Biodeterioration of polyethylene by jellyfish nematocyst protein.

Plastic pollution is one of the major global problems existing now-a-days and has become a cause of serious concern in coastal and marine ecosystems. Increased accumulation of plastics in the aquatic environment by anthropogenic sources results the alteration of the aquatic ecosystem and its functioning. Several variables have an impact on biodegradation, ranging from microbe species to polymer type, physicochemical qualities, and environmental circumstances. The present study was attempted to investigate polyethylene degradation ability of nematocyst protein extracted from the lyophilized nematocyst samples using three different mediums such as distilled water, Phosphate buffered saline (PBS), and seawater. The biodeteriorization potential of nematocyst protein and its interaction with the polyethylene was studied using ATR-IR, phase contrast bright-dark field microscope, and scanning electron microscopic studies. The results uncover the biodeteriorization of polyethylene by jellyfish nematocyst protein without any external physicochemical process and provide evidence for further research.

Silver nanoparticles based spectroscopic sensing of eight metal ions in aqueous solutions.

Anthropogenic releases from different outlets of industry, municipal sewage and the road traffic can give rise to higher concentrations of heavy metals in food commodities which imposes a threat to human health and environment. A simple silver nanoparticle (Ag NPs) used for the sensing of heavy metal ions, Cd2+, Cu2+, Fe2+, Hg2+, Mn2+, Ni2+, Pb2+ and Zn2+ in aqueous solution is described qualitatively and quantitatively using spectroscopic tool. FE-SEM and TEM images confirmed that the particles are spherical in shape with an average diameter of 23.4 nm. Presence of heavy metal ions with Ag NPs gives, new peak at around 925, 898, 643, 665, 688, and 838 nm for Cd2+, Cu2+, Fe2+, Hg2+, Mn2+ and Zn2+ in addition to the peak found at 410 nm for Ag NPs. Further, the addition of Ni2+ and Pb2+ metal ion solution with Ag NPs increased the SPR band from 410 nm to 436 and 462 nm respectively. Citrate functionalized Ag NPs aggregate in solution in the presence of divalent metal ions by ions-template chelating process and are easily measurable changes in the UV-vis absorption spectrum of the particles. Further, studies also confirmed the interaction of Ag NPs with metal ions using FT-IR spectroscopy. The proposed method was found to be useful for simple UV-vis spectroscopic sensing of metal ions in aqueous solutions and real contaminated samples.

Enhanced photocatalysis and anticancer activity of green hydrothermal synthesized Ag@TiO2 nanoparticles.

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) have been doped with varying amounts (0.005, 0.010 and 0.015 M) of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) using hydrothermal method. Further, in this work, a green approach was followed for the formation of Ag@TiO2 NPs using Aloe vera gel as a capping and reducing agent. The structural property confirmed the presence of anatase phase TiO2. Increased peak intensity was observed while increasing the Ag concentration. Further, the morphological and optical properties have been studied, which confirmed the effective photocatalytic behavior of the prepared Ag@TiO2 NPs. The photocatalytic performance of Ag@TiO2 has been considered for the degradation of picric acid in the visible light region. The concentration at 0.010 M of the prepared Ag@TiO2 has achieved higher photocatalytic performance within 50 min, which could be attributed to its morphological behavior. Similarly, anticancer activity against lung cancer cell lines (A549) was also determined. The Ag@TiO2 NPs generated a large quantity of reactive oxygen species (ROS), resulting in complete cancer cell growth suppression after their systemic in vitro administration. Ag@TiO2 NPs was adsorbed visible light that leads to an enhanced anticancer sensitivity by killing and inhibiting cancer cell reproduction through cell viability assay test. It was clear that 0.015 M of Ag@TiO2 NPs were highly effective against human lung cancer cell lines and showed increased production of ROS in cancer cell lines due to the medicinal behavior of the Aloe vera gel.

Genomic insights of Vibrio harveyi RT-6 strain, from infected "Whiteleg shrimp" (Litopenaeus vannamei) using Illumina platform.

The pathogenicity of "Vibriosis" in shrimps imposes prominent menace to the sustainable growth of mariculture economy. Often the disease outbreak is associated speciously with Vibrio harveyi and its closely related species. The present study investigated the complete genome of the strain V. harveyi RT-6 to explore the molecular mechanism of pathogenesis. The genome of V. harveyi possesses a single chromosome of 6,374,398 bp in size, G + C content (44.7%) and 5730 protein coding genes. The reads of 1.3 Gb were retained from Illumina Hiseq 2500 sequencing method, assembled into 5912 predicted genes, 114 tRNAs genes, and 11 rRNAs genes. Unigenes were annotated by matching against Clusters of Orthologous Groups of proteins (COG)-5730, Gene ontology (GO)-1088, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) databases-3401. Furthermore, 13 insertion sequences-(IS), virulence factors and prophage regions were also identified. A total of 94 pathogenic genes and 36 virulence factor genes were mainly identified using Virulence Factors Database (VFDB). Out of the 36 virulence factors, 23 genes responsible for encoding flagella-based motility protein were exclusively predicted to take part in pathogenic mechanism. The Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) of the strain RT-6 (accession number: SRR5410471) highlighted the underlying genes and specifically accountable functional genes that were responsible for pathogenic infections in shrimps.

De novo assembly and annotation of the whole genomic analysis of Vibrio campbellii RT-1 strain, from infected shrimp: Litopenaeus vannamei.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to sequence the whole genome of Vibrio campbellii RT-1 strain. METHODS: V. campbellii strain was isolated from an infected shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei collected from aquaculture ponds, India (12.1899° N, 79.9249° E). The whole genome sequencing (WGS) was performed using the Illumina Hiseq 2500 platform and assembled de novo using SPAdes and Velvet optimiser. Furthermore, the gene prediction and annotation were performed by a rapid prokaryotic genome tool-Prokka. RESULTS: The genome of V. campbellii RT-1 strain has one circular chromosome with 6327218 bp long. V. campbellii RT-1 strain contains 5787 predicted genes with an average of 45% GC content. A total of 86 known genes associated with pathogenicity were identified and 28 genes were found to be responsible for virulence factors. Furthermore, 1112 unigenes were subjected to Gene Ontology (GO) terms, and 4895 predicted proteins were annotated with Clusters of orthologous (COGs) functional groups. CONCLUSIONS: The phylogenetic position of V. campbellii RT-1 strain was established through whole genome sequencing and genomic tools which provides a strong platform to further study on genomic alterations and phenotype of V. campbellii.