The interplay between monosodium glutamate (MSG) consumption and metabolic disorders.

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is one of the most popular food additives in the world and is often ingested with commercially processed foods. It can be described as a sodium salt of glutamic acid with the IUPAC name - Sodium 2-aminopentanedioate and is ionized by water to produce free sodium ions and glutamic acid. MSG use has significantly increased over the past 30 years, its global demand stands huge at over three million metric tons which is worth over $4.5 billion. Asia was responsible for more than three quarter of world MSG consumption with the country China also leading in global consumption as well as production and export to other countries. Prior to year 2020, global demand for MSG increased by almost four percent each year with the highest significant increase in demand for MSG predicted to rise in Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and China, followed by Brazil and Nigeria. However, several researches featured in this review has identified MSG consumption as a major contributor to the development and progression of some metabolic disorders such as obesity, which is a risk factor for other metabolic syndromes like hypertension, diabetes mellitus and cancer initiation. The mechanism by which MSG induce obesity involves induction of hypothalamic lesion, hyperlipidemia, oxidative stress, leptin resistance and increased expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) Gamma and Alpha. Similarly for induction of diabetes mellitus, MSG consumption resulted in decreased pancreatic beta cell mass, increased oxidative stress and metabolic rates, reduced glucose and insulin transport to adipose tissue and skeletal muscles, insulin insensitivity, reduced insulin receptors and induced severe hyperinsulinemia. Dietary salt, an active component of MSG is also found to be a major risk factor for high blood pressure (which may lead to hypertension). MSG is used to enhance the taste of tobacco, causing smokers to consume the product in excess and thereby increasing the risk of cancer development. Depending on the amount consumed, MSG has both positive and negative effects. Despite the controversy surrounding MSG's safety and its probable contribution to risk of development and progression of metabolic disorders, its global consumption is still very high. Therefore, this article will sensitize the public on the need for cautious use of MSG in foods and also aid regulatory agencies to further review the daily MSG consumption limit based on metabolic toxicities observed at the varied dosages reported in this review.

Characterization of Vibrio cholerae Strains Isolated from the Nigerian Cholera Outbreak in 2010.

We examined clinical samples from Nigerian patients with acute watery diarrhea for Vibrio cholerae during the 2010 cholera outbreak. A total of 109 suspected isolates were characterized, but only 57 V. cholerae strains could be confirmed using multiplex real-time PCR as well as rpoB sequencing and typed as V. cholerae O:1 Ogawa biotype El Tor. This finding highlighted the need for accurate diagnosis of cholera in epidemic countries to implement life-saving interventions.

Lactobacillus plantarum subsp. argentoratensis subsp. nov., isolated from vegetable matrices.

Fourteen strains isolated from vegetable sources and identified as belonging to Lactobacillus plantarum presented an atypical pattern of amplification with a species-specific multiplex-PCR assay. Phylogenetic analysis of two protein-encoding genes, recA (encoding the recombinase A protein) and cpn60 (encoding the GroEL chaperonin), as well as phenotypic and genomic traits revealed a homogeneous group of very closely related strains for which subspecies status is proposed, with the name Lactobacillus plantarum subsp. argentoratensis. The type strain is DKO 22(T) (=CIP 108320(T)=DSM 16365(T)).

Heterologous expression of cry2 gene from a local strain of Bacillus thuringiensis isolated in Nigeria.

A cry2 gene encoding a larvicidal crystal protein was isolated from a strain of Bacillus thuringiensis found in soil samples in Nigeria. This gene was cloned into plasmid pUC19 and subcloned into both pBluescript (sk(+/-)) and pPICZ alpha B placed under a T7/AOXI (alcohol oxidase I) promoter respectively and transformed into Escherichia coli and Pichia pastoris. Clones were induced for expression, and the cellular proteins extracted and analysed by SDS/PAGE. Integration of an insert into the yeast chromosome was confirmed by PCR amplification using AOXI primers designed to monitor the intactness of the insertion into the chromosome. The expression cassettes constructed were both expressed in E. coli strain (XL1-blue) and P. pastoris (SMD1168) respectively. An approximately 70 kDa recombinant toxin was obtained both in P. pastoris and E. coli in different quantities. Expression was confirmed by Northern-blot analysis of 2.0 kb transcripts, obtained from clones induced for RNA transcripts, which hybridized with a [(32)P]dCTP-labelled probe prepared from a 641 bp fragment of restriction-endonuclease- Hae II-digested PCR product of the cry2 gene.