First report on molecular characterization of Leishmania species from cutaneous leishmaniasis patients in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan

OBJECTIVE@#To report presence of Leishmania major in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan, where cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is endemic and was thought to be caused by Leishmania tropica only.@*METHODS@#Biopsy samples from 432 CL suspected patients were collected from 3 southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during years 2011-2016. Microscopy on Giemsa stained slides were done followed by amplification of the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 1 gene.@*RESULTS@#Leishmania amastigotes were detected by microscopy in 308 of 432 samples (71.3%) while 374 out of 432 samples (86.6%) were positive by ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 1 PCR. Subsequent restriction fragment length polymorphism confirmed L. tropica in 351 and L. major in 6 biopsy samples.@*CONCLUSIONS@#This study is the first molecular characterization of Leishmania species in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It confirmed the previous assumptions that anthroponotic CL is the major CL form present in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Furthermore, this is the first report of L. major from a classical anthroponotic CL endemic focus identified in rural areas of Kohat district in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

First report on molecular characterization of Leishmania species from cutaneous leishmaniasis patients in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan

Objective To report presence of Leishmania major in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan, where cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is endemic and was thought to be caused by Leishmania tropica only. Methods Biopsy samples from 432 CL suspected patients were collected from 3 southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during years 2011–2016. Microscopy on Giemsa stained slides were done followed by amplification of the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 1 gene. Results Leishmania amastigotes were detected by microscopy in 308 of 432 samples (71.3%) while 374 out of 432 samples (86.6%) were positive by ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 1 PCR. Subsequent restriction fragment length polymorphism confirmed L. tropica in 351 and L. major in 6 biopsy samples. Conclusions This study is the first molecular characterization of Leishmania species in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It confirmed the previous assumptions that anthroponotic CL is the major CL form present in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Furthermore, this is the first report of L. major from a classical anthroponotic CL endemic focus identified in rural areas of Kohat district in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Isolation, identification and characterization of regional indigenous Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains

Abstract In the present work we isolated and identified various indigenous Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains and screened them for the selected oenological properties. These S. cerevisiae strains were isolated from berries and spontaneously fermented musts. The grape berries (Sauvignon blanc and Pinot noir) were grown under the integrated and organic mode of farming in the South Moravia (Czech Republic) wine region. Modern genotyping techniques such as PCR-fingerprinting and interdelta PCR typing were employed to differentiate among indigenous S. cerevisiae strains. This combination of the methods provides a rapid and relatively simple approach for identification of yeast of S. cerevisiae at strain level. In total, 120 isolates were identified and grouped by molecular approaches and 45 of the representative strains were tested for selected important oenological properties including ethanol, sulfur dioxide and osmotic stress tolerance, intensity of flocculation and desirable enzymatic activities. Their ability to produce and utilize acetic/malic acid was examined as well; in addition, H2S production as an undesirable property was screened. The oenological characteristics of indigenous isolates were compared to a commercially available S. cerevisiae BS6 strain, which is commonly used as the starter culture. Finally, some indigenous strains coming from organically treated grape berries were chosen for their promising oenological properties and these strains will be used as the starter culture, because application of a selected indigenous S. cerevisiae strain can enhance the regional character of the wines.

The genotypic diversity and lipase production of some thermophilic bacilli from different genera

Abstract Thermophilic 32 isolates and 20 reference bacilli were subjected to Rep-PCR and ITS-PCR fingerprinting for determination of their genotypic diversity, before screening lipase activities. By these methods, all the isolates and references could easily be differentiated up to subspecies level from each other. In screening assay, 11 isolates and 7 references were found to be lipase producing. Their extracellular lipase activities were measured quantitatively by incubating in both tributyrin and olive oil broths at 60 °C and pH 7.0. During the 24, 48 and 72-h period of incubation, the changes in the lipase activities, culture absorbance, wet weight of biomass and pH were all measured. The activity was determined by using pNPB in 50 mM phosphate buffer at pH 7.0 at 60 °C. The lipase production of the isolates in olive oil broths varied between 0.008 and 0.052, whereas these values were found to be 0.002-0.019 (U/mL) in the case of tyributyrin. For comparison, an index was established by dividing the lipase activities to cell biomass (U/mg). The maximum thermostable lipase production was achieved by the isolates F84a, F84b, and G. thermodenitrificans DSM 465T (0.009, 0.008 and 0.008 U/mg) within olive oil broth, whereas G. stearothermophilus A113 displayed the highest lipase activity than its type strain in tyributyrin. Therefore, as some of these isolates displayed higher activities in comparison to references, new lipase producing bacilli were determined by presenting their genotypic diversity with DNA fingerprinting techniques.