Probiotics: Potent Immunomodulatory Tool Against Allergy

Probiotics are defined as live microbial food ingredients that produce several beneficial effects to human health. Probiotic bacteria have been mostly investigated in the prevention of and treatment for different gastrointestinal diseases and allergies. It is not fully clear how probiotics exert their beneficial effects on health, but one of the most probable mechanisms of action is the modulation of immune responses via the mucosal immune system of the gut. Commensal bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract play an integral role in both innate and humoral immunity. It is well established that this protective role can be maintained or modulated by the ingestion of probiotics. More recently, it has been shown that specific probiotic strains can influence the secretion of cytokines to help direct naïve T-helper cells toward either a Th1-dominant, cell-mediated immune response or toward a Th2-dominant, humoral immune response. This paper will review current knowledge of the Th1/Th2 model of humoral immunity as well as introduce how strain-specific probiotics can be used therapeutically to help balance this immune response and therefore help prevent allergy.     

Nodulation of legumes from the Thar desert of India and molecular characterization of their rhizobia

Aims

To survey the occurrence of nodulated legumes in the arid and semi-arid areas of Western Rajasthan and to characterize their associated symbiotic bacteria.

Methods

Herbaceous annual species were excavated whole, while tree species were studied as seedlings in the field or as trap plants in pot experiments. Nodules were examined by microscopy to confirm their effectiveness and to determine their internal structure. Bacteria isolated from the nodules were authenticated on their original hosts and were identified on the basis of 16S rRNA sequencing. Phylogenetic trees were inferred using the neighbour-joining method.

Results

We studied 35 of more than 50 species of native legume reported from these areas. Legumes are drought escaping (annual species), drought tolerant perennials or trees possessing deep root systems and other adaptations to arid conditions. Nodulation was recorded in all members of the Papilionoideae and Mimosoideae, but only one species of Caesalpinioideae. Internal structure of nodules varied within these groups, especially with respect to the presence or absence of uninfected cells in the infected region. Full 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed that the nodules harboured a range of nodulating bacteria belonging to the genera Sinorhizobium, Rhizobium and Bradyrhizobium, within which they formed separate sub clades.

Conclusions

This study extends the range of legumes known to grow and nodulate in semi-arid regions, and provides information about their endosymbionts.     

Intrinsically de-sialylated CD103+ CD8 T cells mediate beneficial anti-glioma immune responses

Background

Cancer vaccines reproducibly cure laboratory animals and reveal encouraging trends in brain tumor (glioma) patients. Identifying parameters governing beneficial vaccine-induced responses may lead to the improvement of glioma immunotherapies. CD103⁺ CD8 T cells dominate post-vaccine responses in human glioma patients for unknown reasons, but may be related to recent thymic emigrant (RTE) status. Importantly, CD8 RTE metrics correlated with beneficial immune responses in vaccinated glioma patients.

Methods

We show by flow cytometry that murine and human CD103⁺ CD8 T cells respond better than their CD103^? counterparts to tumor peptide-MHC I (pMHC I) stimulation in vitro and to tumor antigens on gliomas in vivo.

Results

Glioma responsive T cells from mice and humans both exhibited intrinsic de-sialylation-affecting CD8 beta. Modulation of CD8 T cell sialic acid with neuraminidase and ST3Gal-II revealed de-sialylation was necessary and sufficient for promiscuous binding to and stimulation by tumor pMHC I. Moreover, de-sialylated status was required for adoptive CD8 T cells and lymphocytes to decrease GL26 glioma invasiveness and increase host survival in vivo. Finally, increased tumor ST3Gal-II expression correlated with clinical vaccine failure in a meta-analysis of high-grade glioma patients.

Conclusions

Taken together, these findings suggest that de-sialylation of CD8 is required for hyper-responsiveness and beneficial anti-glioma activity by CD8 T cells. Because CD8 de-sialylation can be induced with exogenous enzymes (and appears particularly scarce on human T cells), it represents a promising target for clinical glioma vaccine improvement.     

Effect of tillage and straw return on carbon footprints,soil organic carbon fractions and soil microbial community in different textured soils under rice–wheat rotation: a review

Reviews in Environmental Science and Bio/Technology - Measuring the influence of long-term agricultural tillage practices on soil organic carbon (SOC) is of great importance to farmers and...     

Biotechnological Potential of Some Cold-Adapted Bacteria Isolated from North-Western Himalaya

Microbiology - In the present study, cold-adapted bacteria were isolated from soil, water and glacial ice samples collected from various geographical locations within the north-western Himalayan...     

Efficiency of RAPD, SSR and Cytochrome P450 gene based markers in accessing genetic variability amongst finger millet (Eleusine coracana) accessions

Finger millet (Eleusine coracana L.) is an important crop used for food, forage, and industrial products. Three DNA marker techniques, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), simple sequence repeat (SSR) and cytochrome P₄₅₀ gene based markers were used for the detection of genetic polymorphism in 83 accessions of finger millet collected from various geographical regions of India and Africa. A total of 18 RAPD, 10 SSR and 10 pairs of cytochrome P₄₅₀ gene based markers were generated 56.17, 70.19 and 54.29% polymorphism, respectively. Mean polymorphism information content (PIC) for each of these marker systems (0.280 for RAPD, 0.89 for SSR and 0.327 for cytochrome P₄₅₀ gene based markers) suggested that SSR marker were highly effective in determining polymorphism. The phenograms based on the three markers data indicate that genotypes from different geographical regions are clearly distinguishable as separate clusters. Mantel test employed for detection of goodness of fit established cophenetic correlation values above 0.90 for all the three marker systems. The dendrograms and PCA plots derived from the binary data matrices of the three marker systems are highly concordant. High bootstrap values were obtained at major nodes of phenograms through WINBOOT software. Based on the results of present study, SSR and cytochrome P₄₅₀ gene based markers appear to be particularly useful for the estimation of genetic diversity. This study reveals the potential of RAPD, SSR and gene based markers for characterizing germplasm of Eleusine coracana and narrow down the vast germplasm into distinct core groups.     

Controlling pathogenesis in Candida albicans by targeting Efg1 and Glyoxylate pathway through naturally occurring polyphenols

Molecular Biology Reports - Candida albicans has frequently shown resistance to azoles, the commonly used antifungal drugs. Efg1 has dual role under normoxia and hypoxia supporting infection. It is...