Drug resistance profile in postbiliary and gastrointestinal surgical-site infection cases from a tertiary care hospital.

In the developing world, surgical-site infection (SSI)-associated pathogens are becoming more drug resistant implicating higher morbidity and management cost. Here, we tried to analyze the drug resistance pattern in our SSI-related isolates. Over 2 years, 191 clinically diagnosed SSIs (postbiliary tract and postgastrointestinal surgery) were included, and wound swabs were processed by conventional aerobic and anaerobic culture.

An environment-benign approach of bamboo pulp bleaching using extracellular xylanase of strain Bacillus stratosphericus EB-11 isolated from elephant dung.

The use of microbial enzymes is highly encouraged in paper and pulp industries to reduce the excessive use of hazardous chemicals. During the study, xylanase of Bacillus stratosphericus EB-11 was characterized for pulp bleaching applications. The extracellular xylanase was produced under submerged fermentation using bamboo waste as a natural carbon source.

An inducible potato (E,E)-farnesol synthase confers tolerance against bacterial pathogens in potato and tobacco.

Terpene synthases (TPSs) have diverse biological functions in plants. Though the roles of TPSs in herbivore defense are well established in many plant species, their role in bacterial defense has been scarce and is emerging. Through functional genomics, here we report the in planta role of potato (Solanum tuberosum) terpene synthase (StTPS18) in bacterial defense.

Virus-Induced Gene Silencing for Functional Genomics of Specialized Metabolism in Medicinal Plants.

Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is a functional genomics tool to transiently downregulate the expression of target gene(s) by exploiting the plant's innate defense mechanism against invading RNA viruses. VIGS is a rapid and efficient approach to analyze the gene function, particularly, in the plants that are not amenable to stable genetic transformation. This strategy has been successfully used to decipher the function of several genes and transcription factors involved in the biosynthesis of specialized metabolites and regulation of specialized metabolism, respectively, in different medicinal and aromatic plants.

Seasonal predominance of atypical agents in adult community-acquired pneumonia in India's northeastern region: Is it the time to look again at empirical therapy guidelines?

Atypical agents such as Mycoplasma, Legionella, Chlamydia species, and Coxiella burnetii (Q-fever agent) are responsible for some adult community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Insufficient studies on this topic can be blamed for the failure to include atypical pathogens in empirical management. We followed adult CAP cases for two years, and samples (respiratory and serum) were tested by culture, ELISA (IgM, IgG, and IgA), and PCR.

Adaptive Reprogramming During Early Seed Germination Requires Temporarily Enhanced Fermentation-A Critical Role for Alternative Oxidase Regulation That Concerns Also Microbiota Effectiveness.

Plants respond to environmental cues adaptive cell reprogramming that can affect whole plant and ecosystem functionality. Microbiota constitutes part of the inner and outer environment of the plant. This underlies steady dynamics, due to complex local and global biotic and abiotic changes.

Plant Metabolic Gene Clusters: Evolution, Organization, and Their Applications in Synthetic Biology.

Plants are a remarkable source of high-value specialized metabolites having significant physiological and ecological functions. Genes responsible for synthesizing specialized metabolites are often clustered together for a coordinated expression, which is commonly observed in bacteria and filamentous fungi. Similar to prokaryotic gene clustering, plants do have gene clusters encoding enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of specialized metabolites.

High proportion of drug-resistant isolates in adult community-acquired pneumonia from Northeast India: A hospital-based study.

Background: Empirical antibiotic therapy is the mainstay of management of adult community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) globally. Knowledge of prevalent pathogen (bacterial) profile and drug susceptibility pattern is very essential for appropriate management of CAP cases, which again calls for regular update of pathogen profile in a given locality. This study was to identify the bacterial etiology of CAP cases and their antibiotic susceptibility pattern.

ROS/RNS Balancing, Aerobic Fermentation Regulation and Cell Cycle Control - a Complex Early Trait ('CoV-MAC-TED') for Combating SARS-CoV-2-Induced Cell Reprogramming.

In a perspective entitled 'From plant survival under severe stress to anti-viral human defense' we raised and justified the hypothesis that transcript level profiles of justified target genes established from somatic embryogenesis (SE) induction in plants as a reference compared to virus-induced profiles can identify differential virus signatures that link to harmful reprogramming. A standard profile of selected genes named 'ReprogVirus' was proposed for -scanning of early virus-induced reprogramming in critical primary infected cells/tissues as target trait. For data collection, the 'ReprogVirus platform' was initiated.

From Plant Survival Under Severe Stress to Anti-Viral Human Defense - A Perspective That Calls for Common Efforts.

Reprogramming of primary virus-infected cells is the critical step that turns viral attacks harmful to humans by initiating super-spreading at cell, organism and population levels. To develop early anti-viral therapies and proactive administration, it is important to understand the very first steps of this process. Plant somatic embryogenesis (SE) is the earliest and most studied model for programming upon severe stress that, in contrast to virus attacks, promotes individual cell and organism survival.

Functional characterization of a defense-responsive bulnesol/elemol synthase from potato.

Terpene synthases (TPSs) produce a variety of terpenoids that play numerous functional roles in primary and secondary metabolism, as well as in ecological interactions. Here, we report the functional characterization of an inducible potato TPS gene encoding bulnesol/elemol synthase (StBUS/ELS). The expression of StBUS/ELS in potato leaves was significantly induced in response to both bacterial (Pseudomonas syringae) and fungal (Alternaria solani) infection as well as methyl jasmonate treatment, indicating its role in defense.

Virus-Induced Gene Silencing for Functional Genomics in Withania somnifera, an Important Indian Medicinal Plant.

Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) has emerged as a fast and efficient reverse and forward genetics tool to study gene function in model plants as well as in agriculturally important plants. In addition, VIGS approach has been successfully used to provide insights into the role of several genes and regulators involved in plant secondary metabolism. Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) is an important Indian medicinal plant that accumulates pharmacologically important triterpenoid steroidal lactones, which are collectively termed as withanolides.

A plastid-localized bona fide geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase plays a necessary role in monoterpene indole alkaloid biosynthesis in Catharanthus roseus.

In plants, geranylgeranyl diphosphate (GGPP, C ) synthesized by GGPP synthase (GGPPS) serves as precursor for vital metabolic branches including specialized metabolites. Here, we report the characterization of a GGPPS (CrGGPPS2) from the Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus) and demonstrate its role in monoterpene (C )-indole alkaloids (MIA) biosynthesis. The expression of CrGGPPS2 was not induced in response to methyl jasmonate (MeJA), and was similar to the gene encoding type-I protein geranylgeranyltransferase_β subunit (CrPGGT-I_β), which modulates MIA formation in C.

Alternative Oxidase (AOX) Senses Stress Levels to Coordinate Auxin-Induced Reprogramming From Seed Germination to Somatic Embryogenesis-A Role Relevant for Seed Vigor Prediction and Plant Robustness.

Somatic embryogenesis (SE) is the most striking and prominent example of plant plasticity upon severe stress. Inducing immature carrot seeds perform SE as substitute to germination by auxin treatment can be seen as switch between stress levels associated to morphophysiological plasticity. This experimental system is highly powerful to explore stress response factors that mediate the metabolic switch between cell and tissue identities.

Phylogenetic affiliation and antimicrobial effects of endophytic actinobacteria associated with medicinal plants: prevalence of polyketide synthase type II in antimicrobial strains.

The most diverse and versatile endophytic actinobacteria are relatively unexplored potential sources of bioactive metabolites useful for different medical, agricultural, and other commercial applications. Their diversity in symbiotic association with traditionally utilized medicinal plants of northeast India is scantly available. The present investigation assessed the genetic diversity of endophytic actinobacteria (n = 120) distributed around the root, stem, and leaf tissues of six selected medicinal plants (Emblica officinalis, Terminalia chebula, T.

Terpene Moiety Enhancement by Overexpression of Geranyl(geranyl) Diphosphate Synthase and Geraniol Synthase Elevates Monomeric and Dimeric Monoterpene Indole Alkaloids in Transgenic .

is the sole source of two of the most important anticancer monoterpene indole alkaloids (MIAs), vinblastine and vincristine and their precursors, vindoline and catharanthine. The MIAs are produced from the condensation of precursors derived from indole and terpene secoiridoid pathways. It has been previously reported that the terpene moiety limits MIA biosynthesis in .

Author Correction: Insights into the functionality of endophytic actinobacteria with a focus on their biosynthetic potential and secondary metabolites production.

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has been fixed in the paper.

Insights into the functionality of endophytic actinobacteria with a focus on their biosynthetic potential and secondary metabolites production.

Endophytic actinobacteria play an important role in growth promotion and development of host plant by producing enormous quantities of novel bioactive natural products. In the present investigation, 169 endophytic actinobacteria were isolated from endospheric tissues of Rhynchotoechum ellipticum. Based on their antimicrobial potential, 81 strains were identified by 16rRNA gene analysis, which were taxonomically grouped into 15 genera.

A WRKY transcription factor from Withania somnifera regulates triterpenoid withanolide accumulation and biotic stress tolerance through modulation of phytosterol and defense pathways.

Withania somnifera produces pharmacologically important triterpenoid withanolides that are derived via phytosterol pathway; however, their biosynthesis and regulation remain to be elucidated. A jasmonate- and salicin-inducible WRKY transcription factor from W. somnifera (WsWRKY1) exhibiting correlation with withaferin A accumulation was functionally characterized employing virus-induced gene silencing and overexpression studies combined with transcript and metabolite analyses, and chromatin immunoprecipitation assay.

De Novo Sequencing and Analysis of Lemongrass Transcriptome Provide First Insights into the Essential Oil Biosynthesis of Aromatic Grasses.

Aromatic grasses of the genus Cymbopogon (Poaceae family) represent unique group of plants that produce diverse composition of monoterpene rich essential oils, which have great value in flavor, fragrance, cosmetic, and aromatherapy industries. Despite the commercial importance of these natural aromatic oils, their biosynthesis at the molecular level remains unexplored. As the first step toward understanding the essential oil biosynthesis, we performed de novo transcriptome assembly and analysis of C.

Stress-Induced Accumulation of DcAOX1 and DcAOX2a Transcripts Coincides with Critical Time Point for Structural Biomass Prediction in Carrot Primary Cultures (Daucus carota L.).

Stress-adaptive cell plasticity in target tissues and cells for plant biomass growth is important for yield stability. In vitro systems with reproducible cell plasticity can help to identify relevant metabolic and molecular events during early cell reprogramming. In carrot, regulation of the central root meristem is a critical target for yield-determining secondary growth.

Precursor feeding studies and molecular characterization of geraniol synthase establish the limiting role of geraniol in monoterpene indole alkaloid biosynthesis in Catharanthus roseus leaves.

The monoterpene indole alkaloids (MIAs) are generally derived from strictosidine, which is formed by condensation of the terpene moiety secologanin and the indole moiety tryptamine. There are conflicting reports on the limitation of either terpene or indole moiety in the production of MIAs in Catharanthus roseus cell cultures. Formation of geraniol by geraniol synthase (GES) is the first step in secologanin biosynthesis.

DNA barcode ITS effectively distinguishes the medicinal plant Boerhavia diffusa from its adulterants.

Boerhavia diffusa (B. diffusa), also known as Punarnava, is an indigenous plant in India and an important component in traditional Indian medicine. The accurate identification and collection of this medicinal herb is vital to enhance the drug's efficacy and biosafety.

Phylogenetic analysis of chloroplast matK gene from Zingiberaceae for plant DNA barcoding.

MaturaseK gene (MatK) of chloroplast is highly conserved in plant systematics which is involved in Group II intron splicing. The size of the gene is 1500 bp in length, located with in the intron of trnK. In the present study, matK gene from Zingiberaceae was taken for the analysis of variants, parsimony site, patterns, transition/tranversion rates and phylogeny.