1) "Significance of Soil Fungi as an Inexaustible Source of Antibiotics"
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Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 License.
1-24
Authors:
Laila Aziz[1],
Kainat Iftikhar[2],
Hira Kamdar [3],
Saima Khalid[4],
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37605/njbs.v1i1.1
Abstract
Fungi are a diverse group of microorganisms and soil provides perfect habitat for them to produce new antibiotics. Fungi form different interactions with soil microbiota in which they produce secondary metabolites that show multiple biological activities. Yield of antimicrobial substances can be enhanced by optimizing extrinsic and intrinsic parameters. Thus, Fusarium, Penicillium, Aspergillus and Rhizopus spp. produce many antimicrobial substances. Different genes including cryptic or silent genes are involved for soil borne fungal antibiotics. These fungal antibiotics have many applications in different industries such as food, agriculture and pharmaceutical industries. Different methods are also used for the analysis of antibiotics production. Some pathogenic microorganisms adopt certain changes and show resistance to the currently available antibiotics and make them ineffective. Due to the occurrence of antibiotic resistance, the discovery of newly emerging antibiotics and semi-synthetic compounds is in high demand. The purpose of this study was to collect information about soil fungi and to highlight their importance to produce novel antibiotics.
2) "Characterization of Amylase Produced by Thermophilic Bacillus sp. TS9"
This is an open access article distributed under the
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Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 License.
32-49
Authors:
Neelam Zeb[1],
Sidra Zeb[2],
Zubaida Bibi[3],
Rakhshinda Sadiq[4],
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37605/njbs.v1i1.3
Abstract
Amylases constitute the second largest group of enzymes in the world enzyme market and are produced by many bacterial and fungal strains. The potent producer of amylase is Bacillus due to the production of thermostable enzymes that can withstand harsh conditions in industrial bioprocess. The amylase produced by Bacillus sp. TS9 was purified through gel filtration chromatography and then crude, partially purified and purified amylase was characterized. The crude, partially purified and purified amylase showed stability to a wide range of temperature (35-80 C) and pH (6-9) with optimum temperature and pH is 55 C and 9 respectively. The purified amylase also retained 70% of its activity at 100 C after incubation of 3 hours. The crude, partially purified and purified amylase showed stability to Na +1 and Mg +2 , methanol, and commercial detergents, less affected by Zn+2 , (NH4)2SO4, Triton-X-100, Tween-80 and SDS and some solvents but its activity was reduced by Ca +2 and Hg +2 . The amylase obtained from Bacillus sp. TS9 is Ca+2 independent as don't require Ca +2 ions for its activity, but still the purified amylase was sensitive to EDTA to some extent. Its activity was completely inhibited by mercapto-ethanol revealing that histidine residues are present at the active site of an enzyme. As the amylase obtained from thermophilic Bacillus sp. TS9 showed stability to high temperature and pH, solvents, metal ions, detergents, and surfactants, so can be utilized in starch processing, detergent, textile, and food industries.
3) "Purification of Amylase Produced by Thermophilic Bacillus sp. TS9"
This is an open access article distributed under the
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Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 License.
51-61
Authors:
Sidra Zeb[1],
Neelam Zeb[2],
Zubaida Bibi[3],
Hina Jabeen[4],
Rakhshinda Sadiq[5],
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37605/njbs.v1i1.4
Abstract
Amylases are the starch degrading enzymes obtained from diverse sources such as plants, animals and microorganisms including bacteria and fungi. But the microbial amylases are preferred over other sources. The thermophilic alpha amylase obtained from bacterial species has applications in many industries. Six thermophilic bacteria Microbacterium sp. TS1, Pseudomonas sp. TS2, Alishewanella sp.TS3, Rheinheimera sp. TS5, Bacillus sp. TS9 and halophilic Bacillus sp. HS7 were isolated from Shahdrah and Kheiwera regions of Pakistan and their 16s RNA identified through molecular techniques. All the isolates were screened for amylase quantitatively and qualitatively. The Thermophilic Bacillus sp. TS9, based on its higher production of amylase, was selected for purification and characterization. The bacteria produced clearance zone of 2.7cm in diameter on 1% starch supplemented agar plate and the maximum specific activity of 2.45U/mg was obtained after 72 hours incubation at 45 C and pH 8. The extracellular amylase was then purified by ammonium sulphate precipitation and gel permeation chromatography. The specific activity of amylase obtained from Bacillus sp. TS9 increased to 4.47U/mg (1.82 fold) through partial purification, and 15.92U/mg (6.48 fold) through column chromatography. The current Study points out a valuable approach to purifiy the amylase and consequently improves the activity of amylase which have numerous applications in many industries
4) "Amylase, Column Chromatography, Ammonium sulphate precipitation, Thermophiles, Enzymes"
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Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 License.
63-74
Authors:
Huma Fatima[1],
Sajid Malik[2],
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37605/njbs.v1i1.5
Abstract
Polydactyly is a genetic disorder that is characterized by the presence of an extra toe or finger in the foot or hand respectively. It may be a part of the other syndromes or can occur as a separate anomaly. The aim of this study was to conduct a survey in order to find the clinical and phenotypic variability of polydactyly from Islamabad, Pakistan. Ignite awareness among the people about polydactyly as most people don't even think it is a disorder. They considered it as a miracle from Allah Almighty. In order to achieve this aim, different field visits to the hospitals and other places were arranged. The data taken from the hospitals were screened for the polydactyly and then further study of the affected families was done at their homes. Two recruited families of polydactyly were reported in this study. All the members of both families were screened for any abnormality. They were physically examined for any kind of extra digit, bifurcation, movement of joints, and presence of extra joints. Pedigree of family one consisted of three generations and two males were affected in third generation. Pedigree of family two consisted of three generations and two males were affected in fourth generation. The phenotypic and clinical niceties in these two families were different. Diagnosis, treatment, management, and risk estimation of the family was conducted in this study; further molecular analysis is required to find out the genes mutated in the affected individuals. Genetics counseling is needed to be as common so they could make better decisions for the family through pre symptomatic testing or prenatal diagnosis
5) "Antibacterial Activity of Extracts of Albizia lebbeck Against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Proteus mirabilis"
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Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 License.
25-29
Authors:
Ayesha Bibi[1],
Ayesha Khan[2],
Quratulain [3],
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37605/njbs.v1i1.2
Abstract
Herbs and medicinal plants have widely been used as the first medicines. The development of new antibacterial drugs got more attention recently because of the continuous development of resistance of bacteria to the current antibiotics. Albizia lebbeck is a type of deciduous tree that has compound leaves, flat oblong fruit and round cream-colored seeds. It grows in wild and is also planted in many parts of South Asia and Africa. There is a significant amount of data to support the healing and curing properties of Albizia lebbeck. A lebbeck has been used in the treatment of various pain and inflammatory conditions in various traditions. Here we used the extracts of Albizia lebbeck against three different bacterial strains namely Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Proteus Mirabilis. Methanol and Ethanol extracts were used to check their antibacterial activity. Results indicated that Albizia lebbeck showed growth inhibition pattern against the tested species, when compared with gentamicin. The results authenticated its traditional use and indicated promising potential of this plant to be developed as antibacterial agent. Further work is needed for isolation, structure elucidation and characterization of bioactive constituents responsible for this activity. These isolated natural products should be screened in vivo and in vitro for antibacterial activity and may be developed as cheap alternatives to costly synthetic antimicrobial agents available in market.
Volume No. 01
Issue No. 01
