Shigella is a Gram-negative, non-sporulating, facultative anaerobic bacterium that causes Dysentery or Shigellosis in man. Shigella is highly invasive in the colon and the rectum, and is able to proliferate in the host cell cytoplasm, triggering an inflammatory reaction. S. flexneri 2a strain, 301 has been recently sequenced (Ref.1). Glutathione metabolism in Shigella occurs within cells in two closely linked, enzymatically controlled reactions that utilize ATP and draw on nonessential amino acids as substrates. Glutathione is a tripeptide, composed of glutamate, cysteine and glycine, and has numerous important functions within the bacterial cell. This tripeptide is specifically a thiol compound, present in the highest concentration in all types of cells (Ref.2).During[..]

Shigella is a Gram-negative, non-sporulating, facultative anaerobic bacterium that causes Dysentery or Shigellosis in man. Shigella is highly invasive in the colon and the rectum, and is able to proliferate in the host cell cytoplasm, triggering an inflammatory reaction. The strain S. flexneri 2457T harbors four plasmids, which remains to be completed. Glutathione metabolism in Shigella occurs within cells in two closely linked, enzymatically controlled reactions that utilize ATP and draw on nonessential amino acids as substrates. Glutathione is a tripeptide, composed of glutamate, cysteine and glycine, and has numerous important functions within the bacterial cell. This tripeptide is specifically a thiol compound, present in the highest concentration in all types of[..]

Glutathione is a sulfhydryl (-SH) antioxidant, antitoxin, and enzyme cofactor. It is ubiquitous in animals, plants, and microorganisms, and being water soluble is found mainly in the cell cytosol and other aqueous phases of the living system. It cannot enter most cells directly and therefore must be made available inside the cell from its three constituent amino acids: Glycine, Glutamate and Cysteine. The rate at which glutathione can be made depends on the availability of Cysteine, which is relatively scarce in foodstuffs. Furthermore, the Cysteine molecule has a sulfur-containing portion which gives the whole Glutathione molecule its ‘biochemical activity’. Cysteine can also enter the Glutathione metabolism through several other metabolic pathways like[..]

Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica is a subspecies of Salmonella enterica, the rod-shaped, flagellated, aerobic, Gram-negative bacterium. Many of the pathogenic serovars of the S. enterica species are in this subspecies, including that responsible for typhoid. Salmonella is classified into >2500 serovars. Among the >2500 Salmonella serovars, several serovars have been identified as major pathogens to humans and domestic animals, including Salmonella Typhimurium, Enteritidis, Typhi, Newport, Heidelberg and Paratyphi A (Ref.1). Six subspecies of S. enterica are currently recognized in Salmonella enterica. Subspecies I (subspecies enterica) is responsible for nearly all infections in humans and warm-blooded animals, while five other subspecies are isolated[..]

Streptomycetes are soil dwelling, Gram-positive, GC-rich bacteria belonging to the class Actinobacteria. They have a unique capacity to produce novel bioactive compounds and are the most known to produce metabolites like antibiotics, immunosuppressants, antivirals and herbicides. Filamentous Streptomyces bacteria produce bioactive secondary metabolites that account for more than half of all known antibiotics as well as anticancer, anti-helminthic and immunosuppressant drugs (Ref.1). Streptomycetes starin Streptomyces coelicolor is amongst the best studied representatives of the genus Streptomyces, which is the largest genus within the Actinobacteria. Streptomycetes have a remarkably complex developmental life cycle and the capacity to produce a plethora of natural[..]

Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) is a unicellular fungus, possessing a nuclear genomic DNA of 12068 kilobases (kb) organized in 16 chromosomes. Its genome has been completely sequenced by Goffeau et al. 1996 and was found to contain approximately 6000 genes, of which, 5570 are predicted to be protein-encoding genes. S. cerevisiae has been an essential component of human civilization because of its extensive use in food and beverage fermentation in which it has a high commercial significance. S. cerevisiae is involved in the production of many fermented beverages, such as wine, beer and cider; distilled beverages, such as rum, vodka, whisky, brandy, and sake; whereas in other alcoholic beverages worldwide, from fruits, honey, and tea (Ref.1). During the[..]

Glutathione is a sulfhydryl (-SH) antioxidant, antitoxin, and enzyme cofactor. It is ubiquitous in animals, plants, and microorganisms, and being water soluble is found mainly in the cell cytosol and other aqueous phases of the living system. Glutathione is composed of Glutamate, Cysteine and Glycine that has numerous important functions within cells. The tripeptide Glutathione is part of an integrated antioxidant system that protects cells and tissues from oxidative damage. Oxidative stress can result from exposure to excessive amounts of endogenous and exogenous electrophiles (Ref.1). Glutathione exists in two forms. The antioxidant "reduced Glutathione" tripeptide is conventionally called Glutathione and abbreviated GSH; the oxidized form is a[..]

Ralstonia solanacearum is a Gram negative β-proteobacteria. It is an aerobic non-spore-forming, Gram-negative, plant pathogen. R. solanacearum is soil-borne and motile with a polar flagellar tuft. It colonises the xylem, causing bacterial wilt in a very wide range of potential host plants (Ref.1). Although R. solanacearum is considered a plant pathogen, it mainly behaves as a soil bacterium of saprophytic life with an extremely versatile lifestyle, which allows the bacteria to survive in the soil for long periods in the absence of its host plant his phytopathogen invades the vascular tissue in a systemic way and has a wide range of hosts with arge geographic distribution and diverse pathogenic behavior. R. solanacearum can live for long periods in[..]

Rhodopseudomonas palustris is a rod-shaped, Gram-negative purple nonsulfur bacterium. It is an alphaproteobacterium that serves as a model organism for studies of photophosphorylation, regulation of nitrogen fixation, production of hydrogen as a biofuel, and anaerobic degradation of aromatic compounds. This bacterium is able to transition between anaerobic photoautotrophic growth, anaerobic photoheterotrophic growth, and aerobic heterotrophic growth. It is found in terrestrial soil and water environments and grows phototrophically under anaerobic conditions. Under such conditions, it uses light as a source of energy and either organic compounds or carbon dioxide as carbon sources. R. palustris also grows aerobically as a heterotroph, and some strains grow anaerobically[..]

Pseudomonas syringae is one of the best studied plant pathogen with more than 50 pathovars. Each pathovar is known to infect a characteristic group of host plant species (Ref.1). P. syringae is a Gram-negative bacterium and its different strains are known for their diverse interactions with plants. Among these strains, P. syringae pv. tabaci is a non-host pathogen of Arabidopsis thaliana (Ref.2). P. syringae survives saprophytically on the plant surface, and after the entering plant tissues through wounds or natural openings (such as stomata), it reproduces endophytically in the apoplastic space (Ref.3). P.syringae has evolved two principal virulence strategies which are a) suppression of host immunity b) creation of an aqueous apoplast (Ref.1). To survive both in the[..]

Pseudomonas putida is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped, saprotrophic soil bacterium (Ref.1). It has been reported as opportunistic human pathogens capable of causing nosocomial infections. P. putida exhibits an amazing ability to metabolize a wide range of biogenic and xenobiotic compounds (Ref.2). As a frequent inhabitant of sites polluted with toxic chemicals, P.putida can tolerate high levels of endogenous and exogenous oxidative stress. It is equipped with the enzymatic machinery needed to catabolism both natural and recalcitrant aromatic compounds besides sugars and organic acids. Thiols play several roles in bacteria like maintaining the redox balance, quenching ROS and nitrogen reactive species, and detoxifying other toxins and stress-inducing factors. In[..]

Glutathione is a sulfhydryl (-SH) antioxidant, antitoxin, and enzyme cofactor. It is ubiquitous in animals, plants, and microorganisms, and being water soluble is found mainly in the cell cytosol and other aqueous phases of the living system. It has been assigned several cellular functions, including protection against oxidative damage, maintenance of a reducing cellular thiol-disulfide balance, electron donation for a number of enzymes, protection of protein sulfhydryls from irreversible oxidation, and detoxification of foreign compounds. Glutathione is synthesized enzymatically from its constituent amino acids in two consecutive reactions. GSA1 (Glutathione Synthetase or GSH2) catalyzes the second step and it occurs in two different forms in Schizosaccharomyces[..]