Abdulkarim Karim

• PhD and Postdoc
• Professor at Salahaddin University-Erbil

Introduction: Since its isolation in the UK, the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant has become an epidemic. This study aimed to decipher the viral appearance and genomic characterization of the Delta variant isolated from patients in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Methodology: Samples were collected from the West Erbil Emergency Hospital, and infection by SAR...

Male infertility may be results from reduced sperm production, or oligozoospermia and azoospermia. Testis-expressed 101 (TEX101) is a glycoprotein that is associated with male fertility, and the disruption of TEX101 results in abnormal semen parameters and sperm function. A case-control study was done to measure seminal plasma TEX101 in 184 volunte...

The thermal treatment of honey is used to prevent honey crystallization which is one of the main problems that face beekeepers. In this study three samples of honey were heated at 40, 60, 80 and 100 °C, as a function of time in hours (h). Heating the samples at 40 °C did not show any significant effect on hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) production or d...

Honey is a high-value natural product that has both nutritional and medicinal benefits. This research reveals the quality of honey in Iraqi Kurdistan depending on international standards. Over 200 samples of honey were collected over the years 2019, 2020, and 2021. The samples were subjected to several tests and parameters such as (acidity, pH, Hyd...

Omicron variants have been classified as Variants of Concern (VOC) by the World Health Organization (WHO) ever since they first emerged as a result of a significant mutation in this variant, which showed to have an impact on transmissibility and virulence of the virus, as evidenced by the ongoing modifications in the SARS-CoV-2 virus. As a global p...

During RNA replication, coronaviruses require proofreading to maintain the integrity of their large genomes. Nsp14 associates with viral polymerase complex to excise the mismatched nucleotides. Aside from the exonuclease activity, nsp14 methyltransferase domain mediates cap methylation, facilitating translation initiation and protecting viral RNA f...

During the RNA replication, coronaviruses require proofreading to maintain the integrity of their large genomes. Nsp14 associates with viral polymerase complex to excise the mismatched nucleotides. Aside from the exonuclease activity, nsp14 methyltransferase domain mediates cap methylation, facilitating translation initiation and protecting viral R...

Coronaviruses protect their single-stranded RNA genome with the methylated cap added during the replication. This capping process is carried out by several nonstructural proteins (nsp) encoded in the viral genome. The methylation itself is performed consecutively by two methyltransferases, nsp14 and nsp16, which interact with nsp10 protein acting a...

Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) is a common manifestation of COVID-19 and several cases have been reported in the setting of the high-risk APOL1 genotype (common genetic variants). This increases the likelihood that African American people with the high-risk genotype APOL1 are at increased risk for kidney disease in the COVID-19 environment. Single-nucle...

The emergence of the novel coronavirus and then pandemic outbreak was coined 2019- nCoV or COVID-19 (or SARS-CoV-2 disease 2019). This disease has a mortality rate of about 3·7 percent, and successful therapy is desperately needed to combat it. The exact cellular mechanisms of COVID-19 need to be illustrated in detail. This study aimed to evaluate...

Accumulating evidence suggests that six proteases encoded in the spl operon of a dangerous human pathogen, Staphylococcus aureus, may play a role in virulence. Interestingly, SplA, B, D, and E have complementary substrate specificities while SplF remains to be characterized in this regard. Here, we describe the prerequisites of a heterologous expre...

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of neurodevelopmental disorders that are distinguished by the inability in social interaction, communication, and repetitive behavior pattern. One of the etiologic factors of the disease is believed to be methionine synthase reductase (MTRR) A66G polymorphism, which participates in homocysteine (Hcy)/folate...

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer and an important cause of death in women worldwide. Objective biomarkers are needed to improve specificity for cervical cancer screening. The p16 gene is implicated in the cell cycle control, playing an important role as a tumor suppressor gene. In this study, the methylation of the P16 gene promoter...

Background and purpose: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is counted as a third most common cancer among men and the second most common among women. Besides that, among cancer-related mortality, the 3rd most common cause of death is due to the CRC worldwide. A tumor suppressor gene p53 has the main role in regulating cell apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, and ce...

Enzymes are one of the foundations and regulators for all major biological activities in living bodies. Hence, enormous efforts have been made for enhancing the efficiency of enzymes under different conditions. The use of nanomaterials as novel carriers for enzyme delivery and regulating the activities of enzymes has stimulated significant interest...

Staphylococcus aureus is a dangerous human pathogen characterized by alarmingly increasing antibiotic resistance. Accumulating evidence suggests the role of Spl proteases in staphylococcal virulence. Spl proteases have restricted, non-overlapping substrate specificity, suggesting that they may constitute a first example of a proteolytic system in b...

Phosphomannose isomerase (PMI), phosphomannose mutase (PMM) and GDP-D-mannose pyrophosphorylase (GMP) are three key enzymes in the regulation of the initial steps of the L-ascorbate biosynthesis pathway. They are widely distributed in lineages of vascular plants but hardly found in non-vascular plants. It is hypothesized that there is an evolutiona...

Seventy-five Klebsiella pneumonia isolates were identified according to their cultural characteristics and by Vitek2 system. Both genomic and plasmid DNA of the isolates were extracted. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was performed for detection of SHV-1gene in the plasmid DNA and SHV-12 gene in the genomic DNA of the isolates. SHV-1 found in the p...

Purpose: Gastric cancer has high incidence and mortality rate in several countries and is still one of the most frequent and lethal disease. In this study, we aimed to determine diagnostic markers in gastric cancer by molecular techniques; include mRNA expression analysis of FABP4 gene. Fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4) gene encodes the fatty ac...

The matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a family of secreted soluble or membrane-anchored multi-modular peptidases regularly found in several paralogous copies in animals and plants, where they have multiple functions. The minimal consensus domain architecture comprises a signal peptide, a 60-to-90-residue globular pro-domain with a conserved sequ...

Abstract The genome of Tannerella forsythia, an etiologic factor of chronic periodontitis, contains several genes encoding putative proteases. Here, we characterized a subtilisin-like serine protease of T. forsythia referred to as mirolase. Recombinant full-length latent promirolase (85 kDa, without its signal peptide) processed itself through sequ...

Tannerella forsythia is implicated as a pathogen causing chronic and aggressive periodontitis. However, its virulence factors, including numerous putative proteases, are mostly uncharacterized. Karilysin is a newly described matrix metalloprotease-like enzyme of T. forsythia. Since pathogen-derived proteases may affect the host defense system via m...

Proteases of Staphylococcus aureus have long been considered to function as important virulence factors, although direct evidence of the role of particular enzymes remains incomplete and elusive. Here, we sought to provide a collective view of the prevalence of extracellular protease genes in genomes of commensal and pathogenic strains of S. aureus...

Tannerella forsythia is a poorly studied pathogen despite being one of the main causes of periodontitis, which is an inflammatory disease of the supporting structures of the teeth. We found that despite being recognized by all complement pathways, T. forsythia is resistant to killing by human complement, which is present at up to 70% of serum conce...

Metallopeptidases (MPs) are among virulence factors secreted by pathogenic bacteria at the site of infection. One such pathogen is Tannerella forsythia, a member of the microbial consortium that causes peridontitis, arguably the most prevalent infective chronic inflammatory disease known to mankind. The only reported MP secreted by T. forsythia is...

Tannerella forsythia is a gram-negative bacterium strongly associated with the development and/or progression of periodontal disease. Here, we have shown that a newly characterized matrix metalloprotease-like enzyme, referred to as karilysin, efficiently cleaved the antimicrobial peptide LL-37, significantly reducing its bactericidal activity. This...

Proteases of Tannerella forsythia, a pathogen associated with periodontal disease, are implicated as virulence factors. Here, we characterized a matrix metalloprotease (MMP)-like enzyme of T. forsythia referred to as karilysin. Full-length (without a signal peptide) recombinant karilysin (49.9 kDa) processed itself into the mature 18-kDa enzyme thr...