Plants used by the bhat community for regulating fertility

A survey was conducted among medicinal plant sellers, healers, priests and local people in the rural population of Bhat, India. In this rural community medicinal plants are used for regulating fertility. Due to the fact that the majority of the Bhat community is illiterate, oral interviews were held in the villages. The information was then recorded. Plant samples were collected and preserved for future reference. Information on 28 plants and 11 recipes for doses from 2 or more vegetable species are presented, and popular names, empirical properties, and manner of using recipes are described. More than 90% of the information gathered was consistent among the informants, but some of the informants differed in their reports on the way to use the same plants. There is no certainty as to which of the plants are effective. Since the Bhat community has frequently observed the positive effects of their preparations, they have much faith in their recipes. The acceptability of these preparations is quite high among 95% of the Bhat population.     

SAXS Analysis and Characterization of Anticancer Activity of PNP-UDP Family Protein from Putranjiva roxburghii

The Protein Journal - A class of plant defense and storage proteins, including Putranjiva roxburghii PNP protein (PRpnp), belongs to PNP-UDP family. The PRpnp and related plant proteins contain a...     

A discrete class of intergenic DNA dictates meiotic DNA break hotspots in fission yeast

Meiotic recombination is initiated by DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) made by Spo11 (Rec12 in fission yeast), which becomes covalently linked to the DSB ends. Like recombination events, DSBs occur at hotspots in the genome, but the genetic factors responsible for most hotspots have remained elusive. Here we describe in fission yeast the genome-wide distribution of meiosis-specific Rec12-DNA linkages, which closely parallel DSBs measured by conventional Southern blot hybridization. Prominent DSB hotspots are located ~65 kb apart, separated by intervals with little or no detectable breakage. Most hotspots lie within exceptionally large intergenic regions. Thus, the chromosomal architecture responsible for hotspots in fission yeast is markedly different from that of budding yeast, in which DSB hotspots are much more closely spaced and, in many regions of the genome, occur at each promoter. Our analysis in fission yeast reveals a clearly identifiable chromosomal feature that can predict the majority of recombination hotspots across a whole genome and provides a basis for searching for the chromosomal features that dictate hotspots of meiotic recombination in other organisms, including humans.     

Synthesis and in vitro evaluation of new chloroquine-chalcone hybrids against chloroquine-resistant strain of Plasmodium falciparum

The control of malaria has been complicated with increasing resistance of malarial parasite against existing antimalarials. Herein, we report the synthesis of a new series of chloroquine-chalcone based hybrids (8-22) and their antimalarial efficacy against both chloroquine-susceptible (3D7) and chloroquine-resistant (K1) strains of Plasmodium falciparum. Most of the compounds showed enhanced antimalarial activity as compared to chloroquine in chloroquine-resistant (K1) strain of Plasmodium falciparum. Furthermore, to unfold the mechanism of action of these synthesized hybrid molecules, we carried out hemin dependent studies, in which three compounds were found to be active.     

Oomycete and fungal effector entry, a microbial Trojan horse

Oomycete and fungal symbionts have significant impacts on most commercially important crop and forest species, and on natural ecosystems, both negatively as pathogens and positively as mutualists. Symbiosis may be facilitated through the secretion of effector proteins, some of which modulate a variety of host defense mechanisms. A subset of these secreted proteins are able to translocate into host cells. In the oomycete pathogens, two conserved N-terminal motifs, RXLR and dEER, mediate translocation of effector proteins into host cells independent of any pathogen-encoded machinery. An expanded 'RXLR-like' motif [R/K/H]X[L/M/I/F/Y/W]X has been used to identify functional translocation motifs in host-cell-entering fungal effector proteins from pathogens and a mutualist. The RXLR-like translocation motifs were required for the fungal effectors to enter host cells in the absence of any pathogen-encoded machinery. Oomycete and fungal effectors with RXLR and RXLR-like motifs can bind phospholipids, specifically phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate (PtdIns-3-P). Effector-PtdIns-3-P binding appears to mediate cell entry via lipid raft-mediated endocytosis, and could be blocked by sequestering cell surface PtdIns-3-P or by utilizing inositides that competitively inhibit effector binding to PtdIns-3-P. These findings suggest that effector blocking technologies could be developed and utilized in a variety of important crop species against a broad spectrum of plant pathogens.     

Molecular characterization of mutation associated with rifampicin and isoniazid resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates

Nucleotide changes in catalase peroxidase (Kat G) gene and gene encoding the beta subunit of RNA polymerase (rpo B), responsible for isoniazid and rifampicin drug resistance were determined in the clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by PCR-RFLP, Line probe assay and DNA sequencing. PCR-RFLP test was performed by HapII cleavage of an amplified fragment of Kat G gene to detect the transversion 315AGC-->ACC(Ser-->Thr) which is associated with INH drug resistance. The Line probe assay kit was evaluated to detect the mutation in 81bp RMP resistance determining region of rpo B gene associated with RMP drug resistance. These results were validated by DNA sequencing and drug susceptibility test. Kat G S 315 T mutation was found in 74.19% strains of M. tuberculosis from Delhi. This mutation was not found in any of the susceptible strains tested. The line probe assay kit and DNA sequencing identified 18 isolates as RMP resistant with specific mutation, while one of the RMP resistant strain was identified as RMP susceptible, with a concordance of 94.73% with the phenotypic drug susceptibility result. Majority (8 of 19, 42.1%) of resistant isolates involved base changes at codon 531 of rpo B gene. Both PCR-RFLP and Line probe assay test can be used in many of the clinical microbiology laboratories for early detection of isoniazid and rifampicin drug resistance in clinical isolates of M. tuberculosis.