Providencia heimbachae, a Gram -ve, rod-shaped, and opportunistic bacteria isolated from the urine, feces, and skin of humans engage in a wide range of infectious diseases such as urinary tract infection (UTI), gastroenteritis, and bacteremia. This bacterium belongs to the Enterobacteriaceae family and can resist antibiotics known as multidrug-resistant (MDR), and as such can be life-threatening to humans. After retrieving the whole proteomic sequence of P. heimbachae ATCC 35613, a total of 6 non-homologous and pathogenic proteins were separated. These shortlisted proteins were further analyzed for epitope prediction and found to be highly non-toxic, non-allergenic, and antigenic. From these sequences, T-cell and B-cell (major histocompatibility complex class 1 and 2) epitopes were extracted that provided vaccine constructs, which were then analyzed for population coverage to find its reliability worldwide. The population coverage for MHC-1 and MHC-2 was 98.29% and 81.81%, respectively. Structural prediction was confirmed by validation through physiochemical molecular and immunological characteristics to design a stable and effective vaccine that could give positive results when injected into the body of the organism. Due to this approach, computational vaccines could be an effective alternative against pathogenic microbe since they cover a large population with positive results. In the end, the given findings may help the experimental vaccinologists to develop a very potent and effective peptide-based vaccine.

Mercury (Hg) pollution is a worldwide problem and increasing day by day due to natural and anthropogenic sources. In this study, mercury-resistant (Hg^R) bacterial isolates were isolated from industrial wastewater of Ittehad Chemicals Ltd., Kala Shah Kaku, Lahore, Pakistan. Out of 65 bacterial isolates, five isolates were screened out based on showing resistance at 30–40 μg/ml against HgCl₂. Selected Hg-resistant bacterial isolates were characterized as Bacillus subtilis AA-16 (OK562835), Bacillus cereus AA-18 (OK562834), Bacillus sp. AA-20 (OK562833), Bacillus paramycoides AA-30 (OK562836), and Bacillus thuringiensis AA-35 (OK562837). B. cereus AA-18 showed promising results in the resistance of HgCl₂ (40 μg/ml) due to the presence of merA gene. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis of immobilized B. cereus AA-18 showed the accumulation Hg on the cell surface. The inoculation of immobilized B. cereus AA-18 remediated 86% Hg of industrial wastewater up to 72 h at large scale (p < 0.05). In silico analysis showed structural determination of MerA protein encoded by merA gene of B. cereus AA-18 (OK562598) using ProtParam, Pfam, ConSurf Server, InterPro, STRING, Jpred4, PSIPRED, I-TASSER, COACH server, TrRosetta, ERRAT, VERIFY3D, Ramachandran plot, and AutoDock Vina (PyRx 8.0). These bioinformatics tools predicted the structural-based functional homology of MerA protein (mercuric reductase) associated with mer operon harboring bacteria involved in Hg-bioremediation system.

Aims Antibiotic resistance is a major problem in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi. Objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of XDR Salmonella among local population of Lahore and genotyping of isolates for antibiotic resistant genes. Methods and Results A total of 200 blood samples from suspected typhoid fever patients were collected. One hundred and fifty‐seven bacterial samples were confirmed as Salmonella Typhi and twenty‐three samples were confirmed as Salmonella Paratyphi after biochemical, serological and PCR based molecular characterization. Antibiogram analysis classified 121 (67.2%) Salmonella isolates as MDR and 62 isolates (34.4%) as XDR. The predominant resistance gene was ampC with 47.7% prevalence, followed by gyrA, catA1, tet(A), aac (3)‐la, qnrS, bla_NDM‐1 and bla_CTX‐M‐15 genes in 45.5%, 40%, 21.6%, 18.3%, 11.6%, 2.2% and 0.5% isolates, respectively. Sequence analysis showed the presence of sul1 and dfrA7 gene cassette arrays in twelve class 1 integron integrase positive isolates. Conclusion Large number of clinical XDR S. Typhi resistant against third generation cephalosporins have been reported. Significance and Impact of Study Current study highlights the possible emergence of clinical XDR S. Typhi cases in Lahore, Pakistan. Potential attribution of phenotypic and genotypic XDR cases may help to contribute targeted therapy.