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Topic Review
Bacterial Laccases as Biocatalysts for Environmental Toxic Pollutants
Laccases are the potential enzymes for oxidoreductases (a broad group of enzymes that catalyze electron transfers from one molecule to another), which are widely distributed in nature in plants, bacteria, fungi, and insects. They are suitable for green catalysis, organic synthesis, and the biodegradation of environmental xenobiotics due to their high efficiency and sustainable applications. A wide variety of organic compounds can be oxidized by laccase, and they can be widely applied in the biodegradation of pollutants for detoxification of environments, such as delignification and pulp-bleaching, treatment of textile dyes, wastewater treatment, and treatment of other environmental xenobiotics.
  • 1.4K
  • 28 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Beehive Products as Antibacterial Agents
Apitherapy is a branch of unconventional medicine that relies on the usage of bee products which consist of honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly and bee venom (BV). Besides having high nutritional importance and health benefits, honey showed antifungal, antiviral, antiseptic, anticancer, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory and cardio protective activities. As for the BV, despite its possible adverse effects like the allergic reactions that might occur after the bee sting, one cannot disregard its various therapeutic effects. BV exerts anticancer, antiviral, antifungal and antibacterial effects, it is also used for the treatment of many neurodegenerative diseases. Regarding propolis, it has the capacity to fight against cancer and many microorganisms. Moreover, pollen possesses antioxidant, anticoagulant and anti-inflammatory properties. Also, royal jelly exhibits several interesting biological activities including antioxidant, anti-aging, antitumor anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and neurotrophic activities. Hence, this review aims to highlight one of the most important and commonly shared biological activity of all of the above-mentioned beehive products, which is the antibacterial activity.
  • 1.4K
  • 12 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Klebsiella pneumoniae in Clinical Settings and the Environment
The increasing reports of multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae have emerged as a public health concern, raising questions about the potential routes for the evolution and dissemination of the pathogenic K. pneumoniae into environmental reservoirs. Potential drivers of the increased incidence of antimicrobial-resistant environmental K. pneumoniae include the eminent global climatic variations as a direct or indirect effect of human activities. 
  • 1.4K
  • 16 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Nanotechnology-Based Delivery Systems for Antimicrobial Peptides
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a significant threat to global health. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have shown potential as alternative diagnostic and therapeutic agents in biomedical applications. Their clinical applications are limited to topical application due to their systemic toxicity, susceptibility to protease degradation, short half-life, and rapid renal clearance. To circumvent these challenges and improve AMP’s efficacy, different approaches such as peptide chemical modifications and the development of AMP delivery systems have been employed. Nanomaterials have been shown to improve the activity of antimicrobial drugs by providing support and synergistic effect against pathogenic microbes. 
  • 1.4K
  • 04 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Corynebacterium Glutamicum Mechanosensing
Corynebacterium glutamicum is a workhorse for industrial amino acid production, and the most striking feature of this bacterium is L-glutamate secretion. L-glutamate secretion is triggered by altering cell surface structures by biotin limitation, adding surfactants, penicillin, etc. Mechanosensing by MscCG-type mechanosensitive channels is the central physiological phenomenon for the L-glutamate secretion, and understanding the structural and functional diversity of MscS bacterial mechanosensitive channel superfamily will solve long-puzzling questions in Corynebacterium glutamicum.
  • 1.4K
  • 25 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Malassezia Species as Commensals in Humans
Malassezia spp. are commensals of the skin, oral/sinonasal cavity, lower respiratory and gastrointestinal tract. Eighteen species have been recovered from humans, other mammals and birds. They can also be isolated from diverse environments, suggesting an evolutionary trajectory of adaption from an ecological niche in plants and soil to the mucocutaneous ecosystem of warm-blooded vertebrates.
  • 1.4K
  • 20 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Sustainable Development Goals in the COVID-19 Pandemic
The Sustainable Development Goals are a global call to action to end poverty, close the gender gap, protect the planet, and improve the lives of people around the world. In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted 17 goals as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which sets out a plan to achieve the goals in 15 years. However, the COVID-19 pandemic crisis has been a turning point in the achievement of these goals, due to all its consequences at the political, economic, and socio-cultural levels.
  • 1.4K
  • 28 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Herpes Simplex Type 1
Herpes simplex type 1 (HSV-1) is a neurotropic virus that infects the peripheral and central nervous systems. Primary infection takes place in epithelial cells and the virus is transmitted to new hosts via saliva. In this stage, HSV-1 typically causes labial and oral lesions. After primary infection in epithelial cells, HSV-1 spreads retrogradely to the peripheral nervous system (PNS), where it establishes a latent infection in the trigeminal ganglia (TG). The virus can reactivate from latency, traveling anterogradely along the axon and replicating in the local surrounding tissue. Occasionally, HSV-1 may spread trans-synaptically from the TG to the brainstem, from where it may disseminate to higher areas of the central nervous system (CNS). HSV-1 can cause severe pathologies such as encephalitis or keratoconjunctivitis. Herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) mostly affects the frontal and temporal lobes and the limbic system. It is not completely understood how HSV-1 reaches the CNS, although the most accepted idea is retrograde transport through the trigeminal or olfactory tracts. Once in the CNS, HSV-1 may induce demyelination, either as a direct trigger or as a risk factor, modulating processes such as remyelination, regulation of endogenous retroviruses, or molecular mimicry.
  • 1.4K
  • 26 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Phage Therapy for Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infections
The production and use of antibiotics increased significantly after the Second World War due to their effectiveness against bacterial infections. However, bacterial resistance also emerged and has now become an important global issue. Those most in need are typically high-risk and include individuals who experience burns and other wounds, as well as those with pulmonary infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter sp, and Staphylococcus sp. With investment to develop new antibiotics waning, finding and developing alternative therapeutic strategies to tackle this issue is imperative. One option remerging in popularity is bacteriophage (phage) therapy. 
  • 1.4K
  • 07 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a bacterium of great medical importance because it causes tuberculosis, a disease that affects millions of people worldwide. Two important features are related to this bacterium: its ability to infect and survive inside the host, minimizing the immune response, and the burden of clinical isolates that are highly resistant to antibiotics treatment. These two phenomena are directly affected by cell envelope proteins, such as proteins from the ATP-Binding Cassette (ABC transporters) superfamily.
  • 1.4K
  • 18 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Avian Influenza
Avian influenza, known informally as avian flu or bird flu, is a variety of influenza caused by viruses adapted to birds.[note 1] The type with the greatest risk is highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). Bird flu is similar to swine flu, dog flu, horse flu and human flu as an illness caused by strains of influenza viruses that have adapted to a specific host. Out of the three types of influenza viruses (A, B, and C), influenza A virus is a zoonotic infection with a natural reservoir almost entirely in birds. Avian influenza, for most purposes, refers to the influenza A virus. Though influenza A is adapted to birds, it can also stably adapt and sustain person-to-person transmission. Recent influenza research into the genes of the Spanish flu virus shows it to have genes adapted from both human and avian strains. Pigs can also be infected with human, avian, and swine influenza viruses, allowing for mixtures of genes (reassortment) to create a new virus, which can cause an antigenic shift to a new influenza A virus subtype which most people have little to no immune protection against. Avian influenza strains are divided into two types based on their pathogenicity: high pathogenicity (HP) or low pathogenicity (LP). The most well-known HPAI strain, H5N1, was first isolated from a farmed goose in Guangdong Province, China in 1996, and also has low pathogenic strains found in North America. Companion birds in captivity are unlikely to contract the virus and there has been no report of a companion bird with avian influenza since 2003. Pigeons can contract avian strains, but rarely become ill and are incapable of transmitting the virus efficiently to humans or other animals. Between early 2013 and early 2017, 916 lab-confirmed human cases of H7N9 were reported to the World Health Organization (WHO). On 9 January 2017, the National Health and Family Planning Commission of China reported to WHO 106 cases of H7N9 which occurred from late November through late December, including 35 deaths, 2 potential cases of human-to-human transmission, and 80 of these 106 persons stating that they have visited live poultry markets. The cases are reported from Jiangsu (52), Zhejiang (21), Anhui (14), Guangdong (14), Shanghai (2), Fujian (2) and Hunan (1). Similar sudden increases in the number of human cases of H7N9 have occurred in previous years during December and January.
  • 1.4K
  • 11 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Molecular Virology
Molecular virology is the study of viruses on a molecular level. Viruses are submicroscopic parasites that replicate inside host cells. They are able to successfully infect and parasitize all kinds of life forms- from microorganisms to plants and animals- and as a result viruses have more biological diversity than the rest of the bacterial, plant, and animal kingdoms combined. Studying this diversity is the key to a better understanding of how viruses interact with their hosts, replicate inside them, and cause diseases.
  • 1.4K
  • 31 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Bacteria and Boar Semen Storage
Artificial insemination (AI) is a widely used technique in swine production. Advances in the technique have made it possible to store spermatozoa at temperatures of 15–20 °C for short periods, up to ten days. Unfortunately, it is currently associated with bacterial contamination of semen during collection and dilution. Although the temperature is reduced to induce sperm inactivity during storage, bacterial growth can still occur. Bacterial growth has been associated with deleterious effects on semen quality and shelf life, such as sperm agglutination, decreased sperm motility and viability. In addition, reproductive output after AI can also be affected by bacteriospermia.
  • 1.4K
  • 19 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Avian Pathogenic Escherichia coli
Avian pathogenic E. coli (APEC) are the major etiology of avian colibacillosis. Unlike other pathogenic E. coli, APEC causes extra-intestinal infections. Here we focus on the first time detection of APEC from layer farms in Bangladesh using molecular based approach targeting specific APEC associated virulence genes. In addition, their antibiotic resistance profile were also evaluated. Surprisingly all the isolates were found MDR in nature which is very alarming from public health point of view because of their zoonotic potentiality.
  • 1.4K
  • 27 Oct 2020
Topic Review
LC3-Associated Phagocytosis in Bacterial Infection
LC3-associated phagocytosis (LAP) is a noncanonical autophagy process reported in recent years and is one of the effective mechanisms of host defense against bacterial infection. During LAP, bacteria are recognized by pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), enter the body, and then recruit LC3 onto a single-membrane phagosome to form a LAPosome. LC3 conjugation can promote the fusion of the LAPosomes with lysosomes, resulting in their maturation into phagolysosomes, which can effectively kill the identified pathogens.
  • 1.4K
  • 15 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Quercetin and Akkermansia muciniphila: Facing NAFLD & Obesity
Obesity is a disease characterized by an excessive body fat accumulation and by the presence of a subclinical chronic inflammation. It is related to many comorbidities, such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the predominant cause of chronic liver disease in many parts of the world. NAFLD is a disease spectrum which starts with simple steatosis (the accumulation of fat in the liver) and could progress to steatohepatitis, cirrhosis or even hepatocarcinoma, mainly due to sedentary lifestyle.  Gut microbiota is a metabolic organ involved in physiological homeostasis and is defined as all the microorganisms that habit along the digestive tract. The alteration of its composition and functionality, called dysbiosis, has been associated with many pathologies, such as obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) development. Gut microbiota emerges as a therapeutic target, in which probiotics or prebiotics play a central role. Probiotics are live microorganisms that have beneficial effects on health status when are consumed in proper doses, whereas prebiotics are non-digestible ingredients which promote the growth of beneficial microorganisms in the gut. A synbiotic is a combination of prebiotics and probiotics that confers a healthy benefit on the host. 
  • 1.4K
  • 29 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria in Medicinal Plants
Plants are constantly exposed to both biotic and abiotic stresses which limit their growth and development and reduce productivity. In order to tolerate them, plants initiate a multitude of stress-specific responses which modulate different physiological, molecular and cellular mechanisms. The microbial community in the rhizosphere (known as the rhizomicrobiome) undergoes intraspecific as well as interspecific interaction and signaling. The rhizomicrobiome, as biostimulants, play a pivotal role in stimulating the growth of plants and providing resilience against abiotic stress. Such rhizobacteria which promote the development of plants and increase their yield and immunity are known as PGPR (plant growth promoting rhizobacteria). On the basis of contact, they are classified into two categories, extracellular (in soil around root, root surface and cellular space) and intracellular (nitrogen-fixing bacteria). They show their effects on plant growth directly (i.e., in absence of pathogens) or indirectly. Generally, they make their niche in concentrated form around roots, as the latter exude several nutrients, such as amino acids, lipids, proteins, etc. Rhizobacteria build a special symbiotic relationship with the plant or a section of the plant’s inner tissues. There are free-living PGPRs with the potential to work as biofertilizers. Additionally, studies show that PGPRs can ameliorate the effect of abiotic stresses and help in enhanced growth and development of plants producing therapeutically important compounds. 
  • 1.4K
  • 20 Jan 2023
Topic Review
CRISPR-Cas9 Innovations in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been for a long time a common model for fundamental biological studies and a popular biotechnological engineering platform to produce chemicals, fuels, and pharmaceuticals due to its peculiar characteristics. Both lines of research require an effective editing of the native genetic elements or the inclusion of heterologous pathways into the yeast genome. Although S. cerevisiae is a well-known host with several molecular biology tools available, a more precise tool is still needed. The clustered, regularly interspaced, short palindromic repeats–associated Cas9 (CRISPR-Cas9) system is a current, widespread genome editing tool. The implementation of a reprogrammable, precise, and specific method, such as CRISPR-Cas9, to edit the S. cerevisiae genome has revolutionized laboratory practices.
  • 1.4K
  • 17 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Helicobacter pylori in Gastric Cancer
The H. pyloriinfection generates an inflammatory reaction in the stomach, resulting in the loss of parietal cells and an elevation in gastric pH. H. pylorimay contribute to microbial dysbiosis, and effective eradication can restore the gut microbiota to a state comparable to that of uninfected people.
  • 1.4K
  • 02 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Metschnikowia bicuspidata
Metschnikowia bicuspidata is an opportunistic pathogenic yeast that is distributed in marine and freshwater environments worldwide. 
  • 1.3K
  • 01 Mar 2022
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