Shamsher S. Kanwar

• M.Sc. Microbiology; Ph.D. Viral Immunology
• Professor (Full) at Himachal Pradesh University

This study presents the investigation of, previously synthesized and characterized by our group, Cr-IA MOF (IA = Itaconic acid; MOF = metal-organic framework) as a drug carrier for targeted delivery and its antibacterial properties. Biocompatibility was assessed through cytotoxicity testing, while the drug loading and controlled release abilities w...

This study aimed to describe the effect of Bacillus velezensis lipopeptide (BVLP), and a potential but less studied nonapeptide (love and labor hormone) oxytocin (OT) as an anti-cancer and anti-obesity activity. In this study, lipopeptide and oxytocin peptides were checked for cytotoxicity and results revealed a significant reduction in 3T3-L1 (62....

Surfactin lipopeptides (LPs) are a compelling class of biosurfactants with notable antimicrobial and anticancer properties. This study presents a novel approach by integrating bioinformatics tools to assess the drug potential of Surfactin, specifically focusing on its antibacterial, antifungal activities, and cancer cell-line toxicity. Silver nanop...

The biologically active Zn(II) complex [Zn(HL)2] (HL = 3-OCH3C6H4-(CO)NHO) has been synthesized by the reaction of ZnSO4 with potassium 3-methoxybenzohydroxamate (KHL, 3-OCH3C6H4CONHOK) in a 1:2 molar ratio in MeOH solvent medium simply stirring, avoiding drastic conditions and hazardous chemicals. Physicochemical (elemental analysis, molar conduct...

Honey, a nutritious viscous liquid produced by the honeybees (Apis mellifera) has been an important ingredient of many Ayurvedic traditional medicines. Honey as a natural product is preferred to prepare many contemporary medications, nutritional supplements, cosmetics and food & beverage additives. The composition of the honey being produced by the...

Herbs have long been practiced for their therapeutic and medical properties in addition to their aesthetic and culinary benefits. Since ancient times, people have looked to nature for healing from illnesses. Herbal folklore traditions for the medicinal applications of plants were transmitted from generation to generation through familial oral histo...

Herbal honey is emerging as a miraculous product which is having therapeutic properties of both herbs and honey. The commercial production of herbal honey may lead to better health and enhanced economy of people. However, there are many challenges in large-scale manufacturing of herbal honey such as the availability of pure honey, selection of herb...

Honey, a natural substance produced by honey bees, is sweet and has a syrupy consistency. It has a beautiful golden-yellow hue and a complex composition with various physiochemical and antioxidant properties. Essentially, honey is a highly concentrated sugar solution, comprising a mixture of carbohydrates. Along with carbohydrates and water, honey...

Honey has been defined as the sweet, viscous liquid produced by honeybees from the nectar of blossoms or from the secretion of living plants which the bees collect, transform into honey, and store in honeycombs. Herbs and honey have been used by man in various ways since time immemorial. Unveiling herbal honey’s role in metabolic health, it becomes...

Honey, a natural substance produced by bees from the nectar of flowers, has been a subject of interest due to its diverse pharmacological properties. This abstract provides a concise overview of the medicinal potential of honey, encompassing its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and wound-healing properties. The unique composition of h...

Honey bees are social insects that have evolved along with flowering plants. They are dependent on plants for their food requirements and in turn, help in the pollination of plants. Honeybees are the prominent pollinators of the ecosystem which pollinate a wide variety of cultivated as well as wild plant species. Beekeeping plays a significant role...

Herbal honey has properties of both honey and herbs. Honey itself has been a proven remedy against many diseases for ages. Herbs are also used as a whole or as a decoction for treating various ailments and wounds etc. The combined effect of herbs and honey in the form of herbal honey may further enhance immunity and lead to better human health in t...

Antibiotics are one of the most important discoveries in medicine, and they have revolutionized human therapy. Antibiotics are frequently utilized in research studies, genetic engineering, animal breeding, and agricultural production, in addition to their traditional medical usage, but antibiotic misuse and disposal without processing are putting t...

Urolithiasis is a potentially brutal condition characterized by the presence of insoluble deposits or stones in the kidneys and urinary tract. Among the various urological diseases, urolithiasis is ranked third in its prevalence. Around one in 11 people over the globe is affected by a highly pervasive urolithiasis which accelerates to excessive pai...

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is one of the most life-threatening urinary malignancies displaying poor response to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Although in the recent past there have been tremendous advancements in using targeted therapies for RCC, despite that it remains the most lethal urogenital cancer with a 5-year survival rate of roughly 76%....

Background Covaxin® is a COVID-19 vaccine created and produced by Bharat Biotech in India. The vaccine is based on the strain of SARS-CoV-2 that was first identified in India and has undergone Phase III clinical trials. Covaxin® has been authorized for emergency use in India and has been distributed as part of India's vaccination campaign. The vacc...

The emergence of the novel coronavirus-based illness, COVID-19, in late 2019 marked a watershed moment in modern history. Initially identified in Wuhan, China, this viral epidemic swiftly transformed into a global pandemic, affecting worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) officially labeled the virus as “Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Co...

Monkeypox is a sylvatic zoonotic sickness that initially affected tropical rainforest areas in the west and vital Africa earlier than spreading to other places. Its miles carried with the aid of the Monkeypox virus member of orthopoxvirus circle of relatives. The clinical features of the infection resembles to smallpox. The primary animal to human...

Withania somnifera Dunal is an evergreen, upright, perennial herb commonly named Indian ginseng which falls in Solanaceae family. The plant is recognized worldwide for its therapeutic properties, it contains secondary metabolites of flavonoids class and many active ingredients like withanolide, withaferin etc. Effort was made to optimize the rejuve...

Oxalate is a small dicarboxylic acid that is likely to cause chronic kidney diseases, end stage renal diseases (ESRD)- associated cardiovascular diseases, polycystic kidney diseases and/ or poor renal allograft survival. Elevated oxalate levels in the urine is a critical factor for recurrent urolithiasis and progressive nephrocalciniosis. Endogenou...

Lipopeptides are surface active molecules with hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions and are kenned to be engendered by different species of Bacillus and Pseudomonas. These lipopeptides can be applied in different domains because of their remarkable properties like antibacterial, antifungal, anticorrosion, antitumor, and antiviral. They act by engend...

Novel bacterial lipopeptide(s) (LPs) biosurfactant obtained from Pseudomonas sp. OXDC12 were used to synthesizeLPs silver nanoparticles (LPs-Ag-NPs). LPs provided excellent colloidal stability by acting as a stabilizing/capping agent. The LPs-Ag-NPswere characterized using Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy, Ultraviolet-visible spectroscop...

Nanoparticles (NPs) are of size 1–100 nm and can be made from carbon, metal oxides or organic matter. All NPs have ability to show distinguished physical, biological and chemical properties at nanoscale. NPs exhibit properties like increased reactivity, increased stability in a chemical process,enhanced mechanical strength, dispersion, etc. These g...

Alkaline-thermotolerant lipase from Bacillus licheniformis MTCC-10498 was purified and immobilized on Celite-545 matrix. The matrix shows a binding efficiency of 80% for lipase of B. licheniformis with a specific activity 1.02 U/mg of protein. The immobilized lipase shows 50% activity up to 70°C. This immobilized lipase was checked for its efficacy...

Lipopeptide(s) (LPs), a biomolecule containing a lipid head attached to a peptide tail, have different medicinal properties, which have paved the way for scientists interest in them. Their antimicrobial and anticancerous properties are the most explored. In this decade, many LPs were approved by the FDA to be used as drugs against different disease...

Ubiquitous nanomaterials have been extensively involved in multifarious biotransformation of diverse organic and synthetic techniques. This research study describes the robust immobilization of α-amylase on magnetic nanoparticles of magnesium ferrite (MgFO) functionalized with silane. The XRD patterns, FESEM and HRTEM images were analysed to study...

Bacterial multidrug resistance against front-line antibiotics has been widely observed by scientists and epidemiologists. Multidrug and toxic extrusion proteins are active transporters and play a vital role in the efflux system. Their main generalized function is the exclusion of various antibiotics and xenobiotics out of their host cells. Despite...

L-methionine-γ-lyase (MGL) producing bacterial isolates were screened from soil samples that further characterized as ‘Klebsiella oxytoca BLM-1’ by biochemical and 16S rDNA sequencing. Intracellular MGL obtained from K. oxytoca BLM-1 by sonication was purified by Octyl-Sepharose and Sephadex G-200 column chromatography. MALDI-TOF-MS analysis of pro...

Kidney stones or nephrolithiasis is a frequent condition resulting from a succession of several physiochemical events causing a huge burden on the health and economic status globally. Although they vary widely in their composition, calcium oxalate stones form the predominant kidney stones. The degradation of calcium oxalate stones using enzymes suc...

The present invention provides a method for screening and production of an anti-cancer enzyme i.e. L-methionase (MGL) from novel bacterial source i.e Klebsiella oxytoca. MGL producing bacterial isolates were screened by DTNB screening dye method. The bacterial isolate BLM-1 was selected for its good qualitative and higher MGL activity. The selected...

Nowadays the treatment of environmental pollutants such as synthetic dyes (used in multiple industries such as paper, textile, food, plastic and pharmaceutical) has received much attention, especially for biotechnological treatments using both native and artificial enzymes. In this context, many enzymes have been reported to efficiently perform dye...

RNase is a type of nuclease that catalyzes the degradation of RNA into smaller components. RNase are found greatly in living organisms and are known to be involved in gene expression regulation and RNA metabolism. Present study was attempted for the purification and the applications of the bacterial RNase. Purified RNase showed the presence of a si...

Oxalate nephropathy is a devastating renal disease with poor prognosis which can often cause a gradual kidney dysfunction with a significant risk of End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). Typically associated with chronic interstitial nephritis or fibrosis as well as acute kidney injury, oxalate nephropathy is characterized by deposition of Calcium oxalat...

Enzymes play vital roles in all organisms. The enzymatic process is progressively at its peak, mainly for producing biochemical products with a higher value. The immobilization of enzymes can sometimes tremendously improve the outcome of biocatalytic processes, making the product(s) relatively pure and economical. Carrier-free immobilized enzymes c...

Oxalate decarboxylase (OxDC) is a Mn-dependent hexameric enzyme that is highly important in management of calcium oxalate mediated nephrolithiasis. The present study reported the production and purification of OxDC from Pseudomonas sp. OXDC12 up to 45.3-fold with an overall yield of 7%. The purified OxDC displayed a single band of approximately 40...

Around 200 different lipopeptides (LPs) have been identified to date, most of which are produced via Bacillus and Pseudomonas species. The clinical nature of the lipopeptide (LP) has led to a big surge in its research. They show antimicrobial and antitumor activities due to which mass-scale production and purification of LPs are beneficial. Respons...

Background Actinidin is an anionic thiol-proteinase predominant and unique to Chinese gooseberry or kiwifruit, whose strong digestibility enables proteins or enzymes vulnerable to digestion. The arrangement of active cysteine–thiol residues (Cys22-Cys65, Cys56-Cys98, and Cys156-Cys206) stabilizes the catalytic unit, thus allowing an effective Inhib...

Biocatalysis is the peculiar feature of microbial enzymes nowadays, which primarily belongs to the consumption of natural catalysts for novel purposes. The current demands of the world’s biotechnological industries are better enzyme efficiency and perfection of novel techniques for boosting the shelf life of biocatalysts. With the introduction of n...

Azo dyes are the aromatic compounds with –N=N– groups. These are synthetic organic colorants being used in different industries such as textiles and pharmaceuticals. The biotransformants of these compounds can turn into carcinogenic products and also these dyes show recalcitrant behavior toward the environment, as their release into the environment...

Carum carvi (Caraway) is a member of Apiaceae family which originated in Asia. Due to its economic importance, it is widely cultivated. Caraway is the only annual species, commonly present in arable land, moist meadows and on low lands to mountains. Caraway has different applications in pharmaceutical and food industries. Phytochemical screening of...

RNase, an endoribonuclease is a key enzyme that plays an indispensable role in gene expression and regulation in all organisms. Its active action either leads to the inevitable rapid destruction of transcripts or reveals their roles in RNase processing. In the present study, alginate-entrapped cells of a Bacillus strain were used for the production...

Background Kidney stones have become a common disease worldwide and their incidence and recurrence rates have drastically increased over the past few decades. Oxalate decarboxylase (OxDC) enzyme which catalyzes the disproportionation reaction of oxalate monoanions into formate and CO2 could exhibit significant potential in the treatment of hyperoxa...

Protease inhibitors are highly active diverse family of poly(peptides) that are generally present in high concentrations in the storage tissues of the plants such as seeds and tubers. They play important roles in the regulation of proteases and the defence mechanism of plants against pathogens and display antimicrobial, antitumor and antiviral prop...

Cholesterol oxidase (CHOx) production by a new isolate characterized as Castellaniella sp. was studied in different fermentation conditions. The effects of various medium components and physicochemical conditions included production profile, inoculum size, inoculum age, carbon source, nitrogen source (organic and inorganic), surfactants, pH and tem...

Engine oil used in automobiles is a threat to soil and water due to the recalcitrant properties of its hydrocarbons. It pollutes surrounding environment which affects both flora and fauna. Microbes can degrade hydrocarbons contain-ing engine oil and utilize it as a substrate for their growth. Our results demonstrated that cell-free broth of Bacillu...

Engine oil used in automobiles is a threat to soil and water due to the recalcitrant properties of its hydrocarbons. It pollutes surrounding environment which affects both flora and fauna. Microbes can degrade hydrocarbons containing engine oil and utilize it as a substrate for their growth. Our results demonstrated that cell-free broth of Bacillus...

An RNase produced by Bacillus safensis RB-5 was purified up to 22.32-fold by successive techniques of salting out, DEAE-anion exchange and gel permeation (Sephadex G-100) chromatography techniques with a yield of 2.27%. The purified RNase possessed a single band in SDS-PAGE (Mr ~ 60 kDa). The purified RNase showed optimal activity at temperature of...

Enzymes and protein’s immobilization on magnetic nano supports is emerging as a promising candidate in the food, medical field, and areas of environmental studies. This work presents a study on purified Bacillus thermoamylovorans lipase (BTL) by utilizing tetraethoxysilane (TEOS)-modified magnesium nano ferrite (MgNF) of 20 nm size. Its structural...

Engine oil used in automobiles is a threat to soil and water due to recalcitrant properties of its hydrocarbons. It pollute surrounding environment which affect both flora and fauna of earth. Microbes are able to degrade hydrocarbons containing engine oil to utilize as a substrate for their growth. Our results demonstrated that Bacillus velezensis...

Lipases are versatile enzymes that catalyse the hydrolysis of the ester bonds of lipids and act as important digestive enzymes. They are of ubiquitous nature and arefound in all living organisms including fungi and bacteria. In a three-step procedure it was possible to entrap a lipase producing thermotolerantbacterial strain Bacillus thermoamylovor...

Nanoparticles are small molecules with size ranging between 1-100nm. Basis of their classification is their properties shapes and size. These find usage in wide range of industries from agricultural, biomedical, environmental and food. There are numerous ways of producing these nanoparticles using chemicals and biological means. Use of various micr...

Kidney stone is a common urological condition, the prevalence and incidence of which has escalated in the last few years due to dietary habits and other related medical conditions such as obesity and diabetes mellitus. It is a chronic disease which leads to loss of kidney function(s) and nephrectomy. Chronic kidney stone disease has been shown to b...

Human microbiota comprises of trillions of microbes which have evolved with and continued to live on/ within their human hosts. Different environmental factors and diet have a large impact upon human microbiota population. These microorganisms live in synergy with their hosts and are beneficial to the host in many different ways. Many microorganism...

Nephrolithiasis is a terrible pathological condition marked by the presence and formation of kidney stones. It affects around 3–20% of the community in the world. Several environmental, physiological, and nutritional conditions influence this disease. Not only the food sources but also the body’s own metabolism add up oxalate content in the human b...

Lipases also known as acyl hydrolases (EC 3.1.1.3) continue to retain prominence in bio-catalytic esterification reactions as they are endowed with the potential to retain catalytic activity in both aqueous as well as organic media. Lipases are ubiquitous in nature and are produced by animals and most of the microorganisms. Lipases of microbial ori...

Background Synthetic dyes find usage in multiple industries such as paper, textile, food, plastic and pharmaceutical. On their release in industrial effluent and subsequently into the environment, the majority of them affect aquatic and surrounding non-aquatic life because of toxic properties. Therefore, their proper discharge and economical treatm...

Surfactin lipopeptide (SLP) from Bacillus subtilis KLP2015 (Accession number KT459335) was extracted and purified by ammonium sulphate precipitation, DEAE and size exclusion chromatography. The molecular mass of the purified Surfactin lipopeptide was determined ~ 1000 Dalton through ESI-MS and MALDI-TOF-MS/MS analysis. The purified Surfactin posses...

Peroxidases superfamily is amongst the most widespread enzymes among living organisms, which maintains vital role (s) in many biological processes. Found in variety of species ranging from microbe to animals their main functions differ from organism to organism. Peroxidases mainly catalyze the oxidation of diverse substrates using hydrogen peroxide...

Background: The occurrence of diseases because of drug resistance of pathogenic microbes both bacteria and fungi have been increasing over the last few decades in spite of availability of antibiotics. The increasing cases of multi drug resistance (MDR) or extreme drug resistance (XDR) of pathogens have further limited the use of currently available...

Bioactive peptides are the small protein fragments, which have many positive benefits to mankind. Bioactive peptides are organic compounds formed of amino acids covalently attached by peptide bonds. However, some of them may exist freely in nature but most bioactive peptides are encrypted into the parent protein structure, which can be extracted or...

The fruit of Actinidia deliciosa (A. Chev.) C.F. Liang & A.R. Ferguson, kiwifruit also known as ‘China’s miracle fruit’ and ‘Horticulture wonder of New Zealand’ is a very well-known fruit with excellent bioactive properties associated with good health attributes such as healthful skin, better sleep contributed by antioxidants and serotonin content...

Bioremediation deals with the utilization of microorganisms to degrade environmental pollutants. Bioremediation principally depends upon those microorganisms which enzymatically attack the pollutants and convert them to less toxic or innocuous products. A large number of enzymes from bacteria, fungi, and plants degrade perilous organic pollutants t...

A new bacterial strain producing extracellular cholesterol oxidase (ChOx) was isolated and identified as Castellaniella sp. COX. The ChOx was purified by salting‐out and ion‐exchange chromatography up to 10.4‐fold, with a specific activity of 15 U/mg with a molecular mass of 59 kDa. The purified ChOx exhibited pH 8.0 and temperature 40°C for its op...

Biodiesel is an alternative energy source to conventional fuel and has environmental acceptance due to its biodegradability, low toxicity and renewability. Biodiesel consists chemically of fatty acid alkyl esters and had immense prospect as a substitute liquid fuel. Biodiesel is primarily produced by trans-esterification of oils or fats with chemic...

With a very high recurrence rate in both males and females, kidney stones also called as urolithiasis (nephrolithiasis) are affecting a remarkably significant population around the globe. As kidney stones formation largely depends on urine's oxalate content rather than the calcium concentration of the urine, kidney stones are predominantly made up...

All microorganisms contain different classes of RNases that are involved in RNA-degradation. RNA degradation is a crucial step in the cellular and biological processes of most cell types. Cellular RNA molecules must endure the specific cleavage reactions in order to accomplish their mature functional forms by ribonucleases (RNases). Microbial RNase...

A Gram-positive, rod-shaped, endospore-forming, and RNA-degrading bacterium RB-5 was isolated from a soil sample. Based on 16-rDNA gene sequence, the bacterium RB-5 was identified as Bacillus safensis (Accession number KX443714.1). The bacterium appeared to be related to Bacillus safensis KL-052, an other-member of genus Bacillus. One-factor-at-a-t...

Ribonuclease as anticancer agent

It has been centuries since humans are being affected by kidney stones or urolithiasis. In the past decade, in rural and the urban sectors, kidney stone cases are rising at an alarming rate having a high relapse rate. The rate and prevalence of urolithiasis has been attributed to a number of factors such as age, fluid intake, infections of the urin...

This research paper reported different methods to release intracellular L-methionase (MGL) of K. oxytoca BLM-1. The-and-higher amount of MGL were selected to produce intracellular MGL. The cost-effective cell disruption method was preferred to obtain intracellular MGL of the selected bacterial isolate(s). The MGL activity was enhanced in the presen...

The researches in sciences are primarily categorised in three prominent domains. These include basic science, translational science and clinical or medical science. These three domains may integrate to yield a prominent outcome. The basic science primarily pursues transformative discoveries with unknown applications. About seven decades ago, basic...

The present study was aimed to investigate the optimum entrapment of Streptomyces sp. lipase on cupric-alginate beads and their application in the synthesis of methyl salicylate. The alginate bound lipase showed maximum activity towards p-nitrophenylpalmitate (p-NPP) at pH 8.5 and temperature 55ºC after 10 min incubation. A low Michaelis constant...

Surface-modified with tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) Superparamagnetic Nanoparticles (SNPs) were successfully synthesized to enhance their hydrophobicity and bio-affinity for an esterase. The obtained SNPs possessed large surface area, high conductivity and improved antimicrobial activity. An esterase from Bacillus pumilus was efficiently immobilized on...

Supplimentary Data

A Gram’s positive, rod shaped and endospores-forming ‘bacterial isolate KLP15’ was identified as Bacillus subtilis (Accession number KT459335) by the biochemical tests and 16S rRNA based sequencing. Lipopeptide(s) production from B. subtilis KLP2015 increased from 200.0 to 547.0 mg/l after the optimization of physico-chemical parameters like choice...

Lipases are the preeminent option(s) for organic chemists because of some common issues of interest such as simplicity of handling, broad substrate acceptance, high stability towards temperatures as well as organic solvents and convenient commercial availability. Moreover, easy amenability of lipases to many matrices for their immobilization has ad...

The survival of microorganisms at extreme environmental conditions and production of enzymes, polysaccharides and other secondary metabolites is an interesting phenomenon. Thus we should need to understand the mechanism of adaptations, types of proteins involved, amino acid composition and conformational changes in proteins which enable them to sur...

A bacterial strain isolated from a soil sample collected from Tamil Nadu Agriculture University, Coimbatore (India) was characterized as Bacillus velezensis KLP2016 by 16S rRNA molecular typing (Accession number KY214239). The extracellular lipopeptide was extracted from the cell-free fermentation medium of B. velezensis by acid-precipitation metho...