Your browser does not fully support modern features. Please upgrade for a smoother experience.
Subject:
All Disciplines Arts & Humanities Biology & Life Sciences Business & Economics Chemistry & Materials Science Computer Science & Mathematics Engineering Environmental & Earth Sciences Medicine & Pharmacology Physical Sciences Public Health & Healthcare Social Sciences
Sort by:
Most Viewed Latest Alphabetical (A-Z) Alphabetical (Z-A)
Filter:
All Topic Review Biography Peer Reviewed Entry Video Entry
Topic Review
Overview of Colicins and Microcins
The family Enterobacteriaceae is a large, heterogeneous group of Gram-negative bacteria, which includes strains that naturally inhabit the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of animals and humans. Being considered normal commensal members of the GIT microbiota, these microbes can also live and multiply in food environments. Additionally, Enterobacteriaceae are acknowledged as indicators of food production hygiene, preservation, and storage, often being used as indicators of food quality and safety. Additionally, Salmonella spp., Yersinia enterocolitica, pathogenic Escherichia coli, including Escherichia coli O157:H7, and Shigella spp., among others, are important foodborne pathogens. Moreover, some members of this group, namely Citrobacter, Enterobacter, Erwinia, Klebsiella, Kluyvera, Pantoea, and Serratia, have been described both as harboring plant growth-promoting characteristics and attaining pathogenicity potential.
  • 1.8K
  • 17 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Mycobacteriophages for Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis Treatment
The current emergence of multi-, extensively-, extremely-, and total-drug resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis poses a major health, social, and economic threat, and stresses the need to develop new therapeutic strategies. Mycobacteriophages are genetically diverse viruses that specifically infect mycobacterial hosts, including members of the M. tuberculosis complex. Here, we will review general features of mycobacteriophages and their mechanisms of M.tb killing, as well as their advantages and limitations as therapeutic and prophylactic agents against drug-resistant M.tb. 
  • 1.8K
  • 31 Mar 2021
Topic Review
MIRRI-IT: Italian Culture Collections
Microorganisms represent most of the biodiversity of living organisms in every ecological habitat. They have profound effects on the functioning of any ecosystem and, therefore, on the health of our planet and of human beings. Moreover, microorganisms are the main protagonists in food, medical and biotech industries, and have several environmental applications.Accordingly, the characterization and preservation of microbial biodiversity are essential not only for the maintenance of natural ecosystems but also for research purposes and biotechnological exploitation. In this context, culture collections (CCs) and microbial biological resource centres (mBRCs) are crucial for the safeguarding and circulation of biological resources, as well as for the progress of life sciences.
  • 1.8K
  • 30 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Antimicrobial Activity of Curcumin
Curcumin (CUR) is a natural substance extracted from turmeric that has antimicrobial properties. Due to its ability to absorb light in the blue spectrum, CUR is also used as a photosensitizer (PS) in antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy (aPDT). 
  • 1.8K
  • 23 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Salmonella enterica
Salmonella enterica serovars are important pathogens of humans and animals that are responsible for enormous morbidity, mortality and economic loss worldwide.  Models used to study the disease pathology so far have provided valuable advancements, however, the molecular complexity of its pathogenesis remains poorly understood, particularly in humans. Therefore there remains a disconnect between what works at the bench versus at the bedside, especially in case of vaccines. The development of organoids/enteroids offers a tremendous opportunity to bridge this gap by bringing human-specific factors into the research models as well as elevate our understanding of the interactions and crosstalk between multiple cell types and the microbiota with Salmonella. Thus the use of organoids in studying Salmonella biology has the potential for improving clinical outcomes and future prophylactic and therapeutic intervention strategies.
  • 1.8K
  • 29 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Urbanization alters soil microbial communities
Urban development is one of the leading causes of biodiversity change. Understanding how soil microorganisms respond to urbanization is particularly important because they are crucial for the provisioning of ecosystem functions and services. Our results showed that microbial richness and community composition exhibited nonsignificant changes over time regardless of the location. Soil fungal richness was lower in moderately and highly urbanized locations, but soil bacterial/archaeal richness was not significantly different among locations. Both bacteria/archaea and fungi exhibited significant differences in community composition across locations. After inferring potential functional groups, soils in the highly urbanized location had lower proportions of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and soil saprotrophic fungi but had higher proportions of bacterial taxa involved in aromatic compound degradation, human pathogens, and intracellular parasites. Furthermore, ammonia-oxidizing bacteria were more abundant in the highly urbanized location, but ammonia-oxidizing archaea were more abundant in lowly and moderately urbanized locations. Together, these results highlight the significant changes in belowground microbial communities across an urbanization gradient, and these changes might have important implications for aboveground–belowground interactions, nutrient cycling, and human health.
  • 1.8K
  • 21 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Autolysis to Bacillus subtilis Fermentation Bioprocess
Bacillus subtilis is a gram-positive bacterium, a promising microorganism due to its strong extracellular protein secretion ability, non-toxic, and relatively mature industrial fermentation technology. With the fast advancement of molecular biology and genetic engineering technology, various advanced procedures and gene editing tools have been used to successfully construct autolysis-resistant B. subtilis chassis cells to manufacture various biological products. 
  • 1.8K
  • 30 Jan 2023
Topic Review
Probiotics in cosmetics
Probiotics, defined as “live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host,” are becoming increasingly popular and marketable. The cosmetic industry has harnessed this potential by producing products claiming to contain probiotics. However, not all products marketed as such comply with the requirements for this claim.  
  • 1.8K
  • 10 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Probiotics in Obesity and IBD
The Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes (F/B) ratio is widely accepted to have an important influence in maintaining normal intestinal homeostasis. Increased or decreased F/B ratio is regarded as dysbiosis, whereby the former is usually observed with obesity, and the latter with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Probiotics as live microorganisms can confer health benefits to the host when administered in adequate amounts. There is considerable evidence of their nutritional and immunosuppressive properties including reports that elucidate the association of probiotics with the F/B ratio, obesity, and IBD. Orally administered probiotics can contribute to the restoration of dysbiotic microbiota and to the prevention of obesity or IBD. However, as the effects of different probiotics on the F/B ratio differ, selecting the appropriate species or mixture is crucial.
  • 1.8K
  • 19 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Probiotics for Neurodegenerative Diseases
Neurodegenerative disorders (ND) are a group of conditions that affect the neurons in the brain and spinal cord, leading to their degeneration and eventually causing the loss of function in the affected areas. These disorders can be caused by a range of factors, including genetics, environmental factors, and lifestyle choices. Major pathological signs of these diseases are protein misfolding, proteosomal dysfunction, aggregation, inadequate degradation, oxidative stress, free radical formation, mitochondrial dysfunctions, impaired bioenergetics, DNA damage, fragmentation of Golgi apparatus neurons, disruption of axonal transport, dysfunction of neurotrophins (NTFs), neuroinflammatory or neuroimmune processes, and neurohumoral symptoms. According to studies, defects or imbalances in gut microbiota can directly lead to neurological disorders through the gut-brain axis. Probiotics in ND are recommended to prevent cognitive dysfunction, which is a major symptom of these diseases. 
  • 1.8K
  • 28 Apr 2023
Topic Review
Microbial Pyrrolnitrin
Pyrrolnitrin (PRN) is a microbial pyrrole halometabolite of immense antimicrobial significance for agricultural, pharmaceutical and industrial implications. The compound and its derivatives have been isolated from rhizospheric fluorescent or non-fluorescent pseudomonads, Serratia and Burkholderia. They are known to confer biological control against a wide range of phytopathogenic fungi, and thus offer strong plant protection prospects against soil and seed-borne phytopathogenic diseases. Although chemical synthesis of PRN has been obtained using different steps, microbial production is still the most useful option for producing this metabolite. In many of the plant-associated isolates of Serratia and Burkholderia, production of PRN is dependent on the quorum-sensing regulation that usually involves N-acylhomoserine lactone (AHL) autoinducer signals. When applied on the organisms as antimicrobial agent, the molecule impedes synthesis of key biomolecules (DNA, RNA and protein), uncouples with oxidative phosphorylation, inhibits mitotic division and hampers several biological mechanisms. 
  • 1.8K
  • 01 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Spondyloarthritis
Spondyloarthritis (SpA) is a group of autoimmune inflammatory diseases that leads to inflammation of the spine or peripheral joints, namely axial SpA and peripheral SpA respectively. SpA is a painful and debilitating disease that affects mostly individuals aged 45 years old or younger. Trillions of microorganism reside in the human gut and interact with the immune system, and these reactions may trigger different autoimmune diseases including SpA. Dysbiosis, an imbalance of gut microbiota, may affect the mucosal barrier integrity, resulting in gut inflammation. In animal study, none of the germfree mice developed features of SpA. However, after introduction of gut commensal, over 80% of them developed features of SpA. Different gut microbiome compositions also affect the degree of gut inflammation in HLA-B27 transgenic rats. Moreover, nearly 50% of the SpA patients had subclinical gut inflammation. Chronic gut inflammation also correlated with increased bone marrow edema on MRI in SpA patients. These findings suggest there is a link between gut microorganisms and the occurrence of SpA.
  • 1.8K
  • 18 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Acinetobacter Baumannii Infections
Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest challenges for the clinical sector and industry, environment and societal development. One of the most important pathogens responsible for severe nosocomial infections is Acinetobacter baumannii, a Gram-negative bacterium from the Moraxellaceae family, due to its various resistance mechanisms. The enormous adaptive capacity of A. baumannii and the acquisition and transfer of antibiotic resistance determinants contribute to the ineffectiveness of most current therapeutic strategies, including last-line or combined antibiotic therapy. In this review, we will present the current progress in developing innovative strategies for combating multidrug-resistant A. baumannii (MDRAB) infections.
  • 1.8K
  • 26 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Microbial Cell-Cell Chemical Communication Systems
The microbial cell–cell chemical communication systems include QS and host–pathogen communication systems. In 1994, Fuqua et al., coined the term of “quorum sensing” to describe an environmental sensing system that monitors the population density to coordinate the social behaviors of microorganisms. QS regulatory systems are characterized by the fact that microorganisms produce and release to the surrounding environment a diffffusible autoinducer or QS signal, which accumulates along with bacterial growth and induces target gene transcriptional expression when reaching a threshold concentration. Typically, a QS system contains a signal synthase, which produces QS signals, and a signal receptor that detect and response to QS signal in a population-dependent manner. In addition, microbial pathogens can also exploit the chemical molecules produced by host organisms as cross-kingdom signals to regulate virulence gene expression.
  • 1.8K
  • 18 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Limosilactobacillus fermentum CECT5716
Limosilactobacillus fermentum CECT5716 has become one of the most promising probiotics and it has been described to possess potential beneficial effects on inflammatory processes and immunological alterations.
  • 1.8K
  • 15 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Microbiota for HPV Infection
The microbiome is able to modulate immune responses, alter the physiology of the human organism, and increase the risk of viral infections and development of diseases such as cancer. Herein, we address changes in the cervical microbiota as potential biomarkers to identify the risk of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) development and invasive cervical cancer in the context of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection.
  • 1.8K
  • 30 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Glutathione System in Pathogenic Fungi
The glutathione system has been recognized as one of the most important intracellular antioxidant systems; however, the contribution of this system in pathogenesis has been neglected, especially in human fungal pathogens. 
  • 1.8K
  • 01 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Biodiversity of Hypersaline Environments
Halophiles are the salt-loving organisms. They are found in all three domains of life, namely Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya, and occur in saline and hypersaline environments worldwide. They are already a valuable source of various biomolecules for biotechnological, pharmaceutical, cosmetological and industrial applications. 
  • 1.8K
  • 21 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Glutathione System from Cyanobacteria to Higher Eukaryotes
From bacteria to plants and humans, the glutathione system plays a pleiotropic role in cell defense against metabolic, oxidative and metal stresses. Glutathione (GSH), the γ-L-glutamyl-L-cysteinyl-glycine nucleophile tri-peptide, is the central player of this system that acts in redox homeostasis, detoxification and iron metabolism in most living organisms. GSH directly scavenges diverse reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as singlet oxygen, superoxide anion, hydrogen peroxide, hydroxyl radical, nitric oxide and carbon radicals. It also serves as a cofactor for various enzymes, such as glutaredoxins (Grxs), glutathione peroxidases (Gpxs), glutathione reductase (GR) and glutathione-S-transferases (GSTs), which play crucial roles in cell detoxication.
  • 1.8K
  • 08 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Locust Bacterial Symbionts
Locusts have been devastating vegetation and agriculture since ancient times. The formation of huge swarms that migrate long distances is a hallmark of the locust phenomenon. An important aspect of locusts’ natural history is that of their interaction with the bacteria they harbor in and on their body. These locust-associated bacteria have been shown to affect certain physiological traits (such as immunity and swarm cohesion), as well as possibly also being affected by differentfactors in the locust biology. This review summarizes our current understanding of the locust-bacterial interaction. We focus on identifying the relevant bacterial strains and their locations within the insects; the role of the bacteria and their importance to their host’s life; the mechanism of transmitting important bacteria across locust generations; and more. Finally, we offer some new perspectives and research directions that could broaden our understanding of the locust-associated bacteria and their tentative instrumental role in locust outbreaks.
  • 1.8K
  • 19 Oct 2020
  • Page
  • of
  • 53
Featured Entry Collections
>>

Featured Reprints

>>
Encyclopedia of Digital Society, Industry 5.0 and Smart City
Encyclopedia of Engineering
Encyclopedia of Social Sciences
Encyclopedia of Medieval Royal Iconography
Write an Entry
Feedback