Robinson-Foulds Supertrees

Background  

Supertree methods synthesize collections of small phylogenetic trees with incomplete taxon overlap into comprehensive trees, or supertrees, that include all taxa found in the input trees. Supertree methods based on the well established Robinson-Foulds (RF) distance have the potential to build supertrees that retain much information from the input trees. Specifically, the RF supertree problem seeks a binary supertree that minimizes the sum of the RF distances from the supertree to the input trees. Thus, an RF supertree is a supertree that is consistent with the largest number of clusters (or clades) from the input trees.     

Phospholipids from the hepatopancreas of Indian horseshoe crab Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda

Total phospholipids were extracted from the heart, hepatopancreas, and hemolymph of the Indian horseshoe crab Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda by the conventional method. Characteristic group reaction and 2-dimensional thin-layer chromatography on silica gel were used for identification of different phospholipids. The phospholipid profile obtained from hemolymph and 2 major organs are comparable and show phosphatidyl choline (PC) and phosphatidyl ethanolamine to be the major phospholipids. A phospholipid has been consistently detected migrating immediately below the PC in the thin-layer chromatogram of lipids extracted from the hepatopancreas. When mixed methyl esters of this slower moving PC are resolved on a silica gel plate ran in hexane ether:acetic acid 80:20:1, with appropriate controls, an additional spot is seen just below the normal methyl ester, indicating a difference between the fatty acid compositions of 2 PC (e.g., regular and slower). The slower mixed methyl esters were found to comprise mainly the 4 saturated fatty acids: lauric, myristic, palmitic, and stearic. The slow moving PC seems to consist mainly of molecular species with the above-mentioned saturated fatty acids at both Sn 1 and Sn 2 positions.     

Surface behavior of prostaglandins (PGs)

This study establishes some correlations between molecular structure and surface function of six prostaglandins in a model membrane system. Using spread films at the air/water interface, we determined surface pressure and surface potential of PGs A₁, A₂, E₁, E₂, F_1α and F_2α. All the PGs formed films with low pressure (0 to 9 dyne/cm) and relatively low surface potentials (ΔV = 10 to 250 mV). On 0.15 M NaCl, the π and ΔV values were in the order E₁ > F_1α > A₁ > F_1α > A₁ > F₂α = A₂ > E₂ and F_1α > E₁ > A₁ > A₂ > F_2α > E₂ respectively. Clearly, the cis unsaturation in the carboxylic chain of the PG₂ series conferred greater instability to the films, as indicated by the lowest π and ΔV values. Also, members of the PG₁ series penetrated films of dipalmitoyl phosphatidyl choline (DPPC) better than PG₂ did, the ablest being E₁ (Δπ = 12 dyne/cm) and the poorest F₂α (Δπ = 2 dyne/cm); penetration of E₁ and F₂α was independent of the initial pressure (π_i) of the DPPC film, whereas with A₁ and F_1α Δπ decreased as π_i increased. The PGs expressed marked discriminating capacities for the electrolyte, as indicated by differences in their π and ΔV responses to Na⁺ and Ca⁺⁺ as well as for the lipid, as indicated by different penetration (Δπ values) into DPPC films.     

The multiple gene duplication problem revisited

MOTIVATION: Deciphering the location of gene duplications and multiple gene duplication episodes on the Tree of Life is fundamental to understanding the way gene families and genomes evolve. The multiple gene duplication problem provides a framework for placing gene duplication events onto nodes of a given species tree, and detecting episodes of multiple gene duplication. One version of the multiple gene duplication problem was defined by Guigó et al. in 1996. Several heuristic solutions have since been proposed for this problem, but no exact algorithms were known. RESULTS: In this article we solve this longstanding open problem by providing the first exact and efficient solution. We also demonstrate the improvement offered by our algorithm over the best heuristic approaches, by applying it to several simulated as well as empirical datasets.     

Discovery of a highly orally bioavailable c-5-[6-(4-Methanesulfonyloxyphenyl)hexyl]-2-methyl-1,3-dioxane-r-2-carboxylic acid as a potent hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic agent

A series of novel 1,3-dioxane-2-carboxylic acid derivatives containing alkyl chain tether and substituted phenyl group as a lipophilic tail have been prepared as agonists of PPARalpha and gamma. c-5-[6-(4-Methanesulfonyloxyphenyl)hexyl]-2-methyl-1,3-dioxane-r-2-carboxylic acid 13c exhibited potent hypoglycemic and lipid lowering activity with high oral bioavailability in animal models.     

Plant Regeneration Through Somatic Embryogenesis in Taxus wallichiana

We describe an efficient process for regeneration of Taxus wallichiana (Zucc) plants from callus cultures derived from zygotic embryos. Zygotic embryos cultured on half strength Lloyd and McCown’s basal medium supplemented with SH vitamin (1/2 WPMSH), 0.5 mg I^?1 6-benzyladenine (BA) and 1.0–2.0 mg I^?1 á-Napthaleneacetic acid (NAA) produced compact yellow (CY) callus after 4 weeks of culture. The 8-week-old CY call! (lines CY-A and CY-B) were initially slow growing but proliferated on transfer to WPM basal medium supplemented with 8.0 mg I^?1 2,4-D, 0.1–0.9 mg^?1 NAA and 0.3–1.0 mg^?1 BA after 4 weeks. Four morphologically distinct calli lines were obtained, of which only two call! lines, CY-B-FW and CY-B-FY were embryogenic. The 12-week-old callus line CY-B-FW developed globular somatic embryos on transfer to secondary medium after 8 weeks and matured in maturation medium after 4 weeks. Only 10% of the mature somatic embryos regenerated into complete plantlets after 4 weeks on conversion medium. Although the frequency of conversion was low, complete regenerated plantlets via somatic embryogenesis were obtained after 7–8 months of initiation of culture. Taxane analysis showed that the paclitaxel accumulation was higher in embryogenic callus than in non-embryogenic callus.     

fMLP Receptor Stimulated Activation of Macrophage: Its Effect on Killing of Intracellular Leishmania donovani

The fMLP receptor of peritoneal macrophages stimulated by fMLP graftedliposomes as ligand, was analysed and compared with respective controlsfor its ability to promote killing of intracellular Leishmaniaparasites. fMLP grafted liposomes show greater efficacy in killingintracellular L. donovani (MHOM/IN/1983/AG83) parasites in a timedependent manner than free fMLP. fMLP grafted liposomes also releasemore active oxygen intermediates and reactive nitrogen intermediates(O^– ₂, H₂O₂, NO) than free fMLP. The key enzymes PKCand PTK for the respiratory burst and nitric oxide generation werefound to be important in this fMLP receptor mediated signaling processas the enzyme specific inhibitors viz. staurosporine, genistein andAG126 suppressed the leishmanicidal effect of fMLP graftedliposomes. The above findings suggest that the fMLP receptorof macrophages activates PKC and PTK mediated signalling thatis responsible for the intracellular parasite killing.     

Evaluation of novel TGR5 agonist in combination with Sitagliptin for possible treatment of type 2 diabetes

TGR5 is a member of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) superfamily, a promising molecular target for metabolic diseases. Activation of TGR5 promotes secretion of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), which activates insulin secretion. A series of 2-thio-imidazole derivatives have been identified as novel, potent and orally efficacious TGR5 agonists. Compound 4d, a novel TGR5 agonist, in combination with Sitagliptin, a DPP-4 inhibitor, has demonstrated an adequate GLP-1 secretion and glucose lowering effect in animal models, suggesting a potential clinical option in treatment of type-2 diabetes.