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TZID:Arab Standard Time
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230101
TZNAME:Arab Standard Time
TZOFFSETFROM:+0300
TZOFFSETTO:+0300
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: \;The push for greener chemistry and less impactf
ul production in the industrial processes requires enzymes that can withst
and hostile industrial conditions\, e.g. high temperatures\, pH and pressu
re. A great and unveiled source of (novel) enzymes are the extreme environ
ments and the extremophilic microbes living and thriving in these environm
ents. Due to the metabolic adaptations\, extremophiles can be a valuable r
eservoir of extremozymes that can be a more stable alternative to mesophil
ic catalysts. Al Wahbah crater is one of the scenic landscapes of Saudi Ar
abian volcanic sites. The microbial community flourishing in its extreme c
onditions is underexplored\, and its potential application in biotechnolog
y (e.g.\, enzymes) remain hidden. In this way\, the main objective of this
work was to identify bacterial strains from the crater that are capable o
f producing important hydrolysing enzymes and to investigate their genomes
. In this study\, soil samples were collected and analysed for elemental c
omposition and further used for the isolation of culturable microbes. Soil
samples were very saline with sodium concentrations of 23-59 g/Kg and sli
ghtly alkaline. The majority of the bacteria were identified under mesophi
lic temperatures and from the clay sample using an R2A culture medium. The
bacterial fraction was morphologically and molecularly identified using 1
6S sequencing and explored for the production of hydrolysing enzymes using
selective media. The dominance of Firmicutes was observed in the strains\
, with Bacillus the most common genus. The five bacterial strains producin
g enzymes in the highest quantities were sent for the whole genome sequenc
ing with the following bioinformatics analysis. They were identified as Ba
cillus spizizenii\, B. cereus\, B. vallismortis\, and B. haynesii. \;
Apart from different families of enzymes annotated in the respective genom
es\, such as Glycoside Hydrolases\, Glycosyl Transferases\, Polysaccharide
Lyases\, a great number of secondary metabolites with antimicrobial and a
ntifungal properties were predicted. The result of the study revealed the
great metabolic potential of the selected bacterial strains\, generated da
ta for further studies and was just a first step in the exploration of gen
omic features and biotechnological potential of those bacteria.Bio: Andrii
has received his BSc degree in Biotechnology and Bioengineering from the
National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine\, Ukrain
e\, in 2020. After admission to KAUST for M.S. in Environmental Science an
d Engineering\, he joined the Microbial \;EcoGenomics and Biotechnolog
y Laboratory (MEGB) to conduct his master’s thesis research. There \;h
is microbial \;research supervised by Prof. Alexandre Soares Rosado is
focused on bioprospection of bacterial \;fractions from \;Saudi A
rabia's terrestrial environments.
DTEND:20220403T090000Z
DTSTAMP:20240328T223459Z
DTSTART:20220403T080000Z
LOCATION:Building 2 - Level 5 - Room 5209
SEQUENCE:0
SUMMARY:Enzymatic bioprospection of cultured bacterial diversity of Al-Wahb
ah crater\, Saudi Arabia
UID:RFCALITEM638472728996779195
X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:Abstract: \;
The push
for greener chemistry and less impactful production in the industrial proc
esses requires enzymes that can withstand hostile industrial conditions\,
e.g. high temperatures\, pH and pressure. A great and unveiled source of (
novel) enzymes are the extreme environments and the extremophilic microbes
living and thriving in these environments. Due to the metabolic adaptatio
ns\, extremophiles can be a valuable reservoir of extremozymes that can be
a more stable alternative to mesophilic catalysts. Al Wahbah crater is on
e of the scenic landscapes of Saudi Arabian volcanic sites. The microbial
community flourishing in its extreme conditions is underexplored\, and its
potential application in biotechnology (e.g.\, enzymes) remain hidden. In
this way\, the main objective of this work was to identify bacterial stra
ins from the crater that are capable of producing important hydrolysing en
zymes and to investigate their genomes. In this study\, soil samples were
collected and analysed for elemental composition and further used for the
isolation of culturable microbes. Soil samples were very saline with sodiu
m concentrations of 23-59 g/Kg and slightly alkaline. The majority of the
bacteria were identified under mesophilic temperatures and from the clay s
ample using an R2A culture medium. The bacterial fraction was morphologica
lly and molecularly identified using 16S sequencing and explored for the p
roduction of hydrolysing enzymes using selective media. The dominance of F
irmicutes was observed in the strains\, with Bacillus the most common genu
s. The five bacterial strains producing enzymes in the highest quantities
were sent for the whole genome sequencing with the following bioinformatic
s analysis. They were identified as Bacillus spizizenii\, B. cereus\, B. v
allismortis\, and B. haynesii. \; Apart from different families of enz
ymes annotated in the respective genomes\, such as Glycoside Hydrolases\,
Glycosyl Transferases\, Polysaccharide Lyases\, a great number of secondar
y metabolites with antimicrobial and antifungal properties were predicted.
The result of the study revealed the great metabolic potential of the sel
ected bacterial strains\, generated data for further studies and was just
a first step in the exploration of genomic features and biotechnological p
otential of those bacteria.