E. coli Group 1 Capsular Polysaccharide Exportation Nanomachinary as a Plausible Antivirulence Targetin the Perspective of Emerging Antimicrobial Resistance

Bacteria evolving resistance against the action of multiple drugs and its ability to disseminate the multidrug resistance trait(s) across various strains of the same bacteria or different bacterial species impose serious threat to public health. Evolution of such multidrug resistance is due to the fact that, most of the antibiotics target bacterial survival mechanisms which exert selective pressure on the bacteria and aids them to escape from the action of antibiotics. Nonetheless, targeting bacterial virulence strategies such as bacterial surface associated polysaccharides biosynthesis and their surface accumulation mechanisms may be an attractive strategy, as they impose less selective pressure on the bacteria. Capsular polysaccharide (CPS) or K-antigen that is located on the bacterial surface armors bacteria from host immune response. Thus, unencapsulating bacteria would be a good strategy for drug design, besides CPS itself being a good vaccine target, by interfering with CPS biosynthesis and surface assembly pathway. Gram-negative Escherichia coli uses Wzy-polymerase dependent (Groups 1 and 4) and ATP dependent (Groups 1 and 3) pathways for CPS production. Considering E. coli as a case in point, this review explains the structure and functional roles of proteins involved in Group 1 Wzy dependent CPS biosynthesis, surface expression and anchorage in relevance to drug and vaccine developments

The response of nonlinearly loaded antennas to repetitive HPEM excitations as obtained from equivalent circuit models

In this contribution the effects of repetitive pulse excitations on linearly and nonlinearly loaded antennas are studied on the basis of equivalent circuit models. In the known linear case, repetitive pulses can lead to an increase of the amplitudes of oscillations. These oscillations decay, if realistic quality factors are assumed, comparatively quickly. In the considered nonlinear case the effects of repetitive pulses can add up and persist along much larger time scales. This remarkable effect has no equivalent in the linear case.</p

Microbial Production of Human Milk Oligosaccharides

Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are complex nonnutritive sugars present in human milk. These sugars possess prebiotic, immunomodulatory, and antagonistic properties towards pathogens and therefore are important for the health and well-being of newborn babies. Lower prevalence of breastfeeding around the globe, rising popularity of nutraceuticals, and low availability of HMOs have inspired efforts to develop economically feasible and efficient industrial-scale production platforms for HMOs. Recent progress in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering tools has enabled microbial systems to be a production system of HMOs. In this regard, the model organism Escherichia coli has emerged as the preferred production platform. Herein, we summarize the remarkable progress in the microbial production of HMOs and discuss the challenges and future opportunities in unraveling the scope of production of complex HMOs. We focus on the microbial production of five HMOs that have been approved for their commercialization

Microbial Production of Human Milk Oligosaccharides

Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are complex nonnutritive sugars present in human milk. These sugars possess prebiotic, immunomodulatory, and antagonistic properties towards pathogens and therefore are important for the health and well-being of newborn babies. Lower prevalence of breastfeeding around the globe, rising popularity of nutraceuticals, and low availability of HMOs have inspired efforts to develop economically feasible and efficient industrial-scale production platforms for HMOs. Recent progress in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering tools has enabled microbial systems to be a production system of HMOs. In this regard, the model organism Escherichia coli has emerged as the preferred production platform. Herein, we summarize the remarkable progress in the microbial production of HMOs and discuss the challenges and future opportunities in unraveling the scope of production of complex HMOs. We focus on the microbial production of five HMOs that have been approved for their commercialization

Acrokeratosis Verruciformis of Hopf: A Rare Case Report

Acrokeratosis Verruciformis of Hopf (AKV) is rare autosomal dominant cutaneous dermatosis described by Hopf in 1931. It is presented at birth but may appear in early child hood; sometimes the onset may be delayed until fifth decade of life. It usually presents with multiple planar wart – like lesions, typically observed on the dorsal aspect of the hands and feet but may extend on to knees, elbows, forearms and also on other parts of the body. The main differential diagnosis is Darier disease and seborrheic keratosis which has similar presentation. The unique finding of AKV is Church spire elevation of epithelium which differentiates from Darier disease. Due to the scarcity of the cases here we present a case of AKV in a 29 year old male which was diagnosed on clinical examination and confirmed with histopathological examination. We have made an attempt to describe histologic features of AKV with differential diagnosis of these lesions through review of literature