Keratinases are exciting proteolytic enzymes that display the capability to degrade the insoluble protein keratin. These enzymes are produced by diverse microorganisms belonging to the Eucarya, Bacteria, and Archea domains. Keratinases display a great diversity in their biochemical and biophysical properties. Most keratinases are optimally active at neutral to alkaline pH and 40–60°C, but examples of microbial keratinolysis at alkalophilic and thermophilic conditions have been well documented. Several keratinases have been associated to the subtilisin family of serine-type proteases by analysis of their protein sequences. Studies with specific substrates and inhibitors indicated that keratinases are often serine or metalloproteases with preference for hydrophobic and aromatic residues at the P1 position. Keratinolytic enzymes have several current and potential applications in agroindustrial, pharmaceutical, and biomedical fields. Their use in biomass conversion into biofuels may address the increasing concern on energy conservation and recycling.

Biochemical features of microbial keratinases and their production and applications.

Biodegradation of keratin waste: Theory and practical aspects

Most developing nations continuously produce abundant agro-industrial residues such as brewer’s spent grain (BSG), which are underexploited. BSG as the main by-product of brewing industry, representing  approximately 85% of total by-products generated, is rich in cellulose and non-cellulosic polysaccharides and has a strong potential to be recycled. Due to the global intense pressure towards green environmental  technology, both academic and industrial researchers are putting more efforts to reduce the amount of such wastes by finding alternative uses apart from the current general use as an animal feed. Thus, several products are increasingly being sought from BSG. This article intends to review some of the products that can be realized from BSG and also to stimulate researchers to explore further, especially in developing new value-added products. Key words : Brewer’s spent grain, polysaccharide, animal feed, residue.

/pdf/brewer-s-spent-grain-a-review-of-its-potentials-and-1tf2wbtmk4.pdf

Brewer’s spent grain: A review of its potentials and applications

Background: Mosquito-borne viruses—such as Zika, chikungunya, dengue fever, and yellow fever, among others—are of global importance. Although vaccine development for prevention of mosquito-borne arbovirus infections has been a focus, mitigation strategies continue to rely on vector control. However, vector control has failed to prevent recent epidemics and arrest expanding geographic distribution of key arboviruses, such as dengue. As a consequence, there has been increasing necessity to further optimize current strategies within integrated approaches and advance development of alternative, innovative strategies for the control of mosquito-borne arboviruses.
Methods and findings: This review, intended as a general overview, is one of a series being generated by the Worldwide Insecticide resistance Network (WIN). The alternative strategies discussed reflect those that are currently under evaluation for public health value by the World Health Organization (WHO) and represent strategies of focus by globally recognized public health stakeholders as potential insecticide resistance (IR)-mitigating strategies. Conditions where these alternative strategies could offer greatest public health value in consideration of mitigating IR will be dependent on the anticipated mechanism of action. Arguably, the most pressing need for endorsement of the strategies described here will be the epidemiological evidence of a public health impact.
Conclusions: As the burden of mosquito-borne arboviruses, predominately those transmitted by Aedes aegypti and A. albopictus, continues to grow at a global scale, new vector-control tools and integrated strategies will be required to meet public health demands. Decisions regarding implementation of alternative strategies will depend on key ecoepidemiological parameters that each is intended to optimally impact toward driving down arbovirus transmission.

/pdf/alternative-strategies-for-mosquito-borne-arbovirus-control-2lw38zi55l.pdf

Alternative strategies for mosquito-borne arbovirus control.

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is known as the most successful microbial insecticide against different orders of insect pests in agriculture and medicine. Moreover, Bt toxin genes also have been efficiently used to enhance resistance to insect pests in genetically modified crops. In light of the scientific advantages of new molecular biology technologies, recently, some other new potentials of Bt have been explored. These new environmental features include the toxicity against nematodes, mites, and ticks, antagonistic effects against plant and animal pathogenic bacteria and fungi, plant growth-promoting activities (PGPR), bioremediation of different heavy metals and other pollutants, biosynthesis of metal nanoparticles, production of polyhydroxyalkanoate biopolymer, and anticancer activities (due to parasporins). This review comprehensively describes recent advances in the Bt whole-genome studies, the last updated known Bt toxins and their functions, and application of cry genes in plant genetic engineering. Moreover, the review thoroughly describes the new features of Bt which make it a suitable cell factory that might be used for production of different novel valuable bioproducts.

Bacillus thuringiensis: a successful insecticide with new environmental features and tidings

Bacillus sphaericus Neide (Bs) and Bacillus thuringiensis serovar israelensisdeBarjac (Bti) provide effective alternatives to broad spectrum larvicides in many situations with little or no environmental impact. Taking into account environmental benefits including safety for humans and other non-target organisms, reduction of pesticide residues in the aquatic environment, increased activity of most other natural enemies and increased biodiversity in aquatic ecosystems, their advantages are numerous. In addition to recombinant bacteria used as larvicides, research is also underway to develop transgenic algae and cyanobacteria using larvicidal endotoxins of Bti and Bs. The advent of recombinant DNA technology is now having an enormous impact on agriculture and medicine and it is appropriate that the ability to manipulate and recombine genes with this technology be applied to improving larvicides for vector control. These new recombinant bacteria are as potent as many synthetic chemical insecticides yet are much less prone to resistance, as they typically contain a mixture of endotoxins with different modes of action. The existing recombinants also have what can be considered disadvantageous in that they do not show significantly improved activity againstaedine and anopheline mosquitoes in comparison to Bti. But it may be possible to overcome this limitation using some of the newly discovered mosquitocidal proteins such as the Mtx proteins and peptides such as the trypsin-modulating oostatic factor which could be easily engineered for high expression in recombinant bacteria. While other microbial technologies such as recombinant algae and other bacteria are being evaluated, it has yet to be shown that these are as efficaciousand environmentally friendly as Bti and Bs. By combining the genes from a variety of organisms, it should ultimately be possible to design `smart' bacteria that will seek out and kill larvae of specific vector mosquitoes. Thus, recombinant bacteria show excellent promise for development and use in operational vector control programs, hopefully within the next few years.

	 

	Key words: Bacillus sphaericus, Bacillus thuringiensis serovar israelensis, bacterial toxins, Culex quinquefasciatus, Anopheles stephensi, Aedes aegypti, mode of action, resistance, management of resistance.

Mosquitocidal bacterial toxins (Bacillus sphaericus and Bacillus thuringiensis serovar israelensis): Mode of action, cytopathological effects and mechanism of resistance

Use of feather-based culture media for the production of mosquitocidal bacteria☆

Coffee husk waste (CHW) discarded as bio-organic waste, from coffee industries, is rich in carbohydrates. The current study emphasizes the management of solid waste from agro-industrial residues for the production of biopesticides (Bacillus sphaericus, and B. thuringiensis subsp. israelensis), to control disease transmitting mosquito vectors. An experimental culture medium was prepared by extracting the filtrates from coffee husk. A conventional culture medium (NYSM) also was prepared. The studies revealed that the quantity of mosquitocidal toxins produced from CHW is at par with NYSM. The bacteria produced in these media, were bioassayed against mosquito vectors (Culex quinquefasciatus, Anopheles stephensi, and Aedes aegypti) and it was found that the toxic effect was statistically comparable. Cost-effective analysis have revealed that, production of biopesticides from CHW is highly economical. Therefore, the utilization of CHW provides dual benefits of effective utilization of environmental waste and efficient production of mosquitocidal toxins.

https://bioone.org/journals/journal-of-economic-entomology/volume-104/issue-6/EC11125/Coffee-Husk-Waste-for-Fermentation-Production-of-Mosquitocidal-Bacteria/10.1603/EC11125.pdf

Coffee Husk Waste for Fermentation Production of Mosquitocidal Bacteria

Chicken feathers, discarded as bioorganic wastes from poultry processing industries, are rich in keratin (structural protein). Deoiled rice bran (DRB), in contrast, is an agrowaste product consisting of protein, fiber, and carbohydrates. This study highlights a new medium for producing biopesticides from these bioorganic wastes, by culturing Bacillus sphaericus (Bs) and B. thuringiensis subsp. israelensis (Bti), to synthesize mosquitocidal toxins. Biochemical studies indicated that the amount of mosquitocidal spore/crystal toxins produced from the experimental culture medium (chicken feather waste [CFW] + DRB) is higher than that from the conventional medium (Nutrient Yeast Extract Salt Medium [NYSM]). The bacteria produced in these media (NYSM, CFW, DRB, and CFW + DRB) were bioassayed against mosquito vectors, and the toxic effect was found to be statistically similar (fiducial limits overlapping). Cost analysis based on the raw materials, indicated that, the use of CFW and DRB, as culture medium, is highly economical, for the industrial production of these mosquito pathogenic bacilli.

A Medium for the Production of Biopesticides (Bacillus sphaericus and Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis) in Mosquito Control

Biodegradation of poultry waste for the production of mosquitocidal toxins

Handle everyday research tasks with reliable, citation-backed results

Your personal Research Agent to handle research tasks with citation-backed results

Popular Tasks used by Researchers

How can I help with your research?

Meet SciSpace

Get more enhanced response by uploading the PDFs you want me to reference.

No relevant PDFs in your library

SciSpace is the AI research assistant for academics. Run systematic literature reviews on 280M+ papers, and write papers with cited sources. Trusted by 1M+ students, PhDs & researchers.

SciSpace | AI for Research

Analyze PDFs

Code & Manuscripts

Funding & Grants

Literature & Patents

Medical & Clinical Data

Systematic Review

Visualize & Present

Web & Data

Build a Google Scholar-like website for your research.

Build a website

Create charts and images for your research

Create a Chart

Write a paper for submission to a journal

Draft a manuscript

Patent Search

Design eye-catching scientific posters in minutes.

Scientific Poster Generation

Systematic Literature Review

One task is running at the moment. Your messages will be shown right after.

Drag and drop or click here to browse

Loved by <highlight>1 million+</highlight> researchers

Extract a list of specific topics and their sources from unstructured text

Topics

Compare and analyze relevant papers that matches with your search

Papers

Get insights from PDFs and bookmarked papers from your library

My library

Recent searches

Try searching for:

Catch AI-generated content in scholarly and non-scholarly content

{ai} Detector

Ai Writer

Get PDF Summaries, highlighted text explanations 

Chat with PDF

Effortlessly create in-text citations and bibliographies in APA and 2,500 other formats

Citation generator

Get explanations, summaries, and answers on academic papers

Ease up your research workflow with {scispace}'s cohort of exciting AI tools

Elevate your academic writing skills and convey your ideas the way you want

Paraphraser

Explore our range of reading and writing tools

Your file is being prepared and should be ready in a few minutes. If it's a large file, it might take a bit longer. You can close this window, and we'll email you the file when it's done.

You have reached a maximum limit of <strong>{limit}</strong> columns in the table. Remove at least <strong>1</strong> column to add or create another one.

S. Abidha

Author Tools

Chat about Author