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Amanda Ramdass
Biochemistry Research Laboratory (Rm216), Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, The University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies

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Journal article
Published: 28 May 2021 in Microorganisms
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Trinidad and Tobago is the largest producer of oil and natural gas in Central America and the Caribbean. Natural crude oil seeps, in addition to leaking petroleum pipelines, have resulted in chronic contamination of the surrounding terrestrial environments since the time of petroleum discovery, production, and refinement in Trinidad. In this study, we isolated microbes from soils chronically contaminated with crude oil using a culture-dependent approach with enrichment. The sampling of eight such sites located in the southern peninsula of Trinidad revealed a diverse microbial composition and novel oil-degrading filamentous fungi and yeast as single-isolate degraders and naturally occurring consortia, with specific bacterial species not previously reported in the literature. Multiple sequence comparisons and phylogenetic analyses confirmed the identity of the top degraders. The filamentous fungal community based on culturable species was dominated by Ascomycota, and the recovered yeast isolates were affiliated with Basidiomycota (65.23%) and Ascomycota (34.78%) phyla. Enhanced biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons is maintained by biocatalysts such as lipases. Five out of seven species demonstrated extracellular lipase activity in vitro. Our findings could provide new insights into microbial resources from chronically contaminated terrestrial environments, and this information will be beneficial to the bioremediation of petroleum contamination and other industrial applications.

ACS Style

Amanda Ramdass; Sephra Rampersad. Diversity and Oil Degradation Potential of Culturable Microbes Isolated from Chronically Contaminated Soils in Trinidad. Microorganisms 2021, 9, 1167 .

AMA Style

Amanda Ramdass, Sephra Rampersad. Diversity and Oil Degradation Potential of Culturable Microbes Isolated from Chronically Contaminated Soils in Trinidad. Microorganisms. 2021; 9 (6):1167.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Amanda Ramdass; Sephra Rampersad. 2021. "Diversity and Oil Degradation Potential of Culturable Microbes Isolated from Chronically Contaminated Soils in Trinidad." Microorganisms 9, no. 6: 1167.

Journal article
Published: 23 November 2019 in Toxins
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Trichothecene mycotoxins are a class of secondary metabolites produced by multiple genera of fungi, including certain plant pathogenic Fusarium species. Functional variation in the TRI1 gene produces a novel Type A trichothecene called NX-2 in strains of F. graminearum. Using a bioinformatics approach, a systematic analysis of 52 translated TRI1 sequences of Fusarium species, including five F. graminearum NX-2 producers and four F. graminearum non-NX-2 producers, was conducted to explain the functional difference of TRI1p of FGNX-2. An assessment of several signature motifs of fungal P450s revealed amino acid substitutions in addition to the post-translational N-X-S/T sequons motif, which is indicative of N-linked glycosylation of this TRI1-encoded protein characteristic of NX-2 producers. There was evidence of selection bias, where TRI1 gene sequences were found to be under positive selection and, therefore, under functional constraints. The cumulative amino acid changes in the TRI1p sequences were reflected in the phylogenetic analyses which revealed species-specific clustering with a distinct separation of FGNX-2 from FG-non-NX-2 producers with high bootstrap support. Together, our findings provide insight into the amino acid sequence features responsible for the functional diversification of this TRI1p.

ACS Style

Amanda C. Ramdass; Ria T. Villafana; Sephra N. Rampersad. Comparative Sequence Analysis of TRI1 of Fusarium. Toxins 2019, 11, 689 .

AMA Style

Amanda C. Ramdass, Ria T. Villafana, Sephra N. Rampersad. Comparative Sequence Analysis of TRI1 of Fusarium. Toxins. 2019; 11 (12):689.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Amanda C. Ramdass; Ria T. Villafana; Sephra N. Rampersad. 2019. "Comparative Sequence Analysis of TRI1 of Fusarium." Toxins 11, no. 12: 689.

Review
Published: 14 January 2019 in Toxins
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Food security is a global concern. Fusarium are among the most economically important fungal pathogens because they are ubiquitous, disease management remains a challenge, they produce mycotoxins that affect food and feed safety, and trichothecene mycotoxin production can increase the pathogenicity of some Fusarium species depending on the host species. Although trichothecenes may differ in structure by their patterns of hydroxylation or acetylation, these small changes have a significant impact on toxicity and the biological activity of these compounds. Therefore, detecting and identifying which chemotype is present in a given population are important to predicting the specific toxins that may be produced and, therefore, to evaluating the risk of exposure. Due to the challenges of inducing trichothecene production by Fusarium isolates in vitro for subsequent chemical analysis, PCR assays using gene-specific primers, either singly or in combination, designed against specific genes of the trichothecene gene cluster of multiple species of Fusarium have been developed. The establishment of TRI genotypes that potentially correspond to a specific chemotype requires examination of an information and knowledge pipeline whose critical aspects in sequential order are: (i) understanding the TRI gene cluster organization which differs according to Fusarium species under study; (ii) knowledge of the re-arrangements to the core TRI gene cluster over evolutionary time, which also differs according to Fusarium species; (iii) the functions of the TRI genes in the biosynthesis of trichothecene analogs; and (iv) based on (i)–(iii), selection of appropriate target TRI gene(s) for primer design in PCR amplification for the Fusarium species under study. This review, therefore, explains this pipeline and its connection to utilizing TRI genotypes as a possible proxy to chemotype designation.

ACS Style

Ria T. Villafana; Amanda C. Ramdass; Sephra N. Rampersad. Selection of Fusarium Trichothecene Toxin Genes for Molecular Detection Depends on TRI Gene Cluster Organization and Gene Function. Toxins 2019, 11, 36 .

AMA Style

Ria T. Villafana, Amanda C. Ramdass, Sephra N. Rampersad. Selection of Fusarium Trichothecene Toxin Genes for Molecular Detection Depends on TRI Gene Cluster Organization and Gene Function. Toxins. 2019; 11 (1):36.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ria T. Villafana; Amanda C. Ramdass; Sephra N. Rampersad. 2019. "Selection of Fusarium Trichothecene Toxin Genes for Molecular Detection Depends on TRI Gene Cluster Organization and Gene Function." Toxins 11, no. 1: 36.