Changes in glucose metabolism from discrete regions of rat brain and its relationship to reproductive failure during experimental diabetes

This study reports the effects of alloxan induced diabetes on glucose metabolism enzymes viz. Hexokinase, Lactate dehydrogenase, and Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase from discrete brain regions. Enzymes activity was assayed from hypothalamic areas such as medial preoptic area and median eminence-arcuate region which have gonadotropin releasing hormone cell bodies and their terminals, respectively and other brain regions like septum, amygdala, hippocampus, and thalamus. In all the areas studied, induction of diabetes resulted in a significant decrease in particulate bound HK activity, whereas soluble HK, LDH and G6PDH activity showed increase at 3, 8, 15 and 28 days intervals. Insulin treatment of diabetic rats led to recovery in enzyme activity. Blood glucose levels increased significantly after induction of diabetes and recovery was seen after insulin treatment. The present results suggest that altered cerebral glucose metabolism may also be responsible for reproductive failure observed in diabetic rats. (Mol Cell Biochem141: 97–102, 1994)     

Comparative analysis of chromosome 2A molecular organization in diploid and hexaploid wheat

Molecular Biology Reports - Diploid A genome wheat species harbor immense genetic variability which has been targeted and proven useful in wheat improvement. Development and deployment of...     

Assessment of genetic diversity and population structure in pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) using hypervariable SSR markers

Physiology and Molecular Biology of Plants - The present study investigates the genetic diversity and population structure among 42 diverse pomegranate genotypes using a set of twenty one class I...     

Genome wide association mapping and candidate gene analysis for pod shatter resistance in Brassica juncea and its progenitor species

Molecular Biology Reports - We investigated phenotypic variations for pod shattering, pod length and number of seeds per pod in large germplasm collections of Brassica juncea (2n?=?36;...     

Mutation of a single MalK subunit severely impairs maltose transport activity in Escherichia coli.

The maltose transport system of Escherichia coli, a member of the ABC transport superfamily of proteins, consists of a periplasmic maltose binding protein and a membrane-associated translocation complex that contains two copies of the ATP-binding protein MalK. To examine the need for two nucleotide-binding domains in this transport complex, one of the two MalK subunits was inactivated by site-directed mutagenesis. Complexes with mutations in a single subunit were obtained by attaching a polyhistidine tag to the mutagenized version of MalK and by coexpressing both wild-type MalK and mutant (His)6MalK in the same cell. Hybrid complexes containing one mutant (His)6MalK subunit and one wild-type MalK subunit were separated from those containing two mutant (His)6MalK proteins based on differential affinities for a metal chelate column. Purified transport complexes were reconstituted into proteoliposome vesicles and assayed for maltose transport and ATPase activities. When a conserved lysine residue at position 42 that is involved in ATP binding was replaced with asparagine in both MalK subunits, maltose transport and ATPase activities were reduced to 1% of those of the wild type. When the mutation was present in only one of the two subunits, the complex had 6% of the wild-type activities. Replacement of a conserved histidine residue at position 192 in MalK with arginine generated similar results. It is clear from these results that two functional MalK proteins are required for transport activity and that the two nucleotide-binding domains do not function independently to catalyze transport.     

Induction of estrus in anestrous cows treated with 'Fertivet'

The effectiveness of 'Fertivet' (180 mg. Cisclomiphene Citrate and 120 mg. Transclomiphene citrate mixture) in the induction of estrus and fertility was tested on sixteen anestrous cows. Of all the animals treated 14 (97.5%) expressed estrus and 8 (57.1%) conceived. Among the three breeds of cows treated, 5 out of 5 Brown Swiss, 4 out of 5 Jersey cross breeds and 5 out of 6 Sahiwal (Zebu) cows expressed estrus. These results indicate the usefulness of 'Fertivet' in the induction of fertile estrus in cows.     

Detection of Genetic Variation in Alternaria brassicae by RAPD Fingerprints

Genetic variation in fourteen isolates of Alternaria brassicae collected from different geographical regions of the world was determined by RAPD (random amplified polymorphic DNA) analysis. Twenty random primers were tried to amplify genomic DNA of A. brassicae. Based on the PCR (polymerase chain reaction) amplification of genomic DNA of A. brassicae with four oligonucleotide random primers, fingerprints were generated for each isolate and the amplifed products were compared. Using this technique, intra- and intercontinental genetic variation among isolates of A. brassicae could be distinguished.