Postnatal development of morphological and vocal features in Asian particolored bat,Vespertilio sinensis

We studied the postnatal development of morphological and vocal features in a free-ranging population of the Asian particolored bat, Vespertilio sinensis. There were no significant differences in postnatal growth rates between males and females on the basis of morphological changes. Body mass and forearm length followed a linear pattern of growth until 28 days of age at mean growth rates of 0.38 g/day and 1.15 mm/day, respectively and thereafter increased slowly. The length of total epiphyseal gap of the fourth metacarpal–phalangeal joint initially showed a linear increase for up to 16 days, followed by a linear decrease until day 46 at a mean rate of 0.18 mm/day. When forearm length was used in combination with changes in total epiphyseal gap length, we derived reliable age estimation equations for the 1–46 day age range. Of the three nonlinear growth models (logistic, Gompertz, and von Bertalanffy), the von Bertalanffy and logistic equations provided the best fit to the empirical curves for body mass and forearm length, respectively. Studies of vocal development showed that infants could emit short calls as precursors of echolocation calls after birth. Isolation calls and precursors of echolocation calls were both characterized by multiple harmonics. We observed a systematic increase in the value of the starting frequency without a significant change in the terminal frequency over the 3 week period of development. In addition, the duration of isolation calls increased until day 4 and then decreased, whereas, the duration of precursors of echolocation calls decreased continuously to reach a stable level.     

Monomeric Rhodopsin Is the Minimal Functional Unit Required for Arrestin Binding

We have tested whether arrestin binding requires the G-protein-coupled receptor be a dimer or a multimer. To do this, we encapsulated single-rhodopsin molecules into nanoscale phospholipid particles (so-called nanodiscs) and measured their ability to bind arrestin. Our data clearly show that both visual arrestin and β-arrestin 1 can bind to monomeric rhodopsin and stabilize the active metarhodopsin II form. Interestingly, we find that the monomeric rhodopsin in nanodiscs has a higher affinity for wild-type arrestin binding than does oligomeric rhodopsin in liposomes or nanodiscs, as assessed by stabilization of metarhodopsin II. Together, these results establish that rhodopsin self-association is not required to enable arrestin binding.     

Overlaping taste and tactile maps of the oropharynx in the vagal lobe of the channel catfish,Ictalurus punctatus

Microelectrode mapping experiments indicate an ipsilateral representation of the oropharynx and a well-defined, bilateral input from the proximal portion of the maxillary barbels and snout region within the vagal lobe of channel catfish. The map of the oropharyngeal epithelium is distorted so that the gill arches are rotated through an angle of 90° along the transverse plane, and the dorsally mapped region of the gill rakers is tilted posteriorly in the sagittal plane of the vagal lobe. Multiunit recording studies fail to provide definitive boundaries of adjacently mapped domains of oropharyngeal structures. Gustatory receptive fields of neurons in the vagal lobe correspond to their location on the topological map obtained by tactile stimulation of the oropharyngeal epithelium. A few single unit recordings indicate restricted receptive fields and different response patterns of taste, tactile, and proprioceptive neurons in the vagal lobe of catfish.     

Simulation Based Investigation of Deleterious nsSNPs in ATXN2 Gene and Its Structural Consequence Toward Spinocerebellar Ataxia

Spinocerebellar degeneration, termed as ataxia is a neurological disorder of central nervous system, characterized by limb in‐coordination and a progressive gait. The patient also demonstrates specific symptoms of muscle weakness, slurring of speech, and decreased vibration senses. Expansion of polyglutamine trinucleotide (CAG) within ATXN2 gene with 35 or more repeats, results in spinocerebellar ataxia type‐2. Protein ataxin‐2 coded by ATXN2 gene has been reported to have a crucial role in translation of the genetic information through sequestering the histone acetyl transferases (HAT) resulting in a state of hypo‐acetylation. In the present study, we have evaluated the outcome for 122 non synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs) reported within ATXN2 gene through computational tools such as SIFT, PolyPhen 2.0, PANTHER, I‐mutant 2.0, Phd‐SNP, Pmut, MutPred. The apo and mutant (L305V and Q339L) form of structures for the ataxin‐2 protein were modeled for gaining insights toward 3D spatial arrangement. Further, molecular dynamics simulations and structural analysis were performed to observe the brunt of disease associated nsSNPs toward the strength and secondary properties of ataxin‐2 protein structure. Our results showed that, L305V is a highly deleterious and disease causing point substitution. Analysis based on RMSD, RMSF, Rg, SASA, number of hydrogen bonds (NH bonds), covariance matrix trace, projection analysis for eigen vector demonstrated a significant instability and conformation along with rise in mutant flexibility values in comparison to the apo form of ataxin‐2 protein. The study provides a blue print of computational methodologies to examine the ataxin‐blend SNPs. J. Cell. Biochem. 119: 499–510, 2018. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Growth enhancement of soybean (Glycine max) upon exclusion of UV-B and UV-B/A components of solar radiation: characterization of photosynthetic parameters in leaves

Exclusion of UV (280–380 nm) radiation from the solar spectrum can be an important tool to assess the impact of ambient UV radiation on plant growth and performance of crop plants. The effect of exclusion of UV-B and UV-A from solar radiation on the growth and photosynthetic components in soybean (Glycine max) leaves were investigated. Exclusion of solar UV-B and UV-B/A radiation, enhanced the fresh weight, dry weight, leaf area as well as induced a dramatic increase in plant height, which reflected a net increase in biomass. Dry weight increase per unit leaf area was quite significant upon both UV-B and UV-B/A exclusion from the solar spectrum. However, no changes in chlorophyll a and b contents were observed by exclusion of solar UV radiation but the content of carotenoids was significantly (34–46%) lowered. Analysis of chlorophyll (Chl) fluorescence transient parameters of leaf segments suggested no change in the F _v/F _m value due to UV-B or UV-B/A exclusion. Only a small reduction in photo-oxidized signal I (P700⁺)/unit Chl was noted. Interestingly the total soluble protein content per unit leaf area increased by 18% in UV-B/A and 40% in UV-B excluded samples, suggesting a unique upregulation of biosynthesis and accumulation of biomass. Solar UV radiation thus seems to primarily affect the photomorphogenic regulatory system that leads to an enhanced growth of leaves and an enhanced rate of net photosynthesis in soybean, a crop plant of economic importance. The presence of ultra-violet components in sunlight seems to arrest carbon sequestration in plants. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Mammalian zona pellucida glycoproteins: structure and function during fertilization

Zona pellucida (ZP) is a glycoproteinaceous translucent matrix that surrounds the mammalian oocyte and plays a critical role in the accomplishment of fertilization. In humans, it is composed of 4 glycoproteins designated as ZP1, ZP2, ZP3 and ZP4, whereas mouse ZP is composed of ZP1, ZP2 and ZP3 (Zp4 being a pseudogene). In addition to a variable sequence identity of a given zona protein among various species, human ZP1 and ZP4 are paralogs and mature polypeptide chains share an identity of 47%. Employing either affinity purified native or recombinant human zona proteins, it has been demonstrated that ZP1, ZP3 and ZP4 bind to the capacitated human spermatozoa and induce an acrosome reaction, whereas in mice, ZP3 acts as the putative primary sperm receptor. Human ZP2 only binds to acrosome-reacted spermatozoa and thus may be acting as a secondary sperm receptor. In contrast to O-linked glycans of ZP3 in mice, N-linked glycans of human ZP3 and ZP4 are more relevant for induction of the acrosome reaction. Recent studies suggest that Sialyl-Lewis^x sequence present on both N- and O-glycans of human ZP play an important role in human sperm?Cegg binding. There are subtle differences in the downstream signaling events associated with ZP3 versus ZP1/ZP4-mediated induction of the acrosome reaction. For example, ZP3 but not ZP1/ZP4-mediated induction of the acrosome reaction is dependent on the activation of the G_i protein-coupled receptor. Thus, various studies suggest that, in contrast to mice, in humans more than one zona protein binds to spermatozoa and induces an acrosome reaction.     

Defining process design space for monoclonal antibody cell culture

The concept of design space has been taking root as a foundation of in‐process control strategies for biopharmaceutical manufacturing processes. During mapping of the process design space, the multidimensional combination of operational variables is studied to quantify the impact on process performance in terms of productivity and product quality. An efficient methodology to map the design space for a monoclonal antibody cell culture process is described. A failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) was used as the basis for the process characterization exercise. This was followed by an integrated study of the inoculum stage of the process which includes progressive shake flask and seed bioreactor steps. The operating conditions for the seed bioreactor were studied in an integrated fashion with the production bioreactor using a two stage design of experiments (DOE) methodology to enable optimization of operating conditions. A two level Resolution IV design was followed by a central composite design (CCD). These experiments enabled identification of the edge of failure and classification of the operational parameters as non‐key, key or critical. In addition, the models generated from the data provide further insight into balancing productivity of the cell culture process with product quality considerations. Finally, process and product‐related impurity clearance was evaluated by studies linking the upstream process with downstream purification. Production bioreactor parameters that directly influence antibody charge variants and glycosylation in CHO systems were identified. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2010;106: 894–905. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

CHANCE: comprehensive software for quality control and validation of ChIP-seq data

ChIP-seq is a powerful method for obtaining genome-wide maps of protein-DNA interactions and epigenetic modifications. CHANCE (CHip-seq ANalytics and Confidence Estimation) is a standalone package for ChIP-seq quality control and protocol optimization. Our user-friendly graphical software quickly estimates the strength and quality of immunoprecipitations, identifies biases, compares the user''s data with ENCODE''s large collection of published datasets, performs multi-sample normalization, checks against quantitative PCR-validated control regions, and produces informative graphical reports. CHANCE is available at https://github.com/songlab/chance.     

Dissecting the mechanisms of environment sensitivity of smart probes for quantitative assessment of membrane properties

The plasma membrane, as a highly complex cell organelle, serves as a crucial platform for a multitude of cellular processes. Its collective biophysical properties are largely determined by the structural diversity of the different lipid species it accommodates. Therefore, a detailed investigation of biophysical properties of the plasma membrane is of utmost importance for a comprehensive understanding of biological processes occurring therein. During the past two decades, several environment-sensitive probes have been developed and become popular tools to investigate membrane properties. Although these probes are assumed to report on membrane order in similar ways, their individual mechanisms remain to be elucidated. In this study, using model membrane systems, we characterized the probes Pro12A, NR12S and NR12A in depth and examined their sensitivity to parameters with potential biological implications, such as the degree of lipid saturation, double bond position and configuration (cis versus trans), phospholipid headgroup and cholesterol content. Applying spectral imaging together with atomistic molecular dynamics simulations and time-dependent fluorescent shift analyses, we unravelled individual sensitivities of these probes to different biophysical properties, their distinct localizations and specific relaxation processes in membranes. Overall, Pro12A, NR12S and NR12A serve together as a toolbox with a wide range of applications allowing to select the most appropriate probe for each specific research question.     

Integrated approach for disease management and growth enhancement of Sesamum indicum L. utilizing Azotobacter chroococcum TRA2 and chemical fertilizer

Azotobacter chroococcum TRA2, an isolate of wheat rhizosphere displayed plant growth promoting attributes including indole acetic acid, HCN, siderophore production, solubilization of inorganic phosphate and fixation of atmospheric nitrogen. In addition, it showed strong antagonistic effect against Macrophomina phaseolina and Fusarium oxysporum. It also caused degradation and digestion of cell wall components, resulting in hyphal perforations, empty cell (halo) formation, shrinking and lysis of fungal mycelia along with significant degeneration of conidia. Fertilizer adaptive variant strain of A. chroococcum TRA2 was studied with Tn5 induced streptomycin resistant transconjugants of wild type tetracycline-resistant TRA2 (designated TRA2(tetra+strep+)) after different durations. The strain was significantly competent in rhizosphere, as its population increased by 15.29?% in rhizosphere of Sesamum indicum. Seed bacterization with the strain TRA2 resulted in significant increase in vegetative growth parameters and yield of sesame over the non-bacterized seeds. However, application of TRA2 with half dose of fertilizers showed sesame yield almost similar to that obtained by full dose treatment. Moreover, the oil yield increased by 24.20?%, while protein yield increased by 35.92?% in treatment receiving half dose of fertilizer along with TRA2 bacterized seeds, as compared to untreated control.