scholarly journals Microbiological study in a gneissic cave from Sri Lanka, with special focus on potential antimicrobial activities

2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-51
Author(s):  
Ethige Isuru P. Silva ◽  
Pathmakumara Jayasingha ◽  
Saman Senanayake ◽  
Anura Dandeniya ◽  
Dona Helani Munasinghe
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Extreme Environments ◽  
Antimicrobial Activities ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Antimicrobial Compounds ◽  
Human Pathogens ◽  
Agar Culture ◽  
Potato Dextrose Broth ◽  
Health Crisis

The emergence of antibiotic resistance is a global health crisis, thus the search for novel antimicrobial compounds has become a continuous necessity. Underexplored and extreme environments, such as cave ecosystems, have been identified as a promising potential source for the discovery of novel microorganisms with novel antimicrobial compounds (AMC). This study presents the first cave microbiological investigation in Sri Lanka, with a special preference for bioprospecting of novel AMC. The cave sediment characterization demonstrated the presence of close to strong acidic conditions (pH 3.1 – 3.3) and thus indicates the possibility of isolating acidophilic microorganisms. Eight cave wall/ceiling fungal strains were isolated from Sthreepura Cave - Kuruwita and identified using both morphological and ribosomal Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) region sequence analysis. Interestingly, four fungal isolates (Penicillium panissanguineum, P. cremeogriseum, Aspergillus bertholletius and Trichoderma yunnanense) were found to be the first records in Sri Lanka. Of these eight isolates, three showed antimicrobial activity (AMAs) against at least one of the five tested human pathogens in preliminary screening, while A. fumigatus (SKW 404) strain showed the highest AMA against Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 11778) assessed by agar culture plug method on Muller Hinton Agar (MHA). Crude Ethyl Acetate (EtOAc) fraction of both mycelial and Potato Dextrose Broth (PDB) extracts of A. fumigatus demonstrated similar bioactive metabolic profiles with four corresponding chemical fractions [Rf = 0.47, 0.56, 0.65, 0.82; EtOAc: Hexane (4:1, v/v)] in TLC: agar overlay bioassay. The present study indicates that there is potential for discovering novel Sri Lankan deep cave microorganisms and bioprospecting of their novel bioactive compounds. Hence, further island-wide in-depth cave microbiological investigations are required for a better understanding of the Sri Lankan cave microbiology.

scholarly journals Highlighting the Biotechnological Potential of Deep Oceanic Crust Fungi through the Prism of Their Antimicrobial Activity

Marine Drugs ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (8) ◽  
pp. 411
Author(s):  
Maxence Quemener ◽  
Marie Dayras ◽  
Nicolas Frotté ◽  
Stella Debaets ◽  
Christophe Le Meur ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Staphylococcus Aureus ◽  
Antimicrobial Activity ◽  
Oceanic Crust ◽  
Gene Clusters ◽  
Multidrug Resistant ◽  
Antimicrobial Activities ◽  
Antimicrobial Compounds ◽  
Human Pathogens ◽  
Biotechnological Potential ◽  
Fungal Isolates

Among the different tools to address the antibiotic resistance crisis, bioprospecting in complex uncharted habitats to detect novel microorganisms putatively producing original antimicrobial compounds can definitely increase the current therapeutic arsenal of antibiotics. Fungi from numerous habitats have been widely screened for their ability to express specific biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) involved in the synthesis of antimicrobial compounds. Here, a collection of unique 75 deep oceanic crust fungi was screened to evaluate their biotechnological potential through the prism of their antimicrobial activity using a polyphasic approach. After a first genetic screening to detect specific BGCs, a second step consisted of an antimicrobial screening that tested the most promising isolates against 11 microbial targets. Here, 12 fungal isolates showed at least one antibacterial and/or antifungal activity (static or lytic) against human pathogens. This analysis also revealed that Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 and Enterococcus faecalis CIP A 186 were the most impacted, followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853. A specific focus on three fungal isolates allowed us to detect interesting activity of crude extracts against multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Finally, complementary mass spectrometry (MS)-based molecular networking analyses were performed to putatively assign the fungal metabolites and raise hypotheses to link them to the observed antimicrobial activities.

scholarly journals Air Ambulance: Antimicrobial Power of Bacterial Volatiles

Antibiotics ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 109
Author(s):  
Alexander Lammers ◽  
Michael Lalk ◽  
Paolina Garbeva
Keyword(s):  
Antimicrobial Resistance ◽  
Antimicrobial Activities ◽  
Chemical Diversity ◽  
Antimicrobial Compounds ◽  
Interspecies Interactions ◽  
Human Pathogens ◽  
Innovative Solutions ◽  
Exciting Source ◽  
Antimicrobial Volatiles ◽  
Bacterial Volatiles

We are currently facing an antimicrobial resistance crisis, which means that a lot of bacterial pathogens have developed resistance to common antibiotics. Hence, novel and innovative solutions are urgently needed to combat resistant human pathogens. A new source of antimicrobial compounds could be bacterial volatiles. Volatiles are ubiquitous produced, chemically divers and playing essential roles in intra- and interspecies interactions like communication and antimicrobial defense. In the last years, an increasing number of studies showed bioactivities of bacterial volatiles, including antibacterial, antifungal and anti-oomycete activities, indicating bacterial volatiles as an exciting source for novel antimicrobial compounds. In this review we introduce the chemical diversity of bacterial volatiles, their antimicrobial activities and methods for testing this activity. Concluding, we discuss the possibility of using antimicrobial volatiles to antagonize the antimicrobial resistance crisis.

scholarly journals Wagner's Law in Sri Lanka: An Econometric Analysis

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mayandy Kesavarajah
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Public Expenditure ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Annual Data ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Wagner’S Law ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Wagner's Law

This study examines whether there is empirical evidence that Wagner's law holds in the Sri Lankan economy using time series annual data over the period from 1960 to 2010 for Sri Lanka, applying cointegration and error correction modeling (ECM) techniques. In particular, this study keeps a special focus to examine the validity of six versions of Wagner's hypothesis, which support the existence of long-run relationship between public expenditure and economic growth. The empirical evidence of this study indicates that while there prevail is a short-run relationship between public expenditure and economic growth, the long-run results showed no strong evidence in support of the validity of the Wagner’s law for Sri Lankan economy. Granger causality analysis also confirms this result. Therefore, the findings of this study pave to broaden this study further for a deeper understanding about the relationship between public expenditure and economic growth by giving more attention on individual items of public expenditure and by including more macroeconomic variables in the econometric model using different methodology in future.

ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITIES OF METHANOL EXTRACT FROM UNIDENTIFIED SPONGE ASSOCIATED BACTERIA IN LEMUKUTAN ISLAND, KALIMANTAN BARAT

2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Risa Nofiani ◽  
Siti Nurbetty ◽  
Ajuk Sapar
Keyword(s):  
Antimicrobial Activity ◽  
Bacillus Subtilis ◽  
Pathogenic Bacteria ◽  
Methanol Extract ◽  
Agar Medium ◽  
Antimicrobial Activities ◽  
Antimicrobial Compounds ◽  
Associated Bacteria ◽  
Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations ◽  
Sponge Associated Bacteria

<p>The increase of issues on the antibiotics resistant pathogenic bacteria has triggered high exploration for new antimicrobial compounds. One of the potential sources is sponge-associated bacteria. The aim of this study was to get sponge-associated bacteria extract containing antimicrobial activities. On the basis screening of antimicrobial activity using by streaking on agar medium, there were two potential isolates with antimicrobial activities namely LCS1 and LCS2. The two isolates were cultivated,then secondary metabolite product were extracted using methanol as a solvent. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of extract LCS 1 were 1,000 μg/well for S. aureus, 950 μg/well for Salmonella sp.and 800 μg/well for Bacillus subtilis. Minimum inhibitory concentrations of extract LCS 2 were 500 μg/well for S. aureus, 1,050 μg/well for Salmonella sp., 750 μg/well for Bacillus subtilis, 350 μg/well for P. aeruginosa, 750 μg/sumur terhadap B. subtilis. Based on the MIC values, the two assay extracts have a relatively low antimicrobial activity.</p> <p>Keywords:Antimicrobial,Sponges associated bacteria,MICs</p>

The Role of Music and Allied Arts in Public Writings on Cultural Diversity: “People of Sri Lanka”

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 93-100
Author(s):  
Gisa Jähnichen
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Culturally Different ◽  
The World ◽  
Official Languages ◽  
The Way

The Sri Lankan Ministry of National Coexistence, Dialogue, and Official Languages published the work “People of Sri Lanka” in 2017. In this comprehensive publication, 21 invited Sri Lankan scholars introduced 19 different people’s groups to public readers in English, mainly targeted at a growing number of foreign visitors in need of understanding the cultural diversity Sri Lanka has to offer. This paper will observe the presentation of these different groups of people, the role music and allied arts play in this context. Considering the non-scholarly design of the publication, a discussion of the role of music and allied arts has to be supplemented through additional analyses based on sources mentioned by the 21 participating scholars and their fragmented application of available knowledge. In result, this paper might help improve the way facts about groups of people, the way of grouping people, and the way of presenting these groupings are displayed to the world beyond South Asia. This fieldwork and literature guided investigation should also lead to suggestions for ethical principles in teaching and presenting of culturally different music practices within Sri Lanka, thus adding an example for other case studies.

Blood Pressure values of Sri Lankan Tamils in Jaffna District, Sri Lanka

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 66-71
Author(s):  
Balasubramaniam M ◽  
◽  
Sivapalan K ◽  
Tharsha J ◽  
Sivatharushan V ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Sri Lankan Tamils

scholarly journals The impact of bZIP Atf1ortholog global regulators in fungi

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Éva Leiter ◽  
Tamás Emri ◽  
Klaudia Pákozdi ◽  
László Hornok ◽  
István Pócsi
Keyword(s):  
Transcription Factors ◽  
Stress Response ◽  
Secondary Metabolite ◽  
Plant Pathogens ◽  
Leucine Zipper ◽  
Secondary Metabolite Production ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Human Pathogens ◽  
Metabolite Production ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Regulation of signal transduction pathways is crucial for the maintenance of cellular homeostasis and organismal development in fungi. Transcription factors are key elements of this regulatory network. The basic-region leucine zipper (bZIP) domain of the bZIP-type transcription factors is responsible for DNA binding while their leucine zipper structural motifs are suitable for dimerization with each other facilitiating the formation of homodimeric or heterodimeric bZIP proteins. This review highlights recent knowledge on the function of fungal orthologs of the Schizosaccharomyces pombe Atf1, Aspergillus nidulans AtfA, and Fusarium verticillioides FvAtfA, bZIP-type transcription factors with a special focus on pathogenic species. We demonstrate that fungal Atf1-AtfA-FvAtfA orthologs play an important role in vegetative growth, sexual and asexual development, stress response, secondary metabolite production, and virulence both in human pathogens, including Aspergillus fumigatus, Mucor circinelloides, Penicillium marneffei, and Cryptococcus neoformans and plant pathogens, like Fusarium ssp., Magnaporthe oryzae, Claviceps purpurea, Botrytis cinerea, and Verticillium dahliae. Key points • Atf1 orthologs play crucial role in the growth and development of fungi. • Atf1 orthologs orchestrate environmental stress response of fungi. • Secondary metabolite production and virulence are coordinated by Atf1 orthologs.

scholarly journals Antimicrobial Activities of Marine Sponge-Associated Bacteria

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 171
Author(s):  
Yitayal S. Anteneh ◽  
Qi Yang ◽  
Melissa H. Brown ◽  
Christopher M. M. Franco
Keyword(s):  
Pathogenic Bacteria ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Multidrug Resistant ◽  
Antimicrobial Activities ◽  
Marine Sponges ◽  
Bioactive Metabolites ◽  
Human Pathogens ◽  
Sponge Associated Bacteria ◽  
Microbial Symbionts ◽  
Bacteria And Fungi

The misuse and overuse of antibiotics have led to the emergence of multidrug-resistant microorganisms, which decreases the chance of treating those infected with existing antibiotics. This resistance calls for the search of new antimicrobials from prolific producers of novel natural products including marine sponges. Many of the novel active compounds reported from sponges have originated from their microbial symbionts. Therefore, this study aims to screen for bioactive metabolites from bacteria isolated from sponges. Twelve sponge samples were collected from South Australian marine environments and grown on seven isolation media under four incubation conditions; a total of 1234 bacterial isolates were obtained. Of these, 169 bacteria were tested in media optimized for production of antimicrobial metabolites and screened against eleven human pathogens. Seventy bacteria were found to be active against at least one test bacterial or fungal pathogen, while 37% of the tested bacteria showed activity against Staphylococcus aureus including methicillin-resistant strains and antifungal activity was produced by 21% the isolates. A potential novel active compound was purified possessing inhibitory activity against S. aureus. Using 16S rRNA, the strain was identified as Streptomyces sp. Our study highlights that the marine sponges of South Australia are a rich source of abundant and diverse bacteria producing metabolites with antimicrobial activities against human pathogenic bacteria and fungi.

scholarly journals Sri Lanka: Physical Reconstruction and Economic Development as Conflict Prevention Factors

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (69) ◽  
pp. 55-76
Author(s):  
Boženko Đevoić
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
External Pressure ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Conflict Prevention ◽  
Prevention Measures ◽  
Postconflict Reconstruction ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The Government

ABSTRACT This article gives an overview of the 26 year long ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka and examines physical reconstruction and economic development as measures of conflict prevention and postconflict reconstruction. During the years of conflict, the Sri Lankan government performed some conflict prevention measures, but most of them caused counter effects, such as the attempt to provide “demilitarization”, which actually increased militarization on both sides, and “political power sharing” that was never honestly executed. Efforts in post-conflict physical reconstruction and economic development, especially after 2009, demonstrate their positive capacity as well as their conflict sensitivity. Although the Sri Lankan government initially had to be forced by international donors to include conflict sensitivity in its projects, more recently this has changed. The government now practices more conflict sensitivity in its planning and execution of physical reconstruction and economic development projects without external pressure.

Grasping at Straws: Judicial Review of Legislation in Sri Lanka

ICL Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-306
Author(s):  
Danushka S Medawatte
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Judicial Review ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Executive Power ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Legal Literature ◽  
Justice Process ◽  
Provincial Councils ◽  
The Impact

AbstractIn this paper, I attempt to examine the evolution of judicial review of legislation in Sri Lanka with a view to better understanding how it has impacted the democratic fabric and constitutional matrix of Sri Lanka. The impact that judicial review of legislation has had on rights jurisprudence, enhancement of democracy, prevention of persecution against selected groups are analysed in this paper in relation to the Ceylon Constitutional Order in Council of 1946 (‘Soulbury’ Constitution) and the two autochthonous constitutions of Sri Lanka of 1972 and 1978. The first part of the paper comprises of a descriptive analysis of judicial review of legislation under the three Constitutions. This is expected to perform a gap filling function in respect of the lacuna that exists in Sri Lankan legal literature in relation to the assessment of the trends pertaining to judicial review of legislation in Sri Lanka. In the second part of the paper, I have analysed decided cases of Sri Lanka to explore how the judiciary has responded to legislative and executive power, and has given up or maintained judicial independence. In this respect, I have also attempted to explore whether the judiciary has unduly engaged in restraint thereby impeding its own independence. The third part of the paper evaluates the differences in technique and stance the judiciary has adopted when reviewing draft enactments of the national legislature and when reviewing draft or enacted statutes of Provincial Councils. From a comparative constitutional perspective, this assessment is expected to provide the background that is essential in understanding the island nation’s current constitutional discourse, transitional justice process, and its approach to human rights.

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