Psychrophilic organisms exhibit many adaptation mechanisms that enable them to survive at low temperatures ranging from -20 to 20 °C. Among other characteristics, these organisms produce cold-active enzymes with considerable biotechnological potential. The purpose of this study was to isolate and characterize bacteria from ice core samples collected on Horseshoe, Hovgaard, and Nansen Islands. Microorganisms from the latter two locations have been investigated only to a limited extent to date. Based on the phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA nucleotide sequences, eight bacterial isolates, including Sporosarcina, Arthrobacter, Bacillus, Luteimonas, Rhodococcus, and Methylobacterium were ultimately isolated and identified. Additionally, Raman and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy were used to analyze the biochemical properties of the bacteria. The bacterial culture's enzyme activity was assessed utilizing semiquantitative and screening techniques, and the API ZYM analysis revealed high enzyme activity, particularly for naphthol-AS-BI-phosphohydrolase, leucine aminopeptidase, esterase, lipase, and esterase. This study clarifies the biochemical characteristics of Antarctic bacteria and offers new perspectives on their enzymatic activity at various temperatures and resistance to antibiotics.

A crystallography educational outreach activity was developed and implemented in the US kindergarten level (K) (5-6 years old), which included writing and illustrating a new children's book about crystallography titled, X-ray Crystallography Adventures! Cat & Elephant's Sugar Crystal Mystery. The outreach activity included four rotating centers that encompassed hands-on crystallization experiments, observing crystals under microscopes, learning about the crystallography process through coloring, and connecting crystallography to life through reading. Detailed descriptions of the centers and overall activity should enable the ready adoption of this model by others for encouraging young children to engage with and learn about crystallography. >.

In this study, 85 marine microorganisms were isolated from Antarctic seawater, and their methanolic extracts were screened for antibacterial and antifungal activities against Escherichia coli DH5α, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albicans. Among the isolates, Methylobacterium phyllosphaerae KS50439 exhibited substantial antimicrobial activity. Biochemical characterization using API ZYM and API 20NE kits, together with phylogenetic analysis based on 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing, identified KS50439 as a unique strain. Growth curve analysis revealed that stationary-phase methanolic extracts exhibited stronger antibacterial and antifungal activities than extracts from other growth phases. Specifically, the extract showed half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of 2.47 ± 0.01 and 2.27 ± 0.03 mg/mL against E. coli DH5α and S. aureus, respectively, with corresponding minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 8.65 ± 0.07 and 8.54 ± 0.06 mg/mL. For C. albicans, the IC50 and MIC values were 3.13 ± 0.02 and 9.09 ± 0.04 mg/mL, respectively. Antioxidant activity was assessed using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging assays. The scavenging activities were 73.80% (DPPH) and 87.62% (ABTS), with IC50 values of 2.45 ± 0.08 and 0.12 ± 0.01 mg/mL, respectively. These findings demonstrate that extremophilic microorganisms, such as KS50439 adapt to harsh Antarctic environments and produce bioactive metabolites with notable antimicrobial and antioxidant potential. Collectively, these findings identify M. phyllosphaerae KS50439 as a promising source of bioactive compounds for biotechnological applications. Although further compound purification and safety evaluations are required before pharmaceutical or cosmetic applications can be considered, this study highlights the potential of polar microorganisms as valuable reservoirs of bioactive compounds.

Traditional Khiki cheese, as a naturally fermented dairy product, represents a valuable source for the isolation of indigenous lactic acid bacteria with probiotic potential. In this study, Levilactobacillus brevis M3R3, isolated from traditional Khiki cheese, was evaluated for its probiotic, functional, and safety properties. The strain was identified based on morphological, physiological, biochemical, API 50 CHL, and API ZYM profiles. Strain M3R3 demonstrated a notable ability to withstand gastrointestinal barriers, maintaining viable counts of 4.847 log CFU/mL after exposure to the highly acidic condition of pH 2.5. In simulated gastric and intestinal fluids, the strain exhibited survival rates of 67.8% and 83.0%, respectively. Its cell-surface characteristics, including hydrophobicity toward chloroform, xylene, and toluene, 78.2% auto-aggregation, and 13.7% adhesion to Caco-2 cells, indicate its potential to interact with the intestinal epithelium and transiently persist in the gastrointestinal tract. Functionally, the cell-free supernatant of this strain showed strong inhibitory activity against Staphylococcus aureus and reduced biofilm formation to 17.8% at 4 × MIC. This effect was associated with downregulation of the icaA and hla genes by 83.2% and 58.4%, respectively. Furthermore, DPPH and ABTS radical-scavenging activities reached 54.05% and 62.75%, while cholesterol removal in the presence of bile reached 39.0%. The absence of hemolysis, DNase activity, biogenic amine production, and β-glucuronidase activity further supports the relative safety of strain M3R3 as a probiotic candidate.

Here, we present a protocol for profiling T cell subsets, regulatory phenotypes, and gut- and skin-homing markers of unstimulated cells or those stimulated with staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB), lipopolysaccharide (LPS), or zymosan (ZYM). We describe steps for isolation, cryopreservation, thawing, stimulation, and multiparameter flow cytometric analysis of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Use of the multicolored panel detailed in this protocol allows full utilization of the valuable samples with the minimal possible volume of collected pediatric blood. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Thon et al.[1].

Two yellow-pigmented bacterial strains, designated Y1Aᵀ and Y6, were isolated from an outdoor bioreactor cultivating Chlorella sp. HS2 with soy sauce wastewater as the nutrient source. Phylogenetic analysis based on the nearly complete 16S rRNA gene sequence showed that Y1Aᵀ shared highest similarity with S. tabacisoli CGMCC 1.16275[T] (96.9%), followed by Sphingomonas changnyeongensis C33ᵀ (96.75%) and S. changbaiensis NBRC 104936[T] (96.38%). Genome sequencing revealed that strain Y1Aᵀ comprises 3.67 Mb with a DNA G + C content of 68.56% and 3,346 predicted genes, while strain Y6 exhibited a highly similar genome (3.67 Mb, 68.60%, 3,341 genes). ANI (99.97%) and dDDH (100%) values confirmed that Y1Aᵀ and Y6 belong to the same taxon. However, ANI (72.06-78.43%) and dDDH (19.2-22.1%) values with closest relatives were below species thresholds, supporting the recognition of a novel species. API ZYM revealed overlapping enzyme profiles between the two novel strains; however, both Y1Aᵀ and Y6 could be distinguished from most related taxa by the presence of α-galactosidase and the absence of α-chymotrypsin activities. Moreover, Y6 was uniquely positive for cystine arylamidase but lacked trypsin activity. Major fatty acid was summed feature 8 (C18:1 ω7c/ω6c). Polar lipids included phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, aminophospholipids, and unidentified aminolipids, and the major respiratory quinone was ubiquinone Q-10. Based on phylogenetic, genomic, phenotypic, chemotaxonomic, and polyamine analyses, strains Y1Aᵀ and Y6 represent a novel species of the genus Sphingomonas, for which the name Sphingomonas chlorellae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is Y1Aᵀ (= KCTC 18312ᵀ =LMG 34185ᵀ).

Six Gram-stain-positive, coccobacilli, non-motile, oxidase-negative, catalase-positive strains, designated HY-051T, HY049, HY190T, HY1757, HY647T and HY359, were isolated from the faeces of Tibetan wild asses (Equus kiang) in Tibet, China, and from fruit bat (Rousettus leschenaultii) faeces in Yunnan, China. All strains are strictly aerobic. Optimal growth for all strains occurred at 28.0 °C, pH 7.0 and with 1.0% (w/v) NaCl. While 16S rRNA gene analysis confirmed their placement within the genus Rhodococcus, phylogenomic analyses revealed that strains HY-051T/HY049, HY190T/HY1757 and HY647T/HY359 represent distinct lineages. Notably, the digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) and average nucleotide identity (ANI) values between these strains and their closest relatives were well below the species delineation thresholds (70% dDDH and 95-96% ANI). Chemotaxonomically, all three groups differ from their closest phylogenetic neighbours by the absence of C15 : 0 and C16 : 1 fatty acids and the presence of Summed Feature 3. Additionally, distinct whole-cell sugar patterns (ribose/arabinose or glucose/galactose), differential menaquinone profiles and API ZYM and 50CH biochemical profiles (e.g. aesculin hydrolysis and carbohydrate utilization) further distinguish them from known species. Based on polyphasic taxonomic analyses, strains HY-051T and HY049 constitute a novel species of the genus Rhodococcus, for which the name Rhodococcus huquni sp. nov. is proposed, with strain HY-051T (=JCM 34841T=CGMCC 1.19145T) as the type strain; strains HY190T and HY1757 constitute a novel species of the genus Rhodococcus, for which the name Rhodococcus quanlei sp. nov. is proposed, with strain HY190T (=JCM 34842T=CGMCC 1.19375T) as the type strain; and strains HY647T and HY359 constitute a novel species of the genus Rhodococcus, for which the name Rhodococcus ruitaii sp. nov. is proposed, with strain HY647T (=JCM 34787T=CGMCC 1.19150T) as the type strain.

The rapid progress of drug and protein language models has enabled their application across a broad spectrum of biological prediction tasks, where they have consistently demonstrated remarkable predictive power. Recently, these models have been introduced into the Drug-Target Interaction (DTI) prediction task, yielding substantial improvements. Nevertheless, most existing language model-based DTI prediction methods rely solely on sequence representations of drugs and proteins, thereby emphasizing sequence-level features while overlooking the relational dependencies between drugs as well as those among proteins. Such dependencies provide complementary perspectives that are critical for enhancing predictive accuracy. To address this limitation, we propose a novel method called pre-trained language model-based similarity network approach for drug-target interaction prediction. This method combines pre-trained features from language models with drug and protein similarity networks to enrich relational representations. Subsequently, a cross-fusion attention mechanism integrates similarity features to suppress redundant or ineffective features while highlighting key ones. Finally, similarity-based features are combined with structural features to form a multi-view, comprehensive feature representation, thereby improving interaction prediction accuracy. Extensive experiments on four benchmark datasets-Human, C. elegans, BioSNAP, and DrugBank-demonstrate that our model consistently surpasses competitive baselines. Moreover, the results demonstrate its robustness in both imbalanced and cold-start scenarios, highlighting the benefits of incorporating relational information into language model-based DTI prediction.

Spontaneously fermented wines are a habitat for many Saccharomyces and non-Saccharomyces strains that are typical for a given region. The isolates obtained can serve as regional starter cultures for winemaking. The aim of this study was to isolate, identify and evaluate the oenological properties and fermentation suitability of selected yeast isolates obtained from Polish spontaneously fermented grape wines. The isolated yeasts were genetically identified and characterised in terms of ethanol tolerance, enzymatic activities, H2S production, and preliminary killer activity. In small-scale fermentations conducted in CDGJ medium and grape juice, the fermentation rate, pH, number of yeast, content of sugars, ethanol, organic acids and volatile compounds were determined. Genetic identification revealed the species: Saccharomyces cerevisiae, S. paradoxus, Metschnikowia pulcherrima, M. ziziphicola, Hanseniaspora uvarum, and Pichia kluyveri. Non-Saccharomyces and Saccharomyces strains grew poorly in the presence of 4-6% (v/v) and 14-16% (v/v) ethanol, respectively. The yeasts had varied enzymatic activities in API ZYM tests, and production of H2S, but did not exhibit killer activity. The monocultures showed differences in fermentation rates. The best growth was recorded for all strains during grape juice fermentation, up to 109 cfu/mL, producing ethanol and glycerol in the range of 53.92-86.54 g/L and 0.0-4.48 g/L. Yeasts produced characteristic volatile compounds, e.g., esters: 2-phenylethyl acetate and ethyl decanoate. The monocultures of isolated yeasts can be used in fermentation of grape must, yielding wines with diverse characteristics in terms of ethanol, organic acids and volatile compounds.

Renal tubular cell senescence driven by interaction of Notch with Toll like receptor (TLR) signaling is a principal mediator of acute kidney injury (AKI). The present study explored the crosstalk between TLR2 and Notch signaling in modulating senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) and apoptosis during Zymosan (Zym)-induced AKI in mice. DAPT, a potent γ-secretase inhibitor, antagonizes the Notch signaling axis. Balb/c mice were used to evaluate the effects of Zym and DAPT over two timepoints (6 and 24 h); control groups: I and IV, AKI groups: II and V received Zym, and DAPT treated groups: III and VI received DAPT 1 h before Zym. Groups I, II, and III were euthanized after 6 h, while groups IV, V, and VI after 24 h. Almost all variations in renal tissues were evident 6 h after Zym injection and became more prominent at 24 h. DAPT reduced plasma creatinine, urea, and kidney injury molecule-1 as well as renal expression of TLR2, Notch1/Notch intracellular domain, and hairy and enhancer of split 1. DAPT lowered p21Waf1/Cip1 and p16INK4a along with nuclear factor-κB, tumor necrosis factor-α, CCL2, and CXCL10 levels. DAPT modulated apoptotic signals, augmented Ki67 expression and exhibited improved renal histopathology. Molecular docking confirmed the interaction of DAPT with p21Waf1/Cip1 and TLR2. ShinyGO-0.81 database was scrutinized for functional enrichment analysis and KEGG pathway mapping. Conclusively, the current study is the first to declare that DAPT could attenuate TLR2 activation-induced renal cellular senescence via inhibition of Notch signaling and its impact on TLR2 and p21Waf1/Cip1.

In this study, a Nocardia niigatensis strain was isolated from boron-rich mining soils in the Bigadiç region of Türkiye and comprehensively characterized. The primary aim of this study was to isolate boron-tolerant Nocardia species and evaluate their physiological, enzymatic, and biochemical profiles. Selective isolation techniques were employed to obtain Nocardia isolates, and species-level identification was achieved using both 16S rRNA gene sequencing and MALDI-TOF MS analysis, which consistently confirmed the isolate as N. niigatensis. In addition to molecular identification, the morphological, physiological, and biochemical characteristics of the strain were extensively investigated. The strain demonstrated notable boron tolerance, exhibiting robust growth at concentrations up to 50 mM, highlighting its potential applicability in the bioremediation of boron-contaminated environments. Physiological assays further revealed moderate halotolerance and a mesophilic growth profile, with optimal growth observed at 27-37 °C. Enzymatic screening indicated positive L-glutaminase activity, an enzyme of considerable industrial relevance. Moreover, API ZYM profiling revealed a broad enzymatic spectrum, including esterases, arylamidases, phosphatases, and glucosidases, suggesting substantial metabolic versatility. Antibiotic susceptibility testing showed sensitivity to doxycycline, tobramycin, and erythromycin, whereas resistance was observed against imipenem and several β-lactam antibiotics. Metagenomic analysis of boron-rich soils from two distinct mining sites revealed marked differences in microbial community composition, with variations in Actinobacteria abundance associated with mineral type. Overall, these findings emphasize the adaptive capacity and biotechnological potential of environmental Nocardia strains inhabiting chemically stressful ecosystems, warranting further genomic and metabolomic investigations.