Mineral proximity influences mechanical response of proteins in biological mineral-protein hybrid systems

The organic phase of nacre, which is composed primarily of proteins, has an extremely high elastic modulus as compared to that of bulk proteins, and also undergoes large deformation before failure. One reason for this unusually high modulus could be the mineral-organic interactions. In this work, we elucidate the specific role of mineral proximity on the structural response of proteins in biological structural composites such as nacre through molecular modeling. The "glycine-serine" domain of a nacre protein Lustrin A has been used as a model system. It is found that the amount of work needed to unfold is significantly higher when the GS domain is pulled in the proximity of aragonite. These results indicate that the proximity of aragonite has a significant effect on the unfolding mechanisms of proteins when pulled. These results will provide very useful information in designing synthetic biocomposites, as well as further our understanding of mechanical response in structural composites in nature.     

Microbial and plant derived biomass for removal of heavy metals from wastewater

Discharge of heavy metals from metal processing industries is known to have adverse effects on the environment. Conventional treatment technologies for removal of heavy metals from aqueous solution are not economical and generate huge quantity of toxic chemical sludge. Biosorption of heavy metals by metabolically inactive non-living biomass of microbial or plant origin is an innovative and alternative technology for removal of these pollutants from aqueous solution. Due to unique chemical composition biomass sequesters metal ions by forming metal complexes from solution and obviates the necessity to maintain special growth-supporting conditions. Biomass of Aspergillus niger, Penicillium chrysogenum, Rhizopus nigricans, Ascophyllum nodosum, Sargassum natans, Chlorella fusca, Oscillatoria anguistissima, Bacillus firmus and Streptomyces sp. have highest metal adsorption capacities ranging from 5 to 641 mg g(-1) mainly for Pb, Zn, Cd, Cr, Cu and Ni. Biomass generated as a by-product of fermentative processes offers great potential for adopting an economical metal-recovery system. The purpose of this paper is to review the available information on various attributes of utilization of microbial and plant derived biomass and explores the possibility of exploiting them for heavy metal remediation.     

Induction and submerged cultivation of Valeriana jatamansi adventitious root cultures for production of valerenic acids and its derivatives

Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture (PCTOC) - In vitro adventitious roots were induced from leaves of Valeriana jatamansi to assess their potential as a sustainable alternative to extract...     

Comparative liver transcriptome analysis of duck reveals potential genes associated with egg production

Molecular Biology Reports - Molecular studies on egg production in ducks were mostly focused on brain and ovaries as they are directly involved in egg production. Liver plays a vital role in...     

Mass rearing of Spalgis epius (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae), a potential predator of mealybugs (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae)

Spalgis epius (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) has been recorded as a potential predator of various species of mealybug crop pests worldwide. We describe the mass rearing of S. epius, as no information on this topic is available. Outdoor nylon tent cages of different dimensions were provided to achieve mating and oviposition as S. epius adults did not mate in the laboratory cages. Adults mated only in the tent cage (6×6×10 m) placed over a native tree (9 m height). The presence of a tree canopy inside the cage is essential to achieve courtship and mating. Gravid females of S. epius deposited eggs on the mealybug-infested pumpkins inside the different sized nylon cages with or without a bush/tree. Spalgis epius eggs were maintained on mealybug-infested pumpkins in the laboratory and developmental stages of the predator were reared. Adults fed on various diets laid significantly higher number of eggs than those of starved individuals. Spalgis epius with a life cycle completed in 21.2 days and 55.7 larvae, could be reared on a single mealybug-infested pumpkin.     

Gold nanoparticles-based colorimetric assay for rapid detection of Salmonella species in food samples

A rapid, sensitive and cost-effective method was developed for detection of foodborne pathogens, particularly Salmonella species. The method utilizes single stranded DNA (ssDNA) probes and non-functionalized gold nanoparticles to provide a colorimetric assay for the detection of PCR amplified DNA. Different food samples were tested with the PCR-based colorimetric assay parallel with the conventional culture method. The sensitivity and specificity of colorimetric assay was 89.15 and 99.04% respectively with reference to conventional culture method. The total time required to detect the Salmonella spp. present in food samples by the developed method is less than 8 h, including 6 h incubation. It was observed that the colorimetric assay was 10 times more sensitive than gel-based detection with the same concentration of DNA used for analysis.     

AUTOBA: Automation of backbone assignment from HN(C)N suite of experiments

Development of efficient strategies and automation represent important milestones of progress in rapid structure determination efforts in proteomics research. In this context, we present here an efficient algorithm named as AUTOBA (Automatic Backbone Assignment) designed to automate the assignment protocol based on HN(C)N suite of experiments. Depending upon the spectral dispersion, the user can record 2D or 3D versions of the experiments for assignment. The algorithm uses as inputs: (i) protein primary sequence and (ii) peak-lists from user defined HN(C)N suite of experiments. In the end, one gets H^N, ¹⁵N, C^α and C′ assignments (in common BMRB format) for the individual residues along the polypeptide chain. The success of the algorithm has been demonstrated, not only with experimental spectra recorded on two small globular proteins: ubiquitin (76 aa) and M-crystallin (85 aa), but also with simulated spectra of 27 other proteins using assignment data from the BMRB.     

Diagnosis of early stage ovarian cancer by 1H NMR metabonomics of serum explored by use of a microflow NMR probe

We show that (1)H NMR based metabonomicsof serum allows the diagnosis of early stage I/II epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) required for successful treatment. Because patient specimens are highly precious, we conducted an exploratory study using a microflow probe requiring only 20 μL of serum. By use of logistic regression on principal components (PCs) of the NMR profiles, we built a 4-variable model for early stage EOC prediction (training set: 69 EOC specimens, 84 healthy controls; test set: 40 EOC, 44 controls) with operating characteristics estimated for the test set at 80% specificity [95% confidence interval (CI): 65-90%], 63% sensitivity (95% CI: 46-77%), and an area under the Receiver Operator Characteristic Curve (AUC) of 0.796. Independent validation (50 EOC, 50 controls) of the model yielded 95% specificity (95% CI: 86-99.5%), 68% sensitivity (95% CI: 53-80%) and an AUC of 0.949. A test on cancer type specificity showed that women diseased with renal cell carcinoma were not incorrectly diagnosed with EOC, indicating that metabonomics bears significant potential for cancer type-specific diagnosis. Our model can potentially be applied for women at high risk for EOC, and our study promises to contribute to developing a screening protocol for the general population.