Research Interests:

Development of indigenous mycotoxin inactivating enzymes for Poultry Feed Industry 

Awarded competitive research grant by HEC worth 11 Million on the Development of indigenous mycotoxin inactivating enzymes to combat the threat of mycotoxicosis in poultry: One Health Perspective”. Mycotoxins are fungal secondary metabolites, contaminate food or feedstuff and poses a serious health threat to both humans and livestock population and is a big challenge for food safety and food security. Fungi including Aspergillus, Penicillium and Fusarium grow on variety of livestock and human feedstuffs (e.g. corn, soybean meal, wheat etc)  due to inadequate conditions of harvesting, storage, handling and processing. The most commonly observed mycotoxins that cause a concern to human health and livestock include aflatoxins (AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, AFG2), ochratoxin A (OTA), fumonisins (FB1, FB2), zearalenone (ZEA) etc. These causes serious human and livestock health problems including carcinogenesis, hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity etc. In Pakistan the environment is favourable for the development of aflatoxins and ochratoxins in feed ingredients of commercial poultry.  In this project a unique Idea is proposed for the production and characterization of enzymes from native isolates. In Pakistan mycotoxicosis is usually treated by using clays/adsorbents which have also been reported to have negative impact on the growth of the birds due to their affinity to bind with other nutrients offered through feed. The enzyme based products are usually costly which is further increased by additional surcharges/ tax duties imposed on their import. Therefore their high cost makes them least acceptable for use in countries with poor economic setups.

Development of process for Co-production of Multi-enzyme Cocktail BsBD92 and application in the poultry feed as growth promoting feed additive

The lignocellulosic biomass wheat bran (WB), wheat straw (WS), rice straw (RS) and cotton stalks (CS) were used for co-production of multi-enzyme cocktail BsBD92 (exo-glucanase, endo-glucanase, β-glucosidase and xylanase). Multi-enzyme cocktail BsBD92 supplemented in poultry feeding trial 1 gave better results in term of production index (PI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR). While, combination of recombinant enzymes (Bteqβgluc and BsEgl) in poultry feeding trial 2 showed better performance than a single enzymes. It can also be concluded that high fiber diets supplemented with fiber degrading enzymes have impact in improving GIT by lowering the anti-nutritive effect of fibers.

Development of Cellulolytic microbial inoculants  for effective composting of Rice Straw

Rice straw is the vegetative part of the rice plant (Oryza sativa L.), cut at grain harvest or after. It may be burned and left on the field before the next ploughing, ploughed down as a soil improver or used as a feed for livestock. In Punjab, a great deal of rice residue is burned to prepare the land for a second crop. Approximately 80% of the wheat crop in Punjab is grown in fields after a rice crop. Thus, rice residue has to be burned, removed or incorporated into the soil in order to prepare fields for the next wheat crop. Composting of bio-waste is aerobic, microbial and biochemical process that helps the hydrolytic and oxidative degradation of organic matter into biologically stable humic substances acting as excellent soil amendments. Bioconversion of Rice Straw (NIBGE-NIAB fields) into valuable compost by cellulolytic microbial inoculants, set-up developed, helpful to accomplish the study components of ADB project for Sustainable and Resilient Agriculture. Volatile solid represents the organic solids of compost. The effective microbes enhance the microbial colonization and activity of the biomass and ultimately increases the mineralization process of composting. The enzymes produced by cellulolytic microbes present in the microbial inoculants also helps for the enzymatic hydrolysis of rice straw (RS). These enzyme have the potential to apply on large scale for the biological/Green degradation of lignocellulolytic bio-waste.

Process Development for Detergent Compatible thermostable and Alkaline Proteases 

The alkaline proteases account for about 25% of the total worldwide sale of enzymes. A significant fraction of alkaline proteases is used in laundry detergent as cleansing additives. The world enzyme market is currently US$5.4 billion and is increasing continuously.  A significant demand for detergent-compatible proteases is expected since they have a big share in the world enzyme market.  In the United States, 25% of the powder detergent and 50% of the liquid detergent currently manufactured contained enzymes to aid in tough proteinaceous stain release. The detergents containing enzymes should be thermostable and alkaline in nature. In our Lab we have isolated and characterized microbial isolates with maximum proteolytic activity (EAI 2.42).on casein agar plates.  Protease production in submerged fermentation (1Liter scale up) was achieved (3962 U/Liter) after 120 hours at 37 ?C followed by purification upto 2.5 fold. The stability of enzyme with commercial detergents was tested showing its stability in commercial detergents and its application as a De-staining agent.

Selected Publications:

• A. Raza, S. Bashir, R. Pothula, H. Abdelgaffar, R. Tabassum, MI Anwar, MM Awais, M Akhtar, JL Jurat-Fuentes. 2021. Expression and functional characterization in yeast of an endoglucanase from Bacillus sonorensis BD92 and its impact as feed additive in commercial broilers. Int J Biol Macromol.76:364-375 (as Corresponding author).
• A. Raza, R. Pothula, H. Abdelgaffar, S Bashir, and J. L. Jurat-Fuentes. 2020. Identification and functional characterization of a β-glucosidase from Bacillus tequelensis BD69 expressed in bacterial and yeast heterologous systems,” PeerJ 8,1-22. http://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.8792. (as Corresponding author).
• A. Raza, S. Bashir, and R. Tabassum,. 2019. Evaluation of cellulases and xylanases production from Bacillus spp. isolated from buffalo digestive system," Kafkas Universitesi Veteriner Fakultesi Dergisi, 25, 39-46. (as Corresponding author)
• A. Raza, S. Bashir, and R. Tabassum. 2019. Statistical based experimental optimization for co-production of endo-glucanase and xylanase from Bacillus sonorensis BD92 with their application in biomass saccharification," Folia Microbiologica, 64, 295-305. (as Corresponding author)
• A. Raza, S. Bashir, and R. Tabassum. 2019. An update on carbohydrases: growth performance and intestinal health of Poultry," Heliyon, 5(4),1-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01437. (as Corresponding author)
• A. Raza , F. Muhammad, S Bashir, MI Anwar,  MM Awais, M Akhtar, B Alam, T Khaliq, MU Naseer. Antiviral  and immune boosting activities of different medicinal plants against Newcastle disease virus in poultry. 2015. World's Poultry Science Journal, 71: 523-532.
• A Raza, F Muhammad, S Bashir, B Aslam, MI Anwar,  MU Naseer. In-vitro and in-vivo anthelmintic potential of different medicinal plants against Ascaridia galli infection in poultry birds. 2016. World's Poultry Science Journal, 72; 115-124.
• S Bashir, A Haque, Y Sarwar, A Ali and MI Anwar. Virulence profile of different phylogenetic groups of locally isolated community acquired uropathogenic E. coli from Faisalabad region of Pakistan. 2012. Annals of clinical microbiology and antimicrobials. 11:23, doi:10.1186/1476-0711-11-23. (as Corresponding author).
• S. Bashir, Y. Sarwar, A.Ali, M. Mohsin, MA Saeed, A. Tariq and A. Haque A. Multiple drug resistance patterns in various phylogenetic groups of uropathogenic E.coli isolated from Faisalabad region of Pakistan. 2011. Brazilian Journal for Microbiology. 42: 1278-1283.
• Anwar I, Akhtar M, Hussain I, Haq AU, Muhammad F, Hafeez A, Mahmood S, Bashir S. Field evaluation of Eimeria tenella (local isolates) gametocytes vaccine and its comparative efficacy with imported live vaccine, LivaCox®. 2009. Parasitology Research, 104(1); 135-43.

Sequence Submission to GenBank 

• Accession No. (JX627686.1). SRT1 16S ribosomal RNA gene.
• Accession No. (JX535386.1). 16QRT 16S ribosomal RNA gene.
• Accession No.  (KU199714). Lichtheimia ramosa isolate SWR1 18S ribosomal RNA gene,   partial sequence.
• Twenty bacteria 16s ribosomal RNA gene sequences  (MF767882-MF767903)