Journal of Advances in Molecular Biology

8

Authors: Manju T, Anju T R

Hepatic tissue damage mediated through altered antioxidant defence is one of the characteristic features of diabetes. Phytotherapy using Aegle marmelos leaf extract has been reported to control diabetes complications on brain functions. The present study was carried out to evaluate whether the anti-hypergycemic effects of Aegle marmelos leaf extract can regulate diabetes related hepatic oxidative stress. To understand this, antioxidant and peroxide levels and expression of stress related Hypoxia inducible factor 1 (HIF 1) mRNA were analysed in liver tissue of experimental rat models. The decreased total antioxidant level with elevated peroxide level along with upregulation of HIF 1 gene expression indicates poor oxidative defenses in the liver of diabetic rats. These altered parameters were reversed to near control level by Aegle marmelos treatment which indicates that Aegle marmelos can not only regulate blood glucose levels but also control diabetes related hepatic complications.

19

Authors: Moncef Boulila

Recombination plays a key role in virus evolution. Except a limited number of works carried out so far on recombination in Prunus necrotic ringspot virus (PNRSV) genome, knowledge is still poor. Numerous phylogenetic studies particularly those based on capsid (CP) and movement protein (MP) of PNRSV showed that all accessions described so far split into three major phylogroups, i.e., PV96, PV32, and PE5. With the recent characterization of Chilean and Indian isolates which were phylogenetically closely related to the oldest member, i.e., SW6 (AF013287) from USA, a new phylogroup baptized SW6, emerged since it was outside of the evolutionary behavior of the classical PV96, PV32, and PE5 clusters. In order to understand how it evolved, six computerized methods were used to detect potential recombination in the CP sequences of nine components forming SW6 phylogroup. It was clearly demonstrated that various members underwent recombination. Additionally, networked relationships among them proved that numerous incompatibilities occurred in these sequences illustrated by the presence of boxes in the network implying therefore the possibility of recombination. According to inferred network, several sequences contained conflicting signals as illustrated by various splits and edges with special reference to Chilean (EF565255, EF565256), polish (AF332614) and Indian (AM494934) isolates. It is worth noting that the phylogenetic network provided a different clustering compared to the bifurcating tree. In fact, three distinct groups were delineated with SplitsTree4 software instead of a globally homogenous ensemble generated by MEGA7 algorithm. Furthermore, this study pointed out that members of SW6 phylogroup were the only recombinants among 205 tested accessions confirming that SW6 should be considered as the fourth phylogenetic group of PNRSV. On the other hand, CP was predominantly under purifying selection. However, positive selection was evidenced particularly in the C-terminal region of CP comprising part of dimerization region (DR). Such adaptive selection was exerted on a CP segment of AM494934 accession exchanged by recombination.

22

Authors: D. Gupta, K. Bhardwaj, R. Gothalwal, S. Bhargava

In this paper, we examined the effect of salt stress (NaCl) and osmotic stress (sucrose) on proteomic level in the diazotrophic cyanobacterium Nostoc muscorum. The aim of this study is to compare proteins appeared in control vs. salt treated, control vs. sucrose treated and salt treated vs. sucrose treated cultures. In the salt treated cultures about 37 proteins were expressed differentially out of these only 5 proteins have shown fold regulation of 1.5 or more. About 141 proteins were found to express independently in control and about 554 proteins were express independently in salt treated culture. When we compared proteins in control and sucrose treated cells, it was reported that about 37 protein spots were express differentially, out of these only 7 proteins have fold regulation 1.5 or more. The independently expressed proteins appeared on gel are 141 and 186 respectively. Similarly, when we compared proteins appeared in salt and sucrose treated cells, it was reported that about 54 proteins were express differentially, out of these 10 proteins have fold regulation 1.5 or more. About 537 protein spots were independently present in salt treated cells and about 186 proteins were independently present in sucrose treated cells. In addition, the differentially expressed proteins and their identification with their functional group have also been discussed.