Bacillus subtilis as potential producer for polyhydroxyalkanoates

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biodegradable polymers produced by microbes to overcome environmental stress. Commercial production of PHAs is limited by the high cost of production compared to conventional plastics. Another hindrance is the brittle nature and low strength of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), the most widely studied PHA. The needs are to produce PHAs, which have better elastomeric properties suitable for biomedical applications, preferably from inexpensive renewable sources to reduce cost. Certain unique properties of Bacillus subtilis such as lack of the toxic lipo-polysaccharides, expression of self-lysing genes on completion of PHA biosynthetic process – for easy and timely recovery, usage of biowastes as feed enable it to compete as potential candidate for commercial production of PHA

Genomic Analysis Reveals Versatile Organisms for Quorum Quenching Enzymes: Acyl-Homoserine Lactone-Acylase and -Lactonase

Microbial virulence and their resistance to multiple drugs have obliged researchers to look for novel drug targets. Virulence of pathogenic microbes is regulated by signal molecules such as acylated homoserine lactone (AHL) produced during a cell density dependent phenomenon of quorum sensing (QS). In contrast, certain microbes produce AHL-lactonases and -acylases to degrade QS signals, also termed as quorum quenching. Mining sequenced genome databases has revealed organisms possessing conserved domains for AHL-lactonases and –acylases: i) Streptomyces (Actinobacteria), ii) Deinococcus (Deinococcus-Thermus), iii) Hyphomonas (α-Proteobacteria), iv) Ralstonia (β-Proteobacteria), v) Photorhabdus (γ-Proteobacteria), and certain marine gamma proteobacterium. Presence of genes for both the enzymes within an organism was observed in the following: i) Deinococcus radiodurans R1, ii) Hyphomonas neptunium ATCC 15444 and iii) Photorhabdus luminescens subsp. laumondii TTO1. These observations are supported by the presence motifs for lactonase and acylase in these strains. Phylogenetic analysis and multiple sequence alignment of the gene sequences for AHL-lactonases and –acylases have revealed consensus sequences which can be used to design primers for amplifying these genes even among mixed cultures and metagenomes. Quorum quenching can be exploited to prevent food spoilage, bacterial infections and bioremediation

Analysis of the unexplored features of rrs (16S rDNA) of the Genus Clostridium

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Bacterial taxonomy and phylogeny based on <it>rrs </it>(16S rDNA) sequencing is being vigorously pursued. In fact, it has been stated that novel biological findings are driven by comparison and integration of massive data sets. In spite of a large reservoir of <it>rrs </it>sequencing data of 1,237,963 entries, this analysis invariably needs supplementation with other genes. The need is to divide the genetic variability within a taxa or genus at their <it>rrs </it>phylogenetic boundaries and to discover those fundamental features, which will enable the bacteria to naturally fall within them. Within the large bacterial community, <it>Clostridium </it>represents a large genus of around 110 species of significant biotechnological and medical importance. Certain <it>Clostridium </it>strains produce some of the deadliest toxins, which cause heavy economic losses. We have targeted this genus because of its high genetic diversity, which does not allow accurate typing with the available molecular methods.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Seven hundred sixty five <it>rrs </it>sequences (> 1200 nucleotides, nts) belonging to 110 <it>Clostridium </it>species were analyzed. On the basis of 404 <it>rrs </it>sequences belonging to 15 <it>Clostridium </it>species, we have developed species specific: (i) phylogenetic framework, (ii) signatures (30 nts) and (iii) <it>in silico </it>restriction enzyme (14 Type II REs) digestion patterns. These tools allowed: (i) species level identification of 95 <it>Clostridium </it>sp. which are presently classified up to genus level, (ii) identification of 84 novel <it>Clostridium </it>spp. and (iii) potential reduction in the number of <it>Clostridium </it>species represented by small populations.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This integrated approach is quite sensitive and can be easily extended as a molecular tool for diagnostic and taxonomic identification of any microbe of importance to food industries and health services. Since rapid and correct identification allows quicker diagnosis and consequently treatment as well, it is likely to lead to reduction in economic losses and mortality rates.</p

Phylogeny in Aid of the Present and Novel Microbial Lineages: Diversity in Bacillus

Bacillus represents microbes of high economic, medical and biodefense importance. Bacillus strain identification based on 16S rRNA sequence analyses is invariably limited to species level. Secondly, certain discrepancies exist in the segregation of Bacillus subtilis strains. In the RDP/NCBI databases, out of a total of 2611 individual 16S rDNA sequences belonging to the 175 different species of the genus Bacillus, only 1586 have been identified up to species level. 16S rRNA sequences of Bacillus anthracis (153 strains), B. cereus (211 strains), B. thuringiensis (108 strains), B. subtilis (271 strains), B. licheniformis (131 strains), B. pumilus (83 strains), B. megaterium (47 strains), B. sphaericus (42 strains), B. clausii (39 strains) and B. halodurans (36 strains) were considered for generating species-specific framework and probes as tools for their rapid identification. Phylogenetic segregation of 1121, 16S rDNA sequences of 10 different Bacillus species in to 89 clusters enabled us to develop a phylogenetic frame work of 34 representative sequences. Using this phylogenetic framework, 305 out of 1025, 16S rDNA sequences presently classified as Bacillus sp. could be identified up to species level. This identification was supported by 20 to 30 nucleotides long signature sequences and in silico restriction enzyme analysis specific to the 10 Bacillus species. This integrated approach resulted in identifying around 30% of Bacillus sp. up to species level and revealed that B. subtilis strains can be segregated into two phylogenetically distinct groups, such that one of them may be renamed

Exploitation of Citrus Peel Extract as a Feedstock for Power Generation in Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC)

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are envisioned as an evolving cost-effective process for treating organic wastes to simultaneously generate bioelectricity. Therefore, in present study a single chambered mediator- less air cathode MFC was operated for bioelectricity generation using citrus waste (CW) as a feedstock. The MFC was operated at four organic loading conditions (OLs; 3, 6, 9 and 12 kg/m3). The voltage generation and organic content reduction demonstrated the possibility of utilizing CW as a substrate in MFC. The polarization analysis revealed a high-power generation of 71.1 mW/m2 with low OL of 3 kg/m3. The decrease in pH and high volatile fatty acids (VFAs) generation was noted at high OL. Our current findings suggest better performance of MFC, in terms of energy generation and organic reduction at high OL.This research was supported by Brain Pool Grant (NRF-2019H1D3A2A01060226) by National Research Foundation of Korea to work at Konkuk University (VCK). This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2013M3A6A8073184). This research was supported by 2018 KU Brain Pool of Konkuk University.Scopu