Search results for: biomass protein

Authors: Tahar Ghnaya, Majda Mnasri, Hanen Zaier, Rim Ghabriche, Chedly Abdelly

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It is known that the symbiotic association between plant and microorganisms are beneficial for plant growth and resistance to metal stress. Hence, it was demonstrated that Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi have a positive effect on host plants growing in metal polluted soils. Legume plants are those which normally associate to rhizobacteria in order to fix atmospheric nitrogen. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect this type of symbiosis on the tolerance and the accumulation of Cd. We chose Medicago sativa, as a modal for host legume plants and Rhizobium mililoti 2011 as rhizobial strain. Inoculated and non-inoculated plants of M. sativa were submitted during three month to 0, 50, and 100 mgCd/kg dry soil. Results showed that the presence of Cd in the medium induced, in both inoculated and non-inoculated plants, a chlorosis and necrosis. However, these symptoms were more pronounced in non-inoculated plants. The beneficial effect of inoculation of M. sativa with R. meliloti, on plant growth was confirmed by the measurement of biomass production which showed that the symbiotic association between host plant and rhizobacteria alleviates significantly Cd effect on biomass production, so inoculated plants produced more dry weight as compared to non-inoculated ones in the presence of all Cd tretments. On the other hand, under symbiosis conditions, Cd was more accumulated in different plant organs. Hence, in these plants, shoot Cd concentration reached 425 and it was 280 µg/gDW in non-inoculated ones in the presence of 100 ppm Cd. This result suggests that symbiosis enhances the absorption and translocation of Cd in this plant. In nodules and roots, we detected the highest Cd concentrations, demonstrating that these organs are able to concentrate Cd in their tissues. These data confirm that M. sataiva, cultivated in symbiosis with Rhizobium mililoti could be used in phytoextraction of Cd from contaminated soils.

Keywords: Cd, phytoremediation, Medicago sativa, Arbuscular mycorrhizal

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Authors: Shahid-ul-Islam, Faqeer Mohammad

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The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of annatto, teak and flame of the forest natural dyes on color, fastness, and antimicrobial property of protein based textile substrate. The color strength (K/S) of wool samples at various concentrations of dyes were analysed using a Reflective Spectrophotometer. The antimicrobial activity of natural dyes before and after application on wool was tested against common human pathogens Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albicans, by using micro-broth dilution method, disc diffusion assay and growth curve studies. The structural morphology of natural protein fibre (wool) was investigated by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Annatto and teak natural dyes proved very effective in inhibiting the microbial growth in solution phase and after application on wool and resulted in a broad beautiful spectrum of colors with exceptional fastness properties. The results encourage the search and exploitation of new plant species as source of dyes to replace toxic synthetic antimicrobial agents currently used in textile industry.

Keywords: annatto, antimicrobial agents, natural dyes, green textiles

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Authors: Mohsina Akhter

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Cancer has become a wide spread disease around the globe and takes many lives every year. Different treatments are being practiced but all have potential side effects with somewhat less specificity towards target sites. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is known to secrete a protein azurin with special anti-cancer function. It has unique cell penetrating peptide comprising of 18 amino acids that have ability to enter cancer cells specifically. Reported function of Azurin is to stabilize p53 inside the tumor cells and induces apoptosis through Bax mediated cytochrome c release from mitochondria. At laboratory scale, we have made recombinant azurin through cloning rpTZ57R/T-azu vector into E.coli strain DH-5α and subcloning rpET28-azu vector into E.coli BL21-CodonPlus (DE3). High expression was ensured with IPTG induction at different concentrations then optimized high expression level at 1mM concentration of IPTG for 5 hours. Purification has been done by using Ni+2 affinity chromatography. We have concluded that azurin can be a remarkable improvement in cancer therapeutics if it produces on a large scale. Azurin does not enter into the normal cells so it will prove a safe and secure treatment for patients and prevent them from hazardous anomalies.

Keywords: azurin, pseudomonas aeruginosa, cancer, therapeutics

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Authors: K. Żak, S. Przetocka, R. Kitel, K. Guzik, B. Musielak, S. Malicki, G. Dubin, T. A. Holak

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Studies on tumor genesis revealed a number of factors that may potentially serve as molecular targets for immunotherapies. One of such promising targets are PD1 and PDL1 proteins. PD1 (Programmed cell death protein 1) is expressed by activated T cells and plays a critical role in modulation of the host's immune response. One of the PD1 ligands -PDL1- is expressed by macrophages, monocytes and cancer cells which exploit it to avoid immune attack. The notion of the mechanisms used by cancer cells to block the immune system response was utilized in the development of therapies blocking PD1-PDL1 interaction. Up to date, human PD1-PDL1 complex has not been crystallized and structure of the mouse-human complex does not provide a complete view of the molecular basis of PD1-PDL1 interactions. The purpose of this study is to obtain crystal structure of the human PD1-PDL1 complex which shall allow rational design of small molecule inhibitors of the interaction. In addition, the study presents results of binding small-molecules to PD1 and fragment docking towards PD1 protein which will facilitate the design and development of small–molecule inhibitors of PD1-PDL1 interaction.

Keywords: PD1, PDL1, cancer, small molecule, drug discovery

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Authors: Safa Abusara Mohammed Ali, Mohammed Khair Abdallah, Gurdon A. Brockmann, M. Reissmann

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The aim of the study was the characterization of DGAT1 variants in Sudanese dairy cattle breeds. In this study, we examined 94 Kenana and 91 Butana dairy cattle from two regions of Sudan. We genotyped the DGAT1 sequence variant AJ318490.1:g.10433/10434 AA>GC that leads to the Lysine – Alanine substitution at position 232 (K232A) in the protein and the VNTR polymorphism in the promoter region. Genotyping was performed by allele specific PCR and PCR fragment lengths determination, respectively. In both breeds, the DGAT1 Lysine variant (232K) that is associated with high fat and protein content as well as high fat yield in other breeds is the high frequent allele. The frequencies of the 232K allele were 96.3% and 84.6% in Kenana and Butana breeds, respectively. At the DGAT1 promoter VNTR locus, four alleles containing four to seven repeats of the 18 bp motif were found in both breeds. The highest frequent allele was the VNTR allele 3 containing five repeats with 60.4 % and 57.5 % in Kenana and Butana breeds, respectively. In conclusion, the two examined Sudanese dairy cattle breeds do not differ in allele frequencies at the DGAT1 locus.

Keywords: dairy cattle, DGAT1, Kenana, Butana.

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Authors: Amar Ranjan, Julieana Durai, Pranay Tanwar

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Background &Introduction: Ovarian cancer is one of the most common malignant tumor in the female. 70% of the cases of ovarian cancer are diagnosed at an advanced stage. The five-year survival rate associated with ovarian cancer is less than 30%. The early diagnosis of ovarian cancer becomes a key factor in improving the survival rate of patients. Presently, CAl25 (carbohydrate antigen125) is used for the diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring of ovarian cancer, but its sensitivity and specificity is not ideal. The introduction of HE4, human epididymis protein 4 has attracted much attention. HE4 has a sensitivity and specificity of 72.9% and 95% for differentiating between benign and malignant adnexal masses, which is better than CA125 detection.  Methods: Serum HE4 and CA -125 were estimated using the chemiluminescence method. Our cases were 40 epithelial ovarian cancer, 9 benign ovarian tumor, 29 benign gynaecological diseases and 13 healthy individuals. This group include healthy woman those who have undergoing family planning and menopause-related medical consultations and they are negative for ovarian mass. Optimal cut off values for HE4 and CA125 were 55.89pmol/L and 40.25U/L respectively (determined by statistical analysis). Results: The level of HE4 was raised in all ovarian cancer patients (n=40) whereas CA125 levels were normal in 6/40 ovarian cancer patients, which were the cases of OC confirmed by histopathology. There is a significant decrease in the level of HE4 with comparison to CA125 in benign ovarian tumor cases. Both the levels of HE4 and CA125 were raised in the nonovarian cancer group, which includes cancer of endometrium and cervix. In the healthy group, HE4 was normal in all patients except in one case of the rudimentary horn, and the reason for this raised HE4 level is due to the incomplete development of uterus whereas CA125 was raised in 3 cases. Conclusions: Findings showed that the serum level of HE4 is an important indicator in the diagnosis of ovarian cancer, and it also distinguishes between benign and malignant pelvic masses. However, a combination of HE4 and CA125 panel will be extremely valuable in improving the diagnostic efficiency of ovarian cancer. These findings of our study need to be validated in the larger cohort of patients.

Keywords: human epididymis protein 4, ovarian cancer, diagnosis, benign lesions

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Authors: Rawan Hakawati, Beatrice Smyth, David Rooney, Geoffrey McCullough

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Targets have been set in the EU to increase the share of renewable energy consumption to 20% by 2020, but developments have not occurred evenly across the member states. Northern Ireland is almost 90% dependent on imported fossil fuels. With such high energy dependency, Northern Ireland is particularly susceptible to the security of supply issues. Linked to fossil fuels are greenhouse gas emissions, and the EU plans to reduce emissions by 20% by 2020. The use of indigenously produced biomass could reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and external energy dependence. With a wide range of both crop and waste feedstock potentially available in Northern Ireland, anaerobic digestion has been put forward as a possible solution for renewable energy production, waste management, and greenhouse gas reduction. Not all feedstock, however, is the same, and an understanding of feedstock suitability is important for both plant operators and policy makers. The aim of this paper is to investigate biomass suitability for anaerobic digestion in Northern Ireland. It is also important that decisions are based on solid scientific evidence. For this reason, the methodology used is multi-criteria decision matrix analysis which takes multiple criteria into account simultaneously and ranks alternatives accordingly. The model uses the weighted sum method (which follows the Entropy Method to measure uncertainty using probability theory) to decide on weights. The Topsis method is utilized to carry out the mathematical analysis to provide the final scores. Feedstock that is currently available in Northern Ireland was classified into two categories: wastes (manure, sewage sludge and food waste) and energy crops, specifically grass silage. To select the most suitable feedstock, methane yield, feedstock availability, feedstock production cost, biogas production, calorific value, produced kilowatt-hours, dry matter content, and carbon to nitrogen ratio were assessed. The highest weight (0.249) corresponded to production cost reflecting a variation of £41 gate fee to 22£/tonne cost. The weights calculated found that grass silage was the most suitable feedstock. A sensitivity analysis was then conducted to investigate the impact of weights. The analysis used the Pugh Matrix Method which relies upon The Analytical Hierarchy Process and pairwise comparisons to determine a weighting for each criterion. The results showed that the highest weight (0.193) corresponded to biogas production indicating that grass silage and manure are the most suitable feedstock. Introducing co-digestion of two or more substrates can boost the biogas yield due to a synergistic effect induced by the feedstock to favor positive biological interactions. A further benefit of co-digesting manure is that the anaerobic digestion process also acts as a waste management strategy. From the research, it was concluded that energy from agricultural biomass is highly advantageous in Northern Ireland because it would increase the country's production of renewable energy, manage waste production, and would limit the production of greenhouse gases (current contribution from agriculture sector is 26%). Decision-making methods based on scientific evidence aid policy makers in classifying multiple criteria in a logical mathematical manner in order to reach a resolution.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion, biomass as feedstock, decision matrix, renewable energy

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Authors: Manuel A. Alonso-Tarajano, Roberto Mosca, Patrick Aloy

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Protein kinases participate in a myriad of cellular processes of major biomedical interest. The in vivo substrate specificity of these enzymes is a process determined by several factors, and despite several years of research on the topic, is still far from being totally understood. In the present work, we have quantified the contributions to the kinase substrate specificity of i) the phosphorylation sites and their surrounding residues in the sequence and of ii) the association of kinases to adaptor or scaffold proteins. We have used position-specific scoring matrices (PSSMs), to represent the stretches of sequences phosphorylated by 93 families of kinases. We have found negative correlations between the number of sequences from which a PSSM is generated and the statistical significance and the performance of that PSSM. Using a subset of 22 statistically significant PSSMs, we have identified specificity determinant residues (SDRs) for 86% of the corresponding kinase families. Our results suggest that different SDRs can function as positive or negative elements of substrate recognition by the different families of kinases. Additionally, we have found that human proteins with known function as adaptors or scaffolds (kAS) tend to interact with a significantly large fraction of the substrates of the kinases to which they associate. Based on this characteristic we have identified a set of 279 potential adaptors/scaffolds (pAS) for human kinases, which is enriched in Pfam domains and functional terms tightly related to the proposed function. Moreover, our results show that for 74.6% of the kinase– pAS association found, the pAS colocalize with the substrates of the kinases they are associated to. Finally, we have found evidence suggesting that the association of kinases to adaptors and scaffolds, may contribute significantly to diminish the in vivo substrate crossed- specificity of protein kinases. In general, our results indicate the relevance of several SDRs for both the positive and negative selection of phosphorylation sites by kinase families and also suggest that the association of kinases to pAS proteins may be an important factor for the localization of the enzymes with their set of substrates.

Keywords: kinase, phosphorylation, substrate specificity, adaptors, scaffolds, cellular colocalization

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Authors: Farhat Rashid

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A study was conducted at the Institute of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan, to evaluate the effect of different concentration of Aloe vera (Aloe barbadensis Mill.) powder on physicochemical and sensory properties of orange marmalade. All treatments (0, 2, 4 6, 8 and 10% Aloe vera powder) were analyzed for titratable acidity, TSS, pH, moisture, fat, fiber and protein contents. The data indicated gradual increase in titratable acidity (0.08 to 0.18%), moisture (0.23 to 0.48%), protein (0.09 to 0.40%) and fiber (0.12 to 1.03%) among all treatments with increasing concentration of Aloe vera powder. However, a decreasing trend in pH (3.81 to 2.74), TSS (68 to 56 °Brix) and fat content (1.1 to 0.08%) was noticed with gradual increase in concentration of Aloe vera powder in orange marmalade. Sensory attributes like color, taste, texture, flavor and overall acceptability were found acceptable among all treatments but T1 (2% Aloe vera powder) was liked most and T5 (10% Aloe vera powder) was least appealing to the judges. It is concluded from present study that the addition of different concentrations of Aloe vera powder in orange marmalade significantly affected the physicochemical and sensory properties of marmalade.

Keywords: orange marmalade, Aloe vera, Aloe barbadensis mill, physicochemical, characteristics, organoleptic properties, Pakistan, treatments, significance

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Authors: Hashaam Akhtar

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IFNλR1 and IL10R2 collectively construct a heterodimer, which is an acknowledged functional receptor for all type III interferons (IFNs). Expression of IFNλR1 is highly tissue specific, which can help in making type III IFNs a drug of choice as comparable to its analogue, type I IFNs, for treating hepatitis C in the near future. Although, expression of IFNλR1 also varies with the concentration of type I IFNs, but in this study it was shown that the expression of IFNλR1 varies with the protein titers of IFN-α, IFN-λ3 and the newly discovered IFN-λ4. High dosage of IFN-α reduces the expression of IFNλR1 in HepG2 cells, which can affect the antiviral activity of type III IFNs in vivo. We premeditated an experimental strategy to differentiate monocytes into dendritic cells (DCs), type I and type II macrophages in vitro and quantified the expression of the IFNλR1 by qPCR. The exposure of newly discovered IFN-λ4 to macrophages and DCs also raised the expression of its own receptor, which shows that expression of IFN-λ4 protein in hepatitis C patient may augment type I treatment and help ease off viral titers. The results of this study may contribute in some understanding towards the mechanisms involved in the selective expression of IFNLR1 and exceptionalities associated with the receptor.

Keywords: IFNLR1, Interferon Lambda 4 (IFN-λ4), Mononuclear Phagocyte Cells (MPCs), expression

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Authors: F. O. Danquah, F. Frimpong, E. Owusu Danquah, T. Frimpong, J. Adu, S. K. Amposah, P. Amankwaa-Yeboah, N. E. Amengor

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In the face of global concerns such as population increase, climate change, and limited natural resources, sustainable agriculture practices are critical for ensuring food security and environmental stewardship. The study was conducted in the Forest zones of Ghana during the major and minor seasons of 2023 cropping seasons to evaluate maize yield productivity improvement and profitability of integrating Cajanus cajan (pigeonpea) into a maize production system described as a pigeonpea-maize cropping system. This is towards an integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) with a legume shrub pigeonpea for sustainable maize production while improving smallholder farmers' resilience to climate change. A split-plot design with maize-pigeonpea (Pigeonpea-Maize intercrop – MPP and No pigeonpea/ Sole maize – NPP) and inorganic fertilizer rate (250 kg/ha of 15-15-15 N-P2O5-K2O + 250 kg/ha Sulphate of Ammonia (SoA) – Full rate (FR), 125 kg/ha of 15-15-15 N-P2O5-K2O + 125 kg/ha Sulphate of Ammonia (SoA) – Half rate (HR) and no inorganic fertilizer (NF) as control) was used as the main plot and subplot treatments respectively. The results indicated a significant interaction of the pigeonpea-maize cropping system and inorganic fertilizer rate on the growth and yield of the maize with better and similar maize productivity when HR and FR were used with pigeonpea biomass. Thus, the integration of pigeonpea and its biomass would result in the reduction of recommended fertiliser rate to half. This would improve farmers’ income and profitability for sustainable maize production in the face of climate change.

Keywords: agroforestry tree, climate change, integrated soil fertility management, resource use efficiency

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Authors: C. Girometta, S. Babbini, R. M. Baiguera, D. S. Branciforti, M. Cartabia, D. Dondi, M. Pellegrini, A. M. Picco, E. Savino

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Interest on wood decay fungi (WDF) has been increasing in the last year's thanks to the potentiality of this kind of fungi; research on new WDF strains has increased as well thus pointing out the key role of the culture collections. One of the most recent biotechnological application of WDF is the development of novel materials from natural or recycled resources. Based on different combinations of fungal species, substrate, and processing treatment involved (e.g. heat pressing), it is possible to achieve a wide variety of materials with different features useful for many industrial applications: from packaging to thermal and acoustic insulation. In comparison with the conventional ones, these materials represent a 100% natural and compostable alternative involving low amounts of energy in the production process. The purpose of the present work was to isolate and select WDF strains able to colonize and degrade different plant wastes thus producing a fungal biomass shapeable to achieve bio-composite materials. Strains were selected within the mycological culture collection of Pavia University (MicUNIPV, over 300 strains of WDF). The selected strains have been investigated with regards their ability to colonize and degrade plant residues from the local major cultivations (e.g. poplar, alfalfa, maize, rice, and wheat) and produce the fungal biomass. The degradation of the substrate was assessed by Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Chemical characterization confirmed that TGA and FTIR are complementary techniques able to provide quality-quantitative information on compositional and structural variation that occurs during the transformation from the substrate to the bio-composite material. This pilot study provides a fundamental step to tune further applications in fungus-residues composite biomaterials.

Keywords: bio-composite material, lignocellulosic residues, sustainable materials, wood decay fungi

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Authors: M. Feliciano, F. Maia, A. Gonçalves

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Olive oil production sector plays an important role in Portuguese economy. It had a major growth over the last decade, increasing its weight in the overall national exports. International market penetration for Mediterranean traditional products is increasingly more demanding, especially in the Northern European markets, where consumers are looking for more sustainable products. Trying to support this growing demand this study addresses olive oil production under the environmental and eco-efficiency perspectives. The analysis considers two consecutive product life cycle stages: olive trees farming; and olive oil extraction in mills. Addressing olive farming, data collection covered two different organizations: a middle-size farm (~12ha) (F1) and a large-size farm (~100ha) (F2). Results from both farms show that olive collection activities are responsible for the largest amounts of Green House Gases (GHG) emissions. In this activities, estimate for the Carbon Footprint per olive was higher in F2 (188g CO2e/kgolive) than in F1 (148g CO2e/kgolive). Considering olive oil extraction, two different mills were considered: one using a two-phase system (2P) and other with a three-phase system (3P). Results from the study of two mills show that there is a much higher use of water in 3P. Energy intensity (EI) is similar in both mills. When evaluating the GHG generated, two conditions are evaluated: a biomass neutral condition resulting on a carbon footprint higher in 3P (184g CO2e/Lolive oil) than in 2P (92g CO2e/Lolive oil); and a non-neutral biomass condition in which 2P increase its carbon footprint to 273g CO2e/Lolive oil. When addressing the carbon footprint of possible combinations among studied subsystems, results suggest that olive harvesting is the major source for GHG.

Keywords: carbon footprint, environmental indicators, farming subsystem, industrial subsystem, olive oil

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Authors: Laima Silina, Ilze Gramatina, Liga Skudra, Tatjana Rakcejeva

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The aim of the current research was to determine quality parameters changes of dried venison during storage. Protein, fat and moisture content dynamics as well microbiological quality was analyzed. For the experiments the meat (0.02×4.00×7.00 cm) pieces were marinated in “teriyaki sauce” marinade (composition: teriyaki sauce, sweet and sour sauce, taco sauce, soy sauce, American BBQ sauce hickory, sesame oil, garlic, garlic salt, tabasco red pepper sauce) at 4±2°C temperature for 48±1h. Sodium monophosphate (E339) was also added in part of marinade to improve the meat textural properties. After marinating, meat samples were dried in microwave-vacuum drier MUSSON–1, packaged in vacuum pouches made from polymer film (PA/PE) with barrier properties and storage for 4 months at 18±1°C temperature in dark place. Dried venison samples were analyzed after 0, 35, 91 and 112 days of storage. During the storage total plate counts of dried venison samples significantly (p<0.05) increased. No significant differences in the content of protein, fat and moisture were detected when analyzing dried meat samples during storage and comparing them with the chemical parameters of just dried meat.

Keywords: drying, microwave-vacuum drier, quality, venison

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Authors: Christopher R. Triggle, Hong Ding, Khaled Machaca, Gnanapragasam Arunachalam

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The antidiabetic drug, metformin, has been in clinical use for over 50 years and remains the first choice drug for the treatment of type two diabetes. In addition to its effectiveness as an oral anti-hyperglycaemic drug metformin also possesses vasculoprotective effects that are assumed to be secondary to its ability to reduce insulin resistance and control glycated hemoglobin levels; however, recent data from our laboratory indicate that metformin also has direct vasoprotective effects that are mediated, at least in part, via the anti-ageing gene, SIRT1. Diabetes is a major risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and it is also well established that tobacco use further enhances the risk of CVD; however, it is not known whether treatment with metformin can offset the negative effects of diabetes and tobacco use on cardiac function. The current study was therefore designed to investigate 1: the effects of hyperglycaemia (HG) either alone or in the presence of elevated fatty acids (palmitate) and nicotine on the protein expression levels of the deacetylase sirtuin 1 (the protein product of SIRT1), anti-apoptotic Bcl-2, pro-apoptotic BIM and the pro-apoptotic, tumour suppressor protein, acetylated p53 in cardiomyocytes. 2: the ability of metformin to prevent the detrimental effects of HG, palmitate and nicotine on cardiomyocyte survival. Cell culture protocols were designed using a rat cardiomyocyte cell line, H9c2, either under normal glycaemic (NG) conditions of 5.5mM glucose, or hyperglycaemic conditions (HG) of 25mM glucose with, or without, added palmitate (250μM) or nicotine (1.0mM) for 24h. Immuno-blotting was used to detect the expression of sirtuin 1, Bcl-2, BIM, acetylated (Ac)-p53, p53 with β-actin used as the reference protein. Exposure to HG, palmitate, or nicotine alone significantly reduced expression of sirtuin1, Bcl-2 and raised the expression levels of acetylated p53 and BIM; however, the combination of HG, palmitate and nicotine had a synergistic effect to significantly suppress the expression levels of sirtuin 1 and Bcl-2, but further enhanced the expression of Ac-p53, and BIM. The inclusion of 1000μM, but not 50μM, metformin in the H9c2 cell culture protocol prevented the effects of HG, palmitate and nicotine on the pro-apoptotic pathways. Collectively these data indicate that metformin, in addition to its anti-hyperglycaemic and vasculoprotective properties, also has direct cardioprotective actions that offset the negative effects of hyerglycaemia, elevated free fatty acids and nicotine on cardiac cell survival. These data are of particular significance for the treatment of patients with diabetes who are also smokers as the inclusion of metformin in their therapeutic treatment plan should help reduce cardiac-related morbidity and mortality.

Keywords: apoptosis, cardiac muscle, diabetes, metformin, nicotine

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Authors: Stoyanka Vladeva, Elena Kirilova, Nikola Kirilov

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Background: The creatinine clearance is a widely used value to estimate the GFR. Increased creatinine clearance is often called hyperfiltration and is usually seen during pregnancy, patients with diabetes mellitus preceding the diabetic nephropathy. It may also occur with large dietary protein intake or with plasma volume expansion. Renal injury in lupus nephritis is known to affect the glomerular, tubulointerstitial, and vascular compartment. However high creatinine clearance has not been found in patients with SLE, Target: Follow-up of creatinine clearance values in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus without history of kidney injury. Material and methods: We observed the creatinine, creatinine clearance, GFR and dipstick protein values of 7 women (with a mean age of 42.71 years) with systemic lupus erythematosus. Patients with active lupus have been monthly tested in the period of 13 months. Creatinine clearance has been estimated by Cockcroft-Gault Equation formula in ml/sec. GFR has been estimated by MDRD formula (The Modification of Diet in renal Disease) in ml/min/1.73 m2. Proteinuria has been defined as present when dipstick protein > 1+.Results: In all patients without history of kidney injury we found elevated creatinine clearance levels, but GFRremained within the reference range. Two of the patients were in remission while the other five patients had clinically and immunologically active Lupus. Three of the patients had a permanent presence of high creatinine clearance levels and proteinuria. Two of the patients had periodically elevated creatinine clearance without proteinuria. These results show that kidney disturbances may be caused by the vascular changes typical for SLE. Glomerular hyperfiltration can be result of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis caused by a reduction in renal mass. Probably lupus nephropathy is preceded not only by glomerular vascular changes, but also by tubular vascular changes. Using only the GFR is not a sufficient method to detect these primary functional disturbances. Conclusion: For early detection of kidney injury in patients with SLE we determined that the follow up of creatinine clearance values could be helpful.

Keywords: systemic Lupus erythematosus, kidney injury, elevated creatinine clearance level, normal glomerular filtration rate

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Authors: Bea Carmel H. Casiding, Charmaine A. Guy, Funny Jovis P. Malasan, Katrina Chelsea B. Manlutac, Danielle Ann N. Novilla, Marianne R. Oliveros, Magnolia C. Sibulo

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Moon jellyfish, Aurelia aurita, has become a popular research organism for diverse studies. Recent studies have verified the prevention of blood clotting properties of the moon jellyfish tentacle extract through in vitro methods. The purpose of this study was to validate the blood clotting ability of A. aurita tentacle extract using in vivo method of experimentation. The tentacles of A. aurita jellyfish were excised and filtered then centrifuged at 3000xg for 10 minutes. The crude nematocyst extract was suspended in 1:6 ratios with phosphate buffer solution and sonicated for three periods of 20 seconds each at 50 Hz. Protein concentration of the extract was determined using Bradford Assay. Bovine serum albumin was the standard solution used with the following concentrations: 35.0, 70.0, 105.0, 140.0, 175.0, 210.0, 245.0, and 280.0 µg/mL. The absorbance was read at 595 nm. Toxicity testing from OECD guidelines was adapted. The extract suspended in phosphate-buffered saline solution was arbitrarily set into three doses (0.1mg/kg, 0.3mg/kg, 0.5mg/kg) and were administered daily for five days to the experimental groups of five male Sprague-Dawley rats (one dose per group). Before and after the administration period, bleeding time and clotting time tests were performed. The One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze the difference of before and after bleeding time and clotting time from the three treatment groups, time, positive and negative control groups. The average protein concentration of the sonicated crude tentacle extract was 206.5 µg/mL. The highest dose administered (0.5mg/kg) produced significant increase in the time for both bleeding and clotting tests. However, the preceding lower dose (0.3mg/kg) only was significantly effective for clotting time test. The protein contained in the tentacle extract with a concentration of 206.5 mcg/mL and dose of 0.3 mg/kg and 0.5 mg/kg of A. aurita elicited anticoagulating activity.

Keywords: anticoagulant, bleeding time test, clotting time test, moon jellyfish

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Authors: Abdulmalik Altuwayjiri, Milad Pirhadi, Sina Taghvaee, Constantinos Sioutas

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A significant portion of PM₂.₅ mass concentration is carbonaceous matter (CM), which majorly exists in the form of organic carbon (OC). Ambient OC originates from a multitude of sources and plays an important role in global climate effects, visibility degradation, and human health. In this study, positive matrix factorization (PMF) was utilized to identify and quantify the long-term contribution of PM₂.₅ sources to total OC mass concentration in central Los Angeles (CELA) and Riverside (i.e., receptor site), using the chemical speciation network (CSN) database between 2005 and 2015, a period during which several state and local regulations on tailpipe emissions were implemented in the area. Our PMF resolved five different factors, including tailpipe emissions, non-tailpipe emissions, biomass burning, secondary organic aerosol (SOA), and local industrial activities for both sampling sites. The contribution of vehicular exhaust emissions to the OC mass concentrations significantly decreased from 3.5 µg/m³ in 2005 to 1.5 µg/m³ in 2015 (by about 58%) at CELA, and from 3.3 µg/m³ in 2005 to 1.2 µg/m³ in 2015 (by nearly 62%) at Riverside. Additionally, SOA contribution to the total OC mass, showing higher levels at the receptor site, increased from 23% in 2005 to 33% and 29% in 2010 and 2015, respectively, in Riverside, whereas the corresponding contribution at the CELA site was 16%, 21% and 19% during the same period. The biomass burning maintained an almost constant relative contribution over the whole period. Moreover, while the adopted regulations and policies were very effective at reducing the contribution of tailpipe emissions, they have led to an overall increase in the fractional contributions of non-tailpipe emissions to total OC in CELA (about 14%, 28%, and 28% in 2005, 2010 and 2015, respectively) and Riverside (22%, 27% and 26% in 2005, 2010 and 2015), underscoring the necessity to develop equally effective mitigation policies targeting non-tailpipe PM emissions.

Keywords: PM₂.₅, organic carbon, Los Angeles megacity, PMF, source apportionment, non-tailpipe emissions

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Authors: Amir Ali, Laura Yael Mendoza

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The application of nanomaterials is becoming the most effective strategy of elicitation to produce a desirable level of plant biomass with complex medicinal compounds. This study was designed to check the influence of phytosynthesized iron nanoparticles (FeNPs) on physical growth characteristics, antioxidant status, and production of steviol glycosides of in vitro grown Stevia rebaudiana. Effect of different concentrations of iron nanoparticles replacement of iron sulfate in MS medium (stock solution) on invitro stevia plant growth following positive control (MS basal medium), negative control (iron sulfate devoid medium), iron sulfate devoid MS medium and supplemented with FeNPs at different concentrations (5.6 mg/L, 11.2 mg/L, 16.8 mg/L, 22.4 mg/L) was evaluated. The iron deficiency leads to a drastic reduction in plant growth. In contrast, applying FeNPs leads to improvement in plant height, leave diameter, improved leave morphology, etc., in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, the stress caused by FeNPs at 16.8 mg/L in cultures produced higher levels of total phenolic content (3.7 ± 0.042 mg/g dry weight: DW) and total flavonoid content (1.9 ± 0.022 mg/g DW and antioxidant activity (78 ± 4.6%). In addition, plants grown in the presence of FeNPs at 22.4 mg/L resulted in higher enzymatic antioxidant activities (SOD = 3.5 ± 0.042 U/mg; POD = 2.6 ± 0.026 U/mg; CAT = 2.8 ± 0.034 U/mg and APx = 3.6 ± 0.043 U/ mg), respectively. Furthermore, exposure to a higher dose of FeNPs (22.4 mg/L) exhibited the maximum amount of stevioside (stevioside: 4.6 ± 0.058 mg/g (DW) and rebaudioside A: 4.9 ± 0.068 mg/g DW) as compared to other doses. The current investigation confirms the effectiveness of FeNPs in growth media. It offers a suitable prospect for commercially desirable production of S. rebaudiana biomass with higher sweet glycosides profiles in vitro.

Keywords: cell culture, stevia, iron nanoparticles, antioxidants

Procedia PDF Downloads 96

Authors: Isobel Hambleton, Mark Carrington

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Trypanosoma brucei, the causal agent of a range of diseases in humans and livestock, evades the mammalian immune system through a population survival strategy based on the expression of a series of antigenically distinct variant surface glycoproteins (VSGs). RNAi mediated knockdown of the active VSG gene triggers a precytokinesis cell cycle arrest. To determine whether this phenotype is the result of reduced VSG transcript or depleted VSG protein, we used morpholino antisense oligonucleotides to block translation of VSG mRNA. The same precytokinesis cell cycle arrest was observed, suggesting that VSG protein abundance is monitored closely throughout the cell cycle. An inducible expression system has been developed to test various GPI-anchored proteins for their ability to rescue this cell cycle arrest. This system has been used to demonstrate that wild-type VSG expressed from a T7 promoter rescues this phenotype. This indicates that VSG expression from one of the specialised bloodstream expression sites (BES) is not essential for cell division. The same approach has been used to define the minimum essential features of a VSG necessary for function.

Keywords: bloodstream expression site, morpholino, precytokinesis cell cycle arrest, variant surface glycoprotein

Procedia PDF Downloads 150

Authors: Manfred Szerencsits, Christine Weinberger, Maximilian Kuderna, Franz Feichtinger, Eva Erhart, Stephan Maier

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Cover or catch crops have beneficial effects for soil, water, erosion, etc. If harvested, they also provide feedstock for biogas without competition for arable land in regions, where only one main crop can be produced per year. On average gross energy yields of approx. 1300 m³ methane (CH₄) ha^-1 can be expected from 4.5 tonnes (t) of cover crop dry matter (DM) in Austria. Considering the total energy invested from cultivation to compression for biofuel use a net energy yield of about 1000 m³ CH₄ ha^-1 is remaining. With the straw of grain maize or Corn Cob Mix (CCM) similar energy yields can be achieved. In comparison to catch crops remaining on the field as green manure or to complete fallow between main crops the effects on soil, water and climate can be improved if cover crops are harvested without soil compaction and digestate is returned to the field in an amount equivalent to cover crop removal. In this way, the risk of nitrate leaching can be reduced approx. by 25% in comparison to full fallow. The risk of nitrous oxide emissions may be reduced up to 50% by contrast with cover crops serving as green manure. The effects on humus content and erosion are similar or better than those of cover crops used as green manure when the same amount of biomass was produced. With higher biomass production the positive effects increase even if cover crops are harvested and the only digestate is brought back to the fields. The ecological footprint of arable farming can be reduced by approx. 50% considering the substitution of natural gas with CH₄ produced from cover crops.

Keywords: biogas, cover crops, catch crops, land use competition, sustainable agriculture

Procedia PDF Downloads 542

Authors: Louise Ödlund, Danica Djuric Ilic

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Sustainable development includes many challenges related to energy use, such as (1) developing flexibility on the demand side of the electricity systems due to an increased share of intermittent electricity sources (e.g., wind and solar power), (2) overcoming economic challenges related to an increased share of renewable energy in the transport sector, (3) increasing efficiency of the biomass use, (4) increasing utilization of industrial excess heat (e.g., approximately two thirds of the energy currently used in EU is lost in the form of excess and waste heat). The European Commission has been recognized DH technology as of essential importance to reach sustainability. Flexibility in the fuel mix, and possibilities of industrial waste heat utilization, combined heat, and power (CHP) production and energy recovery through waste incineration, are only some of the benefits which characterize DH technology. The aim of this study is to provide an overview of the possible business strategies which would enable DH to have an important role in future sustainable energy systems. The methodology used in this study is a systematic literature review. The study includes a systematic approach where DH is seen as a part of an integrated system that consists of transport , industrial-, and electricity sectors as well. The DH technology can play a decisive role in overcoming the sustainability challenges related to our energy use. The introduction of biofuels in the transport sector can be facilitated by integrating biofuel and DH production in local DH systems. This would enable the development of local biofuel supply chains and reduce biofuel production costs. In this way, DH can also promote the development of biofuel production technologies that are not yet developed. Converting energy for running the industrial processes from fossil fuels and electricity to DH (above all biomass and waste-based DH) and delivering excess heat from industrial processes to the local DH systems would make the industry less dependent on fossil fuels and fossil fuel-based electricity, as well as the increasing energy efficiency of the industrial sector and reduce production costs. The electricity sector would also benefit from these measures. Reducing the electricity use in the industry sector while at the same time increasing the CHP production in the local DH systems would (1) replace fossil-based electricity production with electricity in biomass- or waste-fueled CHP plants and reduce the capacity requirements from the national electricity grid (i.e., it would reduce the pressure on the bottlenecks in the grid). Furthermore, by operating their central controlled heat pumps and CHP plants depending on the intermittent electricity production variation, the DH companies may enable an increased share of intermittent electricity production in the national electricity grid.

Keywords: energy system, district heating, sustainable business strategies, sustainable development

Procedia PDF Downloads 169

Authors: Min Liu, Jirui Gong, Qinpu Luo, Lili Yang, Bo Yang, Zihe Zhang, Yan Pan, Zhanwei Zhai

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Grazing disturbance is one of the important land-use types that affect plant growth and ecosystem processes. In order to study the responses of dominant species to grazing in the semiarid temperate grassland of Inner Mongolia, we set five grazing intensity plots: a control and four levels of grazing (light (LG), moderate (MG), heavy (HG) and extreme heavy grazing (EHG)) to test the morphological and physiological responses of Stipa grandis, Leymus chinensis at the individual levels. With the increase of grazing intensity, Stipa grandis and Leymus chinensis both exhibited reduced plant height, leaf area, stem length and aboveground biomass, showing a significant dwarf phenomenon especially in HG and EHG plots. The photosynthetic capacity decreased along the grazing gradient. Especially in the MG plot, the two dominant species have lowest net photosynthetic rate (Pn) and water use efficiency (WUE). However, in the HG and EHG plots, the two species had high light saturation point (LSP) and low light compensation point (LCP), indicating they have high light-use efficiency. They showed a stimulation of compensatory photosynthesis to the remnant leaves as compared with grasses in MG plot. For Leymus chinensis, the lipid peroxidation level did not increase with the low malondialdehyde (MDA) content even in the EHG plot. It may be due to the high enzymes activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) to reduce the damage of reactive oxygen species. Meanwhile, more carbohydrate was stored in the leaf of Leymus chinensis to provide energy to the plant regrowth. On the contrary, Stipa grandis showed the high level of lipid peroxidation especially in the HG and EHG plots with decreased antioxidant enzymes activity. The soluble protein content did not change significantly in the different plots. Therefore, with the increase of grazing intensity, plants changed morphological and physiological traits to defend themselves effectively to herbivores. Leymus chinensis is more resistant to grazing than Stipa grandis in terms of tolerance traits, particularly under heavy grazing pressure.

Keywords: antioxidant enzymes activity, grazing density, morphological responses, photosynthesis

Procedia PDF Downloads 365

Authors: Elene Zhuravliova, Tamar Barbakadze, Irina Kalandadze, Elnari Zaalishvili, Lali Shanshiashvili, David Mikeladze

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Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory, neurodegenerative disease, which is accompanied by demyelination and autoimmune response to myelin proteins. Among post-translational modifications, which mediate the modulation of inflammatory pathways during MS, methylation is the main one. The methylation of DNA, also amino acids lysine and arginine, occurs in the cell. It was found that decreased trans-methylation is associated with neuroinflammatory diseases. Therefore, abnormal regulation of the methyl cycle could induce demyelination through the action on PAD (peptidyl-arginine-deiminase) gene promoter. PAD takes part in protein citrullination and targets myelin basic protein (MBP), which is affected during demyelination. To determine whether MBP charge isomers are changing the methyl cycle, we have estimated the concentrations of methyl cycle metabolites in MBP-activated primary astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. For this purpose, the action of the citrullinated MBP- C8 and the most cationic MBP-C1 isomers on the primary cells were investigated. Methods: Primary oligodendrocyte and astrocyte cell cultures were prepared from whole brains of 2-day-old Wistar rats. The methyl cycle metabolites, including homocysteine, S-adenosylmethionine (SAM), and S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH), were estimated by HPLC analysis using fluorescence detection and prior derivatization. Results: We found that the action of MBP-C8 and MBP-C1 induces a decrease in the concentration of both methyl cycle metabolites, S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) and S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH), in astrocytes compared to the control cells. As for oligodendrocytes, the concentration of SAM was increased by the addition of MBP-C1, while MBP-C8 has no significant effect. As for SAH, its concentration was increased compared to the control cells by the action of both MBP-C1 and MBP-C8. A significant increase in homocysteine concentration was observed by the action of the MBP-C8 isomer in both oligodendrocytes and astrocytes. Conclusion: These data suggest that MBP charge isomers change the concentration of methyl cycle metabolites. MBP-C8 citrullinated isomer causes elevation of homocysteine in astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, which may be the reason for decreased astrocyte proliferation and increased oligodendrocyte cell death which takes place in neurodegenerative processes. Elevated homocysteine levels and subsequent abnormal regulation of methyl cycles in oligodendrocytes possibly change the methylation of DNA that activates PAD gene promoter and induces the synthesis of PAD, which in turn provokes the process of citrullination, which is the accompanying process of demyelination. Acknowledgment: This research was supported by the SRNSF Georgia RF17_534 grant.

Keywords: myelin basic protein, astrocytes, methyl cycle metabolites, homocysteine, oligodendrocytes

Procedia PDF Downloads 156

Authors: Enlin Lo, Ioannis Dogaris, George Philippidis

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Succinic acid is a compound used for manufacturing lacquers, resins, and other coating chemicals. It is also used in the food and beverage industry as a flavor additive. It is predominantly manufactured from petrochemicals, but it can also be produced by fermentation of sugars from renewable feedstocks, such as plant biomass. Bio-based succinic acid has great potential in becoming a platform chemical (building block) for commodity and high-value chemicals. In this study, the production of bio-based succinic acid from sweet sorghum was investigated. Sweet sorghum has high fermentable sugar content and can be cultivated in a variety of climates. In order to avoid competition with food feedstocks, its non-edible ‘bagasse’ (the fiber part after extracting the juice) was targeted. Initially, various conditions of pretreating sweet sorghum bagasse (SSB) were studied in an effort to remove most of the non-fermentable components and expose the cellulosic fiber containing the fermentable sugars (glucose). Concentrated (83%) phosphoric acid was utilized at temperatures 50-80 oC for 30-60 min at various SSB loadings (10-15%), coupled with enzymatic hydrolysis using commercial cellulase (Ctec2, Novozymes) enzyme, to identify the conditions that lead to the highest glucose yields for subsequent fermentation to succinic acid. As the pretreatment temperature and duration increased, the bagasse color changed from light brown to dark brown-black, indicating decomposition, which ranged from 15% to 72%, while the theoretical glucose yield is 91%. With Minitab software statistical analysis, a model was built to identify the optimal pretreatment condition for maximum glucose released. The projected theoretical bio-based succinic acid production is 23g per 100g of SSB, which will be confirmed with fermentation experiments using the bacterium Actinobacillus succinogenes.

Keywords: biomass, cellulose, enzymatic hydrolysis, fermentation, pretreatment, succinic acid

Procedia PDF Downloads 219

Authors: Usman Mir Khan, Ishtiaque Ahmad, Saima Inayat, H. M. Arslan Amin, Muhammad Ayaz, Nisar Ahmad

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Citrus reticulata Blanco crude flowers extract (CFE) at four different concentration (1, 2, 3 and 4%, v/v) were used as natural milk coagulant instead of rennet to apply for Cheddar cheese making from buffalo milk. The physicochemical properties and nutrition composition of Cheddar cheeses were compared with cheese made with 0.002% (v/v) rennet (control cheese). Physico-chemical of Cheddar cheese showed that cheese made with 1% and 2% of CFE had a crumbly and slightly softer texture of cheese. While, cheeses containing 3 and 4% CFE had semi-hard textural properties of curd similar to rennet added cheese. The CFE made cheese had moisture 37 %, fat 45 % on dry basis similar to rennet made Cheddar cheese. Protein analysis shows that CFE made cheese had significant higher protein content than control. The Cheddar cheese with 3% and 1% CFE were preferred by consumers instead of 2% and 4% CFE for their taste, texture/appearance and overall acceptability. Conclusively, CFE coagulated Cheddar cheese fulfills the nutritional requirement with acceptable organoleptic characteristics and at the same time provides nutritional health benefits.

Keywords: cheddar cheese, Citrus reticulata Blanco, buffalo milk, milk coagulant

Procedia PDF Downloads 307

Authors: Kerekoppa Puttaiah Bhatta Ramesha, Uday Kannegundla, Praseeda Mol, Lathika Gopalakrishnan, Jagish Kour Reen, Gourav Dey, Manish Kumar, Sakthivel Jeyakumar, Arumugam Kumaresan, Kiran Kumar M., Thottethodi Subrahmanya Keshava Prasad

Abstract:

Spermatozoa are the highly specialized transcriptionally and translationally inactive haploid male gamete. The understanding of proteome of sperm is indispensable to explore the mechanism of sperm motility and fertility. Though there is a large number of human sperm proteomic studies, in-depth proteomic information on Bos indicus spermatozoa is not well established yet. Therefore, we illustrated the profile of sperm proteome in indigenous cattle, Malnad gidda (Bos Indicus), using high-resolution mass spectrometry. In the current study, two semen ejaculates from 3 breeding bulls were collected employing the artificial vaginal method. Using 45% percoll purification, spermatozoa cells were isolated. Protein was extracted using lysis buffer containing 2% Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate (SDS) and protein concentration was estimated. Fifty micrograms of protein from each individual were pooled for further downstream processing. Pooled sample was fractionated using SDS-Poly Acrylamide Gel Electrophoresis, which is followed by in-gel digestion. The peptides were subjected to C18 Stage Tip clean-up and analyzed in Orbitrap Fusion Tribrid mass spectrometer interfaced with Proxeon Easy-nano LC II system (Thermo Scientific, Bremen, Germany). We identified a total of 6773 peptides with 28426 peptide spectral matches, which belonged to 1081 proteins. Gene ontology analysis has been carried out to determine the biological processes, molecular functions and cellular components associated with sperm protein. The biological process chiefly represented our data is an oxidation-reduction process (5%), spermatogenesis (2.5%) and spermatid development (1.4%). The highlighted molecular functions are ATP, and GTP binding (14%) and the prominent cellular components most observed in our data were nuclear membrane (1.5%), acrosomal vesicle (1.4%), and motile cilium (1.3%). Seventeen percent of sperm proteins identified in this study were involved in metabolic pathways. To the best of our knowledge, this data represents the first total sperm proteome from indigenous cattle, Malnad Gidda. We believe that our preliminary findings could provide a strong base for the future understanding of bovine sperm proteomics.

Keywords: Bos indicus, Malnad Gidda, mass spectrometry, spermatozoa

Procedia PDF Downloads 196

Authors: Ashima Sharma, Tapan K. Chaudhuri

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Human Serum Albumin (HSA) is one of the most demanded therapeutic protein with immense biotechnological applications. The current source of HSA is human blood plasma. Blood is a limited and an unsafe source as it possesses the risk of contamination by various blood derived pathogens. This issue led to exploitation of various hosts with the aim to obtain an alternative source for the production of the rHSA. But, till now no host has been proven to be effective commercially for rHSA production because of their respective limitations. Thus, there exists an indispensable need to promote non-animal derived rHSA production. Of all the host systems, Escherichia coli is one of the most convenient hosts which has contributed in the production of more than 30% of the FDA approved recombinant pharmaceuticals. E. coli grows rapidly and its culture reaches high cell density using inexpensive and simple substrates. The fermentation batch turnaround number for E. coli culture is 300 per year, which is far greater than any of the host systems available. Therefore, E. coli derived recombinant products have more economical potential as fermentation processes are cheaper compared to the other expression hosts available. Despite of all the mentioned advantages, E. coli had not been successfully adopted as a host for rHSA production. The major bottleneck in exploiting E. coli as a host for rHSA production was aggregation i.e. majority of the expressed recombinant protein was forming inclusion bodies (more than 90% of the total expressed rHSA) in the E. coli cytosol. Recovery of functional rHSA form inclusion body is not preferred because it is tedious, time consuming, laborious and expensive. Because of this limitation, E. coli host system was neglected for rHSA production for last few decades. Considering the advantages of E. coli as a host, the present work has targeted E. coli as an alternate host for rHSA production through resolving the major issue of inclusion body formation associated with it. In the present study, we have developed a novel and innovative method for enhanced soluble and functional production of rHSA in E.coli (~60% of the total expressed rHSA in the soluble fraction) through modulation of the cellular growth, folding and environmental parameters, thereby leading to significantly improved and enhanced -expression levels as well as the functional and soluble proportion of the total expressed rHSA in the cytosolic fraction of the host. Therefore, in the present case we have filled in the gap in the literature, by exploiting the most well studied host system Escherichia coli which is of low cost, fast growing, scalable and ‘yet neglected’, for the enhancement of functional production of HSA- one of the most crucial biomolecule for clinical and biotechnological applications.

Keywords: enhanced functional production of rHSA in E. coli, recombinant human serum albumin, recombinant protein expression, recombinant protein processing

Procedia PDF Downloads 347

Authors: Marzieh Eshaghi Koupaei

Abstract:

By cultivating mealworm, we reduce greenhouse gases and avoid the use of transgenic products such as soybeans, and we provide food resources rich in protein, amino acids, minerals, etc. for humans and animals, and it has created employment and entrepreneurship. We serve the environment by producing oil from mealworm in the cosmetic industry, using its waste as organic fertilizer and its powder in bodybuilding, and by breaking down plastic by mealworm. The production and breeding of mealworm requires very little infrastructure and does not require much trouble, and requires very little food, and reproduces easily and quickly, and a mealworm production workshop is noiseless, odorless, and pollution-free And the costs are very low. It is possible to use third grade fruits and unsalable fruits of farmers to feed the mealworms, which is completely economical and cost-effective. Mealworms can break down plastic in their intestines and turn it into carbon dioxide. . This process was done in only 16 days, which is a very short time compared to several centuries for plastic to decompose. By producing mealworm, we have helped to preserve the environment and provided the source of protein needed by humans and animals. This industrial insect has the ability and value of commercialization and creates employment and helps the economy of the society.

Keywords: breeding, production of insects, mealworms, research, animal feed, human feed

Procedia PDF Downloads 49

Authors: Jyh-Cheng Chen, Tai-Jing Wang, Yun-Wei Lin

Abstract:

Astaxanthin has been demonstrated to exhibit a wide range of beneficial effects including anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. However, the molecular mechanism of astaxanthin-induced cytotoxicity in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells has not been identified. Rad51 plays a central role in homologous recombination and high levels of Rad51 expression are observed in chemo- or radioresistant carcinomas. In this study, astaxanthin treatment inhibited cell viability and proliferation of two NSCLC cells, A549 and H1703. Treatment with astaxanthin decreased Rad51 expression and phospho-AKT protein level in a time and dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, expression of constitutively active AKT (AKT-CA) vector significantly rescued the decreased Rad51 protein and mRNA levels in astaxanthin-treated NSCLC cells. Combined treatment with PI3K inhibitors (LY294002 or wortmannin) and astaxanthin further decreased the Rad51 expression in NSCLC cells. Knockdown of Rad51 enhanced astaxanthin-induced cytotoxicity and growth inhibition in NSCLC cells. These findings may have implications for the rational design of future drug regimens incorporating astaxanthin for the treatment of NSCLC.

Keywords: astaxanthin, cytotoxicity, AKT, non-small cell lung cancer, PI3K

Procedia PDF Downloads 297