In the environment as well as in the vertebrate intestine, Listeriae have access to complex carbohydrates like maltodextrins. Bacterial exploitation of such compounds requires specific uptake and utilization systems. We could show that Listeria monocytogenes and other Listeria species contain genes/gene products with high homology to the maltodextrin ABC transporter and utilization system of B. subtilis. Mutant construction and growth tests revealed that the L. monocytogenes gene cluster was required for the efficient utilization of maltodextrins as well as maltose. The gene for the ATP binding protein of the transporter was located distant from the cluster. Transcription analyses demonstrated that the system was induced by maltose/maltodextrins and repressed by glucose. Its induction was dependent on a LacI type transcriptional regulator. Repression by glucose was independent of the catabolite control protein CcpA, but was relieved in a mutant defective for Hpr kinase/phosphorylase. The data obtained show that in L. monocytogenes the uptake of maltodextrin and, in contrast to B. subtilis, also maltose is exclusively mediated by an ABC transporter. Furthermore, the results suggest that glucose repression of the uptake system possibly is by inducer exclusion, a mechanism not described so far in this organism.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most common, severe neurodegenerative brain disorder characterized by the accumulation of amyloid-beta plaques, neurofibrillary tangles in the brain causing neural disintegration, synaptic dysfunction, and neuronal death leading to dementia. Although many US-FDA-approved drugs like Donepezil, Rivastigmine, Galantamine are available in the market, their consumption reduces only the symptoms of the disease but fails in potency to cure the disease. This disease affects many individuals with aging. Combating the disease tends to be very expensive. This review focuses on biochemical mechanisms in the neuron both at normal and AD state with relevance to the tau hypothesis, amyloid hypothesis, the risk factors influencing dementia, oxidative stress, and neuroinflammation altogether integrated with neurodegeneration. A brief survey is carried out on available biomarkers in the diagnosis of the disease, drugs used for the treatment, and the challenges in approaching therapeutic targets in inhibiting the disease pathologies. This review conjointly assesses the demerits with the inefficiency of drugs to reach targets, their side effects, and toxicity. Optimistically, this review directs on the advantageous strategies in using nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems to cross the blood-brain barrier for improving the efficacy of drugs combined with a novel neuronal stem cell therapy approach. Determinately, this review aims at the natural, non-therapeutic healing impact of physical exercise on different model organisms and the effect of safe neuromodulation treatments using repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS), transcranial Electrical Stimulation (tES) in humans to control the disease pathologies prominent in enhancing the synaptic function.

Fish sauce is an amber-colored salty liquid in Southeast Asian cuisine used as an important condiment for improving the taste of foods. It is produced by fermenting the fish with salt in the ratios of 1:1 or 3:1 (fish:salt, wet wt) in underground concrete tanks or earthenware for 6–12 months at ambient conditions. Proteins of the raw materials are hydrolyzed into peptides and amino acids by microbial proteolytic enzymes during fermentation. This paper reviews fish sauce diversity and its bacteriological, biochemical, and biofunctional properties. Additionally, efforts to accelerate fish sauce production by employing halotolerant bacterial cultures and proteinases to reduce the fermentation period and also to improve the acceptability of the product are also reviewed. Further, the review provides an overview of bacterial proteinases that have been employed to enhance the sensory and microbiological quality of fish sauce. The review also outlines the effect of fermented fish sauces on health, especially in reference to several bioactive peptides and bacterial metabolites apart from discussing desalination technique to recover the metabolites from fish sauce.