Meat tenderness is one of the most important organoleptic properties in determining consumer acceptance in meat product marketability. Therefore, an effective meat tenderization method is sought after by exploring plant-derived proteolytic enzymes as meat tenderizer. In this study, a novel protease from Cashew was identified as a new alternative halal meat tenderizer. The extraction of cashew protease was optimized using response surface methodology (R2 = 0.9803) by varying pH, CaCl2 concentration, mixing time, and mass. pH 6.34, 7.92 mM CaCl2 concentration, 5.51 min mixing time, and 19.24 g sample mass were the optimal extraction conditions. There was no significant difference (n = 3; p
Although non-sporulating molds (NSM) are frequently isolated from patients and have been recognized as agents of pulmonary disease, their clinical significance in cutaneous specimens is relatively unknown. Therefore, this study aimed to identify NSM and to determine the keratinolytic activity of isolates from cutaneous sites. NSM isolates from clinical specimens such as skin, nail, and body fluids were identified based on their ribosomal DNA sequences. Of 17 NSM isolates (7 Ascomycota, 10 Basidiomycota), eleven were identified to species level while five were identified to the genus level. These include Schizophyllum commune, a known human pathogen, Phoma multirostrata, a plant pathogen, and Perenniporia tephropora, a saprophyte. To determine fungal pathogenicity, keratinolytic activity, a major virulence factor, was evaluated ex vivo using human nail samples by measuring dye release from keratin azure, for NSM along with pathogens (Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Trichophyton rubrum, Microsporum canis and Fusarium spp.) and nonpathogenic (endophyte) fungi for comparison. This study showed that pathogenic fungi had the highest keratinolytic activity (7.13 ± 0.552 keratinase units) while the nonpathogenic endophytes had the lowest activity (2.37 ± 0.262 keratinase units). Keratinolytic activity of two Ascomycota NSM (Guignardia mangiferae and Hypoxylon sp.) and one Basidiomycota NSM (Fomitopsis cf. meliae) was equivalent to that of pathogenic fungi, while Xylaria feejeensis showed significantly higher activity (p
1. The L-amino acid oxidase, hyaluronidase, alkaline phosphomonoesterase, protease, phosphodiesterase, acetylcholinesterase, phospholipase A and 5'-nucleotidase activities of 47 samples of venoms from all the six species of cobra (Naja), including five subspecies of Naja naja, were examined. 2. The results demonstrated interspecific differences in the venom contents of phospholipase A, acetylcholinesterase, hyaluronidase and phosphodiesterase. These differences in venom enzyme contents can be used for the differentiation of species of the genus Naja. 3. Thus, our results revealed a correlation between the enzyme composition of venom and the taxonomic status of the snake at the species level for the genus Naja.
This study compared the enzymatic activity of clinical isolates of Cryptococcus neoformans, Cryptococcus gattii, environmental isolates of C. neoformans and non-neoformans Cryptococcus. Most of the cryptococcal isolates investigated in this study exhibited proteinase and phospholipase activities. Laccase activity was detected from all the C. neoformans and C. gattii isolates, but not from the non-neoformans Cryptococcus isolates. There was no significant difference in the proteinase, phospholipase and laccase activities of C. neoformans and C. gattii. However, significant difference in the enzymatic activities of beta-glucuronidase, alpha-glucosidase, beta-glucosidase and N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase between C. neoformans and C. gattii isolates was observed in this study. Environmental isolates of C. neoformans exhibited similar enzymatic profiles as the clinical isolates of C. neoformans, except for lower proteinase and laccase activities.
T-agglutination patterns of 190 strains of group A streptococci isolated between January 1989 and December 1993 from body fluids (10), throat culture (56), pus (51) and skin lesions (73) were determined. Mucoid colonial morphology was exhibited by 6.3% (12/190) of the strains on initial isolation. Type T-5,11,27,44 comprised 23.7%, followed by T-1,3,13,B3264 (11.1%), T-4,6 (8.4%) and T-8,25, Imp 19 (7.9%). About 42% (80/190) strains could not be characterized by T agglutination pattern. T-typing of 71 selected strains at WHO Collaborating Center, Minneapolis yielded similar results. Nineteen selected strains were further characterized by M-typing; only three strains were M-typeable. These strains were isolated from throat (M1), sputum (M5) and pus (M12). About 68% (48/71) isolates produced serum opacity factor. These data support the existence of as yet uncharacterized group A streptococcal serotypes in this region.