Department of Life Sciences

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Browsing Department of Life Sciences by Subject "Biotechnology and Applied Microbiology"

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    Exploring the possibilities of enhancing enzymatic activities of phytopathogenic fungi for their utility in biological control of waterhyacinth
    Ray, Puja
    Global infestation of invasive hydrophyte waterhyacinth [Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms-Laub. (Pontederiaceae)], has led to an intensive investigation of several methods for its control. Among the most eco-friendly methods implemented, several phytopathogenic fungi are often found to cause damage to their host-plants tissue, through production of phytotoxic metabolites that induce disease symptoms (such as chlorosis, necrosis, etc.), eventually leading to the death of the plants and in the case of weeds, their control. Newline During this study many fungal cultures were isolated from waterhyacinth. 152 fungal isolates, belonging to more than 25 genera were identified by morphological studies. Several potential isolates were subjected to molecular characterization by Sanger sequencing using 18S rDNA. They were evaluated for their biocontrol potential and host-range studies. Among the potential fungal pathogens of waterhyacinth, few have shown to produce an array of lytic, cell-wall-degrading enzymes (CWDEs) that can degrade the polysaccharides of plant cell walls and break the structural moiety of the plants. On the basis of the damage intensity incurred by the primary metabolites on the host weed, the present study highlights on one of the first reports, where xylanases (in its optimised condition), with a molecular weight of 24 kDa, produced by Fusarium oxysporum sp. lycopersici 4287, have shown potency against its targeted host, waterhyacinth (a noxious aquatic weed) by aiming the xylans, which are a major hemicellulosic component of the cell walls. Evolutionary diversion of the responsible enzyme-producing genes (XYL2, XYL3, XYL5) among related species of the selected fungi, also gives an idea of perception of the involvement of these genes in cell-wall degradation. The knowledge of the mode of action with their evolutionary significance eventually helps to predict the breaking of the structural rigidity and moiety of the plant and leading to control its invasiveness, via close relatedness.
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    A Study of Antibacterial and Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles (ZnONPs) on Multiple Antibiotic-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Induced Inflammatory Rat Model
    Sikdar, Mausumi
    Conventional treatment strategies involving antibiotics are gaining accelerated challenges as a result of increasing antibiotic resistance by pathogenic microorganisms. A significant quantity of therapeutic research had been focused on implementing green synthesized nanoparticles. In this study, the green synthesis method has been used to prepare ZnONPs from leaf extract of coriander. The green synthesized and chemically synthesized commercially available ZnONPs showed almost no variation concerning their size and morphology when characterized by methods like XRD, DLS, etc. Comparison of antibacterial potential among both types of ZnONPs, used against strains of (Control and Clinical) reveals, lower MIC and MBC of green ZnONPs were required to generate the same quality of bactericidal effect as achieved by using the commercial one. This signifies that, apart from easy synthesis procedure, lower doses are enough to generate the desired anti-bacterial efficacy. After inducing septic arthritis by clinical strain (KC-02) of S. aureus, both ZnONPs (chemical and green) were capable of lowering the increased serum level of inflammatory markers, without producing the measurable amount of serum oxidative stress. The combination of ZnONPs (both chemical and green) and antibiotics shows excellent antibacterial and anti-inflammatory potential. The part of this study involving the in-vivo model indicates that both the ZnONPs when used in the mentioned concentration alone and also in combination with an antibiotic, are incapable of precipitating histological changes in selected organs like the liver, kidney, spleen, and adrenal gland. Therefore, the use of ZnONPs, a preferably green one for treating inflammatory diseases like septic arthritis, could be a better choice over conventional antibiotic therapy.