Bacteriophage Engineering for Improved Copper Ion Binding.

In this study, fd viruses are genetically modified to display seven cropped versions (H, HG, HGF, HGFA, HGFAN, HGFANV and HGFANVA) of the previously identified Cu(II) specific peptide (HGFANVA). Atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging reveals the typical filamentous structures of recombinant phages with thicknesses of ≈2-5 nm in dry state. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging shows that HGFANVA viruses form larger elongated assemblies than H viruses that are deposited with a mineral layer after Cu(II) treatment. C and N peaks are detected for virus samples through Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analyses confirming the presence of phage organic material. Cu peak is only detected for engineered viruses after Cu(II) exposure. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) analyses show the selective Cu(II) binding of engineered phages. Agarose gel electrophoresis (AGE) and zeta potential analyses reveal negative surface charges of engineered viral constructs. Positively charged Cytopore beads are coated with bacteriophages and used for Cu(II) ion sorption studies. ICP-MS analyses clearly show the improved Cu(II) binding of engineered viruses with respect to wild-type fd phages. Such bottom-up constructed, genetically engineered virus-based biomaterials may be applied in bioremediation studies targeting metal species from environmental samples.

Evaluation of Indonesian mangrove Xylocarpus granatum leaves ethyl acetate extract as potential anticancer drug.

Local Xylocarpus granatum leaves were extracted by ethyl acetate solvent and characterized by TLC fingerprinting and 2D 1H NMR spectroscopy to contain phenolic compounds as well as several organic and amino acids as metabolic byproducts, such as succinic acid and acetic acid. Traces of flavonoids and other non-categorized phenolic compounds exhibited intermediate antioxidant activity (antioxidant IC50 84.93 ppm) as well as anticancer activity against HeLa, T47D, and HT-29 cell lines; which the latter being most effective against HT-29 with Fraction 5 contained the strongest activity (anticancer IC50 23.12 ppm). Extracts also behaved as a natural growth factor and nonlethal towards brine shrimps as well as human adipose-derived stem cell hADSC due to antioxidative properties. A stability test was performed to examine how storage conditions factored in bioactivity and phytochemical structure. Extracts were compared with several studies about X. granatum leaves extracts to evaluate how ethnogeography and ecosystem factored on biologically active compounds. Further research on anticancer or antioxidant mechanism on cancer cells is needed to determine whether the extract is suitable as a candidate for an anticancer drug.