Glucose uptake activity of Ganoderma lucidum QRS 5120 in L6 myotube cell

The increasing prevalence of diabetes mellitus alongside the advancements in industry and technology underscores the urgency to eliminate this disease. Ganoderma lucidum, renowned for its anti-diabetic, anti-microbial, and anti-inflammatory properties, is widely utilized as a therapeutic medication. The aim of this study was to investigate the glucose uptake activity of exopolysaccharides (EPS) derived from the identified Malaysian Ganoderma lucidum strain QRS 5120 on the L6 myoblast cell line. To achieve this, Ganoderma pellets were cultured using a bioreactor, and EPS were extracted from the pellet for testing its glucose uptake activity. EPS production peak at day 12 (83 g/L) of the cultivation. The extracted EPS underwent a sulfation process to enhance compound solubility and flexibility. This was confirmed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), where sulfation resulted in a sharp vibrational stretch at 1622 cm⁻¹, while unsulfated EPS exhibited a medium stretch at 1632 cm⁻¹. The glucose uptake activity assay revealed that a significantly lower concentration of residual glucose was observed at 500 μg/L (0.43 mg/mL) and 200 μg/L (0.45 mg/mL) when compared to the control group, indicating that EPS has a stimulatory effect on glucose uptake activity in L6 myotube cell lines. Consequently, from this preliminary study, it was shown that the EPS derived from the Malaysian strain Ganoderma lucidum QRS 5120 exhibits glucose uptake activity in skeletal muscle cells

Study of cucumber mosaic virus gene expression in Capsicum annuum

Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) is a plant pathogenic virus in the genus Cucumovirus, family Bromoviridae. It has the potential and reputation of having the widest host range of any known plant virus including monocotyledons and dicotyledons, herbaceous plants, shrubs and trees. CMV is one of the major diseases in Capsicum annum (chilli). Chilli plant samples exhibiting virus-like disease symptoms were collected from Taman Pertanian Indera Mahkota (location 1) and Greenhouse 12 of Horticulture Research Centre, Serdang (location 2). Viral disease was detected based on symptoms like mosaic-mottling, yellow ringspots and cholorotic that appeared on the leaves. The isolation of total RNA was done by using Vivantis GF-1 total RNA extraction kit. RT-PCR technique was used to detect the presence of virus disease symptoms gene in chillies. Identification of causal agents was based on cDNA amplified product size, using virus-specific oligonucleotides. Actin was used as the internal PCR control. The product size of the DNA fragment was 315 bp. From RT-PCR, the expression of CMV can be detected in chilli plants that exhibited the virus-like disease symptoms. This research revealed that some of the chilli plants at the Taman Pertanian Indera Mahkota and Greenhouse 12 of Horticulture Research Centre have been affected by this viral disease

Phylogenetic Study of Presumptive Oil-degrading Microbes Isolated from The North-western Tip of Pahang

Many construction areas are often contaminated with petroleum compounds. The aim of this work were to isolate and characterize indigenous bacteria isolated at a moderate temperature site as well as to study the pattern of phylogenetic tree among bacterial communities associated with oil degradation. No profound studies have yet been done in the construction site at Tanah Rata. Hence, this research was carried out to find existing status of microbial community from a few selected spots. Enrichment culture technique by using MSM broth has been used to isolate the desired microorganisms. Isolation and characterization tests using phenotypic and genotypic approaches (based on genes encoding 16S rRNA) had led to the discovery of 18 isolates. The 16S rRNA was used due to its functional constant, universally distributed and moderately well discovered across broad phylogenetic distances. The successfully identified genera were Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Exiguobacterium, Stenotrophomonas, Acinetobacter, Serratia and Gamma Proteobacterium

ISOLATION AND SCREENING OF BIOSURFACTANT-PRODUCING MARINE BACTERIA FROM KUANTAN PORT, PAHANG, MALAYSIA

Biosurfactants play an important role in bioremediation of organic pollutants such as petroleum hydrocarbon. The unique properties of biosurfactants make them possible to be used in the remediation of hydrocarbon contaminated sites. Therefore, the existence of indigenous microorganisms that have the ability to consume petroleum hydrocarbon as carbon source and simultaneously produce biosurfactants in order to facilitate the hydrocarbon metabolism can be manipulated for bioremediation purposes. In this study, isolation and screening of potential biosurfactant-producing bacteria from two sampling points in Kuantan Port seawater were successfully done. Amongst the isolates, 4 out of 7 isolates from Point A were Gram negative bacteria and 2 out 5 isolates from Point B were Gram negative bacteria. The positive oxidase test resulted for all isolates from Point A and only B5 from Point B produced negative result. Catalase test conducted produced positive results on isolates from Point A (A3, A5, A6& A7) and Point B (B1, B2, B4 & B5).The highest percentage emulsification index measured belonged to isolate B4 and B5 which are 67%, thus make these isolates to be the most promising biosurfactant producers. Further identification by 16S rRNA gene found that isolates were closely related to Rhodococcus erythropolis (A1), Psedomonas stutzeri (A2), Pseudoalteromonas lipolytica (A3, A6 and B4), Vibrio brasiliensis (A4 and B2), Vibrio tubiashii (B1), Marinobacter salsuginis (A5), Labrenzia aggregate (A7), Marinococcus halophilus (B3) and Thalassospira xianmenensis(B5). Hence, through biosurfactant activities exhibited by isolates, B4 and B5 were the most potential isolates to produce biosurfactant. Therefore, these isolates can potentially be exploited to aid in bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated sites and would also be useful to enhance oil recovery in petroleum industry

Study of Glucose-6-Phosphate dehydrogenase activity assay in mangrove streptomyces for actinohordin and undercylprodigiosin production

This study evaluates the potential of using glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity assay for Actinohordin and Undecylprodigiosin productions from mangrove Streptomyces. Previously, there were several methods used to screen antimicrobial activities such as agar spot test and disc diffusion assay, but those are lengthy screening methods and time consuming. Thus, to overcome the limitations plate-based assay is suggested to enable rapid screening on secondary metabolite production of numerous samples at one time. The development of plate-based assay was performed by optimizing glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity assay. This coupled assay was based on the production of dihydronicotinamideadenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) whereby a right combination of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP) and glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) were refined. The production of NADPH was measured at absorbance of 340 nm where reduced cofactor NADPH are absorbed readily at this wavelength. Sample with different concentrations of crude lysate was subjected to various substrates concentration to obtain the best activity curve. Even though elucidating clear patterns is speculative, it is believed that some improvements or optimizations of this study could offer promising knowledge which can serve as useful reference in futur

Isolation and Characterization of Hydrocarbon Tolerant Microorganisms from Marine Environment

Industrial activities have contributed to the releases of toxic organic compound into environment and have become a major public concern. This particularly of those industries that are located along coastal areas, which are the gateways for water transport. A study of the isolation and characterization of hydrocarbon tolerant microorganisms from marine samples collected at the jetty site of Tanjung Lumpur, Kuantan, Pahang, was conducted. There were very few studies have been done related to marine hydrocarbon tolerant microorganisms in Kuantan. Hence, this research was done to investigate the presence of microbial community that can thrive in the environment with oil-spillage. Enrichment culture technique by using MSM broth supplemented with 1% engine oil was utilized to isolate the desired microorganisms. Biochemical and molecular approaches were applied to identify and characterize the isolates. Six isolates wereidentified as genera Vibrio, Halomonas, Pseudoaltromonas, Idiomarina, Staphylococcus and Halophilic bacterium. In addition, phylogenetic study helps further in understand the relationship among the isolated bacteria

Water pollution and the assessment of water quality parameters: a review

The entry of pollutants into the water bodies has deteriorated the quality of freshwater which led to the occurrence of water pollution. The factors of water pollution due to natural processes are cli- mate change and natural disasters. The anthropogenic activities that affect water quality are urban- ization, development of infrastructures, industrial applications, agricultural activities, and sediment runoff. The severity of water pollution is measured using physical, chemical, and biological param- eters. For biological parameters, metagenomics analysis is associated with bioinformatics in detect- ing, identifying, and characterizing the microorganisms present in the environment. The methods carried out from the data analysis through the bioinformatics study are bacterial abundance, rar- efaction curve, core microbiome, clustering analysis and diversity analysis. Turbidity, temperature, electrical conductivity (EC), and total dissolved solids (TDS) are the physical parameters whereas pH, nutrients (ammoniacal nitrogen and phosphorus), dissolved oxygen (DO), and heavy met- als are the chemical parameters. A thorough and detailed study needs to be done to correlate the sources of water pollution and the water quality of freshwater. Therefore, proper treatment can be carried out to improve the water quality of the freshwater according to the class in DOE-WQI

Screening of biodegradation potential for n-alkanes and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon among isolates from the north-western tip of Pahang

This study has successfully screened for a few selected enzyme activities and hydrocarbon-degrading capability of 18 bacterial isolates from the north-western tip of Pahang. The bacterial isolates were known belong to genus Pseudomonas, Stenotrophomonas, Acinetobacter, Serratia, Bacillus and Exiguobacterium. Among them there are more than 80% were lactase and amylase producers, while only 44% were protease and lipase producers. Gravimetric analysis was performed to test the capa- bility of degrading n-alkanes and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). A statistical analysis, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for hydrocarbon utilization analysis. The overall degradation of n-alkanes was revealed to be not significant. On the other hand, based on the statistical analysis PAHs utilization was significant. Isolate A3i was chosen as the best utilizer of n-alkanes, while isolate A2 was chosen for the best PAHs degrader