Cloning and expression of pullulanase gene from locally isolated bacillus SP

Bacterial pullulanase represents one of th e starch-degrading enzymes that are widely used in the starch processing indu stry along with amylases. Amylases hydrolyze a -(1,4 )-glycosidic linkage in starch to produce a mixture of glucose , maltooligo sacchari de and limited a-dextrin. All the remaining a -(1,6)-glycosid ic branches in the products are hydrolyzed by p ullulanase. This is an advantage t o improve glucose production by coupling pullulanase and amylase in the p rocess. As such, many pullulana e enzyme has been isolated and one has been showing optimum pH of 10-10.5 which is suitable for use in dishwasher detergent additive in removal of star ch stain. We have recently iso lated a few bacterias that have shown potentially pullulanase producers by the holo-zone in pullulan-plate assay. One of them, we named Bacillus –1 sho ws a bigger holo-zone among others, Bacillus- 1 is highly active in pH more than 7. The enzyme also shows a mo derate activity to wards starch that may be indicates be side hydrolyzes a -(1,6)-glycosidic linkage in starch, it also hydrolyzes a -(1,4)- glycosidi c simi lar to a -amylase. Unfortunately the enzyme from wild-type bacteria is in lower yield an d in this studies, we intend to clone and sequence the pullulanase gene and also expressed the gene in a high expression system to be able to produce in a high yield before characterizing expressed protein

A Case of Acute Psychosis Following Dengue Fever

Dengue fever has been infecting millions of people all around the world specially the rural areas of South East Asia according to World Health Organization. It is caused by an Arbovirus and transmitted by the bite of an infected female Aedes aegyptii mosquito. Dengue commonly presents with fever and thrombocytopenia; rare presentations include acute pancreatitis, dengue hemorrhagic stroke and encephalopathy. Common psychiatric complications of dengue fever include anxiety, depression, manic episodes and catatonia. We present a rare case of a 51 year old man who presented with an acute episode of psychosis including over talkativeness, irritability, authoritative and disinhibited behavior, suspiciousness, over familiarity, self important ideas and loss of sleep 15 days following dengue fever. Rapid resolution of symptoms was seen with low dose anti-psychotics and patient fully recovered over a follow up period of 2 months. Literature on psychosis following dengue fever is sporadic with very few publications. Every patient coming from those areas where dengue is endemic and presenting with acute onset of psychotic disorder followed by fever should be screened for dengue. Early recognition is important for appropriate treatment and family counseling about the likely temporary nature of the patient’s symptoms

Delignification of oil palm empty fruit bunch using chemical and microbial pretreatment methods

In this study, Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunch (OPEFB) were subjected to chemical and microbial pretreatment for bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass to fermentable sugars. For chemical pretreatment, 2% (w/v) sodium hydroxide (NaOH) was been used for delignification while for microbial pretreatment, Phanerochaete chrysosporium ATCC 32629 was used as model microorganism by liquid and solid state culture techniques. Microbial pretreatment showed significant lignin removal with longer delignification time as compared to chemical pretreatment. For the same value of Klason lignin, delignification by chemical pretreatment need only 3 h as compared to 7 days for microbial pretreatment. The optimum value of Klason lignin for microbial pretreatment and chemical pretreatment were 5.89 and 5.93, respectively. In conclusion, delignification of OPEFB can be achieved via chemical and microbial pretreatment

High Bone Mass Disorders : New Insights From Connecting the Clinic and the Bench

Monogenic high bone mass (HBM) disorders are characterized by an increased amount of bone in general, or at specific sites in the skeleton. Here, we describe 59 HBM disorders with 50 known disease-causing genes from the literature, and we provide an overview of the signaling pathways and mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of these disorders. Based on this, we classify the known HBM genes into HBM (sub)groups according to uniform Gene Ontology (GO) terminology. This classification system may aid in hypothesis generation, for both wet lab experimental design and clinical genetic screening strategies. We discuss how functional genomics can shape discovery of novel HBM genes and/or mechanisms in the future, through implementation of omics assessments in existing and future model systems. Finally, we address strategies to improve gene identification in unsolved HBM cases and highlight the importance for cross-laboratory collaborations encompassing multidisciplinary efforts to transfer knowledge generated at the bench to the clinic. (c) 2022 The Authors. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR).Peer reviewe

Opportunities and Challenges in Functional Genomics Research in Osteoporosis: Report From a Workshop Held by the Causes Working Group of the Osteoporosis and Bone Research Academy of the Royal Osteoporosis Society on October 5th 2020.

The discovery that sclerostin is the defective protein underlying the rare heritable bone mass disorder, sclerosteosis, ultimately led to development of anti-sclerostin antibodies as a new treatment for osteoporosis. In the era of large scale GWAS, many additional genetic signals associated with bone mass and related traits have since been reported. However, how best to interrogate these signals in order to identify the underlying gene responsible for these genetic associations, a prerequisite for identifying drug targets for further treatments, remains a challenge. The resources available for supporting functional genomics research continues to expand, exemplified by "multi-omics" database resources, with improved availability of datasets derived from bone tissues. These databases provide information about potential molecular mediators such as mRNA expression, protein expression, and DNA methylation levels, which can be interrogated to map genetic signals to specific genes based on identification of causal pathways between the genetic signal and the phenotype being studied. Functional evaluation of potential causative genes has been facilitated by characterization of the "osteocyte signature", by broad phenotyping of knockout mice with deletions of over 7,000 genes, in which more detailed skeletal phenotyping is currently being undertaken, and by development of zebrafish as a highly efficient additional in vivo model for functional studies of the skeleton. Looking to the future, this expanding repertoire of tools offers the hope of accurately defining the major genetic signals which contribute to osteoporosis. This may in turn lead to the identification of additional therapeutic targets, and ultimately new treatments for osteoporosis

Opportunities and Challenges in Functional Genomics Research in Osteoporosis:Report From a Workshop Held by the Causes Working Group of the Osteoporosis and Bone Research Academy of the Royal Osteoporosis Society on October 5th 2020

The discovery that sclerostin is the defective protein underlying the rare heritable bone mass disorder, sclerosteosis, ultimately led to development of anti-sclerostin antibodies as a new treatment for osteoporosis. In the era of large scale GWAS, many additional genetic signals associated with bone mass and related traits have since been reported. However, how best to interrogate these signals in order to identify the underlying gene responsible for these genetic associations, a prerequisite for identifying drug targets for further treatments, remains a challenge. The resources available for supporting functional genomics research continues to expand, exemplified by “multi-omics” database resources, with improved availability of datasets derived from bone tissues. These databases provide information about potential molecular mediators such as mRNA expression, protein expression, and DNA methylation levels, which can be interrogated to map genetic signals to specific genes based on identification of causal pathways between the genetic signal and the phenotype being studied. Functional evaluation of potential causative genes has been facilitated by characterization of the “osteocyte signature”, by broad phenotyping of knockout mice with deletions of over 7,000 genes, in which more detailed skeletal phenotyping is currently being undertaken, and by development of zebrafish as a highly efficient additional in vivo model for functional studies of the skeleton. Looking to the future, this expanding repertoire of tools offers the hope of accurately defining the major genetic signals which contribute to osteoporosis. This may in turn lead to the identification of additional therapeutic targets, and ultimately new treatments for osteoporosis