December 2010
Optimization studies on cellulase enzyme production by an isolated strain of Aspergillus niger YL128
Aspergillus niger YL128 was isolated from soil samples in Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria. The organism produced cellulase enzyme optimally at 30ËšC. Growth of the organism at 50ËšC gave the least cellulase production. The highest amount of enzyme production was on the 9th day of incubation. Production of the cellulase enzyme was best at pH 5.0 and at carboxymethyl cellulase concentration of 1%. Enzyme...
December 2010
Membraneless dairy wastewater-sediment interface for bioelectricity generation employing Sediment Microbial Fuel Cell (SMFC)
Sediment Microbial Fuel Cell (SMFC) generates electricity by microbial oxidation of organic substance in dairy wastewater sediments without using any proton exchange membrane. SMFC constructed with graphite electrodes was deployed in simulated dairy wastewater-sediment interface in laboratory conditions showed the feasibility of electricity generation. The membrane-less SMFC developed voltage gradient of 0.78...
December 2010
Incidence of dermatophytes and other keratinophilic fungi in the schools and college playground soils of Jaipur, India
A total of 50 soil samples collected from school and college playgrounds soil of Jaipur, India were examined for the prevalence of keratinophilic fungi and related dermatophytes. Two keratinous fragments, human hair and nails were used for the growth of fungi by hair-baiting technique. A total number of 25 species belonging to 16 genera were recovered, 8 of which were common to both the school and college...
December 2010
Characterization of some atypical lactic acid bacteria associated with the fermentation of Hibiscus sabdariffa seeds
The fermentation of most African seeds into traditional condiments is known to be carried out by Bacillus species and other genera. In the Mbuja (condiment), produced by fermentation of Hibiscus sabdariffa seeds, lactic acid bacteria appear to play a secondary but important role alongside Bacillus. In the present study, the diversity of eight lactic acid bacteria isolated during the...
December 2010
Endophytic Pestalotiopsis species associated with plants of Palmae, Rhizophoraceae, Planchonellae and Podocarpaceae in Hainan, China
A survey of the endophytic Pestalotiopsis associated with 27 plant species belonging to four families in Hainan Province was carried out from 2007 to 2008. Colonization frequencies of endophytic Pestalotiopsis species varied in the host plant’s tissues, sites and natural environmental conditions. Species composition of endophytic Pestalotiopsisvaried in different families of...
December 2010
Pattern of bacterial meningitis in Sudanese children, Omdurman, Sudan
Bacterial meningitis is very serious condition among children less than 5 years, since it might affect the central nervous system (deafness, epilepsy and hemiplegia). We found in this study about half of the cases (48.5%) were due to Meningiococcal meningitis, followed by Hemophilus influenza, which account for one-third of the cases (30.3%). Streptococcal pneumoniae is the least common cause of...
December 2010
Cause and effect of Plumbago zeylanica root extract on blood glucose and hepatic enzymes in experimental diabetic rats
This paper reports the results of oral administration of root extract of Plumbago zeylanica on blood glucose and plasma antioxidant status in streptozotocin (STZ) diabetic rats. The study was undertaken to evaluate hepatic enzymes in experimental diabetes. Oral administration of ethanolic extract (100, 200 mg/kg) in streptozotocin diabetic rats increased hepatic hexokinase activity and decreased...
December 2010
Isolation of Salmonella spp. from poultry (ostrich, pigeon, and chicken) and detection of their hilA gene by PCR method
Salmonella serovars are one of the primary food-borne pathogens that cause infections in both animals and humans. The hyperinvasive locus A (hilA) gene has an important role in Salmonella pathogenicity. This gene encodes an ompR/ToxR transcriptional regulator that activates the expression of invasion gene and facilitates the entry of the bacteria into intestinal epithelial cells. Our...
December 2010
Phenotypic diversity of lactic acid bacteria isolated from Massa, a fermented maize dough
A total of thirty lactic acid bacteria belonging to Lactobacillus fermentum, Lactobacillus plantarum, Pediococcus acidilactici, Lactococcus lactis and Leuconostoc mesenteroides were isolated from the various fermenting stages of white maize gotten from five western states of Nigeria namely Oyo (Ibadan), Lagos, Ondo (Akure), Ogun (Abeokuta) and Ekiti states for Massa production and were...
December 2010
Antifungal peptide produced by Paenibacillus polymyxa BRF-1 isolated from soybean rhizosphere
A bacterial strain BRF-1 that produced antifungal peptide was isolated from soybean rhizosphere and identified as Paenibacillus polymyxa by combination approaches of morphological and physiological tests, Biolog identification and 16S rDNA sequencing.Its cell free metabolite can inhabit many plant pathogenic fungi growth and its activity was stable to proteinase K digestion, autoclave and lower pH...
December 2010
Optimization of medium composition for protease production by Paecilomyces marquandii in solid-state-fermentation using response surface methodology
The present work was aimed to evaluate the optimization of medium composition for protease production by Paecilomyces marquandii in solid-state-fermentation using response surface methodology. Wheat bran was used as substrate for protease production. The variables tested were as follows: pH, tryptone and days of incubation. The proteolytic activity was measured by caseinolytic method. The...
December 2010
Biodiversity of cultivable fungi in hair samples from tree shrews
Diverse fungal species live on the surfaces of plant tissues, some of which presumably occur in a mutualistic association. Some fungal species are widespread and can be found in many different animal species, whereas others are highly specific to single hosts. In this study, we investigated the taxonomic identities and phylogenetic relationships of fungal species isolated from tree shrew hair samples, using a...
December 2010
Effect of some probiotics on Salmonella typhi during associated growth in milk
In this investigation, the effects of Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei,Bifidobacterium angulatom and Bifidobacterium bifidum on Salmonella typhi was evaluated in associated growth condition in milk. According to statistical tests, in 24 and 48 h incubation of associated growth, L. acidophilus, L. casei and B. bifidum had significant...
December 2010
Fecal microbial flora in colorectal cancer
The human bowel contains a large and dynamic bacterial population (more than 500 species of bacteria). Some intestinal bacteria such as Streptococcus bovis,Enterococcus spp., Bacteroides fragilis and Clostridium perfringens have previously been suggested to be implicated in the promotion of colon carcinogenesis probably through the conversion of mutagen metabolites. In this study...
December 2010
Isolation and application of a chlorpyrifos-degrading Bacillus licheniformis ZHU-1
A strain ZHU-1 capable of utilizing chlorpyrifos as the sole carbon sources and energy was isolated from soil. ZHU-1 was identified as Bacillus licheniformis based on analysis of morphology, physiological and biochemical characters and 16S rRNA. The addition of ZHU-1 to soil treated with chlorpyrifos resulted in a higher degradation rate than noninoculated soils, the degradation rate of...
December 2010
Extended spectrum -β-lactamase mediated resistance in Escherichia coli in a tertiary care hospital in Kashmir, India
To study the prevalence of extended spectrum β–lactamase (ESBL) producing Escherichia coliisolated from different clinical specimens received in the Department of Microbiology, Sher-i-Kashmir institute of Medical sciences (SKIMS) Kashmir, India and to observe the drug resistance pattern of these ESBL producing E. coli. Various isolates of E. coli were obtained from patients...
December 2010
Pectinolytic activity of wild-type filamentous fungi fermented on agro-wastes
Five filamentous fungi (Aspergillus clavatus, Aspergillus niger, Fusarium sp.,Penicillum chrysogenum and Trichoderma sp.) isolated from agrowaste samples in Lagos metropolis, Nigeria, depolymerized citrus pectin. Best pectolytic activity, as indicated by the diameter of clear, hydrolyzed zones on the medium plates containing commercial citrus pectin as sole carbon source, was obtained...
December 2010
Use of response surface methodology to optimize critical medium components for biomass and extracellular polysaccharide production by Ganoderma sinense
Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the critical medium ingredients of Ganoderma sinense. A central composite design (CCD) was employed to determine the maximum biomass and extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) yields at optimum levels for glucose, peptone and KH2PO4. A mathematical model was then developed to show the effect of each medium composition and their interactions on the...
December 2010
Molecular characterization and genetic variability studies of clinical isolates of UTI pathogens
Klebsiella pneumoniae and Enterobacter sp. are emerging as major health problems world-wide. UTI is a significant problem in children, as well as adults and requires a large scale study at regular intervals in order to identify organisms from time to time and recommend prompt treatment to reduce UTI related morbidity and mortality in humans. In the present study, organisms were isolated...
December 2010
Atherosclerosis can be strongly influenced by iron and zinc overload or deficiency in the lung and kidney tissues of rabbits
The present study was conducted to investigate the changes in iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) levels in lung and kidney tissues of rabbits fed high fat diet supplemented with cholesterol (HFD+CHO) for 12 weeks. Twenty male rabbits (New Zealand White) were individually caged and divided into two groups. The control group was fed a normal rabbit diet (NOR). The HFD+CHO group received normal diet supplemented with 1.0%...
December 2010
Expression and identification of a small recombinant beefy meaty peptide secreted by the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris
A tasty peptide, beefy meaty peptide (BMP), which was initially isolated from beef digested by papain, has potential as a new flavor enhancer. BMP is a small peptide consisting of eight amino acids. In this study, DNA encoding BMP was synthesized and cloned into the expression vector pPICZαA to obtain the recombinant expression vector pPICZαA-BMP. The recombinant vector was linearized and then...
December 2010
Evaluation of different detection methods of biofilm formation in clinical Candida isolates
Biofilm is one of the known virulence factors of Candida, an important pathogen and commensal. Early detection of biofilm production may be useful for clinical decision because of its suggestive property for potential pathogenic capacity of Candida isolates. In this study, we simultaneously screened 411 clinical isolates of Candida spp. by microtiter plate (MTP), visual tube (TM) and...
December 2010
Comparative analyses of phytochemicals and antimicrobial properties of extracts of wild Tamarindus indica pulps
Tamarindus indica L. (Tamarind), an underutilised fruit tree which belongs to the Leguminosae family, grows wild in the savannah region of Nigeria. T. indica pulp was obtained from 19 towns of the 20 savannah states of Nigeria. The methanol and hexane crude extracts obtained from it pulps were evaluated in vitro to determine their inhibition activities on human pathogenic...
December 2010
Phenotypic characterization and phylogenetic analysis of a virulent Bacillus cereus strain from the Tiger frog, Hoplobatrachus rugulosus Wiegmann
Bacillus cereus is a common opportunistic human pathogen well known as a food contaminant. In recent years, tiger frog farming has been undertaken in China and many other countries to meet human food habits. However, there is no definitive data to indicate the contamination of potentially pathogenic B. cereus strains to fresh cultured tiger frogs. In this study, a...
December 2010
Nested PCR on semen samples for the detection of Mycobacterium avium subsp paratuberculosis
Mycobacterium paratuberculosis (MAP) is a gram positive, acid-fast bacterium and cause of Johne’s disease in some animals. The important signs of this disease in bovine are diarrhea, weight loss, bowel inflammation, fever and reduce of milk production. The symptoms of this disease are very similar to Crohn's disease in humans. The aim of this study was to use nested-PCR as an accurate and fast...
December 2010
Prevalence of plasmid-mediated 16S rRNA methylase genes among Proteus mirabilis isolates from a Chinese hospital
16S rRNA methylase-mediated high-level resistance to aminoglycosides has been reported recently in clinical isolates of Gram-negative bacilli from several countries. Five (2.5%, 5/198) of 198 isolates of Proteus mirabilis from a teaching hospital in Wenzhou, China, were positive for 16S rRNA methylase genes (one for armA, four forrmtB) and highly resistant to gentamicin, amikacin and tobramycin...
December 2010
Nanomolecular simulation of the voltage–gated potassium channel protein by gyration radius study
Molecular dynamics simulations may be used to probe the interactions of membrane proteins with lipids and with detergents at atomic resolution. Examples of such simulations for ion channels and for bacterial outer membrane have already been studied. The molecular potassium channel function is universally conserved. Potassium channels allow potassium flux and are essential for the generation of electric...
December 2010
Rapid detection of community acquired- methicillin resistance Staphylococcus aureus recovered from King Saudi Arabia
The objectives of this study were to examine methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA) strains recovered from major hospitals in King Saudi Arabia (KSA) to determine the percent of community acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA) phenotypically by conventional methods and genotypically by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (multiplex-PCR) for direct and simultaneous detection of S. aureus 16S rRNA,...
December 2010
Bioconversion of soy processing waste for production of surfactants
The production and properties of biosurfactants synthesized by Candidaguilliermondii NRRL Y-2075 and Bacillus subtilis NRRL B-94 using soy processing waste (okara) as substrate were investigated under different fermentation techniques. Higher oil displacement activities for the isolated biosurfactants were achieved by using submerged fermentation technique (SMF) for both organisms....
December 2010
Purification and characterization of chitinase from Micrococcus sp.AG84 isolated from marine environment
Chitinase producing bacterial strain Micrococcus sp. AG84 isolated from marine sediments grew maximally in shake flask and produced chitinase at 35°C, pH 8.0. Chitinase activity was found to be maximum at 45°C, pH 8.0, and the enzyme was 100% stable even at 60°C and pH 11.0. Added with Fe2+, Ca2+ and Ni2+ chitinase activity increased but it was inhibited by EDTA. The molecular...
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