Polyhydroxyalkanoate nanoparticles produced by marine bacteria cultivated on cost effective Mediterranean algal hydrolysate media.

Algae are omnipresent in all seas and oceans, which make thema target for many applications such as bio-fertilizers, fish feeding and removal of heavy metals. In the present study, different algal species were examined as sustainable alternatives substrates for PHA production by Halomonas sp. Several media simulations were utilized to achieve high polymer productivity. The maximum poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) concentrations were determined by using Corallina mediterranea hydrolysates as a carbon and nitrogen source. The isolates Halomonas pacifica ASL10 and Halomonas salifodiane ASL11 were found to be able to produce PHA by 67 % wt and 63 % wt CDW, respectively. PHB nanoparticles (NPs) had high zeta potential values and small particle sizes. These properties make it suitable for several drug delivery and pharmaceutical applications. Interestingly, NPs showed a potent antibacterial activity against several reference strains. The antibacterial efficacy of PHA-NPs has not been previously studied, thus this study opens a promising use of PHA-NPs.

Dual Therapeutic Targeting of Lung Infection and Carcinoma Using Lactoferrin-Based Green Nanomedicine.

In view of the promising applications of nanoparticles in drug delivery, this study highlights the fabrication of new bioactive green protein-polysaccharide nanocomplexes with significant antibacterial and antitumor efficacies. We preformulated the water-insoluble drugs Quercetin (Quer) and Resveratrol (Res) as water-soluble nanocrystals to facilitate their entrapment in the electrostatic lactoferrin-chondroitin (Lf-ChS) nanocomplex. Quer and Res were physically entrapped in the Lf-ChS nanomatrix with high encapsulation efficiencies (EE %) of 85.2 and 90.1% w/w for Quer and Res, respectively. The in vitro synergetic antibacterial effects of the studied compounds against all bacterial strains were confirmed. Res-Quer Lf-ChS NPs revealed an enhanced cytotoxic effect against A549 lung cancer cells. A new model of polymicrobial lung infection was designed, where treatment with Res-Quer Lf-ChS NPs (233.5 ± 6.59 nm) resulted in a marked decline of 3.2 log units in bacterial counts. In the lung tumor model, the potent antitumor efficacy of the developed Res-Quer Lf-ChS NPs was demonstrated by a noticeable decline in both lung weight and the biomarkers compared to the positive control group that did not receive any treatment. In conclusion, the green Res-Quer Lf-ChS NPs possess antibacterial and antitumor attributes for potential lung infection and tumor therapy.

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) from Halomonas pacifica ASL10 and Halomonas salifodiane ASL11 isolated from Mariout salt lakes.

Two novel PHA producing bacterial strains were chosen out of 12 strains collected from Mariout salt lakes. Analysis of 16srRNA gene sequence of the two new strains revealed 95.38% and 98.78% similarity to that of Halomonas pacifica and Halomonas salifodiane, respectively. A maximum polymer productivity of 6.9 g/l and 7.1 g/l was recorded by ASL10 and ASL11, respectively. Furthermore, a pH of 7 contributed to the highest polymer production for both strains. Interestingly, both ASL10 and ASL11showed a great ability to tolerate salinity up to 17 g/l NaCL. Moreover, both promising isolates were able to degrade crude oil efficiently by degradation percentages of 69.2% and 67.3% for ASL10 and ASL11, respectively. GCMS, FTIR, NMR, XRD and thermal properties were performed for poly (3 HV-co-3HB) characterization.

The sustainability of microbial bioplastics, production and applications.

Plastic accumulation has destructive environmental impacts, so the world needs eco-friendly plastic alternatives. Within this context, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) appear to be real alternatives to the chemical plastics because they are biocompatible and biodegradable. Despite its similar properties to common plastics, PHAs use is still hampered by higher production costs. PHAs are produced by high density fed-batch cultivation, activated sludge, microbial consortia and continuous substrate supply, and a major cost associated with their production is the carbon source used for bacterial fermentation. Therefore, novel carbon sources have been studied for PHA production including, macro algae, peanut oil, crude glycerol and whey. PHAs were applied in myriad fields such as wood production, food packaging, 3D painting, cancer detection, treating ulcers as well as several agricultural and therapeutic applications. In this review, current knowledge of methods and novel carbon sources enhance the sustainability and reliability of PHAs in the prospective future.

The anti-cancer activity of human consensus interferon-alpha synthesized in cell-free system.

The cell-free method is suitable for rapid and economical production of therapeutic proteins, since it is an open system, which allows us to control the reaction microenvironment to promote folding, solubility of proteins and maximize the protein yield. Consensus interferon is a newly developed type I interferon, a rapid-acting version of interferon that appears more potent than the currently approved pegylated version. Our work aimed to synthesize human consensus interferon-alpha (cIFN-α) in cell-free protein expression system of Escherichia coli cells origin. The cloned cIFN-α gene in pET101/D-TOPO expression system was used in cell-free IFN production. The system was tested by using a standard construct, GFP (green fluorescent protein) gene was cloned into pIVEX2.3 vector; this gene and our gene, both are under the T7 promoter transcriptional control. The synthesis of active cIFN-α gradually increased from 2 to 6 h of the reaction, also reducing the temperature of incubation to ≤ 30°C maximized its solubility. After purification on nickel-nitrilotriacetate acid (Ni-NTA) resin, the yield of cIFN-α was 400 µg/ml cell-free reaction solution. The resultant cIFN-α was fully biologically active as demonstrated by its anti-cancer effect and immunoassay signals.

Efficacy comparison of gel-based, membrane and glass array techniques to detect human antibodies isotypes among the Egyptian HCV-patients.

Hepatitis C virus is a major public health problem leading to cirrhosis and increased risk for development of hepatocellular carcinoma, both leading indications for liver transplantation. Egypt has the highest prevalence of hepatitis C of worldwide. Anti-HCV antibody is usually detected by enzyme immunoassay (EIA). Microarray analysis of 8 Anti-HCV antibody isotypes and 5 HCV peptides considered separately on 5 different matrixes was carried out on 50 hepatitis C Egyptian patients. The optimal substrate kind was chosen based on the greatest amount of antibody bonded with the minimal background. Mercaptosilane activated slides, agarose-slides and polyvinylidene difluoride membranes were the best substrates, while polyacrylamide and nitrocellulose membrane were less sensitive. IgM isotype gave the weakest signals in all patients whatever the substrate type used for antibody immobilization while IgG (total) and its subtypes IgG2, IgG3 and IgG(4) gave the strongest signals with most of the substrates follows by IgA(1), IgG(1) and total IgA, respectively. The results demonstrate that IgG2, IgG3 and IgG(4) are the dominant IgG subtypes, which may indicate that HCV patient immune response shift toward Th-2 immunity. The microarrays permitted the simultaneous serodetection of hepatitis C virus core and envelope peptides by using corresponding rabbit anti-peptides. Hepatitis C virus core and envelope peptides 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 showed strong signals on all the used substrates except for polyacrylamide slides and nitrocellulose membranes.

Bioremediation of kerosene I: A case study in liquid media.

The ability of different local isolates in addition to some isolates from Germany to degrade kerosene in liquid medium was studied. The results showed that the percent of kerosene degradation varied among the different organisms and that 59-94% of kerosene was degraded after 21d. Two local isolates (Pseudomonas sp. AP and Pseudomonas sp. CK) and one German isolate (Gordonia sp. DM) were selected for this study. The addition of wheat bran, as co-substrate, stimulated the kerosene degradation by the two local strains, while glucose inhibited the degradation rate using the three organisms with different rates. Ammonium nitrate and urea was the best nitrogen sources. The use of superphosphate (as phosphorus source) in the presence of urea stimulates the degradation rate. It was also observed that the addition of 1% surfactants, like Triton X-100, Igepal, Tergitol, or Tween 20 and 80 enhanced the kerosene degradation. The degradation percent lied between 94% and 98%. The ability of the tested organisms to degrade kerosene concentration from 2% to 8% was evaluated. It was found that the three organisms degraded about 65-85% from 8% kerosene after 21d. The use of rice straw-immobilized cells reduced the time of degradation and enhanced the degradation ability of the organisms. The sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed the presence of a common protein band when the tested organisms were grown on kerosene.