Diversity of antagonistic bacteria isolated from medicinal plant Peganum harmala L.

The antimicrobial activity of plant extract of Peganum harmala, a medicinal plant has been studied already. However, knowledge about bacterial diversity associated with different parts of host plant antagonistic to different human pathogenic bacteria is limited. In this study, bacteria were isolated from root, leaf and fruit of plant. Among 188 bacterial isolates isolated from different parts of the plant only 24 were found to be active against different pathogenic bacteria i.e. Escherichia coli, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Enterococcus faecium, Enterococcus faecalis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. These active bacterial isolates were identified on the basis of 16S rRNA gene analysis. Total population of bacteria isolated from plant was high in root, following leaf and fruit. Antagonistic bacteria were also more abundant in root as compared to leaf and fruit. Two isolates (EA5 and EA18) exhibited antagonistic activity against most of the targeted pathogenic bacteria mentioned above. Some isolates showed strong inhibition for one targeted pathogenic bacterium while weak or no inhibition for others. Most of the antagonistic isolates were active against MRSA, following E. faecium, P. aeruginosa, E. coli and E. faecalis. Taken together, our results show that medicinal plants are good source of antagonistic bacteria having inhibitory effect against clinical bacterial pathogens.     

癌基因Src在骨肉瘤细胞侵袭伪足形成中的作用

目的:探讨癌基因Src在体外培养骨肉瘤细胞侵袭伪足形成中的作用。方法:构建Src sh RNA慢病毒表达载体,在HEK293T细胞中包装慢病毒,感染HT-1080骨肉瘤细胞,经嘌呤霉素加压筛选,获得稳定沉默Src基因的骨肉瘤细胞系HT-1080-sh Src;实时定量PCR和Western Blot法检测基因沉默效率;采用原位明胶酶谱法检测侵袭伪足形成;采用侵袭小室实验检测下调Src基因表达对HT-1080细胞侵袭力的影响。结果:成功构建稳定沉默Src基因的骨肉瘤细胞系HT-1080-sh Src及对照细胞系HT-1080-shluc,经实时定量PCR和Western Blot检测,与对照细胞系相比,HT-1080-sh Src细胞中Src基因表达下调3倍以上;下调HT-1080细胞中Src基因表达能显著抑制HT-1080细胞侵袭伪足形成及其对细胞外基质的降解能力;下调Src基因表达能显著抑制骨肉瘤细胞侵袭力。结论:癌基因Src参与调节骨肉瘤细胞HT-1080侵袭伪足形成,促进肿瘤侵袭、转移。     

Numerical exploration of the parameter plane in a discrete predator–prey model

We propose a variant of the discrete Lotka–Volterra model for predator–prey interactions. A detailed stability and numerical analysis of the model are presented to explore the long time behaviour as each of the control parameter is varied independently. We show how the condition for survival of the predator depends on the natural death rate of predator and the efficiency of predation. The model is found to support different dynamical regimes asymptotically including predator extinction, stable fixed point and limit cycle attractors for co-existence of predator and prey and more complex dynamics involving chaotic attractors. We are able to locate exactly the domain of chaos in the parameter plane using a dimensional analysis.