Frequent and inappropriate use of antibiotics leads to the development of resistance and removal of the gut microbiota, which are critical for our survival. Hence, the search for alternative approaches, including the use of probiotics, is being explored. Consuming probiotics provides various health-promoting effects like preventing harmful microbes that can cause infection.
The cells in our bodies communicate in order for the body to stay healthy and functional. A new form of cell-cell communication, named tunneling nanotubes (“TNTs”), was recently discovered. TNTs are thin, hollow tunnels between cells that enable the transport of a variety of “cargoes” between healthy cells of various animals. TNT formation is induced by stress, viral infection and also in cancer.
Gliomas are a type of human brain tumors that comprise <1.6% of all new cancer diagnoses worldwide. These tumors have a poor clinical prognosis, which is evident from the mortality to incidence rate ratio (MIR) of 0.80 as compared to say, breast (MIR 0.28) or prostrate cancer (MIR 0.26), thus being far more fatal than the latter two despite their significantly higher incidence rates. Newer molecular insights, therefore, are imperative to refine glioma diagnosis, prognosis and therapy.
Efficient inter-organelle communication is critical for maintaining cellular physiology and driving cell functions. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is involved several such inter-organellar crosstalk with mitochondria, lysosomes, golgi complex, endosomes and peroxisomes. The functional tethering of ER and mitochondria at Mitochondria-Associated Endoplasmic Reticulum Membranes (MAMs) provides a signaling hotspot for transfer of lipid and calcium (Ca2+) across these organelles. In last two decades, vital role for Ca2+ signaling at MAMs has been demonstrated in driving cell physiology.
Protein function is regulated at multiple levels. One prevalent mode is to form covalent adducts between small proteins and specific amino acid residues on targets thereby affecting their fate and/or function. One such protein modification is SUMOylation and it involves attachment of SUMO (Small ubiquitin-like modifiers) on lysine residues of targets. Plants maintain apparently strict control over their pool of SUMO-modified proteins, which increases massively but transiently in response to (a)biotic stress conditions and then returns back to steady-state levels.
Transient gene expression is an important tool for deciphering molecular functions of a gene in a very short period. It is useful for studying the intracellular localization of proteins, to uncover in-vivo protein-protein, protein-DNA and protein-RNA interactions, and to perform Co-IP, ChIP and protein activity experiments. Although this method is extensively employed for plant species like Arabidopsis and tobacco, transient expression in rice, a model monocot system, has not been widely reported.
Multiple membrane trafficking networks operate in the eukaryotic cell and are hijacked by viruses to establish infection. Recent studied have highlighted that viruses can exploit distinct pathways depending on the cell type. Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), a neurotropic flavivirus, can infect neuronal cells through a clathrin-independent endocytic mechanism. To further characterize the membrane trafficking requirements for JEV infection of neuronal cells, we have performed a RNA interference-based study targeting 136 proteins in the human cell line IMR-32.
Microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (MAP1LC3) is a protein with a well-defined function in autophagy, but still incompletely understood roles in several other autophagy-independent processess. Studies have shown MAP1LC3 is a host dependency factor for the replication of several viruses. Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), a neurotropic flavivirus, replicates on ER derived membranes that are marked by autophagosome negative non-lipidated MAP1LC3 (LC3-I). Depletion of LC3 exerts a profound inhibition on virus replication and egress.
The X family is one of the eight families of DNA polymerases (dPols) and members of this family are known to participate in the later stages of Base Excision Repair. Many prokaryotic members of this family possess a Polymerase and Histidinol Phosphatase (PHP) domain at their C-termini. The PHP domain has been shown to possess 3′–5′ exonuclease activity and may represent the proofreading function in these dPols.
Obligate biotrophic fungal pathogens establish long-term feeding relationships with their plant host, during which they siphon sugars from host cells through haustoria. The Arabidopsis hexose transporter, STP13 (sugar transport protein 13), was previously shown to confer resistance against hemi-biotrophic and necrotrophic pathogens by limiting sugar flux towards these pathogens. By contrast, expression of Lr67res, a transport-deficient STP13 variant carrying two amino acid substitutions, conferred resistance against biotrophic fungi in wheat and barley.
