Quality of Life in Rural Communities: Residents Living Near to Tembeling,Pahang and Muar Rivers,Malaysia

The main aim of this study is to identify the quality of life (QoL) among communities residing near the Tembeling, Pahang and Muar Rivers in Malaysia. This quantitative study used a constructed questionnaire as main tool to collect data on the QoL of river communities. A total of 240 villagers were selected as respondents. The results indicated that the dimensions of settlement, safety, involvement and social relationships, as well as education scored highest, while dimensions of physical environment, financial and job security yielded moderate scores. Dimensions of infrastructure facilities yielded a low mean score. Recommendations are provided, in the hope that our results may be useful for strategies that could enhance QoL of these river communities.     

Biochemical Characterization,Molecular Cloning,and Structural Modeling of an Interesting β-1,4-Glucanase from Sclerotinia Sclerotiorum

The filamentous fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum produces a complete set of cellulolytic enzymes needed for efficient solubilization of native cellulose, the major component of plants. In this work, we reported the molecular characterization of an important glycosyl-hydrolase enzyme classified as endo-β-1,4-glucanase. The importance of this enzyme was revealed with the in-gel activity staining, showing a high degradation capacity of cellulose. When purified from native gel and ran in denaturing polyacrylamide gel, the polypeptide has an apparent molecular mass of about 34 kDa called Endo2. For further characterization of this protein, a mass spectrometry approach was carried out. The LC–MS/MS analysis revealed two peptides belonging to this enzyme. The genomic DNA and cDNA sequences were resolved by PCR amplification and sequencing, revealing a gene with two intron sequences. The open reading frame of 987 bp encoded a putative polypeptide of 328 amino acids having a calculated molecular mass of 33,297 Da. Yet, the molecular modeling and comparative investigation of different 3D cellulase structures showed that this endoglucanase isoform has probably two domains. A core domain having a high similarity with endoglucanases family 5 and a cellulose-binding domain having similarities with those of exo-type cellulases of family 1, linked together by a serine-threonine-rich region. These results are with great interests and show new characteristics of S. sclerotiorum glucanase.