Insights into In Vitro Adaptation of EV71 and Analysis of Reduced Virulence by In Silico Predictions.

EV-A71 is a common viral pathogen that causes hand, foot and mouth disease. It is a single-stranded RNA virus that has a low fidelity RNA polymerase and, as a result, spontaneous mutations frequently occur in the EV-A71 genome. The mutations within the genome give rise to quasispecies within the viral population that could be further defined by haplotypes.

Structure Prediction and Characterization of Thermostable Aldehyde Dehydrogenase from Newly Isolated Strain D9.

In nature, aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) is widely distributed and mainly involved in the oxidation of aldehydes. Thermostability is one of the key features for industrial enzymes. The ability of enzymes to withstand a high operating temperature offers many advantages, including enhancing productivity in industries.

Identification of B-Cell Epitopes for Eliciting Neutralizing Antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein through Bioinformatics and Monoclonal Antibody Targeting.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused a global public health crisis. Effective COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Astra Zeneca have made significant impacts in controlling the COVID-19 burden, especially in reducing the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and hospitalization incidences. In view of the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants, vaccines developed against the Wuhan strain were less effective against the variants.

Molecular Docking of SP40 Peptide towards Cellular Receptors for Enterovirus 71 (EV-A71).

Enterovirus 71 (EV-A71) is one of the predominant etiological agents of hand, foot and mouth disease (HMFD), which can cause severe central nervous system infections in young children. There is no clinically approved vaccine or antiviral agent against HFMD. The SP40 peptide, derived from the VP1 capsid of EV-A71, was reported to be a promising antiviral peptide that targeted the host receptor(s) involved in viral attachment or entry.

Functional Insights into Silymarin as an Antiviral Agent against Enterovirus A71 (EV-A71).

Enterovirus A71 (EV-A71) is a major neurovirulent agent capable of causing severe hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) associated with neurological complications and death. Currently, no FDA-approved antiviral is available for the treatment of EV-A71 infections. The flavonoid silymarin was shown to exert virucidal effects, but the binding site on the capsid was unknown.

Tailoring drug co-delivery nanosystem for mitigating U-87 stem cells drug resistance.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most prevalent form of brain tumor, which generally has a poor prognosis. According to consensus, recurrence of the tumor and chemotherapy resistance acquisition are the two distinguishing features of GBM originated from glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs). To eliminate these obstacles inherent in GBM chemotherapy, targeting GSCs through a smart drug delivery system has come to the front position of GBM therapeutics.

Microbial Biodegradation of Paraffin Wax in Malaysian Crude Oil Mediated by Degradative Enzymes.

The deposition of paraffin wax in crude oil is a problem faced by the oil and gas industry during extraction, transportation, and refining of crude oil. Most of the commercialized chemical additives to prevent wax are expensive and toxic. As an environmentally friendly alternative, this study aims to find a novel thermophilic bacterial strain capable of degrading paraffin wax in crude oil to control wax deposition.

Characterization of Plaque Variants and the Involvement of Quasi-Species in a Population of EV-A71.

Viral plaque morphologies in human cell lines are markers for growth capability and they have been used to assess the viral fitness and selection of attenuated mutants for live-attenuated vaccine development. In this study, we investigate whether the naturally occurring plaque size variation reflects the virulence of the variants of EV-A71. Variants of two different plaque sizes (big and small) from EV-A71 sub-genotype B4 strain 41 were characterized.

Impact of RNA Virus Evolution on Quasispecies Formation and Virulence.

RNA viruses are known to replicate by low fidelity polymerases and have high mutation rates whereby the resulting virus population tends to exist as a distribution of mutants. In this review, we aim to explore how genetic events such as spontaneous mutations could alter the genomic organization of RNA viruses in such a way that they impact virus replications and plaque morphology. The phenomenon of quasispecies within a viral population is also discussed to reflect virulence and its implications for RNA viruses.

Insight into Improved Thermostability of Cold-Adapted Staphylococcal Lipase by Glycine to Cysteine Mutation.

Thermostability remains one of the most desirable traits in many lipases. Numerous studies have revealed promising strategies to improve thermostability and random mutagenesis often leads to unexpected yet interesting findings in engineering stability. Previously, the thermostability of C-terminal truncated cold-adapted lipase from AT2 (rT-M386) was markedly enhanced by directed evolution.

Changes of Thermostability, Organic Solvent, and pH Stability in HT1 and Its Mutant by Calcium Ion.

Thermostable T1 lipase from has been crystallized using counter-diffusion method under space and Earth conditions. The comparison of the three-dimensional structures from both crystallized proteins show differences in the formation of hydrogen bond and ion interactions. Hydrogen bond and ion interaction are important in the stabilization of protein structure towards extreme temperature and organic solvents.

Directed Evolution of Recombinant C-Terminal Truncated Staphylococcus epidermidis Lipase AT2 for the Enhancement of Thermostability.

In the industrial processes, lipases are expected to operate at temperatures above 45 °C and could retain activity in organic solvents. Hence, a C-terminal truncated lipase from AT2 (rT-M386) was engineered by directed evolution. A mutant with glycine-to-cysteine substitution (G210C) demonstrated a remarkable improvement of thermostability, whereby the mutation enhanced the activity five-fold when compared to the rT-M386 at 50 °C.

Impact of signal peptide and transmembrane segments on expression and biochemical properties of a lipase from Bacillus sphaericus 205y.

A total of 97 amino acids, considered as the signal peptide and transmembrane segments were removed from 205y lipase gene using polymerase chain reaction technique that abolished the low activity of this enzyme. The mature enzyme was expressed in Escherichia coli using pBAD expression vector, which gave up to a 13-fold increase in lipase activity. The mature 205y lipase (without signal peptide and transmembrane; -SP/TM) was purified to homogeneity using the isoelectric focusing technique with 53% recovery.

Molecular Dynamic Simulation of Space and Earth-Grown Crystal Structures of Thermostable T1 Lipase Geobacillus zalihae Revealed a Better Structure.

Less sedimentation and convection in a microgravity environment has become a well-suited condition for growing high quality protein crystals. Thermostable T1 lipase derived from bacterium has been crystallized using the counter diffusion method under space and earth conditions. Preliminary study using YASARA molecular modeling structure program for both structures showed differences in number of hydrogen bond, ionic interaction, and conformation.

Improving the Efficiency of New Automatic Dishwashing Detergent Formulation by Addition of Thermostable Lipase, Protease and Amylase.

The use of T1 lipase in automatic dishwashing detergent (ADD) is well established, but efficiency in hard water is very low. A new enzymatic environmentally-friendly dishwashing was formulated to be efficient in both soft and hard water. Thermostable enzymes such as T1 lipase from Geobacillus strain T1, Rand protease from strain Rand, and Maltogenic amylase from sp.

Analysis of Comparative Sequence and Genomic Data to Verify Phylogenetic Relationship and Explore a New Subfamily of Bacterial Lipases.

Thermostable and organic solvent-tolerant enzymes have significant potential in a wide range of synthetic reactions in industry due to their inherent stability at high temperatures and their ability to endure harsh organic solvents. In this study, a novel gene encoding a true lipase was isolated by construction of a genomic DNA library of thermophilic Aneurinibacillus thermoaerophilus strain HZ into Escherichia coli plasmid vector. Sequence analysis revealed that HZ lipase had 62% identity to putative lipase from Bacillus pseudomycoides.

Effect of C/N ratio and media optimization through response surface methodology on simultaneous productions of intra- and extracellular inulinase and invertase from Aspergillus niger ATCC 20611.

The study is to identify the extraction of intracellular inulinase (exo- and endoinulinase) and invertase as well as optimization medium composition for maximum productions of intra- and extracellular enzymes from Aspergillus niger ATCC 20611. From two different methods for extraction of intracellular enzymes, ultrasonic method was found more effective. Response surface methodology (RSM) with a five-variable and three-level central composite design (CCD) was employed to optimize the medium composition.