Journal of Applied Biotechnology Reports
Volume:3 Issue: 4, Autumn 2016

Organophosphorus chemicals, used as pesticides and warfare nerve agent, are highly toxic compounds that inhibit acetylcholine esterase enzyme rapidly. A novel effective treatment for nerve gas poising is using of hydrolytic enzymes to degradation of these agents. DFPase from loligo vulgaris is highly stable and robust biocatalyst for the hydrolysis of various chemical warfare agents such as sarin, soman, tabun. Unfortunately, wild-type DFPase prefers less toxic isomers of these agents leading to slower detoxification. Also, due to non-human origin of the enzyme, immunological reactions occur when it injects into body. Engineering of the enzyme for creating of new efficient variants is an interesting research field which leads to occurrence of novel and prominent bioscavengers.

The human body needs essential nutrients in order to function, grow, and stay healthy. Our bodies cannot make these nutrients, so get them from our diet.
On the other hand, some diet-related diseases can be caused by certain improper food ingredients and body inability of absorbing them. Then the idea of purifying beneficial ingredients formed. Poly-unsaturated fatty acid such as gamma-linoleic acid (GLA) is a group of essential fatty acids particularly favorable for its application in nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries. GLA plays significant roles in improving human body functions. It has gained its importance in the last four
decades for having a positive effect on the most of the chronic diseases of modern society, in­cluding cancer, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, etc. Then, it has been used as a dietary supplement for the treatment of various health problems and have inflammatory component. One of the richest sources of GLA is a kind of microalgae; Spirulina. Spirulina is a blue-green alga primarily originated from two species of cyanobacteria and is believed to be the first form of plant life on the earth. This article reviews GLA applications and properties; favorable conditions for increasing its amount within Spirulina; and how to extract it from the algae.

Calamintha officinalis (COM) is a genus of aromatic herbs, native in north of Iran. Partial purification of aqueous extract from COM was done using ammonium sulfate precipitation followed by dialysis. The total protein content was determined at various purification stages. The highest amount of protein of the extract was found in fraction obtained in 20-40% saturation range. Specific activities of three antioxidant enzymes, peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were also determined and compared in each stage. The highest activity of POD, CAT and SOD was in fractions 60-80%, 20-40%, and 20-40% respectively. The non-enzymatic antioxidants were evaluated by two different methods i.e. free radical scavenging activity using DPPH and inhibition of lipid peroxidation by the ferric thiocyanate method. It was found that radical scavenging power of COM methanolic extract was 43.99. Furthermore, the inhibition of lipid peroxidation of the extract was decreased every 24 h. Thus, our findings suggested that C.officinalis possess potent antioxidant defense machinery both enzymatic and non enzymatic.

Grape (Vitis vinifera) is the most important garden crop all over the world.
Multiplication and breeding of most important garden and crop plants is based on the cell and tissue culture. Beside the medium composition, the incubation conditions also require to be optimized, too. Important factors in physical environmental of culture are including light, temperature and gas exchanging. The light plays a key role in the range of plant growth activation and is used as a source of energy in the photosynthesis process. Then it must be optimized for the most plant performance. In this study auxiliary buds of grape cv. Crimson Seedless have been grown in treatment of red (622-780 nm), blue (455-492 nm) and visible light (400-700 nm) with two intensity of 5000 and 2500 lux. The fastest growth of axillary bud is referred to the range of the red and visible light with 2500 lux (46.77 hour) and the most axillary bud growth was observed in the range of red light (65.77 mm). In the blue light the developed axis was the strongest. The rate of axillary bud photosynthesis in intensity 5000 lux (38.33 mm) achieved to the level of light saturation, and then dynamic light inhibitions )photoinhibition) and chronic were observed in this treatment

Klebsiella pneumoniae is the most important infectious bacteria in Enterobacteriaceae family and the most common bacteria causing Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) after Escherichia coli. Therefore, accurate and rapid identification of this bacterium in hospital infection is very important. In this study, PCR-ELISA method was used for detecting Klebsiella pneumonia clinical strains. For this purpose, 16S rDNA gene based specific primers were designed and the DIG-labeled PCR products were bound to streptoavidin-coated wells of a microtiter plate and detected by anti-DIG–peroxidase conjugate. Biotin-labeled DNA probe specific for 16S rDNA gene was used in PCR-ELISA. Sensitivity and specificity of PCR-ELISA method were determined by using Enterobacteria strains. 16S rDNA of Klebsiella pneumoniae was amplified using gene specific primers resulted in a fragment of the 260 bp. The results of PCR-ELISA showed that this technique does not cross-react with the bacteria in their families as well as the sensitivity of 6.0 ng were evaluated. PCR-ELISA is known as an accurate and rapid method for detection of the infectious agents and therefore can be used as a suitable substitute for all the above aspects because it is quite a sensitive, specific, and rapid method for detection of the Klebsiella pneumoniae strains.

A keratin-degrading bacterium was selected from a bacterial collection of the Najm Biotech Company. Molecular identification indicated that the bacterium is a strain of Bacillus cereus, which can grow and produce keratinase in basal medium containing feather as sole source of carbon and energy. The physicochemical condition (pH, temperature, incubation time, feather concentration) of keratinase production of the isolated B.cereus strain was optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). A maximum keratinase production of 350 U/ml was achieved in 96 h under optimized conditions.

Amoebiasis is a disease caused by Entamoeba histolytica, a protozoan parasite. Metronidazole is known as the main drug used for patients suffering from Amoebiasis. Despite the lack of drug resistance in clinical samples, there are scattered reports that are based on the failure of treatment which show the increase of clinical drug resistance against metronidazole. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify E. histolytica by culture and polymerase chain reaction methods, compare them, and assess drug resistance among clinical samples to E. histolytica. A total of 1990 samples were collected from patients with dysentery. Positive microscopic samples after staining by lugol’s iodine were cultured on biphasic culture medium (HSre). The drug sensitivity of clinical isolates and standard reference strain of E. histolytica (HM1:IMSS) was evaluated after exposure to various concentrations of metronidazole on the basis of mobility and tonality using 0.01% Eosin. A PCR method was applied to confirm the cultural results. Forty sex out of 19990 samples and 41 out of 46 samples were positive for E. histolytica by microscopic and cultural methods, respectively. However, only 15 out of 46 samples were positive by PCR amplification using specific primers of E. histolytica genome. According to the results of Entamoeba growing in the cultures with difference metronidazole concentrations, no resistance was observed at the concentrations higher than 2 mg/ml. The present results indicate the high specificity of the molecular techniques against culture in specific mediums. It also suggests Entamoeba isolates in Iran does not seem resistant to the metronidazole antibiotic.