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

Department of Biotechnology

Melianone, the protolimonoid (24, 25-epoxyflindissone), was isolated from the medicinal tree species, Swietenia mahagoni (L.) JACQ (Meliaceae). The compound isolated from petroleum ether leaf extracts (5.39%) was quantified using high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) method. In antimicrobial assays melianone inhibited Salmonella ser. Typhi with an MIC of 0.053 µM. Induced Fit Docking (IFD) of the ligand, melianone, with proteins involved in anaerobic virulence of the pathogen, revealed that it binds with FocA (a transport protein of formate ions) at its “periplasmic opening” with a glide energy of − 51.8576 kcal mol−1. Melianone altered the overall conformation of the protein (protomer A) by 0.347 Å RMSD. It induced a notable protein topology (Ω loop region) shift in the channel from an intermediate-open to a closed-state conformation and was supported by molecular dynamic simulations performed. FocA, a protein that contributes to its survival under anaerobic conditions, was further evaluated experimentally, after exposure of Salmonella ser. Typhi to melianone, resulting in the altered homeostasis of formate. © 2020, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology.

World University root node

School of Bio Sciences and Technology

Vellore Campus

3 Biotech

Bioactivity of melianone against Salmonella and in silico prediction of a membrane protein target

Aim: The rapid emergence of β-lactam resistance in gram-negative bacteria is a major problem in the treatment of infections caused by pathogenic bacterial strains, in particular Klebsiella pneumoniae. In our study, we are presenting a systems biology approach to understand the role of SHV-11 gene in drug resistance mechanism patterns in K. pneumoniae strain. Results: From the results, we have observed that the SHV-11 gene has a role in drug resistance mechanism along with its functional partner genes gyrA, parC, glsA, osmE, yjhA, yhdT, rimL, pepB, KPN_00437, and KPN_01875. We have also observed that of 51 genes, 27 genes were enriched in various Gene Ontology terms such as DNA metabolic process, DNA repair, and response to stress. The genes gyrA, parC, gyrB, parE, recA, dnaA, polB, dnaK, mutS, and dnaN constitute &gt;41% of the total interactions; thus, these genes can be considered as hub nodes in the network, and they can be used as the potential drug targets. Conclusions: Drug exposure leads to the DNA damage in bacterial spp. We observed that the SHV11 gene along with the functional partners help in maintaining the genomic integrity by withstanding the environmental stress by inducing DNA damage repair mechanism. Our results provide a detailed understanding on the role of SHV-11 gene in drug resistance mechanisms in K. pneumoniae, and we are of the opinion that our results will be useful for researchers exploring the antibiotic resistance mechanisms in pathogenic bacteria. © 2020, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

Department of Bio-Sciences

Microbial Drug Resistance

Role of SHV-11, a Class A β-Lactamase, Gene in Multidrug Resistance among Klebsiella pneumoniae Strains and Understanding Its Mechanism by Gene Network Analysis

Nanomaterials have been used in various applications such as sensors, biofuel cells and biodiesel production. Various nanomaterials provide a high surface area-to-volume ratio and can be fabricated with enzymes as sensors for assay and in electrodes for electricity generation in biofuel cells. The methods of nanomaterial synthesis, analytical techniques for loading of enzymes, and fabrication of enzymes with nanomaterial along with the effect of enzyme immobilization on its activity have been discussed. In this mini-review article we concentrate on the current trends leading to various effects on immobilization of enzymes with nanomaterial. We focus mainly on enzymes used in hydrolysis of lignocellulosic agro-waste to produce bioalcohols by a fermentation process and enzymes used in transesterification reactions for biodiesel production. The current status of nanomaterial as an integral part of sustainable enzymatic biofuel production is discussed. © 2017, © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

VIT Unitversity

Department of Bio-Medical Sciences

Biofuels

Mini review on nanoimmobilization of lipase and cellulase for biofuel production

Emerging issues of Antibiotic drug resistance have increased the mortality cases all around the world. To deal with the situation natural antimicrobial peptide (AMP) replaces the classic antibiotics. Antimicrobial peptides are short, natural peptides that are active against most bacteria’s, viruses, and fungi etc., The AMP acts as a potent therapeutic agent and finds a new way in the field of drug discovery and pharmaceuticals. One such antimicrobial peptide is gramicidin (gramicidin D and gramicidin S) has high potential of almost 100% killing mechanisms against most of the gram-positive and few gram-negative bacteria’s and fungi which can be used as an alternative antibiotic in the near future. There are reviews focusing only on individual types of gramicidin or particular about their function. Hence, this review focus on providing an overview of antimicrobial peptide gramicidin and its types, structures, its interaction with the membranes/lipid bilayers, functions, stability, and uses. This review also focuses on the challenges to enhance the gramicidin peptide for further use as an efficient effective therapeutic peptide in the pharmaceutical industries. © 2019, Springer Nature B.V.

International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics

Gramicidin Peptide to Combat Antibiotic Resistance: A Review

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are gaining attention among the cell biologists and researchers over the last two decades. Prostasomes are considered to be (Evs) secreted by prostate epithelial cells into the semen during emission or ejaculation. Prostasomes contain various proteins required for immune regulation namely, amino and dipeptidyl peptidase; endopeptidase (neutral); decay accelerating factor; angiotensin-converting enzyme. Sperm cells need a few prerequisites in order to fertilize the egg. The role of prostasomes in enhancing the male fertility was reviewed extensively throughout the manuscript. Also, prostasomes have an immunosuppressive, immunomodulatory, antibacterial role in the female reproductive tract, and in some cases they can be used as immunocontraceptive agent to regulate the fertility status. This review will give insights to many active researchers in the field of prostasomal research and male infertility/fertility research. This review will open many unanswered mechanisms of prostasomes with respect to structure-function analysis, fatty acids patterns in diagnosis as well as prognosis of male infertility/fertility. More scientific reports are in need to support the mechanism of prostasomes and its role in immunomodulation. The development of prostasomes as a biomarker for the prostate cancer is still miserable with a lot of controversial results by various researchers. © 2019 Elsevier B.V.

International Journal of Biological Macromolecules

Human prostasomes an extracellular vesicle – Biomarkers for male infertility and prostrate cancer: The journey from identification to current knowledge

The recent advantages in the thermal extraction schemes of Photovoltaic (PV) systems became more feasible for domestic applications. The amount of thermal energy available at the PV backside is the source for all thermal extraction/utilizing schemes. But, till now, there is no accurate theoretical method to find the module temperature by any mathematical equation to be adaptable for all the conditions. In this work, we introduced the soft computing based estimation using Adaptive Neural Fuzzy Inference Systems (ANFIS) tool in MATLAB to estimate the module temperature of PV with respect to change of irradiance, ambient temperature, and wind velocity. © 2020, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Department of Energy and Power Electronics

School of Electrical Engineering

Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing Soft Computing for Problem Solving

PV Module Temperature Estimation by Using ANFIS

In this article, we have reported the preparation and structural characterization of a new Schiff base ligand (E)-2-(((2,6-difluorophenyl)imino)methyl)phenol (HSBL) and its derived metal(II) complexes [Cu(SBL)2] (1), [Ni(SBL)2] (2) and [Pd(SBL)2] (3). Using various analytical and spectroscopic techniques, their structural properties have been appraised. The proposed chemical structure of HSBL has been confirmed by Single crystal XRD studies. Bidentate characteristic of HSBL and its coordination with metal(II) ions through the oxygen atom of the phenolic group and nitrogen atom of the azomethine group have been evaluated from the FT-IR spectral analysis. Pd(II) complex of HSBL (complex 3) has found to be efficient in bringing about the interaction with DNA as well as BSA molecules. The in vitro antimicrobial studies have been demonstrated that complex 3 has a superior antimicrobial activity than HSBL, complexes 1 and 2. According to the values of zone of inhibition, the antimicrobial ability has been increased in the order of 3 &gt; 1 &gt; 2 &gt; HSBL. A significant decrease in percent cell viability has been suggested that complex 3 has remarkable cytotoxicity (IC50 = 15.7 ± 0.6 μg/mL) on human breast cancer (MCF-7) cells. Besides, their induced apoptosis pathway of cytotoxicity has been demonstrated by fluorescence staining techniques using AO/EB staining method. We hope this article will be very helpful for future research on the development of new anticancer agents. © 2019, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

Department of Chemistry

School of Advanced Sciences

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology

Biological Impacts of Metal(II) Complex–Based DNA Probes Derived from Bidentate N,O Donor Schiff Base Ligand

Pseudomonas aeruginosa generally forms strong biofilm during chronic condition of wound. The whole mechanism of biofilm formation works in tandem with quorum sensing circuit of the organism in order to produce virulence. Here we report the draft genome sequence of two diabetic foot ulcer Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates (VIT PC 7 and VIT PC 9) displaying homoserine lactone, rhamnolipid producing, biofilm phenotype and antibiotic resistance genes related to carbapenem, aminoglycoside, beta- lactamase and tetracycline resistance. The whole genome sequencing library was prepared according to the Oxford Nanopore's SQK-LSK108 kit protocol on Oxford Nanopore's Minion platform. The 7.1 Mb and 6.3-Mb draft genome sequence with GC content of 65.8% and 66.4% respectively provides insight into their resistance mechanism and virulence factors. © 2020 The Authors

Department of Integrative Biology

Fulltext

Data in Brief

Comparative data analsysis of two multi-drug resistant homoserine lactone and rhamnolipid producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa from diabetic foot infected patient

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease causing itching in the body and pain in the joints. Currently, no permanent cure is available at a commercial level for this disease. Genome wide association studies (GWAS) provide a deeper insight that helps in better understanding this disease and further possible cure of this disease. The major goal of the present study is to identify potent genetic targets of psoriasis disease using GWAS approach and identify drugs for repurposing. The methods used include GWAS catalogue, GeneAnalytics, canSAR protein annotation tool, VarElect, Drug bank, Proteomics database, ProTox software. By exploring GWAS catalogue, 126 psoriasis associated genes (PAG) were identified. 68 genes found to be druggable were obtained from canSAR protein annotation tool. Localization results depict that maximum genes are present in cytoplasmic cellular components. The superpathways obtained from GeneAnalytics resulted in involvement of these genes in the immune system, Jak/Stat pathway, Th17 and Wnt pathways. Two genes Interleukin 13 (IL13) and POLI are Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved targets. Small compounds for these targets were analysed for drug-likeliness, toxicity and mutagenecity properties. The FDA approved drug pandel was found to possess desirable properties. The medications used for psoriasis causes mild to severe side effects and does not work well always. Hence we propose drug repurposing strategy to use existing drugs for new therapies. Therefore, the drug pandel could be explored further and repurposed to treat psoriasis. © 2020, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology.

Department of Thermal and Energy Engineering

School of Mechanical Engineering

Exploring genetic targets of psoriasis using genome wide association studies (GWAS) for drug repurposing

A growing incidence of drug resistance and tumour proliferation in non-small cell lung cancer escalates the urge for potential lead molecules. The plant-derived natural compounds have played a pivotal role in potential therapeutic agents owing to its versatility and low toxicity over the past decades. In this study, we have executed an in-silico based screening of 1574 natural compounds against the β-catenin via an integrated pharmacophore approach. Further investigation revealed that Mucronulatol and 7,4'-dihydroxyhomoisoflavanone possess a higher Glide score (−4.748 and −3.943 kcal/mol), binding affinity (−44.763 and −41.883 kcal/mol) alongside drug-likeness property than the iCRT5. Moreover, these compounds are reported to have cytotoxicity against lung cancer cell lines with an IC50 value of 6.74 µM and 8.99 µM respectively. Furthermore, dynamic studies were employed to determine the structural stability and we hope that the lead molecules proposed in this study could effectively inhibit the β-catenin pathway associated with NSCLC. © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor &amp; Francis Group.