Research Publications (Food Safety)

Probiotics are beneficial microorganisms, mostly lactic acid bacteria (LAB), that offer health benefits to the host when consumed in adequate amounts. This study assessed the probiotic efficacy and safety of LAB strains isolated from Laban, a traditional fermented milk product.

Bacillus cereus is a rod-shaped, gram-positive, motile, and β-hemolytic soil bacterium. B. cereus is an opportunistic pathogen, often responsible for human foodborne illness that is caused by ingestion of starchy foods with symptoms of diarrhea and vomiting. Among the numerous amylolytic enzymes in the genome of the pathogen, the one annotated as a putative neopullulanase (NPase) was cloned and its biochemical properties were characterized in this study.

Antimicrobial proteins and peptides are an alternative to current antibiotics. Here, we report an antimicrobial activity in a low-molecular-weight protein secreted naturally by Streptomyces lividans TK24 when glucose or glycerol were used as carbon sources.

Bacterial pathogenesis-associated characteristics such as biofilm formation, synthesis of hydrolyzing enzymes, and toxins are regulated by Acyl Homoserine Lactones (AHLs), small peptides and diffusing signal factors (DSF). Lelliottia amnigena is gram negative bacteria and its pathogenicity is regulated by the luxR and luxI class of quorum sensing.

The antimicrobial activity of endophytic fungi isolated from Euphorbia milii was evaluated against Gram-positive, Gram-negative bacteria, unicellular yeast, and filamentous fungi. Chaetomium ovatoascomatis NRC was identified morphologically and genetically as the most active strain. The total ethyl acetate extract of C.

Antibiotic resistance, which has increased rapidly in recent years because of uncontrolled and unconscious antibiotic consumption, poses a major threat to public health. The inadequacy of existing antibiotics has increased the need for new, effective, and less toxic antibiotic raw materials or antibiotic derivatives. Pecan (Carya illinoinensis) and Chestnut (Castanea sativa) flowers possess abundant pollen contents and exhibit similar morphological features.

A tannase-positive Bacillus gottheilii M2S2 and Bacillus cereus M1GT were co-cultivated for the production of gallic acid using tannic acid as the sole carbon source through submerged fermentation. Taguchi orthogonal array of design of experimental methodology was used to estimate the influence and significance of tannic acid concentration, glucose concentration, agitation speed, and inoculum size on the gallic acid production in a shake flask.

Microorganisms can produce many antibiotics against bacteria and fungi, which have been used as a potential choice of new antibiotics. In this paper, we studied the characteristics of antibacterial substances by Bacillus cereus BC1. The results showed that the acid-precipitated substance played the main role in antibacterial activity, and further characterization indicated that the antibacterial substance might be a lipopeptide substance.

Wild mushrooms are rich sources of natural compounds with potent bioactive properties. Several important metabolites have been reported from mushrooms, which possess clinically important bioactive properties like antibacterial, anticancer, antidiabetic, and neuroprotective activity.

In recent years, the use of bacteriocin-producing Lactobacillus species has received much attention in different areas, including using as probiotics, food preservation, and as broad antimicrobial spectrum activity. In this study, a bacteriocin-producing Lactobacillus strain was isolated from traditional yogurt. The isolate was identified by morphological, biochemical, 16S rRNA analyses, and designated as Latilactobacillus curvatus LAB-3H.

A sustainable technology to eliminate the persistent reactive dyes from the textile effluents discharged indiscriminately in the environment is highly desirous given the explosive growth of textile industries. The present study investigated the potential of two different bacterial strains, Bacillus cereus SKB12 and Enterobacter hormaechei SKB16 isolated from the dye house effluent sludge in the biotransformation of Reactive Red 198 (RR 198).

The diversity of 61 Bacillus cereus strains isolated from different clinical specimens, food including raw milk and milk products, and water was evaluated. PFGE analysis could discriminate 61 distinct pulsotypes with similarity levels from 25 to 82%, which were divided into 13 clonal complexes. The similarity between clonal complexes was at least 40%.

The occurrence of multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacteria, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (MDRAB), extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, has become a serious problem in animals and public.

SYJ15 is a highly pathogenic Gram-positive Bacillus sp. with top bud spore newly isolated from dying soft shell turtle. 16SrDNA sequencing showed that it is highly homologous to B. cereus, B. thuringiensis and B. anthracis. Biochemical examinations showed that it belongs to B. cereus. To further study the new pathogen, we conducted whole-genome sequencing based on single-molecular sequencing technology from PacBio.

Awareness of the consumer has increased the demand of safe and chemical-free foods, and consequently it has increased the demand of antibacterial bioactive compounds. In the present study, antibacterial compound produced by a local bacterial isolate NSD MTCC 10072, showing antagonistic activity against six human pathogens, was isolated, partially purified and characterized. Maximum production of antibacterial compound was observed between 51 and 60 h after seeding.