The angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE)-related carboxypeptidase, ACE-II, is a type I integral membrane protein of 805 amino acids that contains one HEXXH-E zinc binding consensus sequence. ACE-II has been implicated in the regulation of heart function and also as a functional receptor for the coronavirus that causes the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). In this study, the potential of some flavonoids present in propolis to bind to ACE II receptors was calculated in silico.Binding constants of ten flavonoids, caffeic acid, caffeic acid phenethyl ester, chrysin, galangin, myricetin, rutin, hesperetin, pinocembrin, luteolin and quercetin were measured using the AutoDock 4.2 molecular docking program. And also, these binding constants were compared to reference ligand of MLN-4760.The results are shown that rutin has the best inhibition potentials among the studied molecules with high binding energy -8,97 kcal/mol and Ki 0,261 M, and it is followed by myricetin, caffeic acid phenethyl ester, hesperetin and pinocembrin. However, the reference molecule has binding energy of -7,28 kcal/mol and 4,65 M. In conclusion, the high potential of flavonoids in ethanolic propolis extracts to bind to ACE II receptors indicates that this natural bee product has high potential for Covid-19 treatment, but this needs to be supported by experimental studies.

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The current study was conducted to determine whether there is a relation between hypertension and two different polymorphisms, including C1562T of the Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) gene and C677T of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene. Genomic DNA obtained from 224 persons (125 patients with hypertension and 99 healthy controls) were used in the study. Polymorphisms were determined by using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism and electrophoresis. The results were statistically analyzed and were found to be statistically significant. The frequencies of the C1562T genotypes were found to be, in controls CC 75.8 % and CT 24.2 % and in patients CC 71.2 %, and CT 28.8 %. The frequencies of C677T genotype were found to be, in controls CC 56.6 %, CT 38.4 and TT 5.1 % in controls and in patients CC 52 %, CT 30.4 % and TT 17.6 %. In conclusion, we may suggest that there is no relation between the essential hypertension and C1562T polymorphism of MMP-9 gene; on the other hand C677T polymorphism (genotype TT) of MTHFR gene can be regarded as a genetic indicator for the development of essential hypertension.

This study aims to determine the diversity of culturable thermophilic bacteria isolated from eight terrestrial hot springs in Northeastern of Algeria using the conventional methods, SDS-PAGE fingerprinting of whole-cell proteins and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. In addition, their hydrolytic enzyme activities were also investigated. A total of 293 strains were isolated from the hot springs' water and sediment using different culture media. Overall, five distinct bacterial groups were characterized by whole-cell protein pattern analysis. Based on the 16S rRNA gene sequencing of 100 selected strains, the isolates were assigned to the following three major phyla: Firmicutes (93%), Deinococcus-Thermus (5%), and Actinobacteria (2%), which included 27 distinct species belonging to 12 different phylotypes, Aeribacillus, Aneurinibacillus, Anoxybacillus, Bacillus, Brevibacillus, Geobacillus, Laceyella, Meiothermus, Saccharomonospora, Thermoactinomyces, Thermobifida, and Thermus. The screening for nine extracellular enzymes showed that 65.87% of the isolates presented at least five types of enzyme activities, and 6.48% of strains combined all tested enzymes (amylase, cellulase, pectinase, esculinase, protease, gelatinase, lipase, lecithinase, and nuclease). It was found that Bacillus, Anoxybacillus, Aeribacillus, and Aneurinibacillus were the genera showing the highest activities. Likewise, the study showed an abundant and diverse thermophilic community with novel taxa presenting a promising source of thermozymes with important biotechnological applications. This study showed that a combined identification method using SDS-PAGE profiles of whole-cell proteins and subsequent 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis could successfully differentiate thermophilic bacteria from Algerian hot springs.

Propolis is a multi-functional bee product rich in polyphenols. In this study, the inhibitory effect of Anatolian propolis against SARS-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) was investigated in vitro and in silico. Raw and commercial propolis samples were used, and both samples were found to be rich in caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, t-cinnamic acid, hesperetin, chrysin, pinocembrin, and caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) at HPLC-UV analysis. Ethanolic propolis extracts (EPE) were used in the ELISA screening test against the spike S1 protein (SARS-CoV-2): ACE-2 interaction for in vitro study. The binding energy values of these polyphenols to the SARS-CoV-2 spike and ACE-2 protein were calculated separately with a molecular docking study using the AutoDock 4.2.6 program. In addition, the pharmacokinetics and drug-likeness properties of these eight polyphenols were calculated according to the SwissADME tool. The binding energy value of pinocembrin was highest in both receptors, followed by chrysin, CAPE, and hesperetin. Based on the in silico modeling and ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion) behaviors of the eight polyphenols, the compounds exhibited the potential ability to act effectively as novel drugs. The findings of both studies showed that propolis has a high inhibitory potential against the Covid-19 virus. However, further studies are now needed.