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Background The hydrophobic nature of hydrocarbons make them less bioavailable to microbes, generally leading to low efficiency in biodegradation. Current bioremediation strategies for hydrocarbon contamination, uses induced mixed microbial cultures. This in-vitro study demonstrates the utilization of naturally occurring communities in suitable habitats for achieving highly efficient, synergistic degradation of hydrocarbons in a simple community structure without additives. Methods Enrichment media supplemented with 1% (7652.53 mg/L) hexadecane (HXD) as the sole carbon source were inoculated with samples of soil with waste polythene, collected from a municipal landfill in order to isolate microbial communities. Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis was performed on HXD grown co-cultures and individual counterparts after 14 days incubation and percentage degradation was calculated. Microbes were identified using 16S rRNA gene and Internal Transcribed Spacer region sequencing. Biofilm formation was confirmed through scanning electron microscopy, in the most efficient community. Results Three mixed communities (C1, C2 and C3) that demonstrated efficient visual disintegration of the HXD layer in the static liquid cultures were isolated. The C1 community showed the highest activity, degrading > 99% HXD within 14 days. C1 comprised of a single fungus and a bacterium and they were identified as a Bacillus sp. MM1 and an Apsergillus sp. MM1. The co-culture and individual counterparts of the C1 community were assayed for HXD degradation by GC-MS. Degradation by the fungal and bacterial monocultures were 52.92 ± 8.81% and 9.62 ± 0.71% respectively, compared to 99.42 ± 0.38% by the co-culture in 14 days. This proved the synergistic behavior of the community. Further, this community demonstrated the formation of a biofilm in oil-water interface in the liquid medium. This was evidenced from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showing the Bacillus cells attached on to Aspergillus mycelia. Conclusions This study demonstrates the utilization of naturally formed fungal-bacterial communities for enhanced biodegradation of hydrocarbons such as hexadecane and reports for the first time, synergistic degradation of hexadecane through biofilm formation, by a community comprising of Bacillus cereus group and Aspergillus flavus complex. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12866-019-1460-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Cancer cells reprogram their metabolism to meet biosynthetic needs and to adapt to various microenvironments. Accelerated glycolysis offers proliferative benefits for malignant cells by generating glycolytic products that move into branched pathways to synthesize proteins, fatty acids, nucleotides, and lipids. Notably, reprogrammed glucose metabolism and its associated events support the hallmark features of cancer such as sustained cell proliferation, hijacked apoptosis, invasion, metastasis, and angiogenesis. Overproduced enzymes involved in the committed steps of glycolysis (hexokinase, phosphofructokinase-1, and pyruvate kinase) are promising pharmacological targets for cancer therapeutics. In this review, we summarize the role of reprogrammed glucose metabolism in cancer cells and how it can be manipulated for anti-cancer strategies.

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DNA polymerase, catalyze template directed synthesis of DNA from nucleotide triphosphate. Thermostable DNA polymerase-ǀ (DNAP-ǀ) has been a common reagent in molecular biology because of its use in DNA amplification and DNA sequencing by PCR. DNAP-ǀ produced in moderate thermophiles such as Bacillus species may not be suitable for PCR, However, moderately thermophilic DNAP-ǀ from Bacillus has been used in molecular biology techniques such as loop mediated isothermal amplification. It is a low cost alternative to detect certain infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria and can be applied in low/middle income countries. The objective of the study was isolation and cloning of DNAP-ǀ gene from native thermophilic bacterium, Bacillus licheniformis strain NWMF1 and over-expression by using expression host E. coli BL21(DE3)pLysS. A gram +ve endospore forming thermophilic bacterium was isolated from soil near the hot-water springs at Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka. The identification of Bacillus licheniformis strain NWMF1 was carried out using morphological tests and 16s r.RNA gene sequence analysis. Initially the gene was cloned into pGEMT-easy vector and transformed into E. coli JM109 followed by sequence confirmation and protein blast analysis by NCBI. Thereafter the DNAP-ǀ gene re-cloned into PET28a+ vector and transformed into E. coli BL21(DE3)pLysS expression host. Recombinant E. coli clones were confirmed by colony PCR. Sequence analysis confirmed the presence of the complete gene (2640bp) including start and stop codons. The complete protein sequence consists 879 amino acids. SDS-PAGE and analysis by EXPASy–ProtParam indicated the molecular weight of DNAP-ǀ as ~92 kDa. Polymerase activity of His-tag purified DNAP-ǀ was demonstrated by PCR methodology.