Visual Molecular Dynamics Investigations of the Impact of Hydrophobic Nanoparticles on Prognosis of Alzheimer’s Disease and Cancers

The possible impact of hydrophobic lectin nanoparticles on the prognosis and progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and cancers was investigated by Visual Molecular Dynamics (VMD) computer modeling programs available from the Beckmann Advanced Research Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana. Our results indicate the possibility of impeding pathological aggregation of certain proteins such as modified tau- or beta-amyloid that are currently being considered as possible causes of Alzheimer's disease. VMD programs serve as useful tools for investigation hydrophobic protein aggregation that may play a role in aging of human populations

Cysteinyl-tRNA synthetase is a direct descendant of the first aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase

AbstractThe gene encoding the cysteinyl-tRNA synthetase of E. coli was cloned from an E. coli genomic library made in λ2761, a lambda vector which can integrate and which carries a chloramphenicol resistance gene. A thermosensitive cysS mutant of E. coli was lysogenised and chloramphenicol-resistant colonies able to grow at 42°C were selected to isolate phages containing the wild-type cysS gene. The sequence of the gene was determined. It codes for a 461 amino-acid protein and includes the sequences HIGH and KMSK known to be involved in the ATP and TRNA binding respectively of class I synthetases. The cysteinyl enzyme has segments in common with the cytoplasmic leucyl-tRNA synthetase of Neurospora crassa, the tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase of Bacillus stearothermophilus, and the phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Sequence comparisons show that the amino end of the cysteinyl-tRNA synthetase has similarities with prokaryotic elongation factors Tu; this region is close to the equivalent acceptor binding domain of the glutaminyl-tRNa synthetase of E. coli. There is a further similarity with the seryl enzyme (a class II enzyme) which has led us to propose that both classes had a common origin and that this was the ancestor of the cysteinyl-tRNA synthetase

Novel Techniques and Their Applications to Health Foods, Agricultural and Medical Biotechnology: Functional Genomics and Basic Epigenetic Controls in Plant and Animal Cells

Selected applications of novel techniques for analyzing Health Food formulations, as well as for advanced investigations in Agricultural and Medical Biotechnology aimed at defining the multiple connections between functional genomics and epigenomic, fundamental control mechanisms in both animal and plant cells are being reviewed with the aim of unraveling future developments and policy changes that are likely to open new niches for Biotechnology and prevent the shrinking or closing of existing markets. Amongst the selected novel techniques with applications in both Agricultural and Medical Biotechnology are: immobilized bacterial cells and enzymes, microencapsulation and liposome production, genetic manipulation of microorganisms, development of novel vaccines from plants, epigenomics of mammalian cells and organisms, and biocomputational tools for molecular modeling related to disease and Bioinformatics. Both fundamental and applied aspects of the emerging new techniques are being discussed in relation to their anticipated, marked impact on future markets and present policy changes that are needed for success in either Agricultural or Medical Biotechnology. The novel techniques are illustrated with figures presenting the most important features of representative and powerful tools which are currently being developed for both immediate and long term applications in Agriculture, Health Food formulation and production, pharmaceuticals and Medicine. The research aspects are naturally emphasized in our review as they are key to further developments in Biotechnology; however, the course adopted for the implementation of biotechnological applications, and the policies associated with biotechnological applications are clearly the determining factors for future Biotechnology successes, be they pharmaceutical, medical or agricultural

Antibodies against Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen (EBNA) in multiple sclerosis CSF, and two pentapeptide sequence identities between EBNA and myelin basic protein.

The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) causes infectious mononucleosis and is linked to several disparate malignancies. Prior studies on patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) showed that 100% are EBV-seropositive and that their blood contains higher antibody titers than those of controls to both transformation and lytic cycle antigens. We performed three different assays for antibodies in CSF to three major EBV antigens from patients with MS and controls. Among 93 patients with MS, 79 (85%) had CSF that reacted with a 70 kD protein, shown to be the nuclear antigen, EBNA-1, whereas only 11 (13%) of 81 EBV-seropositive controls reacted, p less than 0.001. The CSF of all 14 MS patients, unreactive on immunoblots, contained oligoclonal bands on agarose electrophoresis. Together, the two techniques exhibit 100% sensitivity in the confirmatory diagnosis of MS. We also performed amino acid searches of the Protein Identification Resource sequence database for protein homologies to EBNA. Two pentapeptide identities were found between EBNA-1 and myelin basic protein: QKRPS and PRHRD. None of more than 32,000 other proteins in the database contained both pentapeptides. In healthy EBV-seropositive persons, the EBV-specific, MHC-restricted T lymphocytes keep the EBV-containing B lymphocytes locked in the transformed state. However, in the host genetically susceptible to MS, the same population of lymphocytes might recognize and interact with either of the two identified pentapeptides, inadvertently damaging MBP