximum total relative AAs content, while minimum total relative AAs content was found in Periplocaceae family.

The water is an essential resource for life on the planet and for human development. The textile industry is one of the anthropogenic activities that most consume water and pollute water bodies. Therefore, the present work aims to undertake a review on the main effects of the release of industrial dyes and the essential bioremediation mechanisms. The textile dyes significantly compromise the aesthetic quality of water bodies, increase biochemical and chemical oxygen demand (BOD and COD), impair photosynthesis, inhibit plant growth, enter the food chain, provide recalcitrance and bioaccumulation, and may promote toxicity, mutagenicity and carcinogenicity. In spite of this, the bioremediation of textile dyes, that is, the transformation or mineralization of these contaminants by the enzymatic action of plant, bacteria, extremophiles and fungi biomasses is fully possible. Another option is the adsorption. Despite some disadvantages, the bioremediation is essentially positive and can be progressively enhanced by modern biotechnological techniques that are related to the generation of more degrading and more resistant engineered organisms. This is a sustainable solution that provides a fundamental and innovative contribution to conventional physicochemical treatments. The resources of environmental biotechnology can, therefore, be used as tangible technological solutions for the treatment of textile dye effluents and are related to the ethical imperative of ensuring the minimum necessary for a quality life for the humankind.

Mastitis is the disease that most affects dairy cattle with losses above US$ 2 billion per year in the United States alone. It frequently presents bacterial origin, with Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) standing out as a pathogen challenging to eliminate because of the high resistance to antimicrobials. Antimicrobial therapy often demonstrates failure, with low cure rates, bacterial resistance and bacterial seclusion in the outbreaks of infection as well as leaving its residues in soil, water, and even animal products. Advances in research may provide benefits to animal welfare by increasing cow's resistance to mastitis by inducing mammary gland cells to secrete an antibacterial protein called lysostaphin, which is a potent staphylocolytic enzyme. Over the years, research groups have developed projects aimed at developing particular immunomodulators, as well as transgenic lysostaphin-secreting cows. The focus of this review is to compile studies on the use of lysostaphin and in the therapeutic and prophylactic control of staphylococcal mastitis using genetic engineering and biotechnology as an alternative tool. In the transgenic models of mice and cows, lysostaphin was able to prevent staphylococcal mastitis presenting little effect on the integrity of the mammary gland, animal physiology and milk produced. Further studies should be performed not only related to cases of prevention of staphylococcal mastitis, but also in the treatment and maintenance of the long-term action of lysostaphin.

Increased prevalence of metronidazole-resistant infections has resulted in a search for alternative drugs for the treatment of trichomoniasis. In the present study, we report the evaluation of in vitro activity of three quinolines-1,2,3-triazolylcarboxamides (QTCA-1, QTCA-2 and QTCA-3) against Trichomonas vaginalis, evaluation of cytotoxicity in CHO cells and expression of genes related to hydrogenosome by real time PCR. Nine concentrations of these compounds were analyzed for in vitro activity against ATCC 30236 isolate of T. vaginalis. QTCA-2 reported a cytotoxic effect against 100% of T. vaginalis trophozoites at a final concentration of 80 μM with an IC₅₀ of 50 μM. The kinetic growth curve of trophozoites indicated that QTCA-2 reduced the growth by 70% at a concentration of 80 μM after an exposure of 12 h, and induced complete parasite death at 24 h. QTCA-2 induced less than 30% of cytotoxicity in CHO-K1 cells at 80 μM and data showed this concentration and lower ones had no significant cytotoxic effect when compared to the control. There was no significant difference in gene expression (pyruvate-ferredoxin oxidoreductase A and B; Malic enzyme D; Hydrogenase; β-tubulin) when compared to control and MTZ. Further in silico analysis showed that QTCA-2 had significant binding free energy with T. vaginalis lactate dehydrogenase (−9.3 kcal/mol), purine nucleoside phosphorylase (−9.1 kcal/mol) and triosephosphate isomerase (−7.3 kcal/mol). The present study offers new perspectives for exploring the potential of this class of molecules as an additional option for the treatment of trichomoniasis.

It is well known that Ca²⁺ interferes with uptake and expression of toxicity of Cd²⁺ in numerous organisms. This study demonstrated that the morphological alterations expressed in the cyanobacterium Nostoc muscorum Meg 1 cells exposed to 0.5 mg L⁻¹ Cd²⁺ for 7 days were prevented when 10 mg L⁻¹ Ca²⁺ was included in the experimental set-up. The spectroscopic analysis confirmed a severe reduction in contents of chlorophyll a, phycocyanin, allophycocyanin, phycoerythrin, carotenoids and total protein at the end of 168 h (7 days) in presence of Cd²⁺; inclusion of Ca²⁺ significantly lessened these effects. Heterocyst frequency, nitrogenase and, glutamine synthetase activities were similarly improved in the presence of Ca²⁺. Uptake studies showed a reduction in 94% biosorption of supplied Cd²⁺ to 50% in the presence of Ca²⁺ indicating its competition with Cd²⁺ binding onto the cyanobacterial cell surfaces.