Hypoparathyroidism-retardation-dysmorphism syndrome

Congenital hypoparathyroidism, growth retardation and facial dysmorphism is a rare autosomal recessive disorder seen among children born to consanguineous couple of Arab ethnicity. This syndrome is commonly known as Sanjad-Sakati or hypoparathyroidism-retardation-dysmorphism syndrome (HRD). We report 13-year-old Hindu boy with hypoparathyroidism, tetany, facial dysmorphism and developmental delay, compatible with HRD syndrome.     

Pest management services through conservation of biological control agents: review,case studies and field experiences

ABSTRACT

Conservation biological control is an approach to enhance the efficacy of natural enemies by ensuring their availability in an agro-ecosystem on a long temporal scale. An increased survival often leads to better fecundity and improved behaviour of the natural enemies, which in turn ensures sustainable pest management. This paper, apart from being a concise review of conservation biological control, deals with selected India-specific case studies and field experiences on habitat manipulation and refugia. Results from a Bengaluru-based study during 2012–2015 on conservation biological control in an organic mango ecosystem are also presented. It also dwells briefly on conservation of insectivorous birds and touches upon conservation biocontrol with respect to entomopathogenic microorganisms and plant disease antagonists.     

Informativeness of dinucleotide repeat-based primers in fungal pathogen of rice Magnaporthe grisea

Microsatellites or simple sequence repeats (SSRs) occur ubiquitously and show complex patterns in length, motif size and sequence. Among SSRs, dinucleotide repeats occur in high abundance in fungi with shorter length as compared to other organisms. In this study, multilocus profiles obtained in Magnaporthe grisea, a model plant pathogen were evaluated. The results showed lower rate of polymorphism by (GT)(n)/(TG)(n) repeat-based primers and suggested occurrence of (GA)(n)/(AG)(n) repeats as integral repeats and (TC)(n)/(CT)(n) and (AC)(n)/(CA)(n) as non-integral repeats. Low repeat length variation was found to be correlated with less number of repeat motifs. The study provides an insight into the possibility of molecular coevolution of mobile elements and dinucleotide repeats in fungi. The study could be applied to other species for wider applications including evolutionary and population genetics.     

Coumarins in artemisia caruifolia

Isolation of daphnethin 7-methyl ether, daphnetin dimethyl ether, daphnetin methylene ether, daphnetin 7-methyl-8(3,3-dimethylallyl) ether and 3,4-dimethoxy-2-hydroxycinnamic acid from Artemisia caruifolia is reported.     

Susceptibility of protein kinase C to oxidative inactivation: loss of both phosphotransferase activity and phorbol diester binding

Exposure of protein kinase C to low concentrations of either N-chlorosuccinimide or H2O2 resulted in rapid and parallel loss of phosphotransferase activity and phorbol ester binding. This oxidative inactivation of protein kinase C also occurred in intact cells exposed to a low concentration of H2O2. With H2O2 treatment the rate of inactivation of protein kinase C in the cytosol of MCF-7 cells was rather slower than that which occurred in the cytosol of PYS cells. However, in both cell types, the oxidative inactivation of membrane-associated protein kinase C occurred rapidly in comparison to the enzyme in the cytosol. Prior treatment of cells with phorbol ester to induce membrane association (stabilization) of protein kinase C, followed by exposure to H2O2, resulted in increased inactivation of protein kinase C, suggesting that membrane association of protein kinase C increases its susceptibility to oxidative inactivation.     

Evaluation of Memory Enhancing Clinically Available Standardized Extract of Bacopa monniera on P-Glycoprotein and Cytochrome P450 3A in Sprague-Dawley Rats

Bacopa monniera is a traditional Ayurvedic herbal medicine used to treat various mental ailments from ancient times. Recently, chemically standardized alcoholic extract of Bacopa monniera (BM) has been developed and currently available as over the counter herbal remedy for memory enhancement in children and adults. However, the consumption of herbal drugs has been reported to alter the expression of drug metabolizing enzymes and membrane transporters. Present study in male Sprague-Dawley rat was performed to evaluate the effect of memory enhancing standardized extract of BM on hepatic and intestinal cytochrome P450 3A and P-glycoprotein expression and activity. The BM (31 mg/kg/day) was orally administered for one week in BM pre-treated group while the control group received the same amount of vehicle for the same time period. The BM treatment decreased the cytochrome P450 3A (CYP3A) mediated testosterone 6β-hydroxylation activity of the liver and intestine by 2 and 1.5 fold, respectively compared to vehicle treated control. Similarly pretreatment with BM extract decreased the expression of intestinal P-glycoprotein (Pgp) as confirmed by Western blot analysis but did not alter the expression of hepatic Pgp. To investigate whether this BM pretreatment mediated decrease in activity of CYP3A and Pgp would account for the alteration of respective substrate or not, pharmacokinetic study with carbamazepine and digoxin was performed in BM pre-treated rats and vehicle treated rats. Carbamazepine and digoxin were used as CYP3A and Pgp probe drugs, respectively. Significant increase in AUC and Cmax of carbamazepine (4 and 1.8 fold) and digoxin (1.3 and 1.2 fold), respectively following the BM pre-treatment confirmed the down regulation of CYP3A and Pgp.     

Mandelamide hydrolase from Pseudomonas putida: characterization of a new member of the amidase signature family

A recently discovered enzyme in the mandelate pathway of Pseudomonas putida, mandelamide hydrolase (MAH), catalyzes the hydrolysis of mandelamide to mandelic acid and ammonia. Sequence analysis suggests that MAH is a member of the amidase signature family, which is widespread in nature and contains a novel Ser-cis-Ser-Lys catalytic triad. Here we report the expression in Escherichia coli, purification, and characterization of both wild-type and His(6)-tagged MAH. The recombinant enzyme was stable, exhibited a pH optimum of 7.8, and was able to hydrolyze both enantiomers of mandelamide with little enantiospecificity. The His-tagged variant showed no significant change in kinetic constants. Phenylacetamide was found to be the best substrate, with changes in chain length or replacement of the phenyl group producing greatly decreased values of k(cat)/K(m). As with another member of this family, fatty acid amide hydrolase, MAH has the uncommon ability to hydrolyze esters and amides at similar rates. MAH is even more unusual in that it will only hydrolyze esters and amides with little steric bulk. Ethyl and larger esters and N-ethyl and larger amides are not substrates, suggesting that the MAH active site is very sterically hindered. Mutation of each residue in the putative catalytic triad to alanine resulted in total loss of activity for S204A and K100A, while S180A exhibited a 1500-fold decrease in k(cat) and significant increases in K(m) values. Overall, the MAH data are similar to those of fatty acid amide hydrolase and support the suggestion that there are two distinct subgroups within the amidase signature family.