Growth promotion of groundnut by IAA producing rhizobacteria Bacillus licheniformis MML2501

B. licheniformis MML2501 which was isolated from groundnut rhizosphere soil showed increased populations on spermozphere colonisation and significantly increased the seed germination and other growth parameters in groundnut under in vitro conditions. B. licheniformis MML2501 did not solubilise phosphate but produced indole acetic acid (IAA), with a maximum of 23 μg/ml under optimised conditions such as pH 7.0, temperature 35°C, tryphtophan at a concentration of 16 mM and at 200 rpm shaken conditions. The production of IAA by B. licheniformis MML2501 was further confirmed by TLC and HPLC analyses, in which the R_f value and retention time of 0.66 and 4.1 min respectively, match with that of the authentic IAA. Seed treatment of B. licheniformis MML2501 in groundnut showed a significant increase in seed germination, other growth parameters and yield parameters under potted plant experiments.     

Modeling of Neuropeptide Receptors Y1, Y4, Y5, and Docking Studies with Neuropeptide Antagonist Analogues: Implications for Selectivity

Abstract

Neuropeptide Y (NPY), receptors belong to the G-protein coupled receptor superfamily. NPY mediates several physiological responses, such as blood pressure, food intake, sedation. These actions of NPY are mediated by six receptor subtypes denoted as Y₁-Y₅ and y₆. Modeling of receptor subtypes and binding site identification is an important step in developing new therapeutic agents. We have attempted to model the three NPY receptor types, Y1, Y4, and Y5 using homology modeling and threading methods. The models are consistent with previously reported experimental evidence. To understand the interaction and selectivity of NPY analogues with different neuropeptide receptors, docking studies of two neuropeptide analogues (BVD10 and BVD15) with receptors Y1 and Y4 were carried out. Results of the docking studies indicated that the interaction of ligands BVD10 and BVD15 with Y1 and Y4 receptors are different. These results were evaluated for selectivity of peptide analogues BVD10 and BVD15 towards the receptors.     

A Peptide Derived from LFA-1 Protein that Modulates T-cell Adhesion Binds to Soluble ICAM-1 Protein

Abstract

Leukocyte function associated antigen 1 (LFA-1) and intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) have been shown to be critical for adhesion process and immune response. Modulation or inhibition of the interaction between LFA-1/ICAM-1 interactions can result in therapeutic effects. Our group and others have shown that peptides derived from ICAM- 1 or LFA-1 inhibit adhesion in a homotypic T-cell adhesion assay. It is likely that the peptides derived from ICAM-1 bind to LFA-1 and peptides derived from LFA-1 bind to ICAM- 1 and inhibit the adhesion interaction. However, there are no concrete experimental evidence to show that peptides bind to either LFA-1 or ICAM-1 and inhibit the adhesion. Using NMR, CD and docking studies we have shown that an LFA-1 derived peptide binds to soluble ICAM-1. Docking studies using “autodock” resulted in LFA-1 peptide interacting with the ICAM-1 protein near Glu34. The proposed model based on our experimental data indicated that the LFA-1 peptide interacts with the protein via three intermolecular hydrogen bonds. Hydrophobic interactions also play a role in stabilizing the complex.     

Malignant infantile osteopetrosis

Osteopetrosis, a rare congenital genetic disease characterized by increased bone density due to impaired bone resorption by osteoclasts. It is classified into three forms: Infantile malignant autosomal recessive (AR) osteopetrosis, intermediate (AR) osteopetrosis and autosomal dominant (AD) osteopetrosis. Incidence of infantile malignant AR is 1/2,00,000 and if untreated has a fatal outcome. The condition is commonly diagnosed in infancy with symptoms of significant hematologic abnormalities with bone marrow failure, hepatosplenomegaly, macrocephaly with frontal bossing and bone fractures. Because of rarity of this type of malignant infantile form of osteopretrosis, we like to report this case of malignant infantile osteopetrosis who presented with bronchopneumonia, anemia with melaena at 2 months 15 days of age.     

Translation stress and collided ribosomes are co-activators of cGAS

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Myliobatid and pycnodont fish from the Late Cretaceous of Central India and their paleobiogeographic implications

Bulk sampling from Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Deccan volcano-sedimentary sequences at Kisalpuri (District Dindori, Madhya Pradesh) and Pisdura–Dongargaon (Chandrapur District, Maharashtra) in Peninsular India has yielded the dental remains of myliobatid and pycnodont fish. This fish fauna comprises Igdabatis indicus, Pycnodontoidea indet. and Pycnodontidae indet., and resembles assemblages known from Upper Cretaceous deposits in Africa and Europe. While paleobiogeographically speaking, the presence of Igdabatis suggests a series of shallow marine dispersals that may have occurred between Africa and India, possibly along the margins of the Kohistan–Ladakh island arc during the latest Cretaceous; the record of pycnodont fish favours instead a Gondwanan dispersal event.     

Friend virus utilizes the BMP4-dependent stress erythropoiesis pathway to induce erythroleukemia

More than 50 years of genetic analysis has identified a number of host genes that are required for the expansion of infected cells during the progression of Friend-virus-induced erythroleukemia. In this report, we show that Friend virus induces the bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4)-dependent stress erythropoiesis pathway in the spleen, which rapidly amplifies target cells, propagating their infection and resulting in acute splenomegaly. This mechanism mimics the response to acute anemia, in which BMP4 expressed in the spleen drives the expansion of a specialized population of stress erythroid progenitors. Previously we demonstrated that these progenitors, termed stress BFU-E, are targets for Friend virus in the spleen (A. Subramanian, H. E. Teal, P. H. Correll, and R. F. Paulson, J. Virol. 79:14586-14594, 2005). Here, we extend those findings by showing that Friend virus infects two distinct populations of bone marrow cells. One population, when infected, differentiates into mature erythrocytes in an Epo-independent manner, while a second population migrates to the spleen after infection, where it induces BMP4 expression and acts as a reservoir of virus. The activation of the stress erythropoiesis pathway in the spleen by Friend virus results in the rapid expansion of stress BFU-E, providing abundant target cells for viral infection. These observations suggest a novel mechanism by which a virus induces a stress response pathway that amplifies target cells for the virus, leading to acute expansion of infected cells.     

Germ cells are forever

Germ cells are the only cell type capable of generating an entirely new organism. In order to execute germline-specific functions and to retain the capacity for totipotency, germ cells repress somatic differentiation, interact with a specialized microenvironment, and use germline-specific networks of RNA regulation.