Growing Anisotropic Silver Nanostructures from Copper-Coated Fibrous Silica and Its Application as Plasmonic Photocatalyst

Plasmonics - Anisotropic silver nanostructures having complex morphologies are of immense importance due to its application in plasmon-enhanced photocatalysis, transparent conducting electrodes,...     

Molecular assessment of proteins encoded by the mitochondrial genome of Clarias batrachus and Clarias gariepinus

The population of catfish, Clarias batrachus has substantially diminished in various countries and studies show that another related species Clarias gariepinus is replacing it. The better adaptability and survivability of C. gariepinus over C. batrachus could be attributed to the metabolic differences between these two species, which is primarily regulated by mitochondrial activities. To understand the reasons behind this phenomenon, we performed in silico analyses to decipher the differences between the proteins encoded by the mitochondrial genome of these two related species. Our analysis revealed that out of thirteen, twelve proteins encoded by the mitochondrial genome of these two species have substantial variations between them. We characterised these variations by analysing their effect on secondary structure, intrinsic disorder predisposition, and functional impact on protein and stability parameters. Our data show that most of the parameters are changing between these two closely related species. Altogether, we demonstrate the molecular insights into the mitochondrial genome-encoded proteins of these two species and predict their effect on protein function and stability that might be helping C. gariepinus to gain survivability better than the C. batrachus.     

Theoretical Model of the Three-dimensional Structure of a Disease Resistance Gene Homolog Encoding Resistance Protein in Vigna mungo

Abstract

Plant disease resistance (R) genes, the key players of innate immunity system in plants encode ‘R’ proteins. ‘R’ protein recognizes product of avirulance gene from the pathogen and activate downstream signaling responses leading to disease resistance. No three dimensional (3D) structural information of any ‘R’ proteins is available as yet. We have reported a ‘R’ gene homolog, the 'VMYR1′, encoding ‘R’ protein in Vigna mungo. Here, we describe the homology modeling of the 'VMYR1′ protein. The model was created by using the 3D structure of an ATP-binding cassette transporter protein from Vibrio cholerae as a template. The strategy for homology modeling was based on the high structural conservation in the superfamily of P-loop containing nucleoside triphosphate hydrolase in which target and template proteins belong. This is the first report of theoretical model structure of any ‘R’ proteins.     

The influence of minerals on the formation of 2,3 butanediol by Aerobacter aerogenes

Summary The presence of a small concentration of nickel or zinc ions in the cultures ofAerobacter aerogenes increases the formation of 2,3 butanediol in the cultures. The presence of 1 per cent of milk increases the formation of 2,3 butanediol in the cultures and decreases the consumption of sugar. Copper ions inhibit the formation of 2,3 butanediol.The combination of zinc and nickel ions decrease the formation of 2,3 butanediol in the cultures ofAerobacter aerogenes and even with addition of milk this combination is not beneficial to the formation of the diol. Nickel in presence of milk increases the formation of 2,3 butanediol.