Data mining of transcriptional biomarkers at different cotton fiber developmental stages

Functional & Integrative Genomics - Advancement of the gene expression study provides comprehensive information on pivotal genes at different cotton fiber development stages. For the betterment...     

Seed Priming with Iron Oxide Nanoparticles Triggers Iron Acquisition and Biofortification in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Grains

Iron deficiency anaemia is a major challenge among consumers in developing countries. Given the deficiency of iron in the diet, there is an urgent need to devise a strategy for providing the required iron in the daily diet to counter the iron deficiency anaemia. We propose that iron biofortification of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) through seed priming would be an innovative strategy to address this issue. This investigation attempts to find the interaction of iron oxide nanoparticles on germination, growth parameters and accumulation of grain iron in two contrasting wheat genotypes WL711 (low-iron genotype) and IITR26 (high-iron genotype). Wheat seeds were primed with different concentrations of iron oxide nanoparticles in the range of 25–600 ppm, resulting in differential accumulation of grain iron contents. We observed a pronounced increase in germination percentage and shoot length at 400 and 200 ppm treatment concentrations in IITR26 and WL711 genotypes, respectively. Intriguingly, the treatment concentration of 25 ppm demonstrated higher accumulation with a significant increase in grain iron contents to 45.7% in IITR26 and 26.8% in WL711 genotypes, respectively. Seed priming represents an innovative and user-friendly approach for wheat biofortification which triggers iron acquisition and accumulation in grains.

     

A short note on predicted motifs in the Thaparocleidus wallagonius genome

Thaparocleidus wallagonius is a monogenean parasite and a fish-borne pathogen with a worldwide distribution. The genome for Thaparocleidus wallagonius is known. Therefore, it is of interest to report the DNA motif analysis data in the 18S rDNA of Thaparocleidus wallagonius collected from the fish Wallago attu in India. This data forms a framework for an in-depth analysis of the parasite biology and development, immune evasion strategies, virulence and long-term survival within the definitive host.     

Involvement of residues 147VYYEIGK153 in binding of lethal factor to protective antigen of Bacillus anthracis

Anthrax toxin is a complex of protective antigen (PA, 735 aa), lethal factor (LF, 776 aa), and edema factor (EF, 767 aa). PA binds to cell surface receptors and is cleaved by cell surface proteases into PA63, while LF and EF compete for binding to PA63. The PA63-LF/EF complex is internalized into the cytosol and causes different pathogenic responses in animals and cultured cells. 1-300 amino acid residues of LF have been viewed as the region responsible for the high affinity binding of LF to PA. Amino acid analysis of LF and EF revealed a common stretch of 7 amino acids (147VYYEIGK153). In the present study, each amino acid of this stretch was replaced by alanine at a time. Y148A, Y149A, I151A, and K153A mutants were found to be deficient in their ability to lyse J774A.1 cells and their binding ability to PA63 was drastically reduced. We propose that these four amino acids play a crucial role in the process of binding of LF to PA63.     

Modeling breast cancer in vivo and ex vivo reveals an essential role of Pin1 in tumorigenesis

Phosphorylation on certain Ser/Thr-Pro motifs is a major oncogenic mechanism. The conformation and function of phosphorylated Ser/Thr-Pro motifs are further regulated by the prolyl isomerase Pin1. Pin1 is prevalently overexpressed in human cancers and implicated in oncogenesis. However, the role of Pin1 in oncogenesis in vivo is not known. We have shown that Pin1 ablation is highly effective in preventing oncogenic Neu or Ras from inducing cyclin D1 and breast cancer in mice, although it neither affects transgene expression nor mammary gland development. Moreover, we have developed an ex vivo assay to uncover that a significant fraction of primary mammary epithelial cells from Neu or Ras mice display various malignant properties long before they develop tumors in vivo. Importantly, these early transformed properties are effectively suppressed by Pin1 deletion, which can be fully rescued by overexpression of cyclin D1. Thus, Pin1 is essential for tumorigenesis and is an attractive anticancer target. Our ex vivo assay can be used to study early events of breast cancer development in genetically predisposed mice.     

Electron transfer in natural and unnatural flavoporphyrins

The development of chemical models for enzymes and their chemical and physical studies constitutes an important area of research from a scientific as well as an industrial point of view. Covalently linked flavin and porphyrin (flavoporphyrins) have attracted attention due to their applications as chemical models for flavoproteins and related enzymes. In this review, the literature has been surveyed to provide a comprehensive coverage of the synthetic methodology and characterization techniques of various types of synthetic flavoporphyrins.     

Sequence analysis of plasmid pTS1 isolated from oral spirochetes

The naturally occurring plasmid pTS1, identified previously in several species of oral spirochetes, has now been completely sequenced. Analysis of the four open reading frames identified on the plasmid suggests the presence of genes involved in replication and mobilization.     

Synthesis and antihyperglycemic activity profiles of novel thiazolidinedione derivatives

A number of thiazolidine-2,4-diones derivatives having carboxylic ester appendage at N-3 were synthesized and their antihyperglycemic activity was evaluated. Many of these derivatives as well as their corresponding carboxylic acid showed significant improvement on post-prandial hyperglycemia in normal rats, in contrast to their poor agonist activity at PPARgamma.