SRM University

About: SRM University is a education organization based out in Chennai, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Computer science & Population. The organization has 10787 authors who have published 11704 publications receiving 103767 citations. The organization is also known as: Sri Ramaswamy Memorial University.

Gut microbiota metagenomics in aquaculture: factors influencing gut microbiome and its physiological role in fish

Abstract: Fish gut microbiome confers various effects to the host fish; this includes overall size, metabolism, feeding behaviour and immune response in the fish. The emergence of antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) bacteria and hard to cure fish diseases warrant the possible utilization of gut microbes that exhibits a positive effect on the fish and thus lead to the usage of these microbes as probiotics. The widespread and systematic use of antibiotics has led to severe biological and ecological problems, especially the development of antibiotic resistance that affects the gut microbiota of aquatic organisms. Probiotics are proposed as an effective and environmentally friendly alternative to antibiotics, known as beneficial microbes. At the same time, prebiotics are considered beneficial to the host's health and growth by decreasing the prevalence of intestinal pathogens and/or changing the development of bacterial metabolites related to health. Uprise of sequencing technology and the development of intricate bioinformatics tools has provided a way to study these gut microbes through metagenomic analysis. From various metagenomic studies, ample of information was obtained; such information includes the effect of the gut microbiome on the physiology of fish, gut microbe composition of different fish, factors affecting the gut microbial composition of the fish and the immunological effect of gut microbes in fish; such this information related to the fish gut microbiome, their function and their importance in aquaculture is discussed in this review.

Antibacterial activity of Artemisia nilagirica leaf extracts against clinical and phytopathogenic bacteria

Abstract: The six organic solvent extracts of Artemisia nilagirica were screened for the potential antimicrobial activity against phytopathogens and clinically important standard reference bacterial strains. The agar disk diffusion method was used to study the antibacterial activity of A. nilagirica extracts against 15 bacterial strains. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of the plant extracts were tested using two fold agar dilution method at concentrations ranging from 32 to 512 μg/ml. The phytochemical screening of extracts was carried out for major phytochemical derivatives in A. nilagirica. All the extracts showed inhibitory activity for gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria except for Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterococcus faecalis and Staphylococcus aureus. The hexane extract was found to be effective against all phytopathogens with low MIC of 32 μg/ml and the methanol extract exhibited a higher inhibition activity against Escherichia coli, Yersinia enterocolitica, Salmonella typhi, Enterobacter aerogenes, Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas aeruginosa (32 μg/ml), Bacillus subtilis (64 μg/ml) and Shigella flaxneri (128 μg/ml). The phytochemical screening of extracts answered for the major derivative of alkaloids, amino acids, flavonoids, phenol, quinines, tannins and terpenoids. All the extracts showed antibacterial activity against the tested strains. Of all, methanol and hexane extracts showed high inhibition against clinical and phytopathogens, respectively. The results also indicate the presence of major phytochemical derivatives in the A. nilagirica extracts. Hence, the isolation and purification of therapeutic potential compounds from A. nilagirica could be used as an effective source against bacterial diseases in human and plants.

Consumer's response to CSR activities: Mediating role of brand image and brand attitude

Abstract: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a well‐touted term in management disciplines that connects the business goals and societal values. CSR is used as a strategic approach that gives competitive differentiation through coagulation of both business and overarching societal goals. Organizations believe that goodwill created by CSR activities bestows the strategic competitive advantage and sustainable development. The objective of the study is to measure the impact of CSR activities on purchase intention either directly or indirectly; for this purpose, the study has administered a structured questionnaire and collected responses from Indian citizens purchasing products from FMCG companies topping the CSR spending list and used structural equation modeling to validate the results. The findings suggest that customers process CSR details unconsciously and may not remember the explicit detail, but they are more likely to include the brand in the consideration set evokedby positive attitudes trailing behind.

A positive role of microRNA-15b on regulation of osteoblast differentiation.

Abstract: Osteoblast differentiation is tightly regulated by several factors including microRNAs (miRNAs). In this paper, we report that pre-mir-15b is highly expressed in differentiated osteoblasts. The functional role of miR-15b in osteoblast differentiation was determined using miR-15b mimic/inhibitor and the expression of osteoblast differentiation marker genes such as alkaline phosphatase (ALP), type I collagen genes was decreased by miR-15b inhibitor. Runx2, a bone specific transcription factor is generally required for expression of osteoblast differentiation marker genes and in response to miR-15b inhibitor treatment, Runx2 mRNA expression was not changed; whereas its protein expression was decreased. Even though Smurf1 (SMAD specific E3 ubiquitin protein ligase 1), HDAC4 (histone deacetylase 4), Smad7, and Crim1 were found to be few of miR-15b's putative target genes, there was increased expression of only Smurf1 gene at mRNA and protein levels by miR-15b inhibitor. miR-15b mimic treatment significantly increased and decreased expressions of Runx2 and Smurf1 proteins, respectively. We further identified that the Smurf1 3'UTR is directly targeted by miR-15b using the luciferase reporter gene system. This is well documented that Smurf1 interacts with Runx2 and degrades it by proteasomal pathway. Hence, based on our results we suggest that miR-15b promotes osteoblast differentiation by indirectly protecting Runx2 protein from Smurf1 mediated degradation. Thus, this study identified that miR-15b can act as a positive regulator for osteoblast differentiation.