The Malayan box turtle (Cuora amboinensis) (MBT) is a vulnerable and protected turtle species, but it is a lucrative item in the illegal wildlife trade because of its great appeal as an exotic food ...item and in traditional medicine. Although several polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays to identify MBT by various routes have been documented, their applicability for forensic authentication remains inconclusive due to the long length of the amplicon targets, which are easily broken down by natural decomposition, environmental stresses or physiochemical treatments during food processing. To address this research gap, we developed, for the first time, a species-specific PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) assay with a very short target length (120 bp) to detect MBT in the food chain; this authentication ensured better security and reliability through molecular fingerprints. The PCR-amplified product was digested with Bfa1 endonuclease, and distinctive restriction fingerprints (72, 43 and 5 bp) for MBT were found upon separation in a microfluidic chip-based automated electrophoresis system, which enhances the resolution of short oligos. The chances of any false negative identifications were eliminated through the use of a universal endogenous control for eukaryotes, and the limit of detection was 0.0001 ng DNA or 0.01% of the meat under admixed states. Finally, the optimized PCR-RFLP assay was validated for the screening of raw and processed commercial meatballs, burgers and frankfurters, which are very popular in most countries. The optimized PCR-RFLP assay was further used to screen MBT materials in 153 traditional Chinese medicines of 17 different brands and 62 of them were found MBT positive; wherein the ingredients were not declared in product labels. Overall, the novel assay demonstrated sufficient merit for use in any forensic and/or archaeological authentication of MBT, even under a state of decomposition.
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and Clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) are both complicated diseases which incidence rates gradually increasing. Population based studies show that severity of ccRCC might ...be associated with T2D. However, so far, no researcher yet investigated about the molecular mechanisms of their association. This study explored T2D and ccRCC causing shared key genes (sKGs) from multiple transcriptomics profiles to investigate their common pathogenetic processes and associated drug molecules. We identified 259 shared differentially expressed genes (sDEGs) that can separate both T2D and ccRCC patients from control samples. Local correlation analysis based on the expressions of sDEGs indicated significant association between T2D and ccRCC. Then ten sDEGs (CDC42, SCARB1, GOT2, CXCL8, FN1, IL1B, JUN, TLR2, TLR4, and VIM) were selected as the sKGs through the protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analysis. These sKGs were found significantly associated with different CpG sites of DNA methylation that might be the cause of ccRCC. The sKGs-set enrichment analysis with Gene Ontology (GO) terms and KEGG pathways revealed some crucial shared molecular functions, biological process, cellular components and KEGG pathways that might be associated with development of both T2D and ccRCC. The regulatory network analysis of sKGs identified six post-transcriptional regulators (hsa-mir-93-5p, hsa-mir-203a-3p, hsa-mir-204-5p, hsa-mir-335-5p, hsa-mir-26b-5p, and hsa-mir-1-3p) and five transcriptional regulators (YY1, FOXL1, FOXC1, NR2F1 and GATA2) of sKGs. Finally, sKGs-guided top-ranked three repurposable drug molecules (Digoxin, Imatinib, and Dovitinib) were recommended as the common treatment for both T2D and ccRCC by molecular docking and ADME/T analysis. Therefore, the results of this study may be useful for diagnosis and therapies of ccRCC patients who are also suffering from T2D.
Most antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) act by killing bacterial cells. However, there is little information regarding the required interaction time between AMPs and bacterial cells to exert the ...bactericidal activity. One of the causes of the bactericidal activity is considered to be cell membrane damage, although little direct evidence is available. Here, we investigated the relationship between AMP-induced cell membrane damage in Escherichia coli and AMP-induced cell death at the single-cell level. Magainin 2, lactoferricin B, and PGLa were selected as the AMPs. First, we examined the interaction time (t) of AMPs with cells required to induce cell death using the single-cell analysis. The fraction of microcolonies containing only a single cell, Psingle (t), which indicates the fraction of dead cells, increased with time to reach ∼1 in a short time (≤5 min). Then, we examined the interaction between AMPs and single cells using confocal laser scanning microscopy in the presence of membrane-impermeable SYTOX green. Within a short time interaction, the fluorescence intensity of the cells due to SYTOX green increased, indicating that AMPs induced cell membrane damage through which the dye entered the cytoplasm. The fraction of cells in which SYTOX green entered the cytoplasm among all examined cells after the interaction time (t), Pentry (t), increased with time, reaching ∼1 in a short time (≤5 min). The values of Psingle (t) and Pentry (t) were similar at t ≥ 3 min for all AMPs. The bindings of AMPs to cells were largely reversible, whereas the AMP-induced cell membrane damages were largely irreversible because SYTOX green entered the cells after dilution of AMP concentration. Based on these results, we conclude that the rapid, substantial membrane permeabilization of cytoplasmic contents after a short interaction time with AMPs and the residual damage after dilution induce cell death.
Abstract
A newly invented post-translational modification (PTM), phosphoglycerylation, has shown its essential role in the construction and functional properties of proteins and dangerous human ...diseases. Hence, it is very urgent to know about the molecular mechanism behind the phosphoglycerylation process to develop the drugs for related diseases. But accurately identifying of phosphoglycerylation site from a protein sequence in a laboratory is a very difficult and challenging task. Hence, the construction of an efficient computation model is greatly sought for this purpose. A little number of computational models are currently available for identifying the phosphoglycerylation sites, which are not able to reach their prediction capability at a satisfactory level. Therefore, an effective predictor named PLP_FS has been designed and constructed to identify phosphoglycerylation sites in this study. For the training purpose, an optimal number of feature sets was obtained by fusion of multiple F_Score feature selection techniques from the features generated by three types of sequence-based feature extraction methods and fitted with the support vector machine classification technique to the prediction model. On the other hand, the k-neighbor near cleaning and SMOTE methods were also implemented to balance the benchmark dataset. The suggested model in 10-fold cross-validation obtained an accuracy of 99.22%, a sensitivity of 98.17% and a specificity of 99.75% according to the experimental findings, which are better than other currently available predictors for accurately identifying the phosphoglycerylation sites.
Precise nutrient management of crops and soil fertility will be a major challenge worldwide in the coming decades because current agricultural practices rely predominantly on chemical fertilizers. ...The use of conventional fertilizers suffers from low crop nutrient efficiency, negative impacts on the environment, and high loss of water bodies. Nano-biotechnology is emerging as a promising alternative technique and has the potential to revolutionize agricultural systems by delivering nutrients to crops in a controlled release manner. Engineering nanoparticles-based nanofertilizers offer benefits in crop nutrition management by enhancing abiotic stress tolerance and improving agricultural productivity. This review focuses on the design, contribution, and interaction of nano-enabled fertilizers with edible plants based on very recent studies. Also, the review conveys the role of macronutrient, micronutrient-based nanofertilizer as well as nano-biofertilizer towards the development of smart and sustainable future agriculture.
•This review focuses on the design, contribution, and interaction of nano fertilizers.•The review conveys the role of nanofertilizer towards smart future agriculture.•This review summarizes an overview on usees of nano fertilizers in various crops.•The work discusses several models of nanoparticle acquisition and translocation.
Nano-crystalline Zinc sulfide (ZnS) thin films were deposited on glass substrates by spin coating method using thiol-amine co-solvent through Triton X-100 (TX-100) surfactant. The structural, ...morphological, and optical properties of the deposited ZnS films for with and without TX-100 surfactant was investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and optical transmission spectroscopy. The X-ray diffraction results showed that hexagonal phase with (008) plane. The highest peak intensity was found from the surfactant-mediated film which originated at 2θ value of ~29.30°. The crystalline size increased but the dislocation density and lattice parameters are decreased for with surfactant than without surfactant. The SEM results showed surfactant mediated film offered a smoother and uniform surface with fewer crack than without surfactant film. The optical transmittance was found 62–70% and 80–86% in the visible region without and with surfactant respectively. At the same time, the band gap energy was found 3.71 eV and 3.80 eV for without and with surfactant correspondingly. All the results showed that the high-quality ZnS film using TX-100 surfactant may be used as buffer layer for TFSCs.
Graphical Abstract
Highlights
ZnS thin films have been deposited on glass substrate by spin coating method.
Structural, morphological, and optical properties of the films have been investigated.
XRD results have shown a hexagonal phase with (008) plane.
SEM results have shown surfactant mediated films with smoother and uniform surface.
Transmittance has improved from 65 to 85% in the visible range.
Schiff base ligand 3-(2-hydroxyphenylimino)-1,3-dihydroindol-2-one was synthesized by the condensation reaction of isatin with 2-aminophenol. The Schiff base and its metal complexes with Co(II), ...Ni(II), and Cu(II) and ions were permeated by
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H NMR, IR, elemental analysis, ESI-MS spectroscopy, electronic spectroscopy, and some physicochemical measurements. The Schiff base behaved as a tridentate ligand in all metal complexes and was linked by azomethine nitrogen (=C=N). Supported by analytical data the metal-ligand stoichiometry in the formation of complexes was found as 1 : 2 molecular ratio. Based on analytical data allied with spectroscopic studies spilled that the Cu(II) complex preferred tetrahedral geometry, while Ni(II) and Co(II) complexes offered square planar and octahedral geometry, respectively. The complexes were undergone thermal analysis (TGA and DTG); complexes were found thermally stable up to 200°C. All the stable assembled compounds were assessed for antibacterial competency. The ligand and the complexes were played mild to sturdy antibacterial activity against numerous pathogenic bacterial species, although growth inhibitory activities of complexes were enhanced comparatively than their respective ligands. Additionally, molecular docking analysis and quantum computational calculations based on the density functional theory (DFT) approach were used to study the molecular characteristics of the novel complexes and provide in-depth insights into their involvement in their ability to restrict bacterial growth.
•First report of two gene targeted PCR assay for beef and buffalo differentiation.•All targets (two for each of buffalo and beef) were between 90 and 138bp.•Detection limit was 0.01ng DNA in pure ...state and 1% meat in mixed matrices.
Replacement of beef by buffalo and vice versa is frequent in global markets, but their authentication is challenging in processed foods due to the fragmentation of most biomarkers including DNA. The shortening of target sequences through use of two target sites might ameliorate assay reliability because it is highly unlikely that both targets will be lost during food processing. For the first time, we report a tetraplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay targeting two different DNA regions in beef (106 and 120-bp) and buffalo (90 and 138-bp) mitochondrial genes to discriminate beef and buffalo in processed foods. All targets were stable under boiling, autoclaving and microwave cooking conditions. A survey in Malaysian markets revealed 71% beef curries contained buffalo but there was no buffalo in beef burgers. The assay detected down to 0.01ng DNA and 1% meat in admixed and burger products.
Ascaridia galli is the most common nematode in chickens. Ascaridia galli is highly prevalent in chickens reared in scavenging or semiscavenging systems. Here, we studied the epidemiology, pathology, ...genetic diversity, ex vivo culture protocol and anthelmintic sensitivity of A. galli prevalent in indigenous chickens in Bangladesh. Through morphological study and molecular analyses, the isolated worms were confirmed as A. galli. Of the chickens examined, 45.6% (178 out of 390) were found infected. The male and young chickens were significantly (P < 0.05) more prone to A. galli infection. Prevalence of the infection was significantly (P < 0.05) lower in the summer season. In heavy infections, A. galli blocked the small intestine. Marked inflammation, increased mucus production and petechial hemorrhages were evident in the small intestine, particularly in the duodenum. Also, there were desquamation and adhesion of the mucosal villi; degeneration, necrosis of the epithelial cells and goblet cell hyperplasia. The mucosal layer was infiltrated mainly with eosinophils and heterophils. We developed a hen egg white-based long-term ex vivo culture protocol which supported the survival and reproduction of A. galli for more than a week. Levamisole (LEV) and ivermectin (IVM) efficiently killed A. galli. However, albendazole (ABZ), mebendazole (MBZ), and piperazine (PPZ) did not kill the worms even at 120 μg/mL and 1mg/mL concentrations, respectively. Taken together, our results suggest that A. galli is highly prevalent in semiscavenging chickens in Bangladesh. Ascaridia galli can be easily maintained ex vivo in egg white supplemented M199 medium. LEV and IVM, but not ABZ, MBZ and PPZ, can be used for treating and controlling A. galli infections in chickens.
•Analysis of bovine, porcine and fish DNA in gelatin samples.•PCR method was validated with 35 food and dietary products.•Lower limit of detection was 0.005 ng/µl under gelatin admixed conditions.
...Detection of animal materials in gelatin-based products is required to address religious and cultural concerns, because porcine and bovine gelatins are prohibited in Halal, Kosher and Hindus consumer goods. In this paper, multiplex quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay using TaqMan probe was developed to discriminate bovine, porcine and fish gelatin species in a single assay platform. The assay was specific to cattle, pigs and fish, having been tested against 14 non-target species. The limit of detection, under gelatin admixed conditions, was 0.005 ng/µL. Finally, a pilot survey was undertaken testing 35 Halal branded processed food and dietary items. Out of 35 samples, only two were found to be positive for porcine species. The authenticity of these two qPCR products was confirmed by DNA sequencing analysis, which showed 99–100% similarity with Sus scrofa (Wild boar) species.
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