The growing number of multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacteria is becoming a world leading challenge for the scientific community and for public health. However, advances in high-throughput technologies and whole-genome sequencing of bacterial pathogens make the construction of bacterial genome-scale metabolic models (GEMs) increasingly realistic. The use of GEMs as an alternative platforms will expedite identification of novel unconditionally essential genes and enzymes of target organisms with existing and forthcoming GEMs. This approach will follow the existing protocol for construction of high-quality GEMs, which could ultimately reduce the time, cost and labor-intensive processes involved in identification of novel antimicrobial drug targets in drug discovery pipelines. We discuss the current impact of existing GEMs of selected multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacteria for identification of novel antimicrobial drug targets and the challenges of closing the gap between genome-scale metabolic modeling and... Graphical abstract

Bacterial cellulose (BC) has gained attention among researchers in materials science and bio-medicine due to its fascinating properties. However, BC’s fibre collapse phenomenon (i.e., its inability to reabsorb water after dehydration) is one of the drawbacks that limit its potential. To overcome this, a catalyst-free thermal crosslinking reaction was employed to modify BC using citric acid (CA) without compromising its biocompatibility. FTIR, XRD, SEM/EDX, TGA, and tensile analysis were carried out to evaluate the properties of the modified BC (MBC). The results confirm the fibre crosslinking phenomenon and the improvement of some properties that could be advantageous for various applications. The modified nanofibre displayed an improved crystallinity and thermal stability with increased water absorption/swelling and tensile modulus. The MBC reported here can be used for wound dressings and tissue scaffolding.

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a novel biocompatible polymeric biomaterial with a wide range of biomedical uses, like tissue engineering (TE) scaffolds, wound dressings, and drug delivery. Although BC lacks good cell adhesion due to limited functionality, its tunable surface chemistry still holds promise. Here, hydroxyapatite (HA) was incorporated into a citrate-modified BC (MBC) using the biomimetic synthesis in simulated body fluid (SBF). Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), and compressive modulus were used to characterize the biomineralized MBC (BMBC) samples. Using 3-(4,5 dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl) -2H-tetrazolium (MTS), trypan blue dye exclusion (TBDE), and cell attachment assays on osteoblast cells, the developed BMBC have shown good cell viability, proliferation, and attachment after 3, 5, and 7 days of culture and therefore suggested as potential bone tissue regeneration scaffolding material.

Bacterial cellulose (BC) has gained research attention in materials science and biomedicine due to its fascinating properties. BCs' fiber collapse phenomenon (inability to reabsorb water after dehydration) is one of the drawbacks that limit its potentials. To overcome this, a catalyst-free thermal crosslinking reaction was employed to modify the BC using citric acid (CA) without compromising the biocompatibility. Properties evaluation of the modified BC (MBC) by FTIR, XRD, SEM/EDX, TGA, and Tensile analysis confirmed the fiber crosslinking and improvement of some properties that could be advantageous for various applications. The modified nanofiber seems to maintain its inherent crystallinity and thermal stability with an increased water absorption/swelling and tensile modulus. The resulting MBC reported here can be relevant for wound dressings and tissue scaffolding.