Anisotine and amarogentin as promising inhibitory candidates against SARS-CoV-2 proteins: a computational investigation.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), presents an unprecedented challenge to global public health with researchers striving to find a possible therapeutic candidate that could limit the spread of the virus. In this context, the present study employed an molecular interaction-based approach to estimate the inhibitory potential of the phytochemicals from ethnomedicinally relevant Indian plants including , and , with reported antiviral activities against crucial SARS-CoV-2 proteins. SARS-CoV-2 proteins associated with host attachment and viral replication namely, spike protein, main protease enzyme M and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) are promising druggable targets for COVID-19 therapeutic research.

In vitro activity of levofloxacin against lower respiratory tract pathogens.

Background: Considerable morbidity and mortality are associated with lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) that put a considerable strain on the health budget. Selection of appropriate antibiotics as empirical therapy maximizes positive patient outcomes, and that depends on regular surveillance of infective agents and their antibiograms, which vary according to the geographical areas.

Aim: The aim was to study the drug susceptibility pattern of the isolated pathogens of the respiratory tract infections.

Molecular characterization influencing metal resistance in the Cupriavidus/Ralstonia genomes.

Our environment is stressed with a load of heavy and toxic metals. Microbes, abundant in our environment, are found to adapt well to this metal-stressed condition. A comparative study among five Cupriavidus/Ralstonia genomes can offer a better perception of their evolutionary mechanisms to adapt to these conditions.

Comparative investigation of the various determinants that influence the codon and amino acid usage patterns in the genus Bifidobacterium.

Various strains of the genus Bifidobacterium are crucial members of the human, animal and insect gut, associated with beneficial probiotic activities. An extensive analysis on codon and amino acid usage of the GC rich genus Bifidobacterium has been executed in the present study. Multivariate statistical analysis revealed a coupled effect of GC compositional constraint and natural selection for translational efficiency to be operative in producing the observed codon usage variations.

Distinct molecular features facilitating ice-binding mechanisms in hyperactive antifreeze proteins closely related to an Antarctic sea ice bacterium.

Antifreeze proteins or ice-binding proteins (IBPs) facilitate the survival of certain cellular organisms in freezing environment by inhibiting the growth of ice crystals in solution. Present study identifies orthologs of the IBP of Colwellia sp. SLW05, which were obtained from a wide range of taxa.

Conserved C-terminal nascent peptide binding domain of HYPK facilitates its chaperone-like activity.

Human HYPK (Huntingtin Yeast-two-hybrid Protein K) is an intrinsically unstructured chaperone-like protein with no sequence homology to known chaperones. HYPK is also known to be a part of ribosome-associated protein complex and present in polysomes. The objective of the present study was to investigate the evolutionary influence on HYPK primary structure and its impact on the protein's function.