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Patents of lectins with antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal applications were searched and reviewed. Lectins are proteins that reversibly bind to specific carbohydrates and have the potential for therapy of infectious diseases as biopharmaceuticals, biomedical tools, or in drug design. Given the rising concerns over drug resistance and epidemics, our patent review aims to add information, open horizons, and indicate our view of the future perspectives about the antimicrobial applications of lectins. Patents with publications until December 2020 were retrieved from Espacenet using defined search terms and Boolean operators. The documents were used to identify the geographical and temporal distribution of the patents, characterize their lectins, and classify and summarize their antiviral, antibiotic, and antifungal applications. Lectins are promising antiviral agents against viruses with epidemics and drug resistance concerns. Mannose-binding lectins were the most suggested antiviral agents since glycans with mannose residues are commonly involved in viral entry mechanisms. They were also applied immobilized onto surfaces to trap viral particles and inhibit their spread and replication. Many patents described the extraction, isolation, amino acid and nucleotide sequences, and expression vectors of lectins with antibiotic and/or antifungal activities in terms of MIC and IC50 for in vitro assays. The inventions also included lectins as biological tools in nanosensors for antibiotics susceptibility tests, drug delivery systems for the treatment of resistant bacteria, diagnostics of viral diseases, and as a vaccine adjuvant. Although research and development of new medicines is highly expensive, antimicrobial lectins may be worth investments given the emergence of epidemics and drug resistance. For this purpose, less invasive routes should be developed as alternatives to the parenteral administration of biologics. While anti-glycan neutralizing antibodies are difficult to develop due to the low immunogenicity of carbohydrates, lectins can be produced more easily and have a broad-spectrum activity. Protein engineering technologies may make the antimicrobial applications of lectins more successful.

Introduction: Diseases caused by protozoa are one of the leading causes of death world-wide, especially in tropical regions such as Brazil. Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, and malaria are responsible for around 234 million cases and more than 400,000 deaths worldwide. Despite this scenario, drugs for these diseases have several limitations, which justifies the search for new treat-ments. Iron superoxide dismutase is a promising target for the drug design to treat patients with these diseases. It is a validated target and protects against oxidative stress. Aim: Thus, this systematic review aimed to synthesize evidence on the importance of superoxide dismutase in the drug design to treat patients with this protozoosis. Method: A search was performed for in vitro and in vivo studies, without publication and language restrictions, in MEDLINE (PubMed), LILACS (BVS), Science Direct, and EMBASE (Elsevier). Studies that pointed to the relationship between the reduction or increase in superoxide dismutase activity and the diseases were included. 23 studies were selected for the qualitative synthesis. Result: The results showed that the inhibition or reduction of the enzyme activity decreases the de-gree of infection and reinfection and improves the results in treating these diseases. In contrast, the increase in activity caused a high degree of survival and resistance of the parasites. Conclusion: However, the overall quality of evidence is low and more studies with methodological rigor are provided.

Functional annotation of Trametes villosa genome was performed to search Class II peroxidase proteins in this white-rot fungus, which can be valuable for several biotechnological processes. After s...

The protease was produced extracellularly in submerged fermentation by the yeast Rhodotorula oryzicola using different sources of nitrogen and maximum activity (6.54 × 10-3 U/mg) was obtained in medium containing 2% casein (w/v). Purification of the protease by gel filtration chromatography resulted in a 3.07-fold increase of specific protease activity. The optimal pH and temperature for enzyme activity were 6.51 and 63.04 °C, respectively. Incubation in the presence of some salts enhanced enzyme activity, which peaked under 0.01 M BaCl2 . The enzyme retained about 90% of enzymatic activity at temperatures 50-60 °C. The commercially available enzyme carriers evaluated, silica gel, Celite 545, and chitosan effectively immobilized the protease. The enzyme immobilized in Celite 545 retained 73.53% of the initial activity after 15 reuse cycles. These results are quite promising for large-scale production and immobilization of protease from R. oryzicola, as the high operational stability of the immobilized enzyme lowers production costs in biotechnological applications that require high enzymatic activity and stability under high temperatures.

Objetivo: relatar uma experiência didática envolvendo diálogo entre a Universidade e a Escola Pública, por meio da aplicação da oficina pedagógica denominada “Brincando de Geneticista: descobrindo o DNA”. Método: A oficina direcionada para alunos da Educação Básica foi realizada na Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, durante a Semana Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia do ano de 2019. A atividade pedagógica foi fundamentada na extração de material genético. Foram utilizados materiais de baixo custo e fácil acesso. Resultados: 80 estudantes Ensino Fundamental II participaram da oficina. Os alunos foram divididos em pequenos grupos, possibilitando maior interação entre estudantes e professor. A oficina de caráter participativo possibilitou que os estudantes pudessem compreender a importância da genética para a vida, além de estimular a interação dos escolares com a Universidade. Ademais, foi observado que muitos escolares apresentam dificuldades para transpor e contextualizar assuntos relacionados a conteúdos celulares e moleculares. Conclusão: No presente trabalho, o uso dessa abordagem didática ampliou a receptividade dos alunos aos conteúdos trabalhados, facilitou o diálogo aluno-professor e se mostrou uma ótima ferramenta de interface entre universidade e escola básica.

Public School, through the application of the pedagogical workshop called “Playing Geneticist: discovering the DNA”. Method: The workshop directed to students of Basic Education was held at the State University of Feira de Santana, during the National Week of Science and Technology of the year 2019. The pedagogical activity was based on the extraction of genetic material. Low-cost and easy-to-access materials were used. Results: 80 elementary school students participated in the workshop. The students were divided into small groups (12 to 15 students), allowing greater interaction between students and the teacher. The participatory workshop enabled students to understand the importance of genetics for life, in addition to stimulating the interaction of students with the University. Furthermore, it was observed that many students have difficulties in transposing and contextualizing issues related to cellular and molecular content. Conclusion: In the present work, the use of this didactic approach increased the students' receptivity to the contents worked on, facilitated the student-teacher dialogue and proved to be a great interface tool between university and basic school.

This paper presents the description and analysis of a didactic experience involving the participation of a university and a community school, developed as part of the National Science and Technology Week, at a public university in northeastern Brazil. For this purpose, the use of learning station rotation enabled innovation in the teaching of physiology integrated with biochemistry and health education contents. The didactic approach consisted of creating a learning circuit comprising seven stations. The central theme of the stations emphasized physiology, with specific foci on biochemistry and cardiorespiratory and endocrine health. Each station provided unique activities related to the central theme, including a station concerning digital technology in physiology. The school students were divided into small groups (6 or 7 people) that rotated through the stations, with a total of 81 students visiting each station. A qualitative assessment was performed using a Likert-scale questionnaire to measure the level of satisfaction of the students. It was found that this didactic approach increased the receptivity of the students to the contents, facilitated student-teacher dialogue, and provided an excellent tool for establishing an interface between the university and the community school. Overall, 76.5% of the students rated the activity as excellent.

Cellulases are important enzymes in cellulose degradation that occurs in nature, this degradation involves a system of extracellular multienzymes and have wide application. The construction of a high-quality system for the production of these enzymes is important for its application in the process of saccharification of biomass involved in the biofuel production process. Several species of fungi are capable of synthesizing and secreting high amounts of cellulase, most studies with fungal species use linearized plasmid, since these are encompassed to chromosomal DNA, improving its stability and expression efficiency. Advances in the production of recombinant enzymes focus on the search for industrially viable microorganisms capable of producing enzymes under various conditions, expressing them in a highly efficient manner, aiming at the synthesis of several copies of genes and a strong promoter. To resay these restrictions, molecular biology combined with recombinant DNA technology is a viable tool in enzymatic production. In subsequent topics, the production of endoglucanases, exoglucanases and β-glucosidase of fungi cloned in Escherichia coli, Pichia pastoris and other different expression systems will be addressed.

The daily exposure of humans to artificial magnetic fields has inspired studies of their effects on biological systems. Different views are advocated by many research groups and few studies have clarified the role of magnetic field gradients in observed results. We investigated the effect of strong gradients and continuous magnetic fields in a cellular system. Colonies of Saccharomyces cerevisiae CCMB 355 were grown in solid and liquid media and exposed to the neodymium–iron–boron magnets. Notably, in solid medium, cells exposed to previously demagnetized NdFeB magnets or to the metals contained in magnets exhibited normal activities, but when exposed to the gradient, growth drastically fails near the magnet, even when the intensity of magnetism was near zero. Increasing the distance of the magnet to regions of weak magnetic field gradient caused decreased cellular malaise. When the magnet was removed, the cells were not capable of growing again, indicating that the gradient killed the exposed cells. In liquid medium, we observed a decrease in the absorbance values in the region of 560 nm when the substrate was directly permeated by a strong magnetic field gradient in comparison with a control without the magnet or with a magnet covered with a thin layer of silicone. This study helps to clarify the effect of the magnetic field gradient in biological systems.

Functional annotation of

Protease was extracellularly produced in submerged fermentation by the fungus Moorella speciosa with maximum activity of 8.6 × 10(3) U/mL. The optimal pH and temperature for enzyme activity were 6.78 and 60.88 °C, respectively. The enzyme was incubated in the presence of several ions at concentrations of 0.1 M and 0.01 M to address the effect on enzyme activity. Enzyme activity was increased by 56% and 130% in the presence of 0.1 M BaCl(2) and of 0.01 M Na(2)SO(4), respectively. The V(max) and K(m) values were 0.01474 U/min/mg protein and 0.04190 mg/mL, respectively. The enzyme retained about 90% of enzymatic activity at 90 °C. Among the methods tested for enzyme immobilization, adsorption onto MAT540 carrier led to the most promising results, since after 15 reuse cycles up to 60% of the initial catalytic activity was retained. Entrapment in calcium alginate matrix allowed to retain up to 51% of the initial catalytic activity after 8 reuse cycles. This protease from M. speciosa, in either free or immobilized form, can be foreseen as a useful biocatalytic tool in process design by reducing operating costs, decreasing the use of chemical processing and, consequently, meeting the global demand for clean technologies.

Cocoa beans used for chocolate production are fermented seeds of Theobroma cacao obtained by a natural fermentation process. The flavors and chemical compounds produced during the fermentation process make this step one of the most important in fine chocolate production. Herein, an integrative analysis of the variation of microbial community structure, using a shotgun metagenomics approach and associated physicochemical features, was performed during fermentation of fine cocoa beans. Samples of Forastero variety (FOR) and a mixture of two hybrids (PS1319 and CCN51) (MIX) from Bahia, Brazil, were analyzed at 7 different times. In the beginning (0 h), the structures of microbial communities were very different between FOR and MIX, reflecting the original plant-associated microbiomes. The highest change in microbial community structures occurred at the first 24 h of fermentation, with a marked increase in temperature and acetic acid concentration, and pH decrease. At 24–48 h both microbial community structures were quite homogenous regarding temperature, acetic acid, succinic acid, pH, soluble proteins and total phenols. During 72–96 h, the community structure resembles an acidic and warmer environment, prevailing few acetic acid bacteria. Taxonomic richness and abundance at 72–144 h exhibited significant correlation with temperature, reducing sugars, succinic, and acetic acids. Finally, we recommend that dominant microbial species of spontaneous fine cocoa fermentations should be considered as inoculum in accordance with the farm/region and GMP to maintain a differential organoleptic feature for production of fine chocolate. In our study, a starter inoculum composed of Acetobacter pausterianus and Hanseniaspora opuntiae strains is indicated.

Herein, we present the draft genome of Trametes villosa isolate CCMB561, a wood-decaying Basidiomycota commonly found in tropical semiarid climate. The genome assembly was 57.98 Mb in size with an L50 of 691. A total of 16,711 putative protein-encoding genes was predicted, including 590 genes coding for carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZy), directly involved in the decomposition of lignocellulosic materials. This is the first genome of this species of high interest in bioenergy research. The draft genome of Trametes villosa isolate CCMB561 will provide an important resource for future investigations in biofuel production, bioremediation and other green technologies.

The lectin from Platypodium elegans seeds (PELa) was purified by affinity chromatography in a mannose-agarose column. The lectin agglutinated rabbit erythrocytes and the agglutinating effect was inhibited by previous incubation with the glycoprotein fetuin, along with N -acetyl- d -glucosamine, D-mannose and its derivatives. The lectin maintained complete activity in temperatures ranging from 40 to 60 °C and pH values ranging from 9 to 10. As a glycoprotein, PELa has a carbohydrate content of 2.2%, and its activity requires divalent cations such as Ca 2+ and Mn 2+ . Based on SDS-PAGE, PELa displays a profile similar to that of other Dalbergieae lectins with the main chain of molecular mass around 30 kDa and two subunits of 19 kDa and 10 kDa each. Two-dimensional (2D) electrophoresis revealed the presence of isoforms with different isoelectric points, and high-performance size exclusion chromatography (HPSEC) was performed to confirm the purity of the sample. The lectin was immobilized in CNBr-activated Sepharose 4 B and successfully captured fetuin in solution, demonstrating that this lectin remains active and capable of binding carbohydrates. PELa showed effects different from those of its recombinant form in both pro- and anti-inflammatory tests.

White-rot basidiomycetes are the organisms that decompose lignin most efficiently, and Trametes villosa is a promising species for ligninolytic enzyme production. There are several publications on T. villosa applications for lignin degradation regarding the expression and secretion of laccase and manganese peroxidase (MnP) but no reports on the identification and characterization of lignin peroxidase (LiP), a relevant enzyme for the efficient breakdown of lignin. The object of this study was to identify and partially characterize, for the first time, gDNA, mRNA, and the corresponding lignin peroxidase (TvLiP) protein from T. villosa strain CCMB561 from the Brazilian semiarid region. The presence of ligninolytic enzymes produced by this strain grown in inducer media was qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed by spectrophotometry, qPCR, and dye fading using Remazol Brilliant Blue R. The spectrophotometric analysis showed that LiP activity was higher than that of MnP. The greatest LiP expression as measured by qPCR occurred on the 7th day, and the ABSA medium (agar, sugarcane bagasse, and ammonium sulfate) was the best that favored LiP expression. The amplification of the TvLiP gene median region covering approximately 50% of the T. versicolor LPGIV gene (87% identity); the presence of Trp199, Leu115, Asp193, Trp199, and Ala203 in the translated amplicon of the T. villosa mRNA; and the close phylogenetic relationship between TvLiP and T. versicolor LiP all indicate that the target enzyme is a lignin peroxidase. Therefore, T. villosa CCMB561 has great potential for use as a LiP, MnP, and Lac producer for industrial applications.

Antimicrobial resistance is increasing despite new treatments being employed. With a decrease in the discovery rate of novel antibiotics, this threatens to take humankind back to a “pre-antibiotic era” of clinical care. Bacteriophages (phages) are one of the most promising alternatives to antibiotics for clinical use. Although more than a century of mostly ad-hoc phage therapy has involved substantial clinical experimentation, a lack of both regulatory guidance standards and effective execution of clinical trials has meant that therapy for infectious bacterial diseases has yet to be widely adopted. However, several recent case studies and clinical trials show promise in addressing these concerns. With the antibiotic resistance crisis and urgent search for alternative clinical treatments for bacterial infections, phage therapy may soon fulfill its long-held promise. This review reports on the applications of phage therapy for various infectious diseases, phage pharmacology, immunological responses to phages, legal concerns, and the potential benefits and disadvantages of this novel treatment.

Leishmaniasis is caused by protozoa of the genus Leishmania spp. and is considered the second most important protozoa in the world due to the number of cases and mortality. Despite its importance in terms of public health, the treatment of patients is limited and has mostly low levels of efficacy and safety. Farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase (FPPS) acts in the early stages of isoprenoid synthesis, and is important for maintaining the integrity of the lipid bilayer of the parasite that causes the disease. The aim of this work was to identify one potential inhibitor of the FPPS of Leishmania major through virtual screening by pharmacophore modeling and docking. A total of 85,000 compounds from a natural products database (ZINC15) was submitted for virtual hierarchical screening, and the top ranked molecule in both methods was analyzed by intermolecular interaction profile and 20 ns molecular dynamics simulations. These results showed a promising compound from natural products that mimic the major interactions present in the substrate/inhibitor.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the antinociceptive effects of a lectin from Canavalia brasiliensis (ConBr) when administered orally to murine models of chemical and thermal nociception. ConBr up to 100 mg/kg produced significant and dose-dependent antinociceptive effects: 81% reduction in abdominal writhing induced by 0.6% acetic acid; 26 and 52% reduction in early- and late-stage paw licking, respectively, induced by 2.5% formalin; and 155% increase in reaction latency (heightened thermal pain threshold). In all models, the antinociceptive effect was reversed by the lectin-binding carbohydrate α-d-methyl-mannoside and by the nonselective opioid antagonist naloxone. The antinociceptive effect observed in the formalin test was inhibited by the δ-selective antagonist naltrindole and the κ-selective antagonist nor-binaltorphimine but not by the μ-selective antagonist cyprodime. In conclusion, when administered orally to Swiss mice, the ConBr lectin displayed antinociceptive activity, both peripheral and central, mediated by the opioid system and involving δ-and κ-receptors and the lectin domain.