Synteny Approach of Drug Target Prediction among Unique Hypothetical Proteins of Streptococcus Gordonii Causing Infective Endocarditis

At the time of infection, many of the gene products of completely  sequenced organisms yet remain ‘hypothetical’ meaning they remain unsimilar to any previously characterized and may disguise some true virulent factors. Domain scanning provides a means of understanding functional information in these cases, extending facilitated identification oftheir virulence factors, proceeding for antimicrobial drug and vaccine  design. In developing countries, mortality rate due to Infective  endocarditis is accelerating along with retardation in efficiency of pathogen specific drugs. We have re-annotated at domain level and predicted cellular localization of 200 unique and hypothetical proteins obtained by syntenic comparison of Streptococcus gordonii among other strains of similar species for similar infection. The study resulted into 200 unique and hypothetical proteins, of which, domains of 85 proteins are  predictable, representing 15 with no similarity with human proteome. Later, 9 proteins with 8 domains predicted to be antimicrobial targets. Further, these can be experimentally validated for drug and vaccine target ability

Synthesis of coumarins linked with 1,2,3-triazoles under microwave irradiation and evaluation of their antimicrobial and antioxidant activity

A series of coumarin derivatives linked with 1,2,3-triazoles has been synthesized by utilizing the copper catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition reaction and were screened for their antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. Some of the compounds displayed promising antibacterial activities (MIC ranging from 5-150 µg/mL) and moderate antifungal activities as compared to the respective standards. The compounds 4k and 4g displayed good antibacterial activity when compared with the standard, Ciprofloxacin, and 4n exhibited better antifungal activity when compared to other synthesized compounds. The in silico docking studies of the active compounds were carried out against the gyrase enzyme and from those studies, it was acknowledged that 4k possessed significant hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions which could be the plausible reason for its superior activity as compared to the other synthesized compounds. The compounds 4h and 4q showed promising antioxidant activity when compared with the standard, BHT, which could be attributed to the presence of electron donating substituents. © 2020, Sociedad Química de México.Russian Foundation for Basic Research, RFBR: 170300641AThe authors are thankful to the Department of Industrial Chemistry, Kuvempu University for rendering all the facilities to carry out the experiments. Vasiliy Bakulev is thankful to Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Grant # 170300641A)

Expression of drought responsive genes in pigeonpea and in silico comparison with soybean cDNA library

Pigeonpea, a drought tolerant, semi-arid pulse crop has been investigated for the expression of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) under drought stress. The cDNA library of soybean leaf tissue retrieved from the Unigene database of the NCBI, were compared for in silico expression using IDEG6 web statistical tool. A list of 52 non-redundant DEGs consisting of 11 up-regulated and 41 down-regulated was obtained. Among these, more photosynthesis and light harvesting proteins were down-regulated in drought stress conditions. Pathways were assigned based on KEGG database, revealing 32 genes involved in 17 metabolic pathways. Homologous sequences of six up-regulated genes namely, ADF3, APB, ASR, DLP, LTP1, and UGE5 were then used for quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) in pigeonpea. The qRT-PCR result revealed the significant up-regulation of dehydrin-like protein (DLP) (5.02 log2 fold) and down-regulation of acid phosphatase class B family protein (APB) (9.43 log2 fold) and non-specific lipid transfer protein 1-like (LTP1) (18.81 log2 fold) in pigeonpea water-stressed leaf sample compared to well-watered leaf samples. No significant difference was observed in the stressed root compared to the stressed pigeonpea leaf sample except that APB showed an up-regulation of 11.35 log2 fold chang

Identification of oncofetal PIWI-interacting RNAs as potential prognostic biomarkers in non-small cell lung cancer

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) accounting for the majority of these cases. Despite advancements in targeted therapies, early detection remains a significant challenge, highlighting the need for novel biomarkers. This study investigates the role of PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) in lung cancer, specifically focusing on their potential as oncofetal biomarkers in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC), the two most common histological subtypes of NSCLC. We hypothesize that piRNAs exhibit oncofetal expression patterns and may contribute to lung cancer development. Through bioinformatics analysis, we identified distinct piRNA profiles in non-neoplastic, malignant, and fetal lung tissues. Among these, 37 piRNAs in LUAD and 46 piRNAs in LUSC displayed oncofetal expression, meaning they were present in tumor tissues but absent in adjacent normal lung tissue. These oncofetal piRNAs showed significant prognostic value in both LUAD and LUSC cohorts, with a specific signature of eight oncofetal piRNAs predicting high-risk patients in LUAD. We validated the robustness of this signature in a separate in-house cohort, which underscores its potential as a prognostic biomarker. Our findings suggest that oncofetal piRNAs could offer new diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities, particularly for early detection

The Transferability of Lipid-Associated Loci Across African, Asian and European Cohorts

Abstract: Most genome-wide association studies are based on samples of European descent. We assess whether the genetic determinants of blood lipids, a major cardiovascular risk factor, are shared across populations. Genetic correlations for lipids between European-ancestry and Asian cohorts are not significantly different from 1. A genetic risk score based on LDL-cholesterol-associated loci has consistent effects on serum levels in samples from the UK, Uganda and Greece (r = 0.23–0.28, p < 1.9 × 10−14). Overall, there is evidence of reproducibility for ~75% of the major lipid loci from European discovery studies, except triglyceride loci in the Ugandan samples (10% of loci). Individual transferable loci are identified using trans-ethnic colocalization. Ten of fourteen loci not transferable to the Ugandan population have pleiotropic associations with BMI in Europeans; none of the transferable loci do. The non-transferable loci might affect lipids by modifying food intake in environments rich in certain nutrients, which suggests a potential role for gene-environment interactions

Anisotropic nanomaterials: structure, growth, assembly, and functions

Comprehensive knowledge over the shape of nanomaterials is a critical factor in designing devices with desired functions. Due to this reason, systematic efforts have been made to synthesize materials of diverse shape in the nanoscale regime. Anisotropic nanomaterials are a class of materials in which their properties are direction-dependent and more than one structural parameter is needed to describe them. Their unique and fine-tuned physical and chemical properties make them ideal candidates for devising new applications. In addition, the assembly of ordered one-dimensional (1D), two-dimensional (2D), and three-dimensional (3D) arrays of anisotropic nanoparticles brings novel properties into the resulting system, which would be entirely different from the properties of individual nanoparticles. This review presents an overview of current research in the area of anisotropic nanomaterials in general and noble metal nanoparticles in particular. We begin with an introduction to the advancements in this area followed by general aspects of the growth of anisotropic nanoparticles. Then we describe several important synthetic protocols for making anisotropic nanomaterials, followed by a summary of their assemblies, and conclude with major applications