Biocalcification, also known as microbiologically induced calcite precipitation (MICP), is a phenomenon involving the activity of the enzyme urease. A large number of soil microorganisms exhibit urease-producing ability. A novel application of MICP to improve properties of bricks by a soil bacteria Bacillus pasteurii NCIM 2477 was studied. Most of the deterioration of brick structures takes place because of the presence of moisture. Deposition of calcite on the surface and in voids of bricks reduces the water absorption substantially. A favorable effect of microbes to improve the durability of bricks by reducing water absorption was demonstrated as a novel concept in this paper.

Background: Protein subcellular localization is an important determinant of protein function and hence, reliable methods for prediction of localization are needed. A number of prediction algorithms have been developed based on amino acid compositions or on the N-terminal characteristics (signal peptides) of proteins. However, such approaches lead to a loss of contextual information. Moreover, where information about the physicochemical properties of amino acids has been used, the methods employed to exploit that information are less than optimal and could use the information more effectively.

Abstract. Agent-based simulation of large multicellular biological systems has become a viable option owing to affordable parallel computers, such as Beowulf-style clusters. We describe a scalable modular software platform that (i) provides for an easy integration of different solvers computing internal dynamics of the cells, and (ii) dynamically adapts to the changing loads on the cluster nodes using a load balancing algorithm. Simulations of systems of about 100,000 bacterial cells have been shown to be feasible using the platform.

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