Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) is a private university located in&nbsp;Tamil Nadu, India. Founded in 1984, as Vellore Engineering College, the institution offers 20 undergraduate, 34 postgraduate, four integrated and four research programs. It has campuses in Vellore, Amravati, Bhopal and Chennai.

VIT is one of the top ranked private universities in India according to NIRF, THE and QS Rankings.&nbsp;Govt. of India has recognized&nbsp;VIT, Vellore as an&nbsp;Institution of Eminence. This has allowed VIT to take independent quality initiatives and move up in world ranking.

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VIT University

Introduction: Vanillin, chemically known as 4-hydroxy 3-hydroxybenzaldehyde is a white crystalline phenolic aldehyde and it is a commonly used flavouring agent. Vanillin is used as a flavouring agent in food and beverages as it contains an aromatic fla-vour. It also has applications in the pharmaceuticals and cosmetic industry. It is the second most expensive compound because growing vanilla seed pods is labour-intensive and it is estimated that only 0.2% of the global demand for vanillin is met by natural sources and the other relied source is a chemical synthesis that lacks efficacy. Hence an alternative approach is the production of vanillin by microbial bioconversion. Objective: The present study aims to produce vanillin from lignin extracted from agricultural waste by bio-conversion using Bacillus sp. Methods: Lignin was extracted by acid/alkali hydrolysis from sugarcane bagasse and coconut husk. It was further quantified and confirmed by Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy analysis. The lignin thus obtained was used to produce vanillin by microbial conversion using Bacillus sp. It was quantified and confirmed by FTIR. Results: The yield of vanillin obtained was 0.7 mg/ml by spectrophotometric analysis. Conclusion: The bioconversion of lignin to vanillin is tremendously advantageous as it is efficient, cost-effective and ecologi-cally safe. © IJCRR.

World University root node

Department of Bio-Medical Sciences

School of Bio Sciences and Technology

Vellore Campus

International Journal of Current Research and Review

Bio-conversion of lignin extracted from sugarcane bagasse and coconut husk to vanillin by bacillus sp.

This study was aimed to isolate the endophytic bacteria and fungi from the fruit and root of Musa Paradisiaca, commonly called as Nendran banana cul-tivar in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Endophytes are microbes living in plant tissue without harming the plants rather existing as potential beneficial organisms. Musa paradisiaca is a less explored variety of banana culti-var which possess anti-disease potential apart from nutritional quality. The total number of twelve root and fruit associated endophytes were isolated. The fruit associated endophytes were seven with four bacterial isolates and three fungal isolates. The number of root-associated endophytes were five with three bacterial isolates and two fungal isolates. The morphological char-acterisation of both root and fruit endophytes were performed by Gram staining for bacteria and lacto-phenol cotton blue staining for fungi. The bacterial colony examination of the fruit associated culture revealed a specific pink strain with an inhibitory zone proving antibacterial activity which was further investigated through agar well diffusion test. The strain exhibited potential antibacterial activity against five human clinical pathogens. A significant zone of inhibition was observed against Bacillus subtilis (22 mm), Escherichia coli (21 mm), Klebsiella pneumonia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (18 mm) which confirmed the potential antibacterial property of the fruit endophytic strain. © 2020, J. K. Welfare and Pharmascope Foundation. All rights reserved.

International Journal of Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences

Antibacterial activity of endophytes from musa paradisiaca

Exopolysaccharides (EPS) are extracellular macromolecules excreted as tightly bound capsule or loosely attached slime layer in microorganisms. They play most prominent role against desiccation, phagocytosis, cell recognition, phage attack, antibiotics or toxic compounds and osmotic stress. In the last few decades, natural polymers have gained much attention among scientific communities owing to their therapeutic potential. In particular the EPS retrieved from probiotic bacteria with varied carbohydrate compositions possess a plenty of beneficial properties. Different probiotic microbes have unique behavior in expressing their capability to display significant health promoting characteristics in the form of polysaccharides. In this new era of alternative medicines, these polysaccharides are considered as substitutes for synthetic drugs. The EPS finds applications in various fields like textiles, cosmetics, bioremediation, food and therapeutics. The present review is focused on sources, chemical composition, biosynthetic pathways of EPS and their biological potential. More attention has been given to the scientific investigations on antimicrobial, antitumor, anti-biofilm, antiviral, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activities.

Fulltext

International Journal of Biological Macromolecules

Exopolysaccharides from probiotic bacteria and their health potential

In molecular biology to understand the critical role/s played by certain gene products, the encoding genes are often disrupted, and the effects are further analyzed to ascertain the exact function of the gene/protein in the development of the organisms. Recently emerged gene editing technique revolutionized the field of biology to study the pathology of various diseases and in the discovery of drugs. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and CRISPR-associated protein 9 (CRISPR-Cas9) attracted the attention of the World due to its impeccable potential in research and therapeutic applications. Unlike other techniques, CRISPR can deactivate a gene without interfering with intracellular mechanisms. It can be used to understand the genetic and epigenetic aspects of various diseases especially cancer. CRISPR can be used to induce specific mutations in oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes in cell lines to model the cancers to understand the pathology and to develop effective drugs. CRISPR-Cas9 holds the promising potential to treat genetic diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Hemophilia, β-Thalassemia, and cystic fibrosis. However, there are some challenges and concerns which needs to addressed. In this review, we discuss on the origin of CRISPR-Cas9 technology, how it works, genome/nongenome editing for targeted molecular therapy and future directions. © 2019 Mattingley Publishing. All rights reserved.

Drug Invention Today

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats-associated protein 9: A new era in targeted molecular therapy

Peptidyl arginine deaminase type 4 (PADI4) has been identified as a potential therapeutic target for rheumatoid arthritis. The aim of current study was to screen 20 chosen flavonoids for PADI4 (PDB Id.: 4X8C) inhibiting potential. The compounds were docked using PatchDock online server for molecular docking. The docked complex was visualized and the interacting patterns were analysed using PyMol software. The results revealed that compounds such as bacopaside II and X, canthaxanthine and broussonol E showed significant interaction with 4X8C with docking scores of 7864, 8432, 7962 and 8544. The study shows binding and interaction patterns of the chosen flavonoids with 4X8C. However, these compounds need to be explored for anti-arthritic activity.

VIT Unitversity

Department of Embedded Technology

School of Electronics Engineering

Department of Computer Applications

School of Information Technology and Engineering

Research Journal of Pharmacy and Technology

Virtual Screening of Peptidyl Arginine Deiminase Type 4 Inhibiting Potential of Chosen Flavonoids

The potential of cold active lipase from Pseudomonas sp. VITCLP4 in degreasing of greasy skin has been investigated. Degreasing efficacy has been studied at four different stages (liming, deliming, pickling and depickling) of the pre-tanning process. Being alkaline, expectedly the enzyme at 10% concentration on pelt weight performed well at deliming stage, resulting in acceptable residual fat content of 3.5%. The more desired residual fat and free fatty acid content (FFA) of less than 2% and 0.5% has been achieved when the enzyme (10%) is used along with a commercial degreasing formulation (0.5%) at depickling stage, cutting short the concentration of degreasing agent from 3% to 0.5%. Scanning electron microscopic (SEM) studies and physical properties testing reveal that the enzyme treatment imparts desirable properties to finished leather. The results indicate that the enzyme alone or along with a chemical degreasing agent can be used at deliming or depickling stage to produce leathers with acceptable or desirable fat content as per the need of finished leathers. © 2019, National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources (NISCAIR). All rights reserved.

Department of Biotechnology

Indian Journal of Chemical Technology

Cold active lipase from pseudomonas sp. VITCLP4 as degreasing agent in leather processing

Bioscience Biotechnology Research Communications

Antibacterial and antioxidant activity of leaf organic extracts of local cultivars of Murraya koenigii (L.) Spreng from Tamilnadu

The present study was designed to evaluate the antibacterial activity against five bacterial pathogens and antioxidant activity of essential oils from the leaves of Ocimum basilicum. Agar well diffusion was used to determine the zone of inhibition and broth microdilution was used to determine the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC). The antioxidant activity was ascertained using 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging assay. The essential oils exhibited a great potential of antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus with the zone of inhibition of 21.5 mm when compared with standard antibiotic with zone of inhibition of 19.5 mm. MIC and MBC values were 12.5 and 25 mg ml-1 respectively. The essential oils presented slightly high antioxidant activity (IC50 = 28 μg ml-1) compared to gallic acid, a standard compound (IC50 = 25 μg ml-1). The results revealed that the essential oil of Ocimu basilicum could be used as a source of natural antioxidant and antibacterial agent.

Research Journal of Chemistry and Environment

Antibacterial and antioxidant activity of essential oils of Ocimum basilicum leaves

Cold active lipases (CLPs) are gaining importance nowadays as they are increasingly used in fine chemical synthesis, bioremediation, food processing and as detergent additive. These enzymes exhibit high catalytic activity at low temperatures and flexibility to act at low water medium. Since they are active at low temperatures consume less energy and also stabilize fragile compounds in the reaction medium. CLPs are commonly obtained from psychrophilic microorganisms which thrive in cold habitats. Compared to mesophilic and thermophilic lipases, only a few CLPs were studied and industrially exploited so far. CLPs (C. antarctica lipase-A and C. antarctica lipase-B) from Candida antarctica isolated from Antarctic region are the well studied and industrially employed, and many are being followed up. This review updates the CLPs reported recently and the industrial applications of CLPs.

Frontiers in Life Science

Cold active lipases – an update

An extracellular cold active lipase from Pseudomonas sp. VITCLP4 was concentrated by two methods, ammonium sulphate precipitation and ultrafiltration. Ammonium sulphate precipitation with 40% saturation was found to give good results with 125-fold partially purified lipase and yield of 63%. Further purification by DEAE-Sephadex ion exchange chromatography resulted in 4.6-fold purified enzyme with yield of just 0.1%. This may be due to aggregation of protein during elution which is not reversible even after salt exchange. Therefore the enzyme could be partially purified with ammonium sulphate precipitation. Stability studies revealed that ammonium sulphate precipitate was 100% stable at -20°C for 10 days than other fractions. The molecular mass of cold active lipase was estimated to be approximately 52 kDa by SDS-PAGE.

International Journal of Pharma and Bio Sciences

Partial purification of cold active lipase from Pseudomonas sp. VITCLP4 isolated from marine samples of Tamilnadu coast

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the hepatoprotective and antioxidant properties of piperine against D- galactosamine induced hepatotoxicity in mice. Hepatotoxicity was induced in mice by a single dose of galactosamine (700 mg/kg, i.p.) activities of serum glutamate oxaloacetate transferase (SGOT), serum glutamate pyruvate transferase (SGPT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) were estimated in serum while lipid peroxidation and antioxidant status were determined in liver homogenate of control and experimental mice. Galactosamine administration (700 mg/kg, i.p.) significantly (p&lt;0.05) increased the levels of SGOT, SGPT, ALP, bilirubin, TNF-α and lipid peroxidation and caused depletion in antioxidant status. Piperine and silymarin treatment to D- galactosamine treated mice resulted in decreased SGOT, SGPT, ALP, bilirubin, TNF-α and lipid peroxidation levels alongwith an increase in antioxidant status. The study suggests that the hepatoprotective activity of piperine is significant at the dose of 25mg/kg as compared to the standard drug silymarin.

Department of Bio-Sciences

International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Review and Research

Ameliorative effect of piperine from piper nigrum on D-galactosamine-induced hepatotoxicity in mice

Twenty lipase producing bacterial isolates were screened from marine samples collected from Northern coast of Tamilnadu, India. Isolate-4, identified as Pseudomonas sp. was found to be the potential cold active lipase producer with enzyme activity of 172 U/ml/min at 25°C and 133 U/ml/min at 15°C. The isolate was identified as halotolerant capable of tolerating up to 1.5 M NaCl and grew well at both neutral and alkaline pH. The isolate produced lipase optimally at pH 5.5 in presence of 0.5 M NaCl. Optimum incubation period for lipase production was recognized as 8 days. The crude enzyme extract from the isolate showed highest activity at 25°C and retained almost 80% of activity at 15 and 20°C, strongly suggesting its high catalytic activity at low temperatures. Optimum pH for lipase activity was found at pH 8. The enzyme displayed maximum thermal stability at 40°C by retaining 80% of initial activity for about 4 h, making it a promising candidate for industrial applications after due purification and characterization to find out its suitability for various applications.