Overexpression of recombinant Nep1 in Escherichia coli and its use as a biological agent for control of Sinapis arvensis

Weeds are a significant part of the pests limiting crop production. Currently, chemical herbicides are widely used for weed control. Environment pollution and the rise of resistant strains highlight the need for new herbicides. Nep1 is a natural bio-herbicide protein which is an effective necrosis stimulant in dicotyledonous weeds. In this study, the cDNA encoding nep1 was isolated form Fusarium oxysporum, cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli. The Nep1 inclusion body was purified and refolded. For biological assay, the recombinant Nep1 was applied on Sinapis arvensis, as a chemical herbicide-resistant weed, and on Nicotiana tabacum, as a model plant. Our results show a significant necrosis on the leaves of S. arvensis and N. tabacum after spraying 50 μg/ml of the recombinant protein.     

Biological targeting and innovative therapeutic interventions with phage-displayed peptides and structured nucleic acids (aptamers)

Diverse technologies such as phage display, cell systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment and related modifications thereof are generating a wide range of peptide-based and structured nucleic acid (aptamers)-based ligands for therapeutic and diagnostic interventions in an unbiased biological context. Their impressive affinity and unprecedented target specificity make these ligands as ideal small-sized candidates for conjugation to macromolecules and nanoparticulate matters, thus opening the path to new and sophisticated design solutions for targeted therapy, disease detection and diagnosis. Vascular beds of many organs and tissue, cancer, immune and stem cells are among the key targets. These technologies are evaluated and selected recent examples of innovative biological targeting and therapeutic interventions with phage-displayed peptides and aptamers are discussed.     

Effect of prebiotic mannan oligosaccharide on hematological and blood serum biochemical parameters of cultured juvenile great sturgeon (Huso huso Linnaeus, 1754)

The nutritional effects of prebiotic mannan oligosaccharide were evaluated using hematological and blood serum biochemical parameters in cultured juvenile great sturgeon (Huso huso). Fish were offered formulated diets containing two levels of prebiotic mannan oligosaccharide (2 and 4 g kg^?1); a basal diet with no prebiotics was used as control. The experiment lasted for 46 days. Blood samples were collected from the caudal veins of 18 apparently healthy fish (average weight 217.77 ± 29.8 g) at the end of the trial. No significant differences were found in the serum enzyme activity levels between treatments (P > 0.05). However, adding mannan oligosaccharide as a supplement to the basal diet resulted in significant differences in lymphocytes and eosinophils between the control and the 2 g kg^?1 treatment (P < 0.05) as well as a significant difference in the creatinine factor in the 2 g kg^?1 mannan oligosaccharide treatment (P < 0.05). The results show that it would be advantageous to add 2 g kg^?1 mannan oligosaccharide to the diets of juvenile great beluga sturgeon (Huso huso).     

Liposome recognition by resident and newly recruited murine liver macrophages

The evidence in this communication indicate that, unlike resident Kupffer cells, newly recruited liver macrophages (following monocyte migration from the blood to the liver) use complement receptors to recognize and internalize stearylamine-incorporated liposomes. Within two weeks of hepatic residency complement receptors no longer participate in liposome recognition and uptake.     

Transstadial Transmission of Borrelia turcica in Hyalomma aegyptium Ticks

Borrelia turcica comprises the third major group of arthropod-transmitted borreliae and is phylogenetically divergent from other Borrelia groups. The novel group of Borrelia was initially isolated from Hyalomma aegyptium ticks in Turkey and it was recently found in blood and multiple organs of tortoises exported from Jordan to Japan. However, the ecology of these spirochetes and their development in ticks or the vertebrate hosts were not investigated in detail; our aims were to isolate the pathogen and to evaluate the possibility of transstadial transmission of Borrelia turcica by H. aegyptium ticks. Ticks were collected from Testudo graeca tortoises during the summer of 2013 from southeastern Romania. Engorged nymphs were successfully molted to the adult stage. Alive B. turcica was isolated from molted ticks by using Barbour-Stoenner-Kelly (BSK) II medium. Four pure cultures of spirochetes were obtained and analyzed by PCR and sequencing. Sequence analysis of glpQ, gyrB and flaB revealed 98%–100% similarities with B. turcica. H. aegyptium ticks collected from T. graeca tortoises were able to pass the infection with B. turcica via transstadial route, suggesting its vectorial capacity.     

Applying a neural network to predict the thermodynamic parameters for an expanded nearest-neighbor model

Predicting the secondary and tertiary structure of RNAs largely depends on our capabilities in estimating the thermodynamics of RNA duplexes. In this work, an expanded nearest-neighbor model, designated INN-48, is established. The thermodynamic parameters of this model are predicted using both multiple linear regression analysis and neural network analysis. It is suggested that due to the increase in the number of parameters and the insufficiency of the existing data, neural network analysis results in more reliable predictions. Furthermore, it is suggested that INN-48 can be used to estimate the thermodynamics of RNA duplex formation for longer sequences, whereas INN-HB, the previous model on which INN-48 is based, can be used for short sequences.