The global nutraceutical industry is experiencing a paradigm shift, driven by an increasing demand for functional foods and dietary supplements that address malnutrition and chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular conditions, and cancer. Traditional plant- and animal-derived nutraceuticals face limitations in scalability, cost, and environmental impact, paving the way for microbial biotechnology as a sustainable alternative. Microbial cells act as bio-factories, converting nutrients like glucose and amino acids into valuable nutraceutical products such as polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), peptides, and other bioactive compounds. By harnessing their natural metabolic capabilities, microorganisms efficiently synthesize these bioactive compounds, making microbial production a sustainable and effective approach for nutraceutical development. This review explores the transformative role of microbial platforms in the production of nutraceuticals, emphasizing advanced fermentation techniques, synthetic biology, and metabolic engineering. It addresses the challenges of optimizing microbial strains, ensuring product quality, and scaling production while navigating regulatory frameworks. Furthermore, the review highlights cutting-edge technologies such as CRISPR/Cas9 for genome editing, adaptive evolution for strain enhancement, and bioreactor innovations to enhance yield and efficiency. With a focus on sustainability and precision, microbial production is positioned as a game-changer in the nutraceutical industry, offering eco-friendly and scalable solutions to meet global health needs. The integration of omics technologies and the exploration of novel microbial sources hold the potential to revolutionize this field, aligning with the growing consumer demand for innovative and functional bioactive products.

One hundred and twenty, one-day-old male broiler chicks were used to investigate the effects of supplementation with different dietary protein sources on their performance and immune systems. Chicks were randomly divided into four equal experimental groups (six replicates, each of five chicks). The first group served as a control and was fed a standard corn–soybean meal diet. The second, third, and fourth groups were fed diets in which the soybean meal (SBM) was partly replaced by fish meal (FM), black soldier fly larvae (BSFL), and black soldier fly prepupae (BSFP), respectively. Throughout 1–14 and 15–42 days of age, FM, BSFL, and BSFP were added at 3 and 5%, respectively. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) of the FM group was the best among the tested groups. Feeding BSFP decreased final body weight (BW), BW gain, feed intake, and impaired the FCR compared to the other treatments for the entire experimental period. The BSFP group had significantly lower cecal Salmonella counts compared to the control group and lower total bacterial counts compared to the other groups except for BSFL. BSFL can be fed to broiler chickens at 3% during the starter period and 5% during the grower-finisher periods without negative influences on growth performance, red blood cell characteristics, blood lipid profiles, and nutrient excretion, while BSFP can improve the chickens’ gut ecosystem.

The potential range and distribution of insects are greatly impacted by climate change. This study evaluates the potential global shifts in the range of Gryllus bimaculatus (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) under several climate change scenarios. The Global Biodiversity Information Facility provided the location data for G. bimaculatus, which included nineteen bioclimatic layers (bio01–bio19), elevation data from the WorldClim database, and land cover data. For the near future (2021–2040) and far future (2081–2100) under low (SSP1-2.6) and high (SSP5-8.5) emission scenarios, the Beijing Climate Center Climate System Model (BCC-CSM2-MR) and the Institute Pierre-Simon Laplace Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (IPSL-CM6A-LR) were used. Assessing habitat gain, loss, and stability for G. bimaculatus under potential scenarios was part of the evaluation analysis. The results showed that the main environmental parameters affecting the distribution of G. bimaculatus were mean temperature of the driest quarter, mean diurnal temperature range, isothermality, and seasonal precipitation. Since birds, small mammals, and other insectivorous insects rely on G. bimaculatus and other cricket species as their primary food supply, habitat loss necessitates management attention to the effects on the food web. The spread of G. bimaculatus as a sentinel species in the food chain and its use in animal feeds are both impacted by habitat loss and gain.

Mango fruits are one of the strategic fruit crops in different countries that are attacked by several serious pests such as Cryptoblabes gnidiella and Scirtothrips mangiferae. Natural extracts, especially essential oils, provide several promising insecticide agents to control different insects as an alternative to synthetic insecticides. Using Clevenger-type hydrodistillation, the essential oils of five thyme plants—Thymus vulgaris, Origanum vulgare, Thymus argenteus, Thymus citriodorus, and Origanum syriacum—from Saudi Arabia and Egypt were extracted, and GC/MS analysis was performed. In addition, some chemical parameters of the five species were determined, such as chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, β-carotene, total antioxidant capacity, total phenols, and total flavonoids. Two compounds, thymol and carvacrol, were identified in T. vulgaris and O. vulgare at ratios of 69.45 and 64.82%, respectively. These major compounds were isolated and identified using ¹H NMR analysis. The insecticidal potentials of the five essential oils and their pure isolated compounds were evaluated on C. gnidiella and S. mangiferae on mango inflorescences. The results showed that T. vulgaris and O. vulgare oils were the most potent against C. gnidiella (LC₅₀, 183.33 and 164.68 ppm, respectively) and S. mangiferae (18.93 and 16.93 ppm, respectively). Thymol and carvacrol had the highest effect on both insects. Furthermore, the effect of thymol and carvacrol at LC₅₀ values on some biochemical parameters of C. gnidiella was determined. Therefore, thymol and carvacrol from Thymus species are promising compounds that could be used as insecticides against the harmful insects C. gnidiella and S. mangiferae on mango inflorescences.

The mortar’s composition, porosity, mechanical properties, entryways’ orientation, and condi-tioning status of the tunnels made by the Najdian Termite, Microtermes najdensis located at Hada Al-Sham village, Makkah Province, Saudi Arabia were studied. The most prevalent infected tim-ber trees by this pest were Tamarix aphylla, Pithecellobium duce, Zizyphus spina christi, Leucaena leu-cocephala, Ficus infectoria, and Phoenix dactylifera. Climate, soil, healthy wood (Wh), and termite nest skeleton (TNS) were the four components of the termite system that were investigated physi-cally, chemically, spectroscopically, and by FTIR, XRD, SEM, and TEM. It was noticed that the entryways of the termite nests are located at the southwest direction for all the infected trees studied at Hada Al-Sham village that promotes better ventilation. Concerning to the air-conditioning status within the their nest, the internal temperature (IT) was found to be milder than that for its analogous value for the outer temperature (OT) in which the IT was wormer than OT during cold durations, while it was colder than the hottest OT in hot days and vice versa. The IT’s trend had more constantancy with minor fluctuations compared to that for the OT. Moreo-ver, the IT was found to be tended to the upper OT’s limit otherwise its colder one. This finding means that these termite species prefer the hotter atmospheres comparing the colder circumstanc-es. Lignin is the prominent tracer of the organic matter used as a binder for the TNS due to its gluing ability, resistance to enzymatic degradation by the termites and their accompanied fungal community habituating the nests. The presence of both microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) and nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) was discovered for the first time in the nest mortar reinforcing Klason lignin as the main binder. Their presence was proved by FTIR, XRD, SEM and TEM anal-yses and we satisfied that they were naturally-synthesized by the action of enzymatic hydrolysis excreted by the termites and their accompanied fungal community habituating the nests. The gross heat of combustion (GHCs) of the Wh and TNS were studied to try to find an important uti-lization of the infected woods as renewable energy resources instead of disposal them without economic benefits. These findings may be used for interpreting the durability of the termite nests to the different environmental stresses. Biomimicry of the termites’ nest from the perspective of its magic mortar with a suitable permeability, the entryways’ orientation, and the air-conditioning status can lead to modify the current construction’s designs to be more green and ecofriendly.

Mosquito-borne diseases pose significant public health challenges, necessitating inno-vative and sustainable control measures. This study evaluates the larvicidal potential of six extremophile Bacillus species against Aedes aegypti larvae, focusing on dose-response relationships, resistance trends, and genetic diversity. Regression analy-sis revealed a significant positive correlation between concentration and larval mortal-ity across species, with B. sonorensis and B. paramycoides demonstrating superior po-tency at lower concentrations (LC₅₀: 19.72 ppm and 23.41 ppm, respectively). Probit analysis confirmed that B. sonorensis is the most effective larvicide, achieving high mortality rates with minimal concentrations. In contrast, B. licheniformis and B. ster-coris exhibited limited efficacy, requiring significantly higher doses to achieve compa-rable results. Resistance analysis highlighted an inverse relationship between toxicity index and resistance ratio, with B. sonorensis maintaining high efficacy even in re-sistant mosquito populations (Resistance Ratio: 1). Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed distinct evolutionary relationships among species, with B. rugosus and B. tequilensis clustering closely, suggesting functional similarities. The genetic divergence of B. licheniformis aligns with its lower larvicidal performance. Overall, this study underscores the potential of B. sonorensis and B. paramycoides as robust candidates for mosquito control programs, particularly in re-sistance-prone environments. The findings provide valuable insights into optimizing microbial larvicides by tailoring species-specific application strategies and leveraging genetic diversity within the Bacillus genus.