Physicochemical characterization of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) produced by the rare halophile Brachybacterium paraconglomeratum MTCC 13074

BACKGROUND

Polyhydroxybutyrate is a biopolymer produced by bacteria and archaea under nitrogen-limiting conditions. PHB is an essential polymer in the bioplastic sector because of its biodegradability, eco-friendliness, and adaptability. The characterization of PHB is a multifaceted process for studying the structure and its properties. This entire aspect can assure the long-term viability and performance attributes of the PHB. The characteristics of PHB extracted from the halophile Brachybacterium paraconglomeratum were investigated with the objective of making films for application in healthcare.

RESULTS

This was the first characterization study on PHB produced by a rare halophile, Brachybacterium paraconglomeratum (MTCC 13074). In this study, the strain produced 2.72 g/l of PHB for.5.1 g/l of biomass under optimal conditions. Methods are described for the determination of the physicochemical properties of PHB. The prominent functional groups CH3 and C = O were observed by FT-IR and the actual chemical structure of the PHB was deduced by NMR. GCMS detects the confirmation of four methyl ester derivatives of the extracted PHB in the sample. Mass spectrometry revealed the molecular weight of methyl 3-hydroxybutyric acid (3HB) present in the extract. The air-dried PHB films were exposed to TGA, DSC and a universal testing machine to determine the thermal profile and mechanical stability. Additionally, the essential property of biopolymers like viscosity was also assessed for the extracted PHB.

CONCLUSIONS

The current study demonstrated the consistency and quality of B. paraconglomeratum PHB. Therefore, Brachybacterium sps are also a considerable source of PHB with desired characteristics for industrial production.

Biodegradation of plastic polymers by fungi: a brief review

Plastic polymers are non-degradable solid wastes that have become a great threat to the whole world and degradation of these plastics would take a few decades. Compared with other degradation processes, the biodegradation process is the most effective and best way for plastic degradation due to its non-polluting mechanism, eco-friendly nature, and cost-effectiveness. Biodegradation of synthetic plastics is a very slow process that also involves environmental factors and the action of wild microbial species. In this plastic biodegradation, fungi play a pivotal role, it acts on plastics by secreting some degrading enzymes, i.e., cutinase`, lipase, and proteases, lignocellulolytic enzymes, and also the presence of some pro-oxidant ions can cause effective degradation. The oxidation or hydrolysis by the enzyme creates functional groups that improve the hydrophilicity of polymers, and consequently degrade the high molecular weight polymer into low molecular weight. This leads to the degradation of plastics within a few days. Some well-known species which show effective degradation on plastics are Aspergillus nidulans, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus glaucus, Aspergillus oryzae, Aspergillus nomius, Penicillium griseofulvum, Bjerkandera adusta, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Cladosporium cladosporioides, etc., and some other saprotrophic fungi, such as Pleurotus abalones, Pleurotus ostreatus, Agaricus bisporus and Pleurotus eryngii which also helps in degradation of plastics by growing on them. Some studies say that the degradation of plastics was more effective when photodegradation and thermo-oxidative mechanisms involved with the biodegradation simultaneously can make the degradation faster and easier. This present review gives current knowledge regarding different species of fungi that are involved in the degradation of plastics by their different enzymatic mechanisms to degrade different forms of plastic polymers.

Non-conventional Bio-Cryptic DOST Features for Private Cloud Secure Access Using Machine Learning Algorithms

Security issues in cloud computing is always challenging task for the researchers and practitioners. Especially in private cloud security is one of the critical issues to grant access to the remote server. Biometric authentication process will be one of the best solutions to grant access for private cloud server. This paper proposes a novel integrated technique for the secure cloud access by considering Bio-cryptic with DOES features, designated as ‘Bio-Cryptic DOST’ (BCDOST) method. The method is implemented in Matlab and trained with 6000 data samples and tested using 5000 biometric data samples that includes, finger, face, iris and palm biometric features. Overall, 98.7% has obtained on a K-fold cross-validation (k=5), and also the results was compared with the present DOST and 4 different customary strategies. supported the results, it's over that, the proposed methodology performed well with relation to accuracy and computation-time.

Molecular characterization of marine bacterial isolates of Visakhapatnam coast-efficacy in dye decolorization and bioremediation of cadmium

Background

Microbial community is one of the diversified communities of the marine environment. Studies have shown that microorganisms isolated from the marine environment are metabolically active and have adapted to life in the ocean. The marine microorganisms use various survival strategies to combat heavy metal stress and decolorization of various textile dyes, thus playing an important role in the bioremediation of cadmium and degradation of textile dyes. The present study deals with the isolation and 16S rRNA molecular characterization of M3 and M8 bacterial strains isolated from marine water samples collected from Visakhapatnam harbor. M3 and M8 isolates were also checked for their efficacy in the removal of cadmium and decolorization of various textile dyes from the environment.

Results

The water sample was subjected to tube dilution method to isolate bacterial strains, and ten different isolates were screened. The biochemical tests were performed for the isolates to prove their validity and 16S rRNA molecular sequencing and phylogenetic analysis for species identification. Out of interest, two bacterial strains, namely, M3 and M8 were subjected to 16S rRNA molecular sequencing and phylogenetic analysis and were identified as Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas resinovorans. The two bacterial strains showed promising dye degradation property when checked with nine different textile dyes of wavelength ranging from 400 to 600 nm and removal of cadmium from the growth medium.

Conclusion

The present study demonstrates the isolates M3 and M8 to be potential strains having dye decolorization and bioremediation of cadmium applications.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s43141-021-00189-0.

NRAMP1 and VDR gene polymorphisms in susceptibility to pulmonary tuberculosis among Andhra Pradesh population in India: a case-control study

Background

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the association of NRAMP1 -3′UTR, 274-CT,VDR- Fok1 VDR-Taq1 Polymorphisms with the risk of pulmonary tuberculosis.

Method

A case –control study was conducted on Andhra Pradesh Population of India. Analysis of gene polymorphisms of NRAMP1 gene (3′UTR, 274CT) and VDR gene (Fok1 and Taq1) was done by using Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) in Tuberculosis (TB) patients and healthy controls. The obtained results were observed using 2% Agarose Gel electrophoresis and analysed statistically using Chi-square test and Odds Ratio.

Results

Statistical significance was observed between the patients and the controls in the NRAMP1-3′UTR (P = 0.005; OR = 2.997; 95% CI = 1.019–8.813) and VDR-Taq1 (P < 0.001; OR = 0.140;95% C.I = 0.050–0.386) polymorphisms in Andhra Pradesh population. No statistical significance was observed between patients and controls of the same population in NRAMP1-274CT and VDR-Fok1 polymorphisms (p > 0.05).

Conclusion

3′UTR-NRAMP1 gene and VDR-Taq1 gene Polymorphisms are statistically associated with the susceptibility of TB in Andhra Pradesh Population in India.

Data on polymorphism of XRCC1 and cervical cancer risk from South India

X-ray repair cross-complementing group 1 (XRCC1) is a major DNA repair gene involved in BER mutation. Polymorphisms in DNA repair genes associated with repair efficiency against DNA damage may predispose an individual׳s cancer susceptibility. Data from cervical cancer patients was collected from South Indian Women. Genotyping of XRCC1 polymorphisms (194C/T, 280G/A and 399G/A) was done by polymerase-chain-reaction with the confronting-two-pair primer (PCR-CTPP) method.

Genetic polymorphism of interleukin-18 gene promoter region in rheumatoid arthritis patients from southern India

BACKGROUND

Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is a pro inflammatory cytokine which plays a key role in the acute and chronic inflammatory phases of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). The Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) of IL-18 gene promoter region at positions -137 and -607, are postulated to be associated with RA. To test this, this study aimed to identify the association between these SNPs of the IL-18 gene promoter region of RA in south Indian patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This study was carried on 190 subjects among which 90 were RA patients and 100 were age and sex matched controls. Genomic DNA was extracted by Salting out method. IL 18 gene promotor region SNPs, IL 18 - 607 and IL 18 -137 were amplified by using sequence specific primers. The amplified products of different samples were separated by using a 1.5% agarose gel, stained with ethidium bromide and photographed. All statistical analyses were carried out by using SYSTAT 12 software.

RESULTS

At position 607, the frequencies of C allele, CC genotype, A allele and AA genotype were found to be significantly higher in patients and controls respectively and there was no significant difference in CA genotype. At position 137, there was no significant difference between the two groups with regard to G and C allelles but there was a significant increase in GG genotype of patients and CC genotype of controls. There was no association between duration of morning stiffness, rheumatoid factor positivity or negativity, age of onset and gender with distribution of genotypes and alleles.

CONCLUSION

C allele, CC genotype at position-607 and GG genotype at position-137 are risk factors and A allele, AA genotype at position-607 and CC genotype at position-137 have protective effect for RA.

Menarcheal age of type 1 diabetic Bengali Indian females

BACKGROUND

It has been observed that menstrual characteristics are generally influenced by lifestyle, socio-cultural and biological factors.

AIM

The present study examines: (a) variation in menstrual characteristics between Type1 Diabetic females of rural and urban adolescents, i.e. the resident status; and (b) whether these characteristics can be predicted from various socio-economic, stress variables related to place of residence.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

The sample of the present study constituted 103T1DM females from West Bengal, a State of India. These girls belong to a Bengali-speaking ethnic group. Data on socio-economic variables and menstrual characteristics were collected using pretested questionnaires.

RESULTS

Menstrual irregularity was common in our study participants, with age of menarche, but was not associated with current BMI, physical activity or insulin dose.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study displays that age at menarche is delayed in young women with T1DM compared to the concurrent overall mean age at menarche in the West Bengal population.

HLA class II SNP interactions and the association with type 1 diabetes mellitus in Bengali speaking patients of Eastern India

BACKGROUND

Several studies have demonstrated a fundamental role for the HLA in the susceptibility of, or protection to, type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). However, this has not been adequately studied in Asian Indian populations. To assess the frequency of HLA class II (DPA1, DPB1, DQA1, DQB1 and DRB1) associated to susceptibility or protection toT1DM in a Bengali population of India with diabetes.

RESULTS

Single nucleotide polymorphism study. The HLA genotyping was performed by a polymerase chain reaction followed by their HLA-DP, DQ, and DRB1 genotypes and haplotypes by sequencing method. The results are studied by Plink software. The χ2 tests were used for the inferential statistics. To our knowledge, this study is the first of a kind which has attempted to check the HLA association with T1DM by SNPs analysis. The study recruited 151 patients with T1DM and same number of ethno-linguistic, sex matched non-diabetic controls. The present study found a significant SNP rs7990 of HLA-DQA1 (p = 0.009) negative correlation, again indicating that risk from HLA is considerably more with T1DM.

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrates that the HLA class-II alleles play a major role in genetic basis of T1DM.

Does follistatin gene have any direct role in the manifestation of polycystic ovary syndrome in Indian women?

BACKGROUND

Out of a panel of 37 candidate genes tested for linkage with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), the strongest evidence of linkage was reported in the follistatin (FST) gene region. Subsequently, a couple of studies outside India investigated the FST gene for the presence of any mutations and its association with PCOS and the results were found to be largely inconsistent probably due to differences in the ethnic backgrounds and small sample sizes.

AIMS

To screen the FST gene for mutations and to establish their association pattern with PCOS among a large cohort of South Indian women.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN

Case-control study.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

PCOS cases were recruited according to the 2003 Rotterdam diagnostic criteria. All the exons of the FST gene were amplified and analyzed in all the cases and controls for the presence of mutations using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and direct DNA sequencing.

RESULTS

A total of 549 women consisting of 250 PCOS cases and 299 controls were recruited for the study. No mutations were found in any of the exons of the FST gene in our Indian sample which is consistent with an earlier finding among the Asian women from Singapore. Although three of the four cohorts of Caucasian background studied earlier reported variants, none of them could establish a strong association with PCOS.

CONCLUSIONS

The occurrence of the exonic variants of FST gene seems to be dependent on the ethnic background of the subjects under study and its role in the PCOS pathophysiology cannot be established with hitherto available evidence.

QSAR studies on peptide alpha-ketoamides and alpha-ketohydroxamate derivatives as calpain I inhibitors

Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship (QSAR) studies were conducted on 34 peptide alpha-ketoamide and alpha-ketohydroxamate derivatives of Calpain I using multiple linear regression (MLR) procedure. The activity contributions of these compounds were determined from regression equation and the validation procedures that analyze the predictive ability of QSAR models were described. Among forty six descriptors that were considered in generating the QSAR model, three descriptors such as LogP, Heat of formation and HOMO resulted in a statistically significant model with 0.877 r(2) and 0.937 q(2) respectively. The inter-correlation between descriptors was 0.42. The proposed QSAR model indicates an increase in logP value increases hydrophobicity in order to achieve cellular permeability and an increase in heat of formation as well as decrease in HOMO energy favors better binding and activity towards development of potent calpain I inhibitors.