A novel extracellular low‐temperature active phytase from Bacillus aryabhattai RS1 with potential application in plant growth

Bacillus aryabhattai RS1 isolated from rhizosphere produced an extracellular, low temperature active phytase. The cultural conditions for enzyme production were optimized to obtain 35 U mL^?1 of activity. Purified phytase had specific activity and molecular weight of 72.97 U mg^?1 and ～40 kDa, respectively. The enzyme was optimally active at pH 6.5 and 40°C and was highly specific to phytate. It exhibited higher catalytic activity at low temperature, retaining over 40% activity at 10°C. Phytase was more thermostable in presence of Ca²⁺ ion and retained 100% residual activity on preincubation at 20–50°C for 30 min. Partial phytase encoding gene, phy_B (816 bp) was cloned and sequenced. The encoded amino acid sequence (272 aa) contained two conserved motifs, DA[A/T/E]DDPA[I/L/V]W and NN[V/I]D[I/L/V]R[Y/D/Q] of β‐propellar phytase and had lower sequence homology with other Bacillus phytases, indicating its novelty. Phytase and the bacterial inoculum were effective in improving germination and growth of chickpea seedlings under phosphate limiting condition. Moreover, the potential applications of the enzyme with relatively high activity at lower temperatures (20–30°C) could also be extended to aquaculture and food processing. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 33:633–641, 2017     

Histone Deacetylases: A Saga of Perturbed Acetylation Homeostasis in Cancer

In the current era of genomic medicine, diseases are identified as manifestations of anomalous patterns of gene expression. Cancer is the principal example among such maladies. Although remarkable progress has been achieved in the understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in the genesis and progression of cancer, its epigenetic regulation, particularly histone deacetylation, demands further studies. Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are one of the key players in the gene expression regulation network in cancer because of their repressive role on tumor suppressor genes. Higher expression and function of deacetylases disrupt the finely tuned acetylation homeostasis in both histone and non-histone target proteins. This brings about alterations in the genes implicated in the regulation of cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and other cellular processes. Moreover, the reversible nature of epigenetic modulation by HDACs makes them attractive targets for cancer remedy. This review summarizes the current knowledge of HDACs in tumorigenesis and tumor progression as well as their contribution to the hallmarks of cancer. The present report also describes briefly various assays to detect histone deacetylase activity and discusses the potential role of histone deacetylase inhibitors as emerging epigenetic drugs to cure cancer.     

Life-history strategies of soil microbial communities in an arid ecosystem

The overwhelming taxonomic diversity and metabolic complexity of microorganisms can be simplified by a life-history classification; copiotrophs grow faster and rely on resource availability, whereas oligotrophs efficiently exploit resource at the expense of growth rate. Here, we hypothesize that community-level traits inferred from metagenomic data can distinguish copiotrophic and oligotrophic microbial communities. Moreover, we hypothesize that oligotrophic microbial communities harbor more unannotated genes. To test these hypotheses, we conducted metagenomic analyses of soil samples collected from copiotrophic vegetated areas and from oligotrophic bare ground devoid of vegetation in an arid-hyperarid region of the Sonoran Desert, Arizona, USA. Results supported our hypotheses, as we found that multiple ecologically informed life-history traits including average 16S ribosomal RNA gene copy number, codon usage bias in ribosomal genes and predicted maximum growth rate were higher for microbial communities in vegetated than bare soils, and that oligotrophic microbial communities in bare soils harbored a higher proportion of genes that are unavailable in public reference databases. Collectively, our work demonstrates that life-history traits can distill complex microbial communities into ecologically coherent units and highlights that oligotrophic microbial communities serve as a rich source of novel functions.Subject terms: Microbial ecology, Community ecology     

Glutathione and hydrogen sulfide are required for sulfur-mediated mitigation of Cr(VI) toxicity in tomato,pea and brinjal seedlings

In plants, investigation on heavy metal toxicity and its mitigation by nutrient elements have gained much attention. However, mechanism(s) associated with nutrients-mediated mitigation of metal toxicity remain elusive. In this study, we have investigated the role and interrelation of glutathione (GSH) and hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) in the regulation of hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] toxicity in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), pea (Pisum sativum) and brinjal (Solanum melongena) seedlings, supplemented with additional sulfur (S). The results show that Cr(VI) significantly reduced growth, total chlorophyll and photosynthetic quantum yield of tomato, pea and brinjal seedlings which was accompanied by enhanced intracellular accumulation of Cr(VI) in roots. Moreover, Cr(VI) enhanced the generation of reactive oxygen species in the studied vegetables, while antioxidant defense system exhibited differential responses. However, additional supply of S alleviated Cr(VI) toxicity. Interestingly, addition of l-buthionine sulfoximine (BSO, a glutathione biosynthesis inhibitor) further increased Cr(VI) toxicity even in the presence of additional S but GSH addition reverses the effect of BSO. Under similar condition, endogenous H₂S, l-cysteine desulfhydrase (DES) activity and cysteine content did not significantly differ when compared to controls. Hydroxylamine (HA, an inhibitor of DES) also increased Cr(VI) toxicity even in the presence of additional S but sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS, an H₂S donor) reverses the effect of HA. Moreover, Cr(VI) toxicity amelioration by NaHS was reversed by the addition of hypotaurine (HT, an H₂S scavenger). Taken together, the results show that GSH which might be derived from supplied S is involved in the mitigation of Cr(VI) toxicity in which H₂S signaling preceded GSH biosynthesis.     

A Study of Improved Bimetallic Graphene–Based Fiber Optic Surface Plasmon Resonance (FOSPR) Biosensor

Plasmonics - In the present communication, a fiber optic biosensor based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR) phenomenon, having bilayers of Ag-Pt with graphene as a sensing layer, is presented....     

Poly(ε-L-lysine): Synthesis and conformation

The synthesis of poly(ε-L -lysine) is described. This is a poly(ε-amino acid) in which the ε-amino group of lysine is condensed with the α-carboxyl group to produce a chain backbone that is a variant of the usual one seen in proteins and the side chain is the α-amino group. Conformational studies of poly(ε-L -lysine) and its t-butyloxycarbonyl derivative suggest the likelihood of a chain order that is formally similar to the antiparallel pleated-sheet conformation of proteins.