Antibacterial and Anti-HIV Metabolites from Marine Streptomyces albus MAB56 Isolated from Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India.

Marine-derived actinobacteria have tremendous potential to produce novel metabolites with diverse biological activities. The Andaman coast of India has a lot of microbial diversity, but it is still a relatively unknown ecology for isolating novel actinobacteria with beneficial bioactive compounds. We have isolated 568 actinobacterial strains from mangrove rhizosphere sediments and sponge samples. Crude extracts from 75 distinct strains were produced by agar surface fermentation and extracted using ethyl acetate. In the disc diffusion method, 25 actinobacterial strains showed antimicrobial activity; notably, the strain MAB56 demonstrated promising broad-spectrum activity. Strain MAB56 was identified as Streptomyces albus by cultural, microscopic, and molecular methods. Conditions for bioactive metabolites from MAB56 were optimized and produced in a lab-scale fermenter. Three active metabolites (C1, C2, and C3) that showed promising broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity were isolated through HPLC-based purification. Based on the UV, FT-IR, NMR, and LC-MS analysis, the chemical nature of the active compounds was confirmed as 12-methyltetradecanoic acid (C1), palmitic acid (C2), and tridecanoic acid (C3) with molecular formulae C14H28O2, C16H32O2, and C13H26O2, respectively. Interestingly, palmitic acid (C2) also exhibited anti-HIV activity with an IC50 value of < 1 µg/ml. Our findings reveal that the actinobacteria from the Andaman marine ecosystems are promising for isolating anti-infective metabolites.

A Novel Finding: 2,4-Di-tert-butylphenol from Streptomyces bacillaris ANS2 Effective Against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Cancer Cell Lines.

The aim of the present study is to identify actinobacteria Streptomyces bacillaris ANS2 as the source of the potentially beneficial compound 2,4-di-tert-butylphenol, describe its chemical components, and assess its anti-tubercular (TB) and anti-cancer properties. Ethyl acetate was used in the agar surface fermentation of S. bacillaris ANS2 to produce the bioactive metabolites. Using various chromatographic and spectroscopy analyses, the potential bioactive metabolite separated and identified as 2,4-di-tert-butylphenol (2,4-DTBP). The lead compound 2,4-DTBP inhibited 78% and 74% of relative light unit (RLU) decrease against MDR Mycobacterium tuberculosis at 100ug/ml and 50ug/ml concentrations, respectively. The Wayne model was used to assess the latent/dormant potential in M. tuberculosis H37RV at various doses, and the MIC for the isolated molecule was found to be 100ug/ml. Furthermore, the molecular docking of 2,4-DTBP was docked using Autodock Vinasuite onto the substrate binding site of the target Mycobacterium lysine aminotransferase (LAT) and the grid box was configured for the docking run to cover the whole LAT dimer interface. At a dosage of 1 mg/ml, the anti-cancer activity of the compound 2,4-DTBP was 88% and 89% inhibited against the HT 29 (colon cancer) and HeLa (cervical cancer) cell lines. According to our literature survey, this present finding may be the first report on anti-TB activity of 2,4-DTBP and has the potential to become an effective natural source and the promising pharmaceutical drug in the future.

Metagenomic 16S rDNA amplicon data of microbial diversity and its predicted metabolic functions in the Southern Ocean (Antarctic).

Antarctica holds about 70% of all the freshwater on the planet in the form of ice. The seawater, it chills, affect the currents and temperature everywhere. Global warming risks the melting of the icecaps as it has already increased the ocean temperature by 1 °C to the West Antarctic peninsula since 1955. A better understanding of the microbial community in this extreme environment of utmost importance is of interest to the scientific community. Herein, we document our metagenomics analysis of the microbial diversity and abundance in the Southern Ocean [Lat 55″ 33' 396 S; Lon 55″ 31' 448 E] using Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), QIIME 1.9.1, Silvangs and a naïve Bayesian classifier. Such metagenomics data hold the potential to aid predictive analysis, which is critical to our understanding of the dynamics of the microbial communities and their role in the Southern Ocean at present and in the future.

Reliability of antioxidant potential and in vivo compatibility with extremophilic actinobacterial-mediated magnesium oxide nanoparticle synthesis.

Owing to the hazards of chemical and physical syntheses of magnesium oxide nanoparticles (MgO NPs), an eco-friendly, high-yield, and promising biological method is highly desirable for biomedical applications. Hence, in this study, an extremophilic actinobacterial population (SA8 and SA10) from Salem magnesite mining soil was used as precursors for MgO NP synthesis. The prepared nanoparticles were subjected to X-ray diffraction study and showed face-centred cubic structure with an average particle size of 18-24 nm. Among all, high yield was obtained in SA10 actinobacteria-mediated synthesis of MgO NPs (480 mg/100 mL). In addition, the prepared MgO NPs (10 mg/well) showed 15-17 mm zone of inhibition against bacterial pathogens, especially bigger zones around SA10. The 64.5% antioxidant activity and nonsignificant toxicity of actinobacteria-synthesized MgO NPs in MG-63 cell lines at 100 µg/mL and nonsignificant in vivo toxicity in zebrafish at 0.1 mg/mL were remarkable. In addition, this is the first study to focus on MgO NP synthesis using extremophilic actinobacteria collected from Salem magnesite mining soil for high yield (115 mg/100 mL), reliable with potential antioxidant, and in vitro and in vivo compatibility. These results provided useful information for advanced research and mass production of NP for biomedical applications.

Scavenging free radicals and soaring osteoinduction by extra cellular matrix protein-based nanocomposites on degenerative bone treatments.

A number of materials are now available to alleviate the ever-growing bone disruption. However, these are inadequate and inappropriate for addressing issues associated natural process of aging and degeneration of bone due to diseases. This study advances the existing material and offers more privileged and synergistically active remedy for these conditions. Here, they are three different nano-composites prepared such as nano-TiO2 with chitosan (TC), nano-TiO2 with chondroitin 4-sulfate (TG), and nano-TiO2 with chitosan and chondroitin 4-sulfate (TCG), whereas nano-TiO2 act as a control. The prepared nanocomposite was studied for determining its bactericidal and fungicidal activity by using disk diffusion method. In addition, the osteoinductive, free radical forming, and scavenging abilities of the nanocomposite treated MG-63 cell lines were analyzed using gene expression and biochemical analysis respectively. The augmented fungicidal (~16mm) activities of TCG against bone-infecting pathogens can be effectively used in bone transplantation application. The expression of osteoblast-inducing genes in MG-63 cell line and their up-regulation in nanocomposite treatment, especially in TCG, made this material more desirable. The formation of free radicals such as thiobarbituric acid reactive substance and nitric oxide gradually reduced with the treatment of nanocomposites than control and nano-TiO2. Contrarily, it was found that MG-63 along with nanocomposites statistically increases the production of ALP, antioxidant enzymes (super oxide mutase) and total antioxidant activity (ferric reducing antioxidant power) in several folds compare with the control and nano-TiO2. All the results with statistical scale suggest TCG as an effectual and affordable biomaterial in bone regeneration therapy among the prepared samples.

Evaluation of antibacterial activity of plant mediated CaO nanoparticles using Cissus quadrangularis extract.

An assessment of antibacterial activity of greenly synthesized nanoparticles using aqueous stem extract of Cissus quadrangularis was carried out. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, SEM, XRD, FTIR and further subjected for antibacterial activity against the pathogens Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, Shigella dysenteriae and Vibrio cholerae. The SEM photograph represents cubic and hexagonal shape of NPs about 58nm respectively whereas the XRD indicated the pure phase of the product and no impurity in peaks of well crystallized products. The FTIR spectrum of nanoparticles showed intensive peaks with blue shift indicating the crystalline and shorten the distance of crystal lattice. The plant mediated CaO nanoparticles showed maximum inhibition on E. coli followed by other strains. In MIC, the plant mediated CaO NPs possess high activity against all the test organisms whereas the CaCl2 and CaO compounds were moderately active. The approach to the synthesis of plant mediated CaO NPs has many advantages as scaled up, economic viability, etc. Application of such ecofriendly nanoparticles in bactericidal, wound healing and other medical applications makes this method potential existing for the large scale synthesis of the inorganic materials.

Antimicrobial activities of secondary metabolites and phylogenetic study of sponge endosymbiotic bacteria, Bacillus sp. at Agatti Island, Lakshadweep Archipelago.

Twenty-one species of sponges were recorded under the class of Demospongiae and Calcareous sponges of which 19 species were new to Agatti reef. A total of 113 Sponge endosymbiotic bacterial strains were isolated from twenty-one species of sponges and screened for antimicrobial activity. Five bacterial strains of sponge endosymbiotic bacteria (SEB) namely SEB32, SEB33, SEB36, SEB43 and SEB51 showed antimicrobial activity against virulent marine fish pathogens such as Vibrio alginolyticus, Vibrio vulnificus, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Aeromonas salmonicida, Flavobacterium sp., Edwardsiella sp., Proteus mirabilis and Citrobacter brackii. The secondary metabolites produced by SEB32 from sponge Dysidea fragilis (Montagu, 1818) [48] was selected with broad range of antibacterial activity and subjected for production, characterization by series of chromatography techniques and spectroscopic methods. Based on the results of FT-IR and mass spectrometry, the active molecule was tentatively predicted as "Pyrrol" and the structure is Pyrrolo[1,2-a]pyrazine-1,4-dione, hexahydro- with molecular formula of C7H10N2O2. The LC50 of active molecule was 31 µg/ml and molecular weight of the metabolites was 154. The potential strain SEB32 was identified by gene sequence (GenBank Accession number JX985748) and identified as Bacillus sp. from GenBank database.

Bioactive Potential of Actinomycetes from Less Explored Ecosystems against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Other Nonmycobacterial Pathogens.

Bioactive potential of actinomycetes isolated from certain less explored Indian ecosystems against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and other nonmycobacterial pathogens was investigated. Actinomycetes were isolated from the soil samples collected from desert, coffee plantation, rubber forest, and hill area and their cultural and micromorphological characteristics were studied. Crude extracts were prepared by agar surface fermentation and tested against M. tuberculosis isolates by luciferase reporter phage (LRP) assay at 100 µg/mL. Activity against nonmycobacterial pathogens was studied by agar plug method. Totally 54 purified cultures of actinomycetes including 43 Streptomyces and 11 non-Streptomyces were isolated. While screening for antitubercular activity, extracts of 39 actinomycetes showed activity against one or more M. tuberculosis isolates whereas 27 isolates exhibited antagonistic activity against nonmycobacterial pathogens. In particular crude extracts from sixteen actinomycete isolates inhibited all the three M. tuberculosis isolates tested. Findings of the present study concluded that less explored ecosystems investigated in this study are the potential resource for bioactive actinomycetes. Further purification and characterization of active molecule from the potential extracts will pave the way for determination of MIC, toxicity, and specificity studies.