Department of Biotechnology

About: Department of Biotechnology is a government organization based out in New Delhi, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Silver nanoparticle. The organization has 4800 authors who have published 5033 publications receiving 82022 citations.

Optimization of protease production from surface-modified coffee pulp waste and corncobs using Bacillus sp. by SSF

Abstract: The aim of the study was to identify new sources of substrate from agro-industrial waste for protease production using Bacillus sp., a local bacteria isolated from an agro-waste dumping site. The strain was identified as Bacillus sp. BT MASC 3 by 16S rRNA sequence followed by phylogenic analysis. Response surface methodology-based Box–Behnken design (BBD) was used to optimize the variables such as pH, incubation time, coffee pulp waste (CPW) and corncob (CC) substrate concentration. The BBD design showed a reasonable adjustment of the quadratic model with the experimental data. Statistics-based contour and 3-D plots were generated to evaluate the changes in the response surface and understand the relationship between the culture conditions and the enzyme yield. The maximum yield of protease production (920 U/mL) was achieved after 60 h of incubation with 3.0 g/L of CPW and 2.0 g/L of CC at pH 8 and temperature 37 °C in this study. The molecular mass of the purified enzyme was 46 kDa. The highest activity was obtained at 50 °C and pH 9 for the purified enzymes.

Green biomimetic silver nanoparticles utilizing the red algae Amphiroa rigida and its potent antibacterial, cytotoxicity and larvicidal efficiency

Abstract: The present investigation reports a simple, rapid, inexpensive, and eco-friendly approach for synthesizing Amphiroa rigida-mediated silver nanoparticles (AR-AgNPs) for the first time. The biomimetic synthesized AR-AgNPs were characterized by both spectral and microscopic analysis. The UV–visible spectrum showed the surface plasmon peak at 420 nm, which indicated the formation of AR-AgNPs. X-ray diffraction characterization of AR-AgNPs showed a face-centered cubic crystal (25 nm) and the transmission electron microscope micrograph showed spherical shape. The functional group of polysaccharide that plays a major role as a stabilizing and reducing agent is confirmed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The biomimetic synthesized AR-AgNPs showed antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus (21 ± 0.2 mm) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (15 ± 0.2 mm). Further, the cytotoxic effects of AR-AgNPs against MCF-7 human breast cancer cells were observed through acridine orange-ethidium bromide and Hoechst staining. Besides, AR-AgNPs are found to be inhibit the growth of 3rd and 4th instar larvae of Aedes aegypti in a dose-dependent manner.

CRISPR/Cas9: molecular tool for gene therapy to target genome and epigenome in the treatment of lung cancer

Abstract: Although varied drugs and therapies have been developed for lung cancer treatment, in the past 5 years overall survival rates have not improved much. It has also been reported that lung cancer is diagnosed in most of the patients when it is already in the advanced stages with heterogeneous tumors where single therapy is mostly ineffective. A combination of therapies are being administered and specific genes in specific tissues are targeted while protecting normal cell, but most of the therapies face drawbacks for the development of resistance against them and tumor progression. Therefore, therapeutic implications for various therapies need to be complemented by divergent strategies. This review frames utilization of CRISPR/Cas9 for molecular targeted gene therapy leading to long-term repression and activation or inhibition of molecular targets linked to lung cancer, avoiding the cycles of therapy.