From synthesis to bioactivity: A comprehensive study of Cu-based biocidal tool

The present study reports on the biogenic synthesis of a copper-based biocidal material through the fermentation of gruel, a traditional non-alcoholic beverage. This process may involve a bio-beneficiation mechanism, in which the indigenous microorganisms in the ferment interact with the material. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the powder's crystalline copper composition. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy revealed the crucial role of organic acids in the capping process. Transmission electron microscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, and antimicrobial susceptibility tests were conducted to characterize the powder. Furthermore, the biocidal material was combined with the anticancer drug curcumin to explore its additional anti-proliferative effects, including apoptosis, on human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines in vitro. These findings highlight the potential of this biogenic copper material as a promising candidate for biomedical applications

From synthesis to bioactivity: A comprehensive study of Cu-based biocidal tool

322-329The present study reports on the biogenic synthesis of a copper-based biocidal material through the fermentation of gruel, a traditional non-alcoholic beverage. This process may involve a bio-beneficiation mechanism, in which the indigenous microorganisms in the ferment interact with the material. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the powder's crystalline copper composition. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy revealed the crucial role of organic acids in the capping process. Transmission electron microscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, and antimicrobial susceptibility tests were conducted to characterize the powder. Furthermore, the biocidal material was combined with the anticancer drug curcumin to explore its additional anti-proliferative effects, including apoptosis, on human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines in vitro. These findings highlight the potential of this biogenic copper material as a promising candidate for biomedical applications

Developing of semi-transparent alpha-Fe2O3/Cu2O heterostructures with S-scheme photocatalytic activity and biological interests

The scarcity of water has been an outgrowing problem, while population is increasing so is the demand for the water. Hence conservation of water is most important and this material might bring in drastic changes in recycling the wastewater into portable ones. The alpha-Fe2O3/Cu2O is a desirably tailored nanomaterial synthesized using eco-friendly cost-effective hydrothermal method, where alpha-Fe2O3 and Cu2O were synthesized separately and later combined to produce an effective material. The material are characterized using advanced techniques like XPS, HR-TEM, XRD, FT-IR, BET, UV-DSR, ESR, LC-MS, ICP-AES, and UPS to understand complete morphology and functioning of the material. They are examined for various application in different fields such as dye degradation, heavy metal removal and organic pollutants elimination via photocatalysis under solar irradiation. The alpha-Fe2O3 and Cu2O had the work function of 6.10 and 5.49 eV respectively and band energy of 1.46 and 2.6 eV. Docking analysis was carried out to know the protein docking efficiency. Biocompatibility of the materials is addressed upon the HeLa cell line and alpha-Fe2O3/Cu2O exposure causes inflammation in the lung fluids in a mouse model using the Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) assay at high concentrations, proving that the materials can help with current and future biological applications

Genomic analysis of SNPs in breast cancer by using bioinformatics databases

456-462The role of single nucleotide polymorphs (SNPs) in genes that modulate or promote cancer process has not been fully understood. Hence, an attempt has been made to collect data from Entrez Genome View, Cancer Genome Anatomy Project (NCBI) and Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) databases for enumerating and locating the number of SNPs in the loci of various chromosomes involved in cancerous and non-cancerous breast tissue. DNA methylation and mutations in the hotspots of the proto-oncogenes leading to formation of carcinomas in the breast tissue have been identified and discussed. Transition in the hotspots may reflect endogenous mutations and sporadic loss of DNA repair factors. This has been related to various molecular mechanisms and gene expression variations. SNPs also play important roles in conformational changes in proteins, resulting in non-functional or truncated proteins at the post-translational levels. Although SNPs in introns may not directly result in a change in function of a gene, they may be taken as biomarkers to locate the site near genes. SNPs technology has enormous potential in clinical research and pharmacogenomics. Hence, effort has been to understand the basic difference between candidate and validated SNPs and their significance in carcinogenesis or predisposition

TLC directed isolation and in silico analysis of antimicrobial metabolite from Nigrospora sphaerica inhabiting Croton bonplandianus Baill

TLC-bioautography amalgamated with hyphenated spectroscopy aid in precise in situ detection of secondary metabolites with pharmaceutical significance. TLC bioautography offers efficient and economical strategy in identifying compounds of interest from crude extracts. The present investigation has been focused on detection of antimicrobial metabolite from the culture broth of Nigrospora sphaerica inhabiting Croton bonplandianus Baill. The antimicrobial profiling confirmed the bioactive nigrosporalactone to possess broad-spectrum activity against test human pathogens with minimum inhibitory concentration values in the range 6.25 µg to 100 µg. The in silico studies revealed protein targets 1I01 (E. coli beta-ketoacyl reductase), 1IYL (C. albicans N-myristoyl transferase) had the highest binding score of -6.1 Kcal/mol. © 2021 SAA

Multicomponent assessment and optimization of the cellulase activity by Serratia marcescens inhabiting decomposed leaf litter soil

In lignocellulosic biomass digestion, the enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic polymers is regarded as the rate-limiting step for enzyme synthesis. The present study is focused on hydrolytic microbial communities isolation from degraded leaf litter soil, and optimization efforts that aid in the decomposition of biomass in the environment. Based on morphological characteristics and leads from preliminary testing, four of the isolates were determined to be effective cellulose degraders. Molecular identification of robust microbial genera included Galactomyces sp. Cefu3, Aspergillus flavus N11, Serratia marcescens CH1, and Bacillus sp Cp4 species, respectively. Serratia marcescens CH1 was determined to be the most potent of the four isolates for cellulase enzyme activity. Further, Serratia marcescens CH1 exhibited highest multi-enzyme activity for endo-(1,4)B-D-glucanase, exo-(1,4)-B-D-glucanase, and B-glucosidase. The assay conditions were optimized and determined by the Response Surface Methodology (RSM)

Hydrothermal combustion based ZnO nanoparticles from Croton bonplandianum: Characterization and evaluation of antibacterial and antioxidant potential

The present study reports facile phytomediated synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) using hydrothermal combustion from Croton bonplandianum Bail. The characterization studies revealed that an average 44 nm size spherical ZnO NPs with high zinc composition having good crystalline nature. FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of functional groups O-H, sp3 C-H bend, and alkoxy C-O functional groups which might be involved in capping and reduction for ZnO NPs synthesis. The biosynthesized ZnO NPs exhibited potent antibacterial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The MIC results revealed that ZnO NPs were most effective against Bacillus cereus whereas least sensitive towards Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. This investigation suggests that biosynthesized ZnO NPs are promising agents for antibacterial and antioxidant applications in the biomedical field

First Report of Aspergillus versicolor Associated with Fruit Rot Disease of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) from India

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is an important vegetable crop and cultivated throughout India. During 2019–20, Karnataka produced 2,163 metric tons of tomato, accounting for 10.51% of total production (https://agricoop.gov.in/horticulture-reports). During a survey conducted in September 2019, characteristic fruit rot symptoms associated with tomato were severe at the harvest stage and caused by a characteristic mold. The necrotic lesions on infected fruit were covered with black fungal fruiting bodies. The incidence of new fruit rot disease was estimated around 12 to 14% in an area of 18 ha (∼62 fields) surveyed in the southern Karnataka region. The fruit rot was characterized by lesions appearing, which later enlarged into a necrosis stage and rotting. In total, 20 samples were used for isolation. Infected fruit rot samples were surface sterilized with 2% NaOCl for 2 min, rinsed thrice in sterile distilled water, and plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium amended with chloramphenicol (40 mg/liter). The plates were incubated at 28 ± 2°C and pure cultures were obtained by hyphal tipping. Fungal colonies expressed on PDA medium produced sulcate and centrally raised sporulating structures. The colony on PDA developed as white in the beginning and later turned to yellow green, often intermixed with flesh to pink exudates. Conidiophores were hyaline or slightly pigmented with smooth walls. Vesicles were subglobose to ellipsoidal and phialides were borne on metulae. Conidia were globose, brownish, and conspicuously echinulate. On the basis of microscopic and cultural characteristics, the causative pathogen was identified to be Aspergillus versicolor (Jurjevic et al. 2012). Further molecular characterization was also done by amplifying the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region using the universal ITS1/ITS4 primer pair with three representative isolates (White et al. 1990). Genomic DNA was isolated using CTAB using a 15-day-old culture followed by PCR amplification using the ITS1/ITS4 primer pair and sequencing. The generated sequence analysis revealed 100% (561/561 bp) sequence similarity through nBLAST analyses with the reference sequences of A. versicolor (KU318417.1 and MT798844.1) from the GenBank database. The representative sequences of ITS-rDNA for three isolates (namely, A. versicolor NCM_1, NCM_2, and NCM_3) were deposited in GenBank (accession nos. MZ520551.1 to MZ520553.1). Pathogenicity tests were conducted on 10 healthy mature fruits (tomato F1 hybrid INDAM 3003) using prick inoculation (conidial suspension 3 × 106 conidia ml−1). Tomato fruit (n = 5) inoculated with only sterile water served as controls. The experiments were conducted in triplicates of 10 fruits each and repeated three times (Mahadevakumar et al. 2019). Within 7 days postinoculation, fruit rot symptoms were observed on all inoculated fruit, which showed a characteristic lesion similar to the field observations. The control fruit remained asymptomatic even after 10 days. The pathogen was reisolated from diseased fruit and its identity was confirmed based on micromorphological examinations and cultural features. A. versicolor has been reported as a postharvest fungal pathogen on various other vegetable crops (Aidoo 1993). Tomato fruit rots are reported to be a major problem (Nizamani et al. 2021). However, no reports are available for the association of A. versicolor with fruit rot of tomato from India (Farr and Rossman 2021). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of A. versicolor associated with fruit rot of tomato from India