The 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing technique is a key aspect of studies of microbial communities but does not provide direct evidence of a community’s functional capabilities. This work aimed to assess the structure of the uncultured bacterial communities from two locations in Lake Tuz in Turkey to provide information on their roles in the lake ecosystem. The most abundant phyla in the lake water were Firmicutes (84%) for lake sample site 1 (TG1), 70% for lake sample site 2 (TG2), Fusobacteria (9% for TG1, 22% for TG2) and Proteobacteria (6% for TG1, 7% for TG2). The most abundant genera were Romboutsia (45% for TG1, 35% for TG2), Clostridium sensu stricto 1 (8% for TG1, 8% for TG2), Cetobacterium (9% for TG1, 22% for TG2) and Photobacterium (2% for TG1, 3% for TG2). PICRUSt constitutes a novel bioinformatics tool to establish profiles for bacterial protein functions based on metagenomic 16S rRNA data for a community of unculturable bacteria. PICRUSt also provides information on whole-community metabolic functions related to adaptation, bioremediation potential and the ability of various groups of microorganisms to survive in highly saline water. The overall results provide an effective strategy for assessing the metabolic capacities of microbes in situ in a high-salt aquatic environment such as Lake Tuz and the potential of these microbes to serve as bioremediation agents. This approach provides useful insights into predictive metagenomics of an unculturable microbial community for which only marker-gene surveys are currently available.

Literature have shown that oil palm leaves (OPL) can be transformed into nanocellulose (NC) by fungal lignocellulosic enzymes, particularly those produced by the Trichoderma species. However, mechanism of β-glucosidase and xylanase selectivity to degrade lignin, hemicellulose and cellulose in OPL for NC production remains relatively vague. The study aimed to comprehend this aspect by an in silico approach of molecular docking, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and Molecular-mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann surface area (MM-PBSA) analysis, to compare interactions between the β-glucosidase- and xylanase from Trichoderma asperellum UC1 in complex with each substrate. Molecular docking of the enzyme-substrate complex showed residues Glu165-Asp226-Glu423 and Arg155-Glu210-Ser160 being the likely catalytic residues of β-glucosidase and xylanase, respectively. The binding affinity of β-glucosidase for the substrates are as follows: cellulose (−8.1 kcal mol-1) > lignin (−7.9 kcal mol-1) > hemicellulose (−7.8 kcal mol-1), whereas, xylanase showed a corresponding preference for; hemicellulose (−6.7 kcal mol-1) > cellulose (−5.8 kcal mol-1) > lignin (−5.7 kcal mol-1). Selectivity of both enzymes was reiterated by MD simulations where interactions between β-glucosidase-cellulose and xylanase-hemicellulose were the strongest. Notably low free-binding energy (ΔGbind) of β-glucosidase and xylanase in complex with cellulose (−207.23 +/− 47.13 kJ/mol) and hemicellulose (−131.48 +/− 24.57 kJ/mol) were observed, respectively. The findings thus successfully identified the cellulose component selectivity of the polymer-acting β-glucosidase and xylanase of T. asperellum UC1.

The indiscriminate use of chemical pesticides alongside the expansion of large-scale industries globally can critically jeopardize marine ecology and the well-being of mankind. This is because the agricultural runoffs and industrial effluents eventually enter waterways before flowing into highly saline environments i.e., oceans. Herein, the study assessed two novel bacterial isolates, Bacillus subtilis strain H1 and Bacillus thuringiensis strain H2 from the hypersaline Lake Tuz in Turkey to degrade recalcitrant haloalkanoic acids, haloacetates and chlorpyrifos, and consequently, identify their optimal pollutant concentrations, pH and temperature alongside salt-tolerance thresholds. Bacillus strains H1 and H2 optimally degraded 2,2-dichloropropionic acid (2,2-DCP) under similar incubation conditions (pH 8.0, 30 °C), except the latter preferred a higher concentration of pollutants as well as salinity at 30 mM and 35%, respectively, while strain H1 grew well on 20 mM at <30%. While both isolates could degrade all substrates used, the dehalogenase gene from strain H1 could not be amplified. Capacity of the H2 bacterial isolate to degrade 2,2-DCP was affirmed by the detection of the 795 bp putative halotolerant dehalogenase gene after a successful polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification. Hence, the findings envisage the potential of both isolates as bio-degraders of recalcitrant halogenated compounds and those of the same chemical family as chlorpyrifos, in saline environments.

The use of molecular markers has become an essential part of molecular genetics through their application in numerous fields, which includes identification of genes associated with targeted traits, operation of backcrossing programs, modern plant breeding, genetic characterization, and marker-assisted selection. Transposable elements are a core component of all eukaryotic genomes, making them suitable as molecular markers. Most of the large plant genomes consist primarily of transposable elements; variations in their abundance contribute to most of the variation in genome size. Retrotransposons are widely present throughout plant genomes, and replicative transposition enables them to insert into the genome without removing the original elements. Various applications of molecular markers have been developed that exploit the fact that these genetic elements are present everywhere and their ability to stably integrate into dispersed chromosomal localities that are polymorphic within a species. The ongoing development of molecular marker technologies is directly related to the deployment of high-throughput genotype sequencing platforms, and this research is of considerable significance. In this review, the practical application to molecular markers, which is a use of technology of interspersed repeats in the plant genome were examined using genomic sources from the past to the present. Prospects and possibilities are also presented.