Publications by authors named "Biswarup Mukhopadhyay"

Article Synopsis
  • Methanogenic archaea in ruminant stomachs convert feed into essential nutrients but also produce methane, a greenhouse gas that causes energy loss for the animals.
  • Efforts to reduce methane emissions focus on understanding the diversity and ecological functions of these archaea, which have evolved specialized, efficient lifestyles.
  • This review discusses current knowledge on rumen methanogens, their role in methane production, and highlights critical gaps in research needed to improve livestock productivity and mitigate emissions.
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(), a hyperthermophilic and evolutionarily deeply rooted methanogenic archaeon from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent, produces F-dependent sulphite reductase (Fsr) in response to exposure to sulphite. This enzyme allows to detoxify sulphite, a potent inhibitor of methyl coenzyme-M reductase (Mcr), by reducing it to sulphide with reduced coenzyme F (FH) as an electron donor; Mcr is essential for energy production for a methanogen. Fsr allows to utilize sulphite as a sulphur source.

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Storing manure is an essential aspect of nutrient management on dairy farms. It presents the opportunity to use manure efficiently as a fertilizer in crop and pasture production. Typically, the manure storages are constructed as earthen, concrete, or steel-based structures.

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The aquaculture industry is in need of sustainable fish feed to reduce the use of expensive and environmentally invasive wild-caught fish currently fed to many carnivorous species. The black soldier fly (BSF) has become a popular sustainable alternative protein source; however, the nutritional waste byproduct of BSF, frass, has not been extensively studied as a feed replacement in carnivorous species. This study evaluates the potential of BSF frass on the growth, body composition, and intestinal microbiome of the Florida pompano, .

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A range of neurodegenerative and related aging diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and type 2 diabetes, are linked to toxic protein aggregation. Yet the mechanisms of protein aggregation inhibition by small molecule inhibitors remain poorly understood, in part because most protein targets of aggregation assembly are partially unfolded or intrinsically disordered, which hinders detailed structural characterization of protein-inhibitor complexes and structural-based inhibitor design. Herein we employed a parallel small molecule library-screening approach to identify inhibitors against three prototype amyloidogenic proteins in neurodegeneration and related proteinopathies: amylin, Aβ and tau.

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RNase P is a ribonucleoprotein (RNP) that catalyzes removal of the 5' leader from precursor tRNAs in all domains of life. A recent cryo-EM study of Methanocaldococcus jannaschii (Mja) RNase P produced a model at 4.6-Å resolution in a dimeric configuration, with each holoenzyme monomer containing one RNase P RNA (RPR) and one copy each of five RNase P proteins (RPPs; POP5, RPP30, RPP21, RPP29, L7Ae).

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Anaerobic methanotrophic archaea (ANME), which oxidize methane in marine sediments through syntrophic associations with sulfate-reducing bacteria, carry homologs of coenzyme F-dependent sulfite reductase (Fsr) of Methanocaldococcus jannaschii, a hyperthermophilic methanogen from deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Fsr (Fsr) and ANME-Fsr belong to two phylogenetically distinct groups, FsrI and FsrII, respectively. FsrI reduces sulfite to sulfide with reduced F (FH), protecting methyl coenzyme M reductase (Mcr), an essential enzyme for methanogens, from sulfite inhibition.

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Methanogenic archaea carry homologs of dissimilatory sulfite reductase (Dsr), called Dsr Like proteins (DsrLP). Dsr reduces sulfite to sulfide, a key step in an Earth's ancient metabolic process called dissimilatory sulfate reduction. The DsrLPs do not function as Dsr, and a computational approach is needed to develop hypotheses for guiding wet bench investigations on DsrLP's function.

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Tall fescue KY-31 is an important primary forage for beef cattle. It carries a fungal endophyte that produces ergovaline, the main cause of tall fescue toxicosis that leads to major revenue loss for livestock producers. The MaxQ, an engineered cultivar, hosts an ergovaline nonproducing strain of the fungus and consequently is nontoxic.

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Type 1 secretion systems (T1SSs) are broadly distributed among bacteria and translocate effectors with diverse function across the bacterial cell membrane. Legionella pneumophila, the species most commonly associated with Legionellosis, encodes a T1SS at the lssXYZABD locus which is responsible for the secretion of the virulence factor RtxA. Many investigations have failed to detect lssD, the gene encoding the membrane fusion protein of the RtxA T1SS, in non-pneumophila Legionella, which has led to the assumption that this system is a virulence factor exclusively possessed by L.

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Phylogenetically deeply rooted methanogens belonging to the genus of living in deep-sea hydrothermal vents derive energy exclusively from hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis, one of the oldest respiratory metabolisms on Earth. These hyperthermophilic, autotrophic archaea synthesize their biomolecules from inorganic substrates and perform high temperature biocatalysis producing methane, a valuable fuel and potent greenhouse gas. The information processing and stress response systems of archaea are highly homologous to those of the eukaryotes.

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Sulfate is the predominant electron acceptor for anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) in marine sediments. This process is carried out by a syntrophic consortium of anaerobic methanotrophic archaea (ANME) and sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) through an energy conservation mechanism that is still poorly understood. It was previously hypothesized that ANME alone could couple methane oxidation to dissimilatory sulfate reduction, but a genetic and biochemical basis for this proposal has not been identified.

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Coenzyme F plays a key role in the redox metabolisms of various archaea and bacteria, including In , F-dependent reactions have been linked to several virulence factors. F carries multiple glutamate residues in the side chain, forming F- species (, number of glutamate residues), and the length of this side chain impacts cellular physiology. strains with F species carrying shorter side chains exhibit resistance to delamanid and pretomanid, two new tuberculosis (TB) drugs.

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Objectives: The objectives of this study were (i) to determine the genetic basis for carbapenem resistance in multidrug-resistant (MDR) Acinetobacter baumannii strains isolated from patients affected by a sudden increase in the incidence of infections by such organisms in a tertiary care hospital in Virginia, USA, in 2009-2010 and (ii) to examine whether such strains are commonly encountered in the hospital setting.

Methods: The whole genomes of one outbreak strain as well as one carbapenem-resistant and one carbapenem-sensitive strain from sporadic infections in 2010-2012 were sequenced and analysed. Then, 5 outbreak isolates and 57 sporadic isolates (of which 39 were carbapenem-resistant) were screened by PCR for relevant DNA elements identified in the genomics investigation.

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Flavin-containing Trx reductase (TrxR) of (Ta), a thermoacidophilic facultative anaerobic archaeon, lacks the structural features for the binding of 2'-phosphate of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH), and this feature has justified the observed lack of activity with NADPH; NADH has also been reported to be ineffective. Our recent phylogenetic analysis identified Ta-TrxR as closely related to the NADH-dependent enzymes of and , both being anaerobic bacteria. This observation instigated a reexamination of the activity of the enzyme, which showed that Ta-TrxR is NADH dependent; the apparent for NADH was 3.

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Proline utilization (Put) systems have been described in a number of bacteria; however, the importance and functionality of the Put system in the intracellular pathogen Brucellaabortus has not been explored. Generally, bacterial Put systems are composed of the bifunctional enzyme proline dehydrogenase PutA and its transcriptional activator PutR. Here, we demonstrate that the genes putA (bab2_0518) and putR (bab2_0517) are critical for the chronic infection of mice by B.

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PT Bio Farma, the sole World Health Organization-approved Indonesian vaccine producer, manufactures a whole-cell whooping cough vaccine (wP) that, as part of a pentavalent diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis/hepatitis B/ b (DTP/HB/Hib) vaccine, is used in Indonesia and many other countries. We report here the whole-genome sequence for Pelita III, PT Bio Farma's wP production strain.

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Z-533, a hyperthermophilic crenarcheon, ferments peptide and starch, generating acetate, isobutyrate, isovalerate, CO, and hydrogen. Unlike Z-1312, it cannot use cellulose and is inhibited by hydrogen. The reported draft genome sequence of Z-533 will help to understand the molecular basis for these differences.

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A recent report suggested that the thioredoxin-dependent metabolic regulation, which is widespread in all domains of life, existed in methanogenic archaea about 3.5 billion years ago. We now show that the respective electron delivery enzyme (thioredoxin reductase, TrxR), although structurally similar to flavin-containing NADPH-dependent TrxRs (NTR), lacked an NADPH-binding site and was dependent on reduced coenzyme F (FH), a stronger reductant with a mid-point redox potential (E') of -360 mV; E' of NAD(P)H is -320 mV.

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Unlabelled: Phthiocerol dimycocerosates (PDIM) are a group of cell surface-associated apolar lipids of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and closely related mycobacteria, such as Mycobacterium bovis and Mycobacterium leprae A characteristic methoxy group of these lipids is generated from the methylation of a hydroxyl group of the direct precursors, the phthiotriols. The precursors arise from the reduction of phthiodiolones, the keto intermediates, by a ketoreductase. The putative phthiodiolone ketoreductase (PKR) is encoded by Rv2951c in M.

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This report presents the permanent draft genome sequence of Desulfurococcus mobilis type strain DSM 2161, an obligate anaerobic hyperthermophilic crenarchaeon that was isolated from acidic hot springs in Hveravellir, Iceland. D. mobilis utilizes peptides as carbon and energy sources and reduces elemental sulfur to H2S.

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Representatives of the crenarchaeal genus Desulfurococcus are strictly anaerobic hyperthermophiles with an organotrophic type of metabolism. Since 1982, five Desulfurococcus species names have been validly published: Desulfurococcus mucosus, D. mobilis, D.

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