Effect of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor-γ Coactivator-1 Alpha Variants on Spontaneous Clearance and Fibrosis Progression during Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Moroccan Patients

Virologica Sinica - Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is still one of the main causes of liver disease worldwide. Metabolic disorders, including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), induced by HCV have...     

First report of the rare tooth fungus Hericium erinaceus in North African temperate forests

Abstract

The rare fungus Hericium erinaceus (Bull.) Pers. was collected from temperate forests in northwestern Tunisia and described for the first time in Africa. In this paper, we report data about the distribution, ecology, morphology and molecular identification of H. erinaceus. Collected data may help expand our knowledge on this critically endangered rare species worldwide.     

Structural and functional studies of RegB, a new member of a family of sequence-specific ribonucleases involved in mRNA inactivation on the ribosome

The RegB endoribonuclease participates in the bacteriophage T4 life cycle by favoring early messenger RNA breakdown. RegB specifically cleaves GGAG sequences found in intergenic regions, mainly in translation initiation sites. Its activity is very low but can be enhanced up to 100-fold by the ribosomal 30 S subunit or by ribosomal protein S1. RegB has no significant sequence homology to any known protein. Here we used NMR to solve the structure of RegB and map its interactions with two RNA substrates. We also generated a collection of mutants affected in RegB function. Our results show that, despite the absence of any sequence homology, RegB has structural similarities with two Escherichia coli ribonucleases involved in mRNA inactivation on translating ribosomes: YoeB and RelE. Although these ribonucleases have different catalytic sites, we propose that RegB is a new member of the RelE/YoeB structural and functional family of ribonucleases specialized in mRNA inactivation within the ribosome.     

Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of Teucrium ramosissimum (Lamiaceae)

The phytochemical composition of the essential oil of Teucrium ramosissimum (aerial parts), harvested in a mountainous region of Tunisia, was analyzed. A total of 68 compounds, accounting for 99.44% of the essential oil, were identified by GC and GC/MS. The major compounds were beta-eudesmol (61; 44.52%), caryophyllene oxide (56; 9.35%), alpha-thujene (1; 5.51%), sabinene (4; 4.71%), and T-cadinol (59; 3.9%). The essential oil, which is being used in Tunisian folk medicine against infectious diseases, was tested for its antimicrobial properties against five different bacteria, and found to have weak to moderate activity, with minimal-inhibitory-concentration (MIC) and minimal-bactericidal-concentration (MBC) values in the range 0.24-0.36 and 1.3-2.9 mg/ml, resp.     

Antimutagenic and Antioxidant Potentials of Teucrium ramosissimum Essential Oil

The mutagenic and antimutagenic effects of the essential oil extracted from the aerial parts of Teucrium ramosissimum were evaluated by the bacterial reverse mutation assay in Salmonella typhimurium TA98, TA100, and TA1535, with and without exogenous metabolic activation (S9 fraction). The T. ramosissimum essential oil showed no mutagenic effect. In contrast, our results established that it possessed antimutagenic effects against sodium azide (SA), aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P), and 4‐nitro‐o‐phenylenediamine (NOPD). The antioxidant capacity of the tested essential oil was evaluated using enzymatic, i.e., the xanthine/xanthine oxidase (X/XOD) assay, and nonenzymatic systems, i.e., the nitro‐blue tetrazolium (NBT)/riboflavin and the DPPH assays. A moderate free radical‐scavenging activity was observed towards DPPH^. and O$\rm{{_{2}^{{^\cdot} -}}}$ . In contrast, T. ramosissimum essential oil showed no effect for all the tested concentrations in the X/XOD assay.