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199 records returned

How phenotypic plasticity made its way into molecular biology.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Phenotypic plasticity has been fashionable in recent years. It has never been absent from the studies of evolutionary biologists, although the availability of stable animal models has limited its role. Although opposed by the reductionist and deterministic approach of molecular biology, phenotypic plasticity has nevertheless recently made its way into this discipline, in particular through the limits of the molecular description. Its resurrection has been triggered by a small group of theoreticians, the rise of epigenetic descriptions and the publicized discovery of stem cell plasticity. The notion of phenotypic plasti...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - October 1, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Morange M Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Helicobacter urease: Niche construction at the single molecule level.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The urease of the human pathogen, Helicobacter pylori, is essential for pathogenesis. The ammonia produced by the enzyme neutralizes stomach acid; thereby modifying its environment. The dodecameric enzyme complex has high affinity for its substrate, urea. We compared urease sequences and derivative 3D homology model structures from all published Helicobacter genomes and an equal number of genomes belonging to strains of another enteric bacterium, Escherichia coli. We found that the enzyme's architecture adapts to fit its niche. This finding, coupled to a survey of other physiological features responsible for the bacter...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - October 1, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Khan S, Karim A, Iqbal S Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Epigenetics of the yeast galactose genetic switch.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The transcriptional activation of enzymes involved in galactose utilization (GAL genes) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is regulated by a complex interplay between three regulatory proteins encoded by GAL4 (transcriptional activator), GAL3 (signal transducer) and GAL80 (repressor). The relative concentrations of the signal transducer and the repressor are maintained by autoregulation. Cells disabled for autoregulation exhibit phenotypes distinctly different from that of the wild type cells, enabling us to explore the biological signifi cance of autoregulation. The redundancy in signal transduction due to the presence of GA...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - October 1, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Bhat PJ, Iyer RS Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Human pancreatic islet progenitor cells demonstrate phenotypic plasticity in vitro.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article discusses the work carried out over the past few years in understanding the potential of human pancreatic islet-derived progenitors for cell replacement therapy in diabetes. The phenotypic plasticity exhibited by pancreatic progenitors during reversible epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and possible role of microRNAs in regulation of this process is also presented herein. PMID: 19920338 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Journal of Biosciences)
Source: Journal of Biosciences - October 1, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Dalvi MP, Umrani MR, Joglekar MV, Hardikar AA Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Relationship among phenotypic plasticity, phenotypic fluctuations, robustness, and evolvability; Waddington's legacy revisited under the spirit of Einstein.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Questions on possible relationship between phenotypic plasticity and evolvability, and that between robustness and evolution have been addressed over decades in the fi eld of evolution-development. Based on laboratory evolution experiments and numerical simulations of gene expression dynamics model with an evolving transcription network, we propose quantitative relationships on plasticity, phenotypic fl uctuations, and evolvability. By introducing an evolutionary stability assumption on the distribution of phenotype and genotype, the proportionality among phenotypic plasticity against environmental change, variances of...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - October 1, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Kaneko K Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

The other side of phenotypic plasticity: a developmental system that generates an invariant phenotype despite environmental variation.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Understanding how the environment impacts development is of central interest in developmental and evolutionary biology. On the one hand, we would like to understand how the environment induces phenotypic changes (the study of phenotypic plasticity). On the other hand, we may ask how a development system maintains a stable and precise phenotypic output despite the presence of environmental variation. We study such developmental robustness to environmental variation using vulval cell fate patterning in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a study system. Here we review both mechanistic and evolutionary aspects of these...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - October 1, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Braendle C, Felix MA Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Cell state switching factors and dynamical patterning modules: complementary mediators of plasticity in development and evolution.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Ancient metazoan organisms arose from unicellular eukaryotes that had billions of years of genetic evolution behind them. The transcription factor networks present in single-celled ancestors at the origin of the Metazoa (multicellular animals) were already capable of mediating the switching of the unicellular phenotype among alternative states of gene activity in response to environmental conditions. Cell differentiation, therefore, had its roots in phenotypic plasticity, with the ancient regulatory proteins acquiring new targets over time and evolving into the "developmental transcription factors" (DTFs) of the "devel...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - October 1, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Newman SA, Bhat R, Mezentseva NV Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Looking at the origin of phenotypic variation from pattern formation gene networks.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article critically reviews some widespread views about the overall functioning of development. Special attention is devoted to views in developmental genetics about the superstructure of developmental gene networks. According to these views gene networks are hierarchic and multilayered. The highest layers partition the embryo in large coarse areas and control downstream genes that subsequently subdivide the embryo into smaller and smaller areas. These views are criticized on the bases of developmental and evolutionary arguments. First, these views, although detailed at the level of gene identities, do not incorporate ...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - October 1, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Salazar-Ciudad I Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Does geometric morphometrics serve the needs of plasticity research?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The study of human craniofacial variation exemplifies general problems associated with the analysis of morphological plasticity that owe to the dependence of results on the methods by which phenotypic variation is quantified. We suggest a definition of plasticity that does not subordinate the developmental to the evolutionary: A process model in which changes are not a function of any mean or average, but only of the current state. Geometric morphometrics, a toolkit for assessing and visualizing biological form and its covariates, avoids some of the traditional pitfalls by focusing directly on the analysis of the two- ...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - October 1, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Schaefer K, Bookstein FL Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Ageing and cancer as diseases of epigenesis.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Cancer and ageing are often said to be diseases of development. During the past fifty years, the genetic components of cancer and ageing have been intensely investigated since development, itself, was seen to be an epiphenomenon of the genome. However, as we have learned more about the expression of the genome, we fi nd that differences in expression can be as important as differences in alleles. It is easier to inactivate a gene by methylation than by mutation, and given that appropriate methylation is essential for normal development, one can immediately see that diseases would result as a consequence of inappropriat...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - October 1, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Gilbert SF Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Phenotypic plasticity and longevity in plants and animals: cause and effect?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Immobile plants and immobile modular animals outlive unitary animals. This paper discusses competing but not necessarily mutually exclusive theories to explain this extreme longevity, especially from the perspective of phenotypic plasticity. Stem cell immortality, vascular autonomy, and epicormic branching are some important features of the phenotypic plasticity of plants that contribute to their longevity. Monocarpy versus polycarpy can also influence the kind of senescent processes experienced by plants. How density-dependent phenomena affecting the establishment of juveniles in these immobile organisms can influence...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - October 1, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Borges RM Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Functional adaptation and phenotypic plasticity at the cellular and whole plant level.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The ability to adaptively alter morphological, anatomical, or physiological functional traits to local environmental variations using external environmental cues is especially well expressed by all terrestrial and most aquatic plants. A ubiquitous cue eliciting these plastic phenotypic responses is mechanical perturbation (MP), which can evoke dramatic differences in the size, shape, or mechanical properties of conspecifi cs. Current thinking posits that MP is part of a very ancient "stress-perception response system" that involves receptors located at the cell membrane/cell wall interface capable of responding to a br...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - October 1, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Niklas KJ Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Odour avoidance learning in the larva of Drosophila melanogaster.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
We describe here, an improved method of aversive conditioning and a procedure for decomposing learning retention curve that enables us to do a quantitative analysis of memory phases, short term (STM), middle term (MTM) and long term (LTM) as a function of training cycles. The same method of analysis when applied to learning mutants dunce, amnesiac, rutabaga and radish reveals memory defi cits characteristic of the mutant strains. PMID: 19920347 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Journal of Biosciences)
Source: Journal of Biosciences - October 1, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Khurana S, Abu Baker MB, Siddiqi O Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Epigenetic learning in non-neural organisms.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Learning involves a usually adaptive response to an input (an external stimulus or the organism's own behaviour) in which the input-response relation is memorized; some physical traces of the relation persist and can later be the basis of a more effective response. Using toy models we show that this characterization applies not only to the paradigmatic case of neural learning, but also to cellular responses that are based on epigenetic mechanisms of cell memory. The models suggest that the research agenda of epigenetics needs to be expanded. PMID: 19920348 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Journal of Biosciences)
Source: Journal of Biosciences - October 1, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Ginsburg S, Jablonka E Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

M k chandrashekaran (1937-2009).Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19805892 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Journal of Biosciences)
Source: Journal of Biosciences - August 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Nanjundiah V Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Branches in the plant world.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19805893 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Journal of Biosciences)
Source: Journal of Biosciences - August 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Mazat JP, Nazaret C Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Estradiol can modulate sensory processing with rapid and longer term consequences.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19805894 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Journal of Biosciences)
Source: Journal of Biosciences - August 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Wade J Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Of pungency, pain, and naked mole rats: chili peppers revisited.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19805895 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Journal of Biosciences)
Source: Journal of Biosciences - August 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Borges RM Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

R A Fisher, design theory, and the Indian connection.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Design Theory, a branch of mathematics, was born out of the experimental statistics research of the population geneticist R A Fisher and of Indian mathematical statisticians in the 1930s. The fi eld combines elements of combinatorics, finite projective geometries, Latin squares, and a variety of further mathematical structures, brought together in surprising ways. This essay will present these structures and ideas as well as how the field came together, in itself an interesting story. PMID: 19805896 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Journal of Biosciences)
Source: Journal of Biosciences - August 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Rau AR Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

B P Belousov and his reaction.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article is a brief biography of Belousov and attempts to reconstruct what lay behind his famous discovery of the oscillatory homogeneous chemical reaction named after him. PMID: 19805897 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Journal of Biosciences)
Source: Journal of Biosciences - August 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Pechenkin A Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

What history tells us XVIII. When functional biologists propose mechanisms of evolution.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19805898 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Journal of Biosciences)
Source: Journal of Biosciences - August 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Morange M Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Thermal stability of Alpha-amylase in aqueous cosolvent systems.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The activity and thermal stability of alpha-amylase were studied in the presence of different concentrations of trehalose, sorbitol, sucrose and glycerol. The optimum temperature of the enzyme was found to be 50 +/- 2 C. Further increase in temperature resulted in irreversible thermal inactivation of the enzyme. In the presence of cosolvents, the rate of thermal inactivation was found to be significantly reduced. The apparent thermal denaturation temperature (T ;m) app and activation energy (E ;a) of alpha-amylase were found to be significantly increased in the presence of cosolvents in a concentration-dependent manner...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - August 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Yadav JK, Prakash V Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

GalNAc-T14 may be involved in regulating the apoptotic action of IGFBP-3.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) is known to induce apoptosis in an insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-dependent and IGF-independent manner, but the mechanism underlying the IGF-independent effects remains unclear. Polypeptide N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase 14 (GalNAc-T14) is a novel IGFBP-3 binding partner. In this paper, small interference RNA (siRNA) targeting GalNAc-T14 was used to examine whether GalNAc-T14 affects the apoptotic action of IGFBP-3. Using semi-quantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blot analysis, we determined that GalNAc-T14 expressi...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - August 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Wu C, Shan Y, Liu X, Song W, Wang J, Zou M, Wang M, Xu D Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Single-nucleotide variations associated with Mycobacterium tuberculosis KwaZulu-Natal strains.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The occurrence of drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the aetiological agent of tuberculosis (TB), is hampering the management and control of TB in the world. Here we present a computational analysis of recently sequenced drug-sensitive (DS), multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strains of M. tuberculosis. Single-nucleotide variations (SNVs) were identified in a pair-wise manner using the anchor-based whole genome comparison (ABWGC) tool and its modified version. For this analysis, four fully sequenced genomes of different strains of M. tuberculosis were taken along with three KwaZu...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - August 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Das S, Yennamalli RM, Vishnoi A, Gupta P, Bhattacharya A Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms in peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma and their association with plasma levels of resistin and the metabolic syndrome in a South Indian population.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Studies on the association of the Pro12Ala and C1431T polymorphisms of PPAR? with diabetes and obesity have revealed extensive population-dependent variations. However, association of these polymorphisms with the metabolic syndrome and its individual components has not been well investigated in the Indian population. The Indian population harbours the maximum number of diabetics in the world who are thus more susceptible to metabolic disorders. We screened a South Indian population (N=699) for a possible association of these polymorphisms with the metabolic syndrome (MS) and type 2 diabetes. We also investigated the co...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - August 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Haseeb A, Iliyas M, Chakrabarti S, Farooqui AA, Naik SR, Ghosh S, Suragani M, Ehtesham NZ Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

BRCA1 and BRCA2 germline mutation analysis among Indian women from south India: identification of four novel mutations and high-frequency occurrence of 185delAG mutation.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes profoundly increase the risk of developing breast and/or ovarian cancer among women. To explore the contribution of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations in the development of hereditary breast cancer among Indian women, we carried out mutation analysis of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes in 61 breast or ovarian cancer patients from south India with a positive family history of breast and/or ovarian cancer. Mutation analysis was carried out using conformation-sensitive gel electrophoresis (CSGE) followed by sequencing. Mutations were identified in 17 patients (28.0%); 15 (24.6%) had BRCA1 mutations ...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - August 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Vaidyanathan K, Lakhotia S, Ravishankar HM, Tabassum U, Mukherjee G, Somasundaram K Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

A simple and efficient Agrobacterium-mediated procedure for transformation of tomato.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
We describe a highly efficient and reproducible Agrobacterium-mediated transformation protocol applicable to several varieties of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum, earlier known as Lycopersicum esculentum). Conditions such as co-cultivation period, bacterial concentration, concentration of benzyl amino purine (BAP), zeatin and indole acetic acid (IAA) were optimized. Co-cultivation of explants with a bacterial concentration of 108 cells/ml for three days on 2 mg/l BAP, followed by regeneration on a medium containing 1 mg/ml zeatin resulted in a transformation frequency of 41.4%. Transformation of tomato plants was confirmed by...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - August 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Sharma MK, Solanke AU, Jani D, Singh Y, Sharma AK Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Association preference and mechanism of kin recognition in tadpoles of the toad Bufo melanostictus.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In experiments with specially designed choice tanks, tadpoles of Bufo melanostictus spend significantly greater amounts of time near kin than near non-kin. However, in the absence of kin members, they prefer to spend more time near non-kin rather than stay away in isolation in the opposite blank zone with no company. This implies that association of toad tadpoles with their kin is due to attraction rather than repulsion from non-kin. Experiments designed to elucidate the sensory basis of kin recognition showed that toad tadpoles recognize their kin based on chemical cues rather than visual cues. They can also discrimin...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - August 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Eluvathingal LM, Shanbhag BA, Saidapur SK Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Quantitative effect and regulatory function of cyclic adenosine 5'-phosphate in Escherichia coli.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Cyclic adenosine 5'-phosphate (cAMP) is a global regulator of gene expression in Escherichia coli. Despite decades of intensive study, the quantitative effect and regulatory function of cAMP remain the subjects of considerable debate. Here, we analyse the data in the literature to show that: (a) In carbon-limited cultures (including cultures limited by glucose), cAMP is at near-saturation levels with respect to expression of several catabolic promoters (including lac, ara and gal). It follows that cAMP receptor protein (CRP) cAMP-mediated regulation cannot account for the strong repression of these operons in the prese...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - August 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Narang A Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Structure-function-folding relationships and native energy landscape of dynein light chain protein: nuclear magnetic resonance insights.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The detailed characterization of the structure, dynamics and folding process of a protein is crucial for understanding the biological functions it performs. Modern biophysical and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques have provided a way to obtain accurate structural and thermodynamic information on various species populated on the energy landscape of a given protein. In this context, we review here the structure-function-folding relationship of an important protein, namely, dynein light chain protein (DLC8). DLC8, the smallest subunit of the dynein motor complex, acts as a cargo adaptor. The protein exists as a ...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - August 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Mohan PM, Hosur RV Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Influenza A (H1N1) 2009: a pandemic alarm.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
At this critical juncture when the world has not yet recovered from the threat of avian influenza, the virus has returned in the disguise of swine influenza, a lesser known illness common in pigs. It has reached pandemic proportions in a short time span with health personnel still devising ways to identify the novel H1N1 virus and develop vaccines against it. The H1N1 virus has caused a considerable number of deaths within the short duration since its emergence. Presently, there are no effective methods to contain this newly emerged virus. Therefore, a proper and clear insight is urgently required to prevent an outbrea...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - August 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Khanna M, Gupta N, Gupta A, Vijayan VK Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

mGluR5 is a central regulator of synaptic function and plasticity in the developing mouse barrel cortex.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19550028 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Journal of Biosciences)
Source: Journal of Biosciences - May 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Tremere LA, Pinaud R Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Snakes and ladders: the ups and downs of animal segmentation.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19550029 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Journal of Biosciences)
Source: Journal of Biosciences - May 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Bhat R, Newman SA Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Insufficient regulatory supervision prior to release of genetically modified crops for commercial cultivation in India.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19550030 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Journal of Biosciences)
Source: Journal of Biosciences - May 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Bhargava PM Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Green fluorescent protein: a molecular lantern that illuminates the cellular interior.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19550031 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Journal of Biosciences)
Source: Journal of Biosciences - May 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Haldar S, Chattopadhyay A Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Why Darwin rejected intelligent design.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19550032 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Journal of Biosciences)
Source: Journal of Biosciences - May 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Sulloway FJ Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

The history of vitamin C research in India.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19550033 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Journal of Biosciences)
Source: Journal of Biosciences - May 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Chatterjee IB Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

What history tells us XVII. Conrad Waddington and The nature of life.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19550034 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Journal of Biosciences)
Source: Journal of Biosciences - May 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Morange M Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Inactivation of a transgene due to transposition of insertion sequence (IS136) of Agrobacterium tumefaciens.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In this study we report the inactivation of a transgene due to transposition of the A. tumefaciens insertion sequence IS136. The transposition was discovered following transformation of plant tissues, although the fidelity of the binary vector was confirmed following transformation into Agrobacterium. Such transpositions are rare but can occur and it is thus important to check the fidelity of the binary vector at different times of Agrobacterium growth in order to avoid failure in achieving transgene expression. PMID: 19550035 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Journal of Biosciences)
Source: Journal of Biosciences - May 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Rawat P, Kumar S, Pental D, Burma PK Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Functional role of EF-hands 3 and 4 in membrane-binding of KChIP1.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The aim of the present study is to explore whether membrane targeting of K+ channel-interacting protein 1 (KChIP1) is associated with its EF-hand motifs and varies with specific phospholipids. Truncated KChIP1, in which the EFhands 3 and 4 were deleted, retained the alpha-helix structure, indicating that the N-terminal half of KChIP1 could fold appropriately. Compared with wild-type KChIP1, truncated KChIP1 exhibited lower lipid-binding capability. Compared with wild-type KChIP1, increasing membrane permeability by the use of digitonin caused a marked loss of truncated KChIP1, suggesting that intact EF-hands 3 and 4 we...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - May 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Liao YS, Chen KC, Chang LS Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Identification of binding peptides of the ADAM15 disintegrin domain using phage display.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In this study, we investigated the target peptides of the ADAM15 disintegrin domain. First, we successfully produced the recombinant human ADAM15 disintegrin domain (RADD) that could inhibit melanoma cell adhesion by using Escherichia coli. Second, four specific binding peptides (peptides A, B, C, and D) were selected using a phage display 12-mer peptide library. The screening protocol involved 4 rounds of positive panning on RADD and 2 rounds of subtractive selection with streptavidin. By using the BLAST software and a relevant protein database, integrin alpha v beta 3 was found to be homologous to peptide A. Synthetic pe...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - May 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Wu J, Wu MC, Zhang LF, Lei JY, Feng L, Jin J Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Selection of scFvs specific for the HepG2 cell line using ribosome display.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In this study, we successfully constructed a native ribosome display library. Such a library would prove useful for direct intact cell panning using ribosome display technology. The selected scFv had a potential value for hepatocarcinoma treatment. PMID: 19550038 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Journal of Biosciences)
Source: Journal of Biosciences - May 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Zhou L, Mao WP, Fen J, Liu HY, Wei CJ, Li WX, Zhou FY Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Cloning and sequence analysis of putative type II fatty acid synthase genes from Arachis hypogaea L.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The cultivated peanut is a valuable source of dietary oil and ranks fifth among the world oil crops. Plant fatty acid biosynthesis is catalysed by type II fatty acid synthase (FAS) in plastids and mitochondria. By constructing a full-length cDNA library derived from immature peanut seeds and homology-based cloning, candidate genes of acyl carrier protein (ACP), malonyl-CoA:ACP transacylase, beta-ketoacyl-ACP synthase (I, II, III), beta-ketoacyl-ACP reductase, beta-hydroxyacyl-ACP dehydrase and enoyl-ACP reductase were isolated. Sequence alignments revealed that primary structures of type II FAS enzymes were highly cons...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - May 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Li MJ, Li AQ, Xia H, Zhao CZ, Li CS, Wan SB, Bi YP, Wang XJ Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Interaction of 18-residue peptides derived from amphipathic helical segments of globular proteins with model membranes.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
We investigated the interaction of six 18-residue peptides derived from amphipathic helical segments of globular proteins with model membranes. The net charge of the peptides at neutral pH varies from -1 to +6. Circular dichroism spectra indicate that peptides with a high net positive charge tend to fold into a helical conformation in the presence of negatively charged lipid vesicles. In helical conformation, their average hydrophobic moment and hydrophobicity would render them surface-active. The composition of amino acids on the polar face of the helix in the peptides is considerably different. The peptides show vari...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - May 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Sivakamasundari C, Nagaraj R Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Physical mapping, expression analysis and polymorphism survey of resistance gene analogues on chromosome 11 of rice.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The objectives of our study were to identify resistance gene analogue (RGA) sequences from chromosome 11 of rice, understand their expression in other cereals and dicots by in silico analysis, determine their presence on other rice chromosomes, and evaluate the extent of polymorphism and actual expression in a set of rice genotypes. A total of 195 RGAs were predicted and physically localised. Of these, 91.79% expressed in rice, and 51.28% expressed in wheat, which was the highest among other cereals. Among monocots, sugarcane showed the highest (78.92%) expression, while among dicots, RGAs were maximally expressed in Arabi...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - May 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Ghazi IA, Srivastava PS, Dalal V, Gaikwad K, Singh AK, Sharma TR, Singh NK, Mohapatra T Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Variations in morphological and life-history traits under extreme temperatures in Drosophila ananassae.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Using half-sib analysis, we analysed the consequences of extreme rearing temperatures on genetic and phenotypic variations in the morphological and life-history traits of Drosophila ananassae. Paternal half-sib covariance contains a relatively small proportion of the epistatic variance and lacks the dominance variance and variance due to maternal effect, which provides more reliable estimates of additive genetic variance. Experiments were performed on a mass culture population of D. ananassae collected from Kanniyakumari (India). Two extremely stressful temperatures (18 degree C and 32 degree C) and one standard temper...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - May 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Sisodia S, Singh BN Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Effect of directional selection for body size on fluctuating asymmetry in certain morphological traits in Drosophila ananassae.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In this study, we investigated whether stress caused by artificial bidirectional selection for body size has any effect on the levels of FA of different morphological traits in Drosophila ananassae. The realised heritability (h2) was higher in low-line females and high-line males, which suggests an asymmetrical response to selection for body size. Further, the levels of FA were compared across 10 generations of selection in different selection lines in both sexes for sternopleural bristle number, wing length, wing--to-thorax ratio, sex combtooth number and ovariole number. The levels of FA differed significantly among gene...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - May 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Vishalakshi C, Singh BN Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Bioluminescence emissions of the firefly Luciola praeusta Kiesenwetter 1874 (Coleoptera : Lampyridae : Luciolinae)#.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
We recorded the in vivo emission and time-resolved spectra of the firefly Luciola praeusta Kiesenwetter 1874 (Coleoptera : Lampyridae : Luciolinae). The emission spectrum shows that the full width at half maximum (FWHM) value for this particular species is 55 nm, which is significantly narrower than the in vivo half-widths reported till now. The time-resolved spectrum reveals that a flash of about 100 ms duration is, in fact, composed of a number of microsecond pulses. This suggests that the speed of the enzyme-catalysed chemiluminescence reaction in the firefly for the emission of light is much faster than was previou...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - May 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Barua AG, Hazarika S, Saikia NM, Baruah GD Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Rapid aggregation and assembly in aqueous solution of A beta (25-35) peptide.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The highly toxic A beta (25-35) is a peculiar peptide that differs from all the other commonly studied beta-amyloid peptides because of its extremely rapid aggregation properties and enhanced neurotoxicity. We investigated A beta (25-35) aggregation in H2O at pH 3.0 and at pH 7.4 by means of in-solution analyses. Adopting UV spectroscopy, Congo red spectrophotometry and thiofl avin T fluorimetry, we were able to quantify, in water, the very fast assembling time necessary for A beta (25-35) to form stable insoluble aggregates and their ability to seed or not seed fibril growth. Our quantitative results, which confirm a ...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - May 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Millucci L, Raggiaschi R, Franceschini D, Terstappen G, Santucci A Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals

Retinoblastoma protein: a central processing unit.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The retinoblastoma protein (pRb) is one of the key cell-cycle regulating proteins and its inactivation leads to neoplastic transformation and carcinogenesis. This protein regulates critical G1 -to-S phase transition through interaction with the E2F family of cell-cycle transcription factors repressing transcription of genes required for this cell-cycle check-point transition. Its activity is regulated through network sensing intracellular and extracellular signals which block or permit phosphorylation (inactivation) of the Rb protein. Mechanisms of Rb-dependent cell-cycle control have been widely studied over the past ...
Source: Journal of Biosciences - May 31, 2009 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Poznic M Tags: J Biosci Source Type: journals