A Tool for Biotechnological Advancement 1

Bioinformatics has been a useful tool for the advancement and enhancement of biotechnology in recent times with its application in various fields. Bioinformatics has thereby helped invent useful products and create solutions to problems in aspects including utilization of the genome attributes of various living organisms to acquire a better understanding of their biology. It has been used to understand the biology of pathogenic microorganism’s product developments such as reverse vaccinology, drug discovery, personalized medicine, waste clean-up, climate change, and crop improvement. We highlight, in the section, some of the bioinformatics components of biotechnology that are used for translational research in the life sciences

Bright ligand-activatable fluorescent protein for high-quality multicolor live-cell super-resolution microscopy

We introduce UnaG as a green-to-dark photoswitching fluorescent protein capable of high-quality super-resolution imaging with photon numbers equivalent to the brightest photoswitchable red protein. UnaG only fluoresces upon binding of a fluorogenic metabolite, bilirubin, enabling UV-free reversible photoswitching with easily controllable kinetics and low background under Epi illumination. The on- and off-switching rates are controlled by the concentration of the ligand and the excitation light intensity, respectively, where the dissolved oxygen also promotes the off-switching. The photo-oxidation reaction mechanism of bilirubin in UnaG suggests that the lack of ligand-protein covalent bond allows the oxidized ligand to detach from the protein, emptying the binding cavity for rebinding to a fresh ligand molecule. We demonstrate super-resolution single-molecule localization imaging of various subcellular structures genetically encoded with UnaG, which enables facile labeling and simultaneous multicolor imaging of live cells. UnaG has the promise of becoming a default protein for high-performance super-resolution imaging. Photoconvertible proteins occupy two color channels thereby limiting multicolour localisation microscopy applications. Here the authors present UnaG, a new green-to-dark photoswitching fluorescent protein for super-resolution imaging, whose activation is based on a noncovalent binding with bilirubin

A Dominant Negative ERβ Splice Variant Determines the Effectiveness of Early or Late Estrogen Therapy after Ovariectomy in Rats

The molecular mechanisms for the discrepancy in outcome of initiating estrogen therapy (ET) around peri-menopause or several years after menopause in women are unknown. We hypothesize that the level of expression of a dominant negative estrogen receptor (ER) β variant, ERβ2, may be a key factor determining the effectiveness of ET in post-menopausal women. We tested this hypothesis in ovariectomized nine month-old (an age when irregular estrous cycles occur) female Sprague Dawley rats. Estradiol treatment was initiated either 6 days (Early ET, analogous to 4 months post-menopause in humans), or 180 days (Late ET, analogous to 11 years post-menopause in humans) after ovariectomy. Although ERβ2 expression increased in all OVX rats, neurogenic and neuroprotective responses to estradiol differed in Early and Late ET. Early ET reduced ERβ2 expression in both hippocampus and white blood cells, increased the hippocampal cell proliferation as assessed by Ki-67 expression, and improved mobility in the forced swim test. Late ET resulted in either no or modest effects on these parameters. There was a close correlation between the degree of ERβ2 expression and the preservation of neural effects by ET after OVX in rats, supporting the hypothesis that persistent elevated levels of ERβ2 are a molecular basis for the diminished effectiveness of ET in late post-menopausal women. The correlation between the expression of ERβ2 in circulating white blood cells and brain cells suggests that ERβ2 expression in peripheral blood cells may be an easily accessible marker to predict the effective window for ET in the brain

DEVELOPMENT OF AN INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY REFUSE PICKER

Handling and removal of harmful waste from our environment is a collective responsibility that all must embrace to make the world a safe habitat. A low cost environmental friendly waste picker was devel-oped. Biometric force evaluation of the end user obtained averaged 469.73 N. The refuse picker was calibrated to obtain the spring constant of 3030.73 N/m. The tool was tested and found to perform well in picking objects of different weights and of regular and irregular shapes ranging from 0.12 g to 2.72 kg. Serrated jaw enhanced the picking performance of the unit whilst picking a circular object without slipping off. The maximum safe horizontal and vertical loading recommended for the tool at picking was 0.5 kg. The picker was used to pick the smallest item, a pin of diameter 0.70 mm and weight of 0.12 g successfully. This tool can be very handy in the hospital where harmful waste such as needles, syringes and other unhealthy substances and waste must be removed from the environment. The tool was made from low cost materials with 40% less than the existing ones