BRIC-IBSD : Exploring the Microbial Bioresources of NER

Dr W Mohendro Singh *

IBSD celebrated National Science Day on Indigenous Technologies for Viksit Bharat :: Pix - Dr. S. Indira Devi

Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development (IBSD) the only institute in North Eastern Region (NER) in the ambit of Biotechnology Research and Innovation Council (BRIC) under the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt. of India established at Imphal, Manipur. BRIC-IBSD has three Centres in other States of NER including Sikkim, Meghalaya and Mizoram.

BRIC-IBSD has been engaged in research activities and numerous outreach programmes for the deve- lopment of bioeconomy from bio-resources. BRIC-IBSD committed to integration of multi-disciplinary, inter-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder research on bioresources of NER.

IBSD is working on different research areas to promote the bioresources of NER and integrated study for their scientific validation, value addition to propel innovations, discoveries and inventions for catalysing the growth of industry in the region for livelihood generation and promoting bioeconomy from bioresources.

The rich microbial bioresources of North East India still remain unexplored. Considering the current rapid anthropogenic changes in the environment and ecosystem and due to excessive harvest from wild and habitat pressure, the BRIC-IBSD has carried out the exploration, preservation and characterization of microbial resources from different unique habitats and ecological niches of NE India for their potential applications in therapeutics, industrial and agriculture sectors under the leadership of Prof Pulok Kumar Mukherjee, Director and the research team under the Microbial Resources programme.

Microbial Repository Centre (MRC) of IBSD has huge microbial collections of over 75000 cultures comprising of Bacteria, Actinomycetes, Yeast and Fungi isolated from hot springs, cold springs, sacred groves, cave ecosystems, limestone deposits, wet-lands, high altitude eco-systems, various forest ecosystems, wildlife sanctuaries, ethnomedicinal plants endophytes, epiphytes, wild mushrooms, fish, bamboo shoots, Loktak lake, fermented foods etc. of North East (NE) India in collaboration with other institutes and universities of NE India.

Whole Genome sequencing of 15 potential bacteria having therapeutic, agricultural and industrial applications have been carried out by IBSD. IBSD is also working on the antimicrobial bioactive metabolites from microbial and plant resources for potential future drug development against the AMR pathogens.

BRIC-IBSD in collaboration with ICMR-NICED, Kolkata organised a National Conference on “Exploring the Bioresources of India to fight against AMR” to highlight about the crucial and contemporary aspect of recent trends on AMR research horizon and their possible solutions.

IBSD has identified a bioactive antimicrobial peptide, Peoriaerin II, from Paeni-bacillus peoriae IBSD35, endophytic bacteria of Millettia pachycarpa medicinal plant which showed broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity against the bacterial and fungal pathogens Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Candida albicans ATCC 10231.

Genome sequencing of Paenibacillus peoriae IBSD35 revealed a novel antimicrobial peptide harbouring a type II polyketide biosynthesis pathway biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) and the process and product has been patented (International Patent).

This has made the institute to distinct research focused on enormous microbial resources for several health and societal benefits in every way; which is a very remarkable contribution under the leadership of Prof. Pulok K Mukherjee, Director, Dr Sarangthem Indira Devi, Scientist and their entire research team of IBSD.

Genome sequence of the phylogenetically novel organism, Arthrobacter globi- formis mrc11 isolated from Khangkhui cave deposit, has shown strong antimicrobial activity against pathogenic bacteria and the genome predicted important putative secondary metabolites and other antibiotic genes. Lactiplanti- bacillus plantaum BRD3A, isolated from a traditional fermented rice beverage, showed antibacterial activity against bacterial patho- gens such as Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 , Klebsiella pneu-moniae ATCC 4352, and Salmonella typhimurium ATCC 14028.

It also showed antibiofilm potential against Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Whole Genomic studies of L. plantarum BRD3A revealed the presence of class IIb bacteriocin, secondary metabolites, and RiPPs, giving it strong antimicrobial properties, offering a promising solution this will further lead to significant contributions to antimicrobial drug development.

IBSD carried out the characterisation of Lysini-bacillus xylanilyticus t 26 isolated from the C. chinense rhizosphere and Bacillus altitudinis Lc5 endophyte strain isolated from indigenous black rice. Both show good prospects in plant growth promotion and biocontrol agent. The strain could tolerate abiotic stress when grown in different conditions and produce major defensive enzymes and growth-promoting factors nitrogen-fixing ability, and antagonistic activity against the phytopathogens which will be benefit to agricultural applications.

IBSD has reported 22 different Trichoderma species from Manipur for having biocontrol properties against the soil borne plant pathogens. Bacillus vele-zensis strain MRC 5958, a thermophilic cellulase-producing bacterium isolated from Bakra Natural Hot Springs has been characterized through genome sequencing indicates its potential as a thermostable candidate for converting waste biomass into biofuel and other industrial enzymes.

This strain can produce cellulase under various temperature and pH conditions, making it suitable for diverse industrial applications. These findings highlight the promising applications of thermophilic bacteria and their bioactive enzymes in industrial importance. All the finding have been published in many reputed journals.

Additionally, under the AMR program, IBSD has conducted extensive screening of traditionally used medicinal plants to identify antibacterial and antiviral agents and assess their toxicity. Notably, T. citrina, D. cordata, Blumea balsamifera, M. bengalesis, X. folium have showed promising antimicrobial properties against the multidrug-resistant bacteria.

The essential oils such as A. houstonianum, A. conyzoides, and E. blanda, exhibited potential antifungal effects against skin diseases causing pathogens. Moreover, plant extracts of Elsholtzia blanda, Adenostemma lavenia, Dryopteris marginata, Arjuna myrobalan, and Vitex negundo, demonstrated significant activity against RNA viruses, including Chikungunya virus and SARS-CoV-2.

IBSD has also trained many students and research scholars from different universities and institutes from Manipur and other states of India and aboard on the use of various research techniques and carried out short term research projects with the Scientist of IBSD.

Regularly, IBSD has been giving scientific exposure program to the collage and school students of Manipur to create the scientific temperament by giving laboratory exposure and interactions with the scientist.

The scientists of Microbial Division of IBSD have collaborated with many national institutions and universities under ICMR, CSIR, and ICAR and other DBT institutions for various scientific collaborative research programme for exploring the translational research of NER for development of the Bioeconomy from Bioresources.