Search

The Parsurameswara stone monument, built in the seventh century, is one of the oldest stone monuments in Odisha, India. Metagenomic analysis of the biological crust samples collected from the stone monument revealed 17 phyla in the microbiome, with Proteobacteria being the most dominant phylum, followed by cyanobacteria. Eight cyanobacteria were isolated. Lyngbya corticicola was the dominant cyanobacterium in all crust samples and could tolerate six months of desiccation in vitro. With six months of desiccation, chlorophyll-a decreased; however, carotenoid and cellular carbohydrate contents of this organism increased in the desiccated state. Resistance to desiccation, high carotenoid content, and effective trehalose biosynthesis in this cyanobacterium provide a distinct advantage over other microbiomes. Comparative metabolic profiles of the biological crust and L. corticicola show strongly corrosive organic acids such as dichloroacetic acid, which might be responsible for the biocorrosion of stone monuments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An environmentally friendly, metal-free, and efficient C(sp2)–S coupling reaction protocol between aniline and low-cost tetraalkylthiuram disulfides was developed to synthesize aryl dithiocarbamates. The targets for developing the method included catalyst-free, base-free, mild reaction conditions, room temperature synthesis with high yields, and broad substrate scope. Apart from this, our approach is also helpful for synthesizing potentially bioactive compounds and drug modification. An antimicrobial assay and a docking study on dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) and dihydropteroate synthase (DHPS) enzymes of the three synthetic derivatives were performed to evaluate the antimicrobial potency of the new compounds and thus inhibit the enzyme's action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Byline: Bijaya Kumar Padhi, Jnanendra Rath, Pratap Kumar Padhy The ecological responses of diatoms to pollution and nutrient enrichment, caused by domestic and municipal sewage, in the five fresh water ponds have been examined. It was observed that diatoms were completely absent in P3 and some species were also absent in P1 and P2. Similarly, diatom diversity was lower in P1 and P2 than in P4 and P5. However, diatom abundance was higher in P4. The Biological Index for Diatoms indicates a better water quality in P4 and P5 than in P1, P2 and P3. It was suggested that diatoms are useful for biological monitoring of water quality.

α-Ketoglutaric acid-based supramolecular Zn(II) metallogels in N , N '-dimethylformamide (DMF) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) solvent (i.e., Zn-α-Glu-DMF and Zn-α-Glu-DMSO) were successfully achieved. Zinc(II) acetate salt and α-ketoglutaric acid directed a three-dimensional noncovalent supramolecular network individually entrapped with N , N '-dimethylformamide (DMF) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) solvent to accomplish their respective semisolid flexible metallogel frameworks. The gel features of these synthesized materials were verified by rheological experiments such as amplitude sweep and frequency sweep measurements. The discrete morphological arrangements were analyzed for these metallogel samples through field emission scanning electron microscopic (FESEM) analysis. Highly stacked interconnected blocks of Zn-α-Glu-DMF with hierarchical arrays are found due to the occurrence of diverse noncovalent supramolecular interactions present in the metallogel framework. A distinct spherical shaped microstructure with interconnected hierarchical assembly has been observed for the FESEM pattern of Zn-α-Glu-DMSO. FTIR spectroscopic measurement was carried out to detect some important stretching vibrations of xerogel samples of different metallogels as well as gel-constructing chemical ingredients. A substantial amount of peak shifting of xerogel samples for both metallogels is observed in FTIR analysis, indicating the presence of different noncovalent interactions. ESI-mass analysis portrays a possible metallogel-constructing strategy. The antibacterial potentialities of both metallogels were investigated. These materials exhibited good antimicrobial efficacy toward Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains (including Escherichia coli , Bacillus cereus , Staphylococcus aureus , Listeria monocytogenes , and Salmonella typhimurium ). Both synthesized metallogels were successfully implemented to fabricate the photoresponsive semiconducting diode. These materials offer excellent photodiode parameters including an ideality factor and rectification ratio (ON/OFF ratio). Synthesized metallogels are used to successfully fabricate photodiodes with an Al/p-Si/metallogel/Au structure. The ideality factors (η) for Zn-α-Glu-DMF and Zn-α-Glu-DMSO are found as 1.3 and 2.3, respectively, in dark conditions. The rectification ratios for Zn-α-Glu-DMF and Zn-α-Glu-DMSO metallogels are also determined, and these are found as 40 and 10, respectively.