Absract Archive   February 2010 Mini Review Microbial Informatics-Unraveling The Mysteries Of Pathogens Abstract The revolutionary growth in the computation speed and memory storage capability has fueled a new era in the analysis of biological data .A rapid progress has been made in the techniques and equipment of, high-throughput technologies (sequencing, omics) enabling relatively fast knowledge acquisition of microbial genomes. The vast amount of information generated in this way has to be stored, structured, indexed, and analyzed and tied up to available experimental data. This need has resulted in the development of the field of bio-informatics at the intersection of microbiology and information science. Software in microinformatics help scientists to focus on their research by making common bioinformatics tools ready at hand and easy to use. The integrated framework Workbenches is designed to support work processes such as primer design, assembly and BLAST searches. Authors: K Santhiya, T Manoj*, C P Anitha Devi, V Umashankar, Y Rajalakshmi For Correspondence: Email manojtnair@rediffmail.com Research Article Partial Characterization of An Acid Protease From An Indigenously Isolated Aspergillus awamori (NIICC 08154) From Soil of Teak Forest Abstract An acidic protease produced by an indigenously isolated Aspergillus awamori (NIICC 08154) from soil of teak forest has been partially purified and characterized. The maximum production of acid protease i.e. 42.71U/ml was achieved after 96 hrs. The crude enzyme preparation showed activity in the range of 45-60 oC with optimum activity at 45oC. The crude preparation of protease showed reasonable activity at temperature range of 45 to 60°C with maximum activity at 45 ºC. The Km value of the enzyme was found to be 28.57 mg/ml and the molecular weight as determined by SDS-PAGE was approximately 45 kDa. The activity of crude enzyme was completely inhibited by 2-mercaptoethanol and pepstatin while the enzyme activity was totally retained in the presence of PMSF and EDTA. Keywords: Acid proteases, Aspergillus awamori (NIICC 08154), teak forest, indigenous isolate. Authors: V K Morya and *D. Yadav For Correspondence: E mail : dinesh_yad@rediffmail.com Research Article Isolation, Amplification And Charecterization of Copper Binding Regions of Laccase Gene From Isolated White Rot Fungi Abstract Pollution control poses a challenging task for Biotechnologists and a number of eco friendly biotechnological approaches have been designed and many more are under study. Fungi are better candidates in the above function and the objective of the present study was to isolate white rot fungi from natural sources and to characterize fungi with respect to the function by laccase gene and enzyme. A genomic DNA segment encoding an extracellular laccase was isolated and amplified selectively in order to analyze the presence of copper binding regions. The isolate was analyzed for laccase plate assay, enzyme assay and PAGE. All the results showed very clearly the presence of laccase gene in the isolate. Key words: White rot fungi, copper binding regions, laccase, ABTS, Trametes hirsuta Authors: *R. Indira Priyadarsini1, Dr. V. Bhuvaneswari2, K. Suresh Kumar3, N. Lakshmi1 For Correspondence: E mail : thanayk@gmail.com Research Article The Potential Application of Keratinase From Bacillus sp. As A Laundry Detergent, And Feed Additive Abstract Keratinolytic Bacillus sp. AJ4 and Bacillus sp. AJ9 isolated from feather dumped soil produced keratinase of 82 U/ml (specific activity of 37.3 U/mg) and 78 U/ml (specific activity of 34.2 U/mg), respectively at pH 7 and 10. Keratinase of Bacillus sp. AJ4 exhibited increased stability (82-94% and ~50%) in Triton X-100 and H2O2. Bacillus sp. AJ9 keratinase was 100% stable in SDS. The keratinases were compatible with commercial detergents retained stability of 50-84% in Rin® and Tide®. With keratinase supplemented detergent solution blood and egg yolk stain were completely removed in 1h. Addition of keratinase to chick feed increased body weight (44.4 g) and feed conversion ratio (2.02). The rice seeds treated with feather hydrolysate showed 30% increased vigour index. Significant stability towards detergents, improved feed conversion ratio confirms the suitability of keratinase from Bacillus sp. AJ4 and AJ9 for multitude industrial applications. Keywords: Bacillus sp; Keratinase; Wash performance; Chick feed; Vigour index Authors: Thirumalai Arasu. V1, * Sivakumar. T2, Ramasubramanian V3, Nalini. K4 and Vanathi. R5 For Correspondence: E mail : thirumalai_arasu@hotmail.com. Research Article Biodegradation Of Phenol In Pharmaceutical Industrial Effluentsusing Bacillus subtilis And Alcaligenes eutrophus Abstract Pharmaceutical effluents are wastes generated by pharmaceutical industry during the process of drugs manufacturing. Some pharmaceutical effluents contain high concentration of aromatic organic compounds such as Phenol, Toluene and Benzene. Biodegradation of phenol by Bacillus subtilis and Alcaligenes eutrophus were studied. These strains were isolated from pharmaceutical industrial effluents. Aromatic organic compounds are a carbon source for these microbes, it is advantageous to study their bio degradation to nullify their pollutant effect. The physico-chemical parameters and degradation studies were carried out on before and after treatment of the isolated microbes in the pharmaceutical effluents. On comparative study of the biodegradation ability of Bacillus subtilis and Alcaligenes eutrophus maximum biodegradation ability was observed in Bacillus subtilis, the values of pharmaceutical effluents calculated for before degradation of phenol as 0.35mg/l after degradation 0.18mg/l. Keywords: Biodegradation, Pharmaceutical industrial effluents, Bacillus subtilis, Alcaligenes eutrophus and Phenol. Authors: J.Jasmine Rose Selina, *R.Rajasekaran, M.Muthuselvam and S.Arunkumar For Correspondence: E mail : jasmine.rose25@yahoo.com (or) mailtorrajasekaran@ymail.com Short Communication Bioinformatics Analysis And Database Creation For Biofuel Producing Microbes Abstract Bio-fuel compound database consists of Bioethanol, Biobutanol and Biodiesel natural sources, Microbes, enzymes, collected from various research articles; the database is constructed using Html, My SQL and Perl code. The database microorganism's habitat, process and production details, Blast& Motif analysis, compound name and 3-D structure information Key words: Database, Biofuels, Microbes Authors: Fredimoses. M1 and K. Ponmurugan2 For Correspondence : E mail :moses10c@gmail.com Short Communication Phylogenomics of Selected Rhodophycean Seaweeds Inferred from 18s rRNA Partial Sequences Abstract Sequence analysis and the phylogenetic relationships among the five red algal species (Gracilaria gracilis, Gelidiella ligulata, Gelidium elegans, Kappaphycus alverzii and Porphyra spiralis) were inferred using their smaller subunit 18s rRNA sequences outsourced from the NCBI. The sequence analysis showed that Kappaphycus alverezii exhibits longest gene with high G-C content (51.39%) and the phylogenetic analysis showed that the Bangiophycidae (Porphyra) forms a paraphyletic group and the Floridiophycidae (Gracilaria, Gelidiella, Gelidium and Kappaphycus) are monophyletic. Key words: Rhodophyceae, SSU rRNA, molecular phylogeny. Authors: E. Neelamathi1 and R.Kannan2 For Correspondence : E-mail: neelamathimsc@yahoo.co.in Short Communication Production of Lactic Acid Bacteria Bacillus coagulans by Batch Fermentation Abstract Biomass or cell mass of Lactic acid bacteria have been used as probiotics to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria. An attempt has been made to produce the biomass of Bacillus coagulans in large amounts using batch fermentors under aerated and non aerated conditions. The cultures from both aerated and non aerated fermentation were analyzed for the Growth curve (OD), Lactic acid (HPLC) and glucose (GOD/POD) at an interval of 3 hours for 15 hours. From the results obtained, it was confirmed that aeration does not improve the biomass production than non aerated culture. Keywords: Bacillus coagulans, probiotics, fermentation, lactic acid, biomass Authors: P. Jeevan1* and A. Edith Rena2 For Correspondence : E-mail: jeevancftri@yahoo.com