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4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2019

Isolation of antibiotic Producing Microorganisms from some water bodies within Eastern and Greater Accra Regions of Ghana

BackgroundMost antimicrobial agents used today are isolated and extracted from microbial source. The emergence of antimicrobial resistance and need for better, broad spectrum antimicrobial agent is always in high demand. In this study, a total of 112 aquatic microbial isolates from 14 sample sites of water bodies in Ghana were screened by agar-well diffusion method for the ability of antimicrobial metabolites.\n\nResultsOut of these antibacterial activities, 10 inhibited the growth of at least one test microorganism with zones of growth inhibitions ranged between 2.5{+/-}0.5 - 35.5{+/-}0.5 mm against Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC25923), Streptococcus pyogenes (clinical isolates), Escherichia coli (NCTC9002), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC27853), Neisseria gonorrhoeae (clinical isolate), Klebsiella pneumoniae (Clinical isolate), Bacillus subtilis (NCTC10073) and Salmonella typhi (NCTC 6017). The extracts of the isolates showed minimum inhibitory concentrations of which extract NKSEW3 against Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were 25.00, 12.50 and 25.00 mg/mL respectively while that of NKLS6 were 12.50, 6.25 and 25.00 mg/mL. The isolates NKSEW3 and NKLS6 were identified to be Pseudomonas species using chromagar and biochemical tests. The GC-MS result for NKLS62 (a fraction obtained from NKLS6) revealed five compounds including; Tridecanal, 17-octadecanal, ethanol, 2-(9-octadecenyloxy)-, (Z), 2-pentadecanone, 6, 10, 14-trimethyl diisooctyl phthalate and 17-octadecanal (C18H34O) as good pharmacological agents.\n\nConclusionMicroorganisms isolated from water bodies in Ghana have the potential of producing antimicrobial agents.\n\nAuthor SummaryIn this study we use the agar well-diffusion to screen the isolates of water and soil samples collected within Greater Accra and Eastern Regions in Ghana against the test organisms.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2019

Induced expression of Xerophyta viscosa XvSap1 gene greatly impacts tolerance to drought stress in transgenic sweetpotato

Key message Drought stress in sweetpotato could be overcome by introducing XvSap1 gene from Xerophyta viscosa.\n\nDrought stress often leads to reduced yields and is perilous delimiter for expanded cultivation and increased productivity of sweetpotato. Cell wall stabilization proteins have been identified to play a pivotal role in mechanical stabilization during desiccation stress mitigation. They are involved in myriad cellular processes that modify the cell wall properties to tolerate the mechanical stress during dehydration in plants. This provides a possible approach to engineer crops for enhanced stable yields under adverse climatic conditions. In this study, we introduced the XvSap1 gene isolated from Xerophyta viscosa, a resurrection plant into sweetpotato by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Detection of the transgene by PCR coupled with Southern blot revealed the integration of XvSap1 in the three independent events. Sweetpotato plants expressing the XvSap1 gene exhibited superior growth performance such as shoot length, number of leaves and yield than the wild type plants under drought stress. Quantitative real time-PCR results confirmed higher expression of the XvSap1 gene in XSP1 transgenic plants imposed with drought stress. In addition, the transgenic plants had increased levels of chlorophyll, free proline and relative water content but malonaldehyde content was decreased under drought stress compared to wild type plants. Conjointly, our findings show that XvSap1 can enhance drought resilience without causing deleterious phenotypic and yield changes, thus providing a promising candidate target for improving the drought tolerance of sweetpotato cultivars through genetic engineering. The transgenic drought tolerant sweetpotato line provides a valuable resource as drought tolerant crop on arid lands of the world.

molecular biology↗

bioRxiv2018

Short Report Bat trypanosomatids (first report of Trypanosoma wauwau) in Triangulo Mineiro, Brazil

In this study, trypanosomatids commonly found in bats, including Trypanosoma cruzi marinkellei, T. dionisii, and Leishmania braziliensis, were identified. Additionally, T. wauwau was identified in one specimen of Anoura caudifer, and represents the first report of this parasite from the Central West region of Brazil. T. wauwau was previously identified by other researchers in the North of the country, in only three species of bats in the genus Pteronotus: P. parnellii (Para and Rondonia states), and P. personatus and P. gymnonotus (Rondonia). The identification of T. wauwau indicates how different trypanosomatids are able to adapt to new host species of bats. This is owing to bats high mobility, wide geographic distribution, social behavior, and ability to coexist in large colonies. These characteristics may facilitate the transmission of infectious agents in nature, which are responsible for outbreaks of some zoonoses. Therefore, health authorities should focus on both vertebrates and vectors associated with the environments where these bats are found.\n\nAuthor summaryThe prevalence of Trypanosoma in bats is high, with T. cruzi, T. cruzi marinkellei, and T. dionisii as the most prevalent infective species. This study reports for the first time the presence of T. wauwau in the southeast region of Brazil in the bat Anoura caudifer. Although this species of Trypanosoma has been found in bats of the genus Pteronotus, it was not detected in any other genus, including in the bats that share the same shelter with Pteronotus. The species T. wauwau was found infecting bats only in Brazil. Its occurrence was restricted to the northern region of the country, in the states of Para, infecting the species P. parnellii and in Rondonia infecting P. personatus, P. gymnonotus as well as P. parnellii. Although its morphology is similar to that of T. cruzi, little is known about the development of T. wauwau, both in its vertebrate host and the existence of a plausible invertebrate vector. Its characteristics include its inability to develop in mammalian cells and its non-infectiousness in mice and triatomine insects. Further research, through molecular studies, may provide important and valuable data for understanding the origin, evolution, and global distribution of, and the association between the different species of Trypanosoma and their hosts.

physiology↗

bioRxiv2018

Seamless Assembly of Biological Parts into Functional Devices and Higher Order Multi-Device Systems.

A new method is described for the seamless assembly of independent, prefabricated and functionally tested blunt-end, double strand nucleic acid parts (DNA fragments) into more complex biological devices (vectors) and higher order multi-device systems. Individual parts include bacterial selection markers, bacterial origins of replication, promoters from a variety of different species, transcription terminators, shuttle sequences and a variety of \"N\" and \"C\" terminal solubility/affinity expression tags. Pre-assembly modification of parts with DNA modifying enzymes is not required. Seamless assembly of multiple parts is accomplished in a single step using a specialized thermostable enzyme blend in about 30 minutes. Combinatorial assembly of parts is an inherent feature of the new process, substantially simplifying device and system optimization. To underscore the utility of the new process, parts were assembled into several protein expression devices in order to identify the optimal expression construct for a model target gene, as an example of the utility of the assembly process, and a higher order multi-device system is also described, for the over-expression of a four-enzyme bio-synthetic pathway, and optimized for end-product accumulation in E. coli as a paradigm for how this assembly process could be used to address the assembly of more complex biological pathways.

synthetic biology↗