Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a prominent genetic disease of infant mortality, is caused by low levels of survival motor neuron (SMN) protein owing to deletions or mutations of the SMN1 gene. SMN2, ...a nearly identical copy of SMN1 present in humans, cannot compensate for the loss of SMN1 because of predominant skipping of exon 7 during pre-mRNA splicing. With the recent US Food and Drug Administration approval of nusinersen (Spinraza), the potential for correction of SMN2 exon 7 splicing as an SMA therapy has been affirmed. Nusinersen is an antisense oligonucleotide that targets intronic splicing silencer N1 (ISS-N1) discovered in 2004 at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. ISS-N1 has emerged as the model target for testing the therapeutic efficacy of antisense oligonucleotides using different chemistries as well as different mouse models of SMA. Here, we provide a historical account of events that led to the discovery of ISS-N1 and describe the impact of independent validations that raised the profile of ISS-N1 as one of the most potent antisense targets for the treatment of a genetic disease. Recent approval of nusinersen provides a much-needed boost for antisense technology that is just beginning to realize its potential. Beyond treating SMA, the ISS-N1 target offers myriad potentials for perfecting various aspects of the nucleic-acid-based technology for the amelioration of the countless number of pathological conditions.
Nanotechnology is a new and emerging technology with wealth of applications. It involves the synthesis and application of materials having one of the dimensions in the range of 1–100 nm. A wide ...variety of physico–chemical approaches are being used these days for the synthesis of nanoparticles (NPs). However, biogenic reduction of metal precursors to produce corresponding NPs is eco-friendly, less expensive, free of chemical contaminants for medical and biological applications where purity of NPs is of major concern. Biogenic reduction is a “Bottom Up” approach similar to chemical reduction where a reducing agent is replaced by extract of a natural products with inherent stabilizing, growth terminating and capping properties. Furthermore, the nature of biological entities in different concentrations in combination with reducing organic agents influence the size and shape of NPs. Present review focuses on microbes or plants based green synthesis of Ag, Au, Cu, Fe, Pd, Ru, PbS, CdS, CuO, CeO₂, Fe₃O₄, TiO₂, and ZnO NPs and their potential applications.
Over the past decade, incorporation of nanomaterials into agricultural practices like nanofertilizers and nanopesticides has gained a lot of attention. Progress and application of fertilizers in ...nanoforms are one of the effective options for considerable improvement of the agricultural yield worldwide. Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) are considered as a biosafe material for biological species. Earlier studies have shown the potential of ZnO NPs in stimulation of seed germination and plant growth as well as disease suppression and plant protection by its antimicrobial activity. However, both positive and negative effects of ZnO NPs on plant growth and metabolism at various developmental periods have been documented. Uptake, translocation and accumulation of ZnO NPs by plants depend upon the features of NPs as well as the anatomy of the host plant. This review summarizes the applications of ZnO NPs as nanofertilizer in crop production and also attempts to examine and record the possible mechanism of antimicrobial activity of ZnO NPs. Biological synthesis of ZnO NPs and their uptake, translocation and biotransformation in plants via various routes have also been examined.
The generation of azide radical (N
3
&z.rad;) occurs from its precursors primarily
via
a single electron transfer (SET) process or homolytic cleavage by chemical methods or advanced ...photoredox/electrochemical methods. This
in situ
generated transient open-shell species has unique characteristic features that set its reactivity. In the past, the azide radical was widely used for various studies in radiation chemistry as a 1e
−
oxidant of biologically important molecules, but now it is being exploited for synthetic applications based on its addition and intermolecular hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) abilities. Due to the significant role of nitrogen-containing molecules in synthesis, drug discovery, biological, and material sciences, the direct addition onto unsaturated bonds for the simultaneous construction of C-N bond with other (C-X) bonds are indeed worth highlighting. Moreover, the ability to generate O- or C-centered radicals by N
3
&z.rad;
via
electron transfer (ET) and intermolecular HAT processes is also well documented. The purpose of controlling the reactivity of this short-lived intermediate in organic transformations drives us to survey: (i) the history of azide radical and its structural properties (thermodynamic, spectroscopic,
etc.
), (ii) chemical reactivities and kinetics, (iii) methods to produce N
3
&z.rad; from various precursors, (iv) several significant azide radical-mediated transformations in the field of functionalization with unsaturated bonds, C-H functionalization
via
HAT, tandem, and multicomponent reaction with a critical analysis of underlying mechanistic approaches and outcomes, (v) concept of taming the reactivity of azide radicals for potential opportunities, in this review.
This review describes the characteristic features of simple and nascent N-centered azide radical, and its unique reactivity in fine chemical synthesis with detailed mechanistic discussions.
In this paper, the photoluminescence properties of Tb
3+
doped CdWO
4
synthesized via co-precipitation method have been reported. The structural property of the prepared samples was determined by XRD ...and it was found that all the samples are crystallized in monoclinic structure without any impurity phases. The diameter of the crystallites observed from TEM studies for CdWO
4
:Tb
3+
(5 at.%) were extended in the ranges of 10-30 nm. Photoluminescence studies exhibited a broad excitation band corresponding to the charge transfer transition between filled 2p orbital of O
2−
and empty 5d orbital of W
6+
within the WO
6
6−
group. Upon excitation at 275 nm by UV light, the prepared samples showed a group of sharp and narrow emission peaks characteristic to the f–f transitions of Tb
3+
with dominant intensity at 545 nm due to
5
D
4
-
7
F
5
transition. The emission intensity increases with the increase in Tb
3+
concentration up to 7 at.% and then decreases upon further increase in Tb
3+
concentration, which is due to concentration quenching effect. The decay time of the prepared samples were investigated in detail and the maximum life time value is found to be 1.079 ms in this study.
The North-Eastern region (NER) of India, comprising of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura, is a hot spot for genetic diversity and the most probable origin of ...rice. North-east rice collections are known to possess various agronomically important traits like biotic and abiotic stress tolerance, unique grain and cooking quality. The genetic diversity and associated population structure of 6,984 rice accessions, originating from NER, were assessed using 36 genome wide unlinked single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers distributed across the 12 rice chromosomes. All of the 36 SNP loci were polymorphic and bi-allelic, contained five types of base substitutions and together produced nine types of alleles. The polymorphic information content (PIC) ranged from 0.004 for Tripura to 0.375 for Manipur and major allele frequency ranged from 0.50 for Assam to 0.99 for Tripura. Heterozygosity ranged from 0.002 in Nagaland to 0.42 in Mizoram and gene diversity ranged from 0.006 in Arunachal Pradesh to 0.50 in Manipur. The genetic relatedness among the rice accessions was evaluated using an unrooted phylogenetic tree analysis, which grouped all accessions into three major clusters. For determining population structure, populations K = 1 to K = 20 were tested and population K = 3 was present in all the states, with the exception of Meghalaya and Manipur where, K = 5 and K = 4 populations were present, respectively. Principal Coordinate Analysis (PCoA) showed that accessions were distributed according to their population structure. AMOVA analysis showed that, maximum diversity was partitioned at the individual accession level (73% for Nagaland, 58% for Arunachal Pradesh and 57% for Tripura). Using POWERCORE software, a core set of 701 accessions was obtained, which accounted for approximately 10% of the total NE India collections, representing 99.9% of the allelic diversity. The rice core set developed will be a valuable resource for future genomic studies and crop improvement strategies.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Simple sequence repeat (SSR) and Single Nucleotide Polymorphic (SNP), the two most robust markers for identifying rice varieties were compared for assessment of genetic diversity and population ...structure. Total 375 varieties of rice from various regions of India archived at the Indian National GeneBank, NBPGR, New Delhi, were analyzed using thirty six genetic markers, each of hypervariable SSR (HvSSR) and SNP which were distributed across 12 rice chromosomes. A total of 80 alleles were amplified with the SSR markers with an average of 2.22 alleles per locus whereas, 72 alleles were amplified with SNP markers. Polymorphic information content (PIC) values for HvSSR ranged from 0.04 to 0.5 with an average of 0.25. In the case of SNP markers, PIC values ranged from 0.03 to 0.37 with an average of 0.23. Genetic relatedness among the varieties was studied; utilizing an unrooted tree all the genotypes were grouped into three major clusters with both SSR and SNP markers. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicated that maximum diversity was partitioned between and within individual level but not between populations. Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) with SSR markers showed that genotypes were uniformly distributed across the two axes with 13.33% of cumulative variation whereas, in case of SNP markers varieties were grouped into three broad groups across two axes with 45.20% of cumulative variation. Population structure were tested using K values from 1 to 20, but there was no clear population structure, therefore Ln(PD) derived Δk was plotted against the K to determine the number of populations. In case of SSR maximum Δk was at K=5 whereas, in case of SNP maximum Δk was found at K=15, suggesting that resolution of population was higher with SNP markers, but SSR were more efficient for diversity analysis.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The aqueous extract of leaf (LE), fruit (FE) and seed (SE) of Moringa oleifera was assessed to examine the ability to inhibit the oxidative DNA damage, antioxidant and anti-quorum sensing (QS) ...potentials. It was found that these extracts could significantly inhibit the OH-dependent damage of pUC18 plasmid DNA and also inhibit synergistically with trolox, with an activity sequence of LE>FE>SE. HPLC and MS/MS analysis was carried out, which showed the presence of gallic acid, chlorogenic acid, ellagic acid, ferulic acid, kaempferol, quercetin and vanillin. The LE was with comparatively higher total phenolics content (105.04mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g), total flavonoids content (31.28mg quercetin equivalents (QE)/g), and ascorbic acid content (106.95mg/100g) and showed better antioxidant activity (85.77%), anti-radical power (74.3), reducing power (1.1 ascorbic acid equivalents (ASE)/ml), inhibition of lipid peroxidation, protein oxidation, OH-induced deoxyribose degradation, and scavenging power of superoxide anion and nitric oxide radicals than did the FE, SE and standard α-tocopherol. Eventually, LE and FE were found to inhibit violacein production, a QS-regulated behavior in Chromobacterium violaceum 12472.
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