Optimization and immobilization of amylase obtained from halotolerant bacteria isolated from solar salterns

The objective of the present study was to isolate halotolerant bacteria from the sediment sample collected from Marakanam Solar Salterns, Tamil Nadu, India using NaCl supplemented media and screened for amylase production. Among the 22 isolates recovered, two strains that had immense potential were selected for amylase production and designated as P1 and P2. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that P1 and P2 have highest homology with Pontibacillus chungwhensis (99%) and Bacillus barbaricus (100%). Their amylase activity was optimized to obtain high yield under various temperature, pH and NaCl concentration. P1 and P2 strain showed respective, amylase activity maximum at 35 °C and 40 °C; pH 7.0 and 8.0; 1.5 M and 1.0 M NaCl concentration. Further under optimized conditions, the amylase activity of P1 strain (49.6 U mL^?1) was higher than P2 strain. Therefore, the amylase enzyme isolated from P. chungwhensis P1 was immobilized in sodium alginate beads. Compared to the free enzyme form (49.6 U mL^?1), the immobilized enzyme showed higher amylase activity as 90.3 U mL^?1. The enzyme was further purified partially and the molecular mass was determined as 40 kDa by SDS–PAGE. Thus, high activity of amylase even under increased NaCl concentration would render immense benefits in food processing industries.     

Antioxidant properties of Mannich bases

The biological importance of antioxidants influenced to synthesize some curcumin-related compounds as potential antioxidants. Accordingly, a series of 2,4-diaryl-3-azabicyco[3.3.1]nonan-9-ones were synthesized with polyphenolic and/or polymethoxyphenyl groups by modified Mannich condensations. The yield was significantly improved using BF₃·SiO₂ as heterogeneous catalyst under mild conditions. Stereochemistry of all the synthesized compounds was established as twin-chair with an equatorial disposition of the aryl groups, through their NMR and XRD interpretations. The ABNs 8 (curcumin analog) and 10 (bis-demethoxycurcumin analog) showed an effective profile over curcumin, α-tocopherol, and vitamin C by chemical methods. Further, the efficiency of one of the active molecules, ABN 10, was demonstrated by its intracellular ROS inhibition activity on RAW 264.7 macrophage cells by FACS analysis in dose-dependent manner.     

An <Emphasis Type="Italic">Insilico</Emphasis> approach to High Altitude Pulmonary Edema - Molecular modeling of human β<Subscript>2</Subscript> adrenergic receptor and its interaction with Salmeterol &; Nifedipine

Knowledge of the three-dimensional structures of protein targets from genomic data has the potential to accelerate researches pertaining to drug discovery. Human β₂ adrenergic receptor is a G-protein-coupled receptor with seven transmembrane helices, and is important in pharmaceutical targeting on pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases. The human β₂ adrenergic receptor has been found to play a very important role in the pathogenesis of high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE). In the present study, a high quality of protein 3D structure has been predicted for the human β₂ adrenergic receptor sequence with primary accession number P07550. Homologous template protein sequence with known 3D structure was identified and the template-query protein sequence validation was done by multiple sequence alignment method. The homology model was performed through Modeller and depended on the quality of the sequence alignment by BLAST, template structure and the consolidated result performed by Gene silico meta-server. The statistical verification of the generated model was evaluated by PROCHECK which revealed that the structure modeled through Modeller to be of good quality with 84.1% of residues in the most favored region. Docking studies were carried out after modeling with two well known ligands namely Salmeterol and Nifedipine, and the fitness score revealed that Salmeterol has a higher fitness score than Nifedipine. Estimation of binding affinity by X-Score revealed that Salmeterol had −10.40 binding affinity while Nifedipine showed −9.62 binding affinity. From the present study, it can be concluded that the generated model of human β₂ adrenergic receptor can be used for further studies related to this receptor and Salmeterol was found to have a high binding affinity with human β₂ adrenergic receptor.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Brucella suis</Emphasis> urease encoded by <Emphasis Type="Italic">ure</Emphasis> 1 but not <Emphasis Type="Italic">ure</Emphasis> 2 is necessary for intestinal infection of BALB/c mice

Background  

In prokaryotes, the ureases are multi-subunit, nickel-containing enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of urea to carbon dioxide and ammonia. The Brucella genomes contain two urease operons designated as ure1 and ure2. We investigated the role of the two Brucella suis urease operons on the infection, intracellular persistence, growth, and resistance to low-pH killing.     

Design, synthesis, stereochemistry and antioxidant properties of various 7-alkylated 2,4-diaryl-3-azabicyclo[3.3.1]nonan-9-ones

We used the modified Mannich condensation to synthesize three closely-related series of 7-alkylated 3-ABNs 1-5 viz., 7-methylated 2,4-diaryl-3-azabicyclo[3.3.1]nonan-9-ones (7-Me ABNs 1-5), 7-ethylated 2,4-diaryl-3-azabicyclo[3.3.1]nonan-9-ones (7-Et ABNs 1-5) and 7-tert-pentylated 2,4-diaryl-3-azabicyclo[3.3.1]nonan-9-ones (7-tert-pentyl ABNs 1-5). All compounds yielded good as single isomers by the use of PPA·SiO(2) as a heterogeneous Bronsted acidic catalyst. The 1D, 2D NMR, and single-crystal XRD interpretations unambiguously characterized the stereochemistry of the synthesized compounds. In solution as well as solid-state, all compounds exist in the twin-chair conformation with equatorial orientations of all substitutions, despite their nature and positions. The chemical methods viz., DPPH, reducing power, and phospho-molybdenum methods identified some of the target curcumin analogs as active compounds. Among them, 7-Me ABN 4 (7-methyl-2,4-bis(3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenyl)-3-azabicyclo[3.3.1]nonan-9)-one exerted the best antioxidant profile that comparable to standard l-ascorbic acid, α-tocopherol and curcumin. Hence, we evaluated further for its intracellular ROS inhibition potency on RAW 264.7 macrophage cells, and found to be effective as well as non-toxic at 100μM.     

Facile synthesis and stereochemical investigation of Mannich base derivatives: evaluation of antioxidant property and antituberculostic potency

A mini-library of diversely substituted 2,4-diaryl-3-azabicyco[3.3.1]nonan-9-one O-methyloximes and their N-methyl analogs were synthesized by a non-laborious, modified and an optimized Mannich condensation in good yields. Both the ring N-methylation and oxime O-methylation were employed by various methods; of them, the usage of ^tBuOK was found to be the superior in terms of good yield in short time. Stereochemistry of all the synthesized compounds was unambiguously established by their NMR spectral (¹H, ¹³C, ¹H-¹H COSY, ¹H-¹³C one and multiple bond COSY and NOESY) as well as single-crystal XRD studies. Irrespective of the nature and position of the substituents, all the synthesized oxime ethers of the bicyclic Mannich bases as well as their N-methyl analogs adopted the twin-chair conformation with equatorial orientations of all the substituents. All the synthesized oxime ethers were evaluated for their antioxidant property by DPPH radical scavenging method. According to the structure-activity correlations, compound 4y was found to be a lead molecule with the IC₅₀ of 0.187 mg/mL. Thus, the present study exploits the scope of finding more active analogs by further optimization with the incorporation of more electron enriched alkoxy/amino and/or phenolic groups on the heterocycle as well as oxime ether pharmacophore. Most of the synthesized molecules were screened for their antituberculostic potency against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H₃₇Rv by zone of inhibition method. Of them, 4w/5d and 4x showed very promising inhibition zones of 21 and 23 mm, respectively, which leads to the optimization of 4x by introducing various substituents on the O-benzyl moiety to enhance the antituberculostic potency.     

Design and synthesis of 3-(4-Ethylphenyl)-2-substituted amino-3H-quinazolin-4-ones as a novel class of analgesic and anti-inflammatory agents

A new series of 3-(4-ethylphenyl)-2-substituted amino-3H-quinazolin-4-ones were synthesized by reacting the amino group of 2-hydrazino-3-(4-ethylphenyl)-3H-quinazolin-4-one from 4-ethyl aniline with a variety of aldehydes and ketones. The title compounds were investigated for analgesic, anti-inflammatory and ulcerogenic index activities. The compound 2-(N′-3-pentylidene-hydrazino)-3-(4-ethylphenyl)-3H-quinazolin-4-one (AS2) emerged as the most active compound of the series and was moderately more potent than the reference standard diclofenac sodium. Interestingly the test compounds showed only mild ulcerogenic potential when compared to aspirin.     

Binding site prediction of galanin peptide using evolutionary trace method

Galanin is a neuropeptide with aminoacid length ranging from 29 to 31 is widely distributed in central and peripheral nervous system. Galanin controls various psychological processes such as sensation of pain, learning, feeding, and sexual behaviour. The N-terminal region of this neuropeptide has highly conserved 15 amino acids, which is triggered by galanin receptors. We performed evolutionary trace analysis for galanin sequences to gather information about functional residues. The consensus pattern given by the evolutionary trace (ET) analysis is supported by CLUSTALW and WEBLOGO results. Our observations strongly suggest the presence of functional residues in the N-terminal region of galanin for agonist-receptor binding.     

Synthesis,spectral, crystal and antimicrobial studies of biologically potent oxime ethers of nitrogen,oxygen and sulfur heterocycles

Three series of oxime ethers viz, 2,6-diarylpiperidin-4-one O-benzyloximes 5a–o, 2,6-diaryltetrahydropyran-4-one O-benzyloximes 7a–e and 2,6-diaryltetrahydrothiopyran-4-one O-benzyloximes 11a–b and 12a–c were synthesized and stereochemistry is established by their spectral and single crystal analysis. A SAR study has been carried out for the above oxime ethers against a panel of antibacterial (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi and Escherichia coli) and antifungal agents (Candida albicans, Candida-51, Rhizopus sp., Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus and Cryptococcus neoformans), respectively, using Ciprofloxacin and Amphotericin B as standards. Most of the chloro/methyl/methoxy substituted compounds exerted moderate to good activity against all the tested organisms; moreover, some compounds (5i, 5l, 5n, 5o, 7c2, 7d1, 7d2, 7e, 11b and 12c) exhibited promising activity than standard drugs.     

Elimination of Escherichia coli O157:H7 from fermented dry sausages at an organoleptically acceptable level of microencapsulated allyl isothiocyanate

Four sausage batters (17.59% beef, 60.67% pork, and 17.59% pork fat) were inoculated with two commercial starter culture organisms (>7 log(10) CFU/g Pediococcus pentosaceus and 6 log(10) CFU/g Staphylococcus carnosus) and a five-strain cocktail of nonpathogenic variants of Escherichia coli O157:H7 to yield 6 to 7 log(10) CFU/g. Microencapsulated allyl isothiocyanate (AIT) was added to three batters at 500, 750, or 1,000 ppm to determine its antimicrobial effects. For sensory analysis, separate batches with starter cultures and 0, 500, or 750 ppm microencapsulated AIT were produced. Sausages were fermented at < or =26 degrees C and 88% relative humidity (RH) for 72 h. Subsequently sausages were dried at 75% RH and 13 degrees C for at least 25 days. The water activity (a(w)), pH, and levels of starter cultures, E. coli O157:H7, and total bacteria were monitored during fermentation and drying. All sausages showed changes in the initial pH from 5.57 to 4.89 and in a(w) from 0.96 to 0.89 by the end of fermentation and drying, respectively. Starter culture numbers were reduced during sausage maturation, but there was no effect of AIT on meat pH reduction. E. coli O157:H7 was reduced by 6.5 log(10) CFU/g in sausages containing 750 and 1,000 ppm AIT after 21 and 16 days of processing, respectively. E. coli O157:H7 numbers were reduced by 4.75 log(10) CFU/g after 28 days of processing in treatments with 500 ppm AIT, and the organism was not recovered from this treatment beyond 40 days. During sensory evaluation, sausages containing 500 ppm AIT were considered acceptable although slightly spicy by panelists.