Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal whole-plant extracts exhibited anti-sporotrichotic effects by destabilizing peripheral integrity of Sporothrix globosa yeast cells

Chronic topical cases of Sporotrichosis, a chronic fungal infection caused by the ubiquitously present cryptic members of the Sporothrix species complex, are treated with oral administrations of itraconazole. However, severe pulmonary or disseminated cases require repeated intra-venous doses of amphotericin B or even surgical debridement of the infected tissue. The unavoidable adverse side-effects of the current treatments, besides the growing drug resistance among Sporothrix genus, demands exploration of alternative therapeutic options. Medicinal herbs, due to their multi-targeting capacity, are gaining popularity amidst the rising antimicrobial recalcitrance. Withania somnifera is a well-known medicinal herb with reported antifungal activities against several pathogenic fungal genera. In this study, the antifungal effect of the whole plant extract of W. somnifera (WSWE) has been explored for the first time, against an itraconazole resistant strain of S. globosa. WSWE treatment inhibited S. globosa yeast form growth in a dose-dependent manner, with IC₅₀ of 1.40 mg/ml. Minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) was found to be 50 mg/ml. Sorbitol protection and ergosterol binding assays, revealed that anti-sporotrichotic effects of WSWE correlated well with the destabilization of the fungal cell wall and cell membrane. This observation was validated through dose-dependent decrease in overall ergosterol contents in WSWE-treated S. globosa cells. Compositional analysis of WSWE through high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) exhibited the presence of several anti-microbial phytochemicals like withanone, withaferin A, withanolides A and B, and withanoside IV and V. Withanone and withaferin A, purified from WSWE, were 10–20 folds more potent against S. globosa than WSWE, thus, suggesting to be the major phytocompounds responsible for the observed anti-sporotrichotic activity. In conclusion, this study has demonstrated the anti-sporotrichotic property of the whole plant extract of W. somnifera against S. globosa that could be further explored for the development of a natural antifungal agent against chronic Sporotrichosis.     

Bacteriophage MB78 DNA synthesis is specifically inhibited by the chelating agent ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid

The growth of bacteriophage MB78, a virulent phage of Salmonella typhimurium is extremely sensitive to the chelating agent EDTA. Other chelating agents like EGTA, a specific chelator for Ca²⁺ and orthophenanthroline which chelates Zn²⁺ and Fe²⁺ have no effect. EDTA stops phage MB78 DNA synthesis while synthesis of host DNA and other Salmonella phage DNA are not affected in presence of such low concentrations of EDTA. The present report indicates that some early phage function(s) and most probably the phage DNA synthesis are sensitive to EDTA which is probably due to chelation of Mg²⁺.     

Molecular cloning of enantioselective ester hydrolase from Bacillus pumilus DBRL-191

A gene from Bacillus pumilus expressed under its native promoter was cloned in Escherichia coli. Recombinant B. pumilus esterase (BPE) affects the kinetic resolution of racemic mixtures such as unsubstituted and substituted 1-(phenyl)ethanols (E approximately 33-103), ethyl 3-hydroxy-3-phenylpropanoate (E approximately 45-71), trans-4-fluorophenyl-3-hydroxymethyl-N-methylpiperidine (E approximately 10-13) and ethyl 2-hydroxy-4-phenylbutyrate (E approximately 7). The enzyme is composed of a 34-amino acid signal peptide and a 181-amino acid mature protein corresponding to a molecular weight of approximately 19.2kD and pI approximately 9.4. 3-D the structural model of the enzyme built by homology modelling using the atomic coordinates from the crystal structure of B. subtilis lipase (LipA) showed a compact minimal alpha/beta hydrolase fold.     

Targeting head and neck squamous cell carcinoma using a novel fusion toxin-diphtheria toxin/HN-1

The current treatment strategies, chemotherapy and radiation therapy being used for the management of cancer are deficient in targeted approach leading to treatment related toxicities and relapse. Contrarily, fusion toxins exhibit remarkable tumor specificity thus emerging as an alternative therapy for the treatment of cancer. Diphtheria toxin-HN-1 peptide (DT/HN-1) is a fusion toxin designed to target the head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The aim of this study was to construct, characterize, and evaluate the cytotoxicity and specificity of DT/HN-1 fusion toxin against the HNSCC cells. The purified DT/HN-1 fusion toxin was characterized by SDS-PAGE and western blotting. Refolding of purified fusion toxins was monitored by fluorescence spectra and circular dichroism spectra. The activity of DT/HN-1 fusion toxin was demonstrated on various HNSCC cell lines by cell viability assay, cell proliferation assay, protein synthesis inhibition assay, apoptosis and cell cycle analysis. The fusion toxin DT/HN-1 demonstrated remarkably high degree of cytotoxicity specific to the HNSCC cells. The IC₅₀ of DT/HN-1 fusion toxin was ~1 to 5 nM in all the three HNSCC cell lines. The percentage apoptotic cells in DT/HN-1 treated UMB-SCC-745 cells are 16% compared to 4% in untreated. To further demonstrate the specific toxicity of DT/HN-1 fusion toxin towards the HNSCC cells we constructed, characterized and evaluated the efficacy of DT protein. The DT protein coding for only a fragment of diphtheria toxin without its native receptor binding domain failed to exhibit any cytotoxicity on all the cell lines used in this study thus establishing the importance of a ligand in achieving targeted toxicity. To evaluate the translocation ability of HN-1 peptide, an additional construct DTΔT/HN-1 was constructed, characterized and evaluated for its cytotoxic activity. The fusion toxin DTΔT/HN-1 deficient of the translocation domain of diphtheria toxin showed no cytotoxicity on all the cell lines clearly indicating the inability of HN-1 peptide to translocate catalytic domain of the toxin into the cytosol.     

Enhancement of ethyl propionate synthesis by poly (AAc-co-HPMA-cl-MBAm)-immobilized Pseudomonas aeruginosa MTCC-4713, exposed to Hg2+ and NH4+ ions

A purified alkaline thermo-tolerant bacterial lipase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa MTCC-4713 was immobilized on a poly (AAc-co-HPMA-cl-MBAm) hydrogel. The hydrogel-bound lipase achieved 93.6% esterification of ethanol and propionic acid (300 mM: 100 mM) into ethyl propionate at temperature 65 degrees C in 3 h in the presence of a molecular sieve (3 angstroms). In contrast, hydrogel-immobilized lipase pre-exposed to 5 mM of HgCl2 orNH4Cl resulted in approximately 97% conversion of reactants in 3 h into ethyl propionate under identical conditions. The salt-exposed hydrogel was relatively more efficient in repetitive esterification than the hydrogel-bound lipase not exposed to any of the cations. Moreover, bound lipase exposed Hg2+ or NH4+ ions showed altered specificity towards p-nitrophenyl esters and was more hydrolytic towards higher C-chain p-nitrophenyl esters (p-nitrophenyl laurate and p-nitrophenyl palmitate with C 12 and C 16 chain) than the immobilized lipase not exposed to any of the salts. The later showed greater specificity towards p-nitrophenyl caprylate (C 8).     

An improved Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of recalcitrant indica rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars

Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of indica rice varieties has been quite difficult as these are recalcitrant to in vitro responses. In the present study, we established a high-efficiency Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation system of rice (Oryza sativa L. ssp. indica) cv. IR-64, Lalat, and IET-4786. Agrobacterium strain EHA-101 harboring binary vector pIG121-Hm, containing a gene encoding for β-glucuronidase (GUS) and hygromycin resistance, was used in the transformation experiments. Manipulation of different concentrations of acetosyringone, days of co-culture period, bacterial suspension of different optical densities (ODs), and the concentrations of l-cysteine in liquid followed by solid co-culture medium was done for establishing the protocol. Among the different co-culture periods, 5 days of co-culture with bacterial cells (OD_600 nm?=?0.5–0.8) promoted the highest frequency of transformation (83.04 %) in medium containing l-cysteine (400 mg l^?1). Putative transformed plants were analyzed for the presence of a transgene through genomic PCR and GUS histochemical analyses. Our results also suggest that different cultural conditions and the addition of l-cysteine in the co-culture medium improve the Agrobacterium-mediated transformation frequencies from an average of 12.82 % to 33.33 % in different indica rice cultivars.