Microbial fermentation is a primary method by which a variety of foods and beverages are produced. The term refers to the use of microbes such as bacteria, yeasts, and molds to transform carbohydrates into different substances. Fermentation is important for preserving, enhancing flavor, and improving the nutritional quality of various perishable foods. Historical records clearly show that fermented foods and drinks, such as wine, beer, and bread, have been consumed for more than 7000 years. The main microorganisms employed were Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which are predominantly used in alcohol fermentation, and Lactobacillus in dairy and vegetable fermentation. Typical fermented foods and drinks made from yogurt, cheese, beer, wine, cider, and pickles from vegetables are examples. Although there are risks of contamination and spoilage by pathogenic and undesirable microorganisms, advanced technologies and proper control procedures can mitigate these risks. This review addresses microbial fermentation and clarifies its past importance and contribution to food preservation, flavoring, and nutrition. It systematically separates yeasts, molds, and bacteria and explains how they are used in food products such as bread, yogurt, beer, and pickles. Larger producers employ primary production methods such as the artisanal approach, which are explored along with future trends such as solid-state fermentation, the potential of biotechnology in developing new products, and sustainability in new product development. Future research and development strategies can lead to innovations in methods that improve efficiency, product range, and sustainability.

Background: The rapid occurrence of bacterial antibiotic resistance poses a significant threat to public health worldwide. Since particularly multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens are becoming untreatable with currently available antibiotics, new treatment modalities must be deployed. Objectives: This review explores the recent advancements and the enduring challenges in new antibacterial development for drug-resistant organisms. Results: We describe how bacterial resistance to antibiotics arises and discuss why the traditional drug discovery routes are inefficient. The best alternative strategies to overcome these challenges might include exploring new bacterial pathways, utilizing compounds with antibacterial activities from the human microbiome, and repurposing existing drugs. Moreover, novel drug delivery mechanisms that leverage, for example, nanotechnology-based carriers may be breakthrough ideas that can increase antibiotic efficacy and, at the same time, reduce toxicity. Current clinical trials of next-generation drugs indicate that some treatments possess excellent potential to overcome the MDR issue. Conclusion: Despite the substantial obstacles to getting bench findings to the patient, numerous scientists are still working towards this goal. Both the application of antibiotic stewardship principles and timely considerations through the regulatory pathways are needed to release the next generation of antibiotics that are suitable for the fight against superbugs.

Background: The Junín virus (JUNV) is well known for causing argentine haemorrhagic fever (AHF), a severe endemic disease in farming premises. The glycoprotein of JUNV is an important therapeutic target in vaccine design. Despite using drugs and neutralizing weakened antibodies being used in the medication, neither the severity reduced nor eradicated the infection. However, this constraint can be resolved by immunoinformatic approaches. Results: The glycoprotein fasta sequence was retrieved from NCBI to anticipate the B cell and T cell epitopes through the Immune Epitope Database. Furthermore, each epitope underwent validation in Vaxijen 2.0, Aller Top, and Toxin Pred to find antigenic, nonallergic, and non-toxic peptides. Moreover, the vaccine is designed with appropriate adjuvants and linkers. Subsequently, physicochemical properties were determined in ProtParam including solubility and disulphide bonds in the SCRATCH server. The vaccine 3D structure was built using I-TASSER and refined in ModRefine. Docking between JUNV glycoprotein (PDB ID:5NUZ) with a built vaccine revealed a balanced docked complex visualized in the Drug Discovery studio, identified 280 hydrogen bonds between them. The docking score of − 15.5 kcal/mol was determined in the MM/GBSA analysis in HawkDock. MD simulations employed using the GROMACS at 20 ns resulted in minimal deviation and fewer fluctuations, particularly with high hydrogen bond-forming residues. Conclusion: However, these findings present a potential vaccine for developing against JUNV glycoprotein after validating the epitopes and 3D vaccine construct through in silico methods. Therefore, further investigation in the wet laboratory is necessary to confirm the potentiality of the predicted vaccine.

Potentilla nepalensis belongs to the Rosaceae family and has numerous therapeutic applications as potent plant-based medicine. Forty phytoconstituents (PCs) from the root and stem through n-hexane (NR and NS) and methanolic (MR and MS) extracts were identified in earlier studies. However, the PCs affecting human genes and their roles in the body have not previously been disclosed. In this study, we employed network pharmacology, molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulations (MDSs), and MMGBSA methodologies. The SMILES format of PCs from the PubChem was used as input to DIGEP-Pred, with 764 identified as the inducing genes. Their enrichment studies have shown inducing genes’ gene ontology descriptions, involved pathways, associated diseases, and drugs. PPI networks constructed in String DB and network topological analyzing parameters performed in Cytoscape v3.10 revealed three therapeutic targets: TP53 from MS-, NR-, and NS-induced genes; HSPCB and Nf-kB1 from MR-induced genes. From 40 PCs, two PCs, 1b (MR) and 2a (MS), showed better binding scores (kcal/mol) with p53 protein of −8.6 and −8.0, and three PCs, 3a, (NR) 4a, and 4c (NS), with HSP protein of −9.6, −8.7, and −8.2. MDS and MMGBSA revealed these complexes are stable without higher deviations with better free energy values. Therapeutic targets identified in this study have a prominent role in numerous cancers. Thus, further investigations such as in vivo and in vitro studies should be carried out to find the molecular functions and interlaying mechanism of the identified therapeutic targets on numerous cancer cell lines in considering the PCs of P. nepalensis.

West Nile virus (WNV) belongs to the Flaviviridae family and causes West Nile fever. The mechanism of transmission involves the culex mosquito species. Infected individuals are primarily asymptomatic, and few exhibit common symptoms. Moreover, 10 % of neuronal infection caused by this virus cause death. The proteins encoded by these genes had been uncharacterized, although understanding their function and structure is important for formulating antiviral drugs. Herein, we used in silico approaches, including various bioinformatic tools and databases, to analyse the proteins from the WNV polyprotein individually. The characterization included GC content, physicochemical properties, conserved domains, soluble and transmembrane regions, signal localization, protein disorder, and secondary structure features and their respective 3D protein structures. Among 11 proteins, eight had >50 % GC content, eight proteins had basic pI values, three proteins were unstable under in vitro conditions, four were thermostable according to >100 AI values and some had negative GRAVY values in physicochemical analyses. All protein-conserved domains were shared among Flaviviridae family members. Five proteins were soluble and lacked transmembrane regions. Two proteins had signals for localization in the host endoplasmic reticulum. Non-structural (NS) 2A showed low protein disorder. The secondary structural features and tertiary structure models provide a valuable biochemical resource for designing selective substrates and synthetic inhibitors. WNV proteins NS2A, NS2B, PM, NS3 and NS5 can be used as drug targets for the pharmacological design of lead antiviral compounds.