Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology 

About: Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology is an academic journal published by Springer Science+Business Media. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Medicine & Biology. It has an ISSN identifier of 1017-7825. Over the lifetime, 5707 publications have been published receiving 90448 citations. The journal is also known as: JMB (Online) & JMB (Print).

Current Status of Epidemiology, Diagnosis, Therapeutics, and Vaccines for Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Abstract: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which causes serious respiratory illness such as pneumonia and lung failure, was first reported in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei, China. The etiological agent of COVID-19 has been confirmed as a novel coronavirus, now known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which is most likely originated from zoonotic coronaviruses, like SARS-CoV, which emerged in 2002. Within a few months of the first report, SARS-CoV-2 had spread across China and worldwide, reaching a pandemic level. As COVID-19 has triggered enormous human casualties and serious economic loss posing global threat, an understanding of the ongoing situation and the development of strategies to contain the virus’s spread are urgently needed. Currently, various diagnostic kits to test for COVID-19 are available and several repurposing therapeutics for COVID-19 have shown to be clinically effective. In addition, global institutions and companies have begun to develop vaccines for the prevention of COVID-19. Here, we review the current status of epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment, and vaccine development for COVID-19.

Advances in rapid detection methods for foodborne pathogens.

Abstract: Food safety is increasingly becoming an important public health issue, as foodborne diseases present a widespread and growing public health problem in both developed and developing countries. The rapid and precise monitoring and detection of foodborne pathogens are some of the most effective ways to control and prevent human foodborne infections. Traditional microbiological detection and identification methods for foodborne pathogens are well known to be time consuming and laborious as they are increasingly being perceived as insufficient to meet the demands of rapid food testing. Recently, various kinds of rapid detection, identification, and monitoring methods have been developed for foodborne pathogens, including nucleic-acid-based methods, immunological methods, and biosensor-based methods, etc. This article reviews the principles, characteristics, and applications of recent rapid detection methods for foodborne pathogens.

Deciphering Diversity Indices for a Better Understanding of Microbial Communities.

Abstract: The past decades have been a golden era during which great tasks were accomplished in the field of microbiology, including food microbiology. In the past, culture-dependent methods have been the primary choice to investigate bacterial diversity. However, using culture-independent high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes has greatly facilitated studies exploring the microbial compositions and dynamics associated with health and diseases. These culture-independent DNA-based studies generate large-scale data sets that describe the microbial composition of a certain niche. Consequently, understanding microbial diversity becomes of greater importance when investigating the composition, function, and dynamics of the microbiota associated with health and diseases. Even though there is no general agreement on which diversity index is the best to use, diversity indices have been used to compare the diversity among samples and between treatments with controls. Tools such as the Shannon- Weaver index and Simpson index can be used to describe population diversity in samples. The purpose of this review is to explain the principles of diversity indices, such as Shannon- Weaver and Simpson, to aid general microbiologists in better understanding bacterial communities. In this review, important questions concerning microbial diversity are addressed. Information from this review should facilitate evidence-based strategies to explore microbial communities.

Direct Electrode Reaction of Fe(III)-Reducing Bacterium, Shewanella putrefaciens

Abstract: Anaerobically grown cells of an Fe(III)-reducing bacterium, Shewanella putrefaciens IR-1, were electrochemically active with an apparent reduction potential of about 0.15 V against a saturated calomel electrode in the cyclic voltammetry. The bacterium did not grow fermentatively on lactate, but grew in an anode compartment of a three-electrode electrochemical cell using lactate as an electron donor and the electrode as the electron acceptor. This property was shared by a large number of Fe(III)-reducing bacterial isolates. This is the first observation of a direct electrochemical reaction by an intact bacterial cell, which is believed to be possible due to the electron carrier(s) located at the cell surface involved in the reduction of the natural water insoluble electron acceptor, Fe(III).

A brief overview of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and its plasmid O157.

Abstract: Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 is a major foodborne pathogen causing severe disease in humans worldwide. Healthy cattle are a reservoir of E. coli O157:H7, and bovine food products and fresh produce contaminated with bovine waste are the most common sources for disease outbreaks in the United States. E. coli O157:H7 also survives well in the environment. The abilities to cause human disease, colonize the bovine gastrointestinal tract, and survive in the environment require that E. coli O157:H7 adapt to a wide variety of conditions. Three major virulence factors of E. coli O157:H7 have been identified including Shiga toxins, products of the pathogenicity island called the locus of enterocyte effacement, and products of the F-like plasmid pO157. Among these virulence factors, the role of pO157 is least understood. This review provides a board overview of E. coli O157:H7 with an emphasis on pO157.