Molecular biology of tubulin: its interaction with drugs and genomic organization

Microtubules are ubiquitous cellular structures found in eukaryotic organisms and responsible for a variety of functions. These functions include mitosis, motility, cytoskeletal architecture, intracellular transport and secretion. The major structural component of microtubules is tubulin, a dimeric protein molecule consisting of two similar but nonidentical subunits (α and β) each of about molecular weight 55,000. With the introduction of radioactive colchicine for the first time it has been reported that colchicine binds specifically to tubulin. At this point microtubule research stepped up to a new era linking microtubules with other spindle poisons which are structurally diverse as well as binding at different sites on to the tubulin heterodimer. These antimicrotubular agents have already provided valuable information regarding microtubule-mediated cellular functions and its association and dissociation phenomena. Tubulins appear to be conserved proteins based onin vitro copolymerization and comigration on polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic properties. Further, amino acid sequences of both α and β subunits from a variety of sources also appear to be mostly conserved. The evolutionary conservation of tubulin genes is highly reflected at the nucleic acid level as well. The estimation of the number of genes for tubulin and their organization in a variety of organisms have opened up a new dimension to microtubule and tubulin research. The multigene family for tubulins comprising also pseudogenes is suggestive that more than one gene for each α and β tubulin is functional in the cell. Therefore, it has been speculated that different tubulin gene products contribute to functionally different microtubules at specific stages in cell cycle and cell growth. Heterogeneity in both α and β tubulins has already been established during different stages of development of the cell. Obviously, it reflects that tubulin genes are highly regulated and this regulation might be at the transcriptional and/or translational level. Whatever is the actual control mechanism it appears that cells can detect an enhanced pool of depolymerized subunits and a rapid and specific control in tubulin gene expression at the transcriptional and/or post transcriptional level does occur

Preliminary Investigation of Antipyretic Activity of Trinpanchmool Extracts

Current research work is to evaluate the antipyretic activity of hydro-alcoholic extract of trinpanchmool on the wistar rats. Brewer’s yeast induced pyrexia method was used to evaluate febrifuge effect of trinpanchmool extract along with its comparison with its individual constituents on the wistar rats. Darbh, Ikshu and SAR was having better antipyretic activity than the standard drug paracetamol. Combination of the drugs was having better antipyretic that paracetamol but lesser than the individual drugs. Trinpanchmool and its individual drugs are having febrifugatic effect better than our standard paracetamol

Preliminary Investigation of Antipyretic Activity of Trinpanchmool Extracts

Current research work is to evaluate the antipyretic activity of hydro-alcoholic extract of trinpanchmool on the wistar rats. Brewer’s yeast induced pyrexia method was used to evaluate febrifuge effect of trinpanchmool extract along with its comparison with its individual constituents on the wistar rats. Darbh, Ikshu and SAR was having better antipyretic activity than the standard drug paracetamol. Combination of the drugs was having better antipyretic that paracetamol but lesser than the individual drugs. Trinpanchmool and its individual drugs are having febrifugatic effect better than our standard paracetamol

Serosurveillance for Japanese encephalitis virus infection among equines in India

The seroprevalence of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) among equines was evaluated from January 2006 to December 2009 in 13 different states of India by hemagglutination inhibition (HI) test and virus neutralization test (VNT). Antibodies against JEV were detected in 327 out of 3,286 (10%) equines with a maximum prevalence reported in the state of Manipur (91.7%) followed by Gujarat (18.5%), Madhya Pradesh (14.4%), and Uttar Pradesh (11.6%). Evidence of JEV infection was observed in equines in Indore (Madhya Pradesh) where a 4-fold or higher rise in antibody titer was observed in 21 out of 34 horses in November 2007 to October 2006. In March 2008, seven of these horses had a subsequent 4-fold rise in JEV antibody titers while this titer decreased in nine animals. JEV-positive horse sera had a JEV/WNV (West Nile virus) ratio over 2.0 according to the HI and/or VNT. These results indicated that JEV is endemic among equines in India

Soil conservation issues in India

Despite years of study and substantial investment in remediation and prevention, soil erosion continues to be a major environmental problem with regard to land use in India and elsewhere around the world. Furthermore, changing climate and/or weather patterns are exacerbating the problem. Our objective was to review past and current soil conservation programmes in India to better understand how production-, environmental-, social-, economic- and policy-related issues have affected soil and water conservation and the incentives needed to address the most critical problems. We found that to achieve success in soil and water conservation policies, institutions and operations must be co-ordinated using a holistic approach. Watershed programmes have been shown to be one of the most effective strategies for bringing socio-economic change to different parts of India. Within both dryland and rainfed areas, watershed management has quietly revolutionized agriculture by aligning various sectors through technological soil and water conservation interventions and land-use diversification. Significant results associated with various watershed-scale soil and water conservation programmes and interventions that were effective for reducing land degradation and improving productivity in different parts of the country are discussed

Use of Granulated Slag as a stowing Material for Underground coal mines - A case study

This paper deals in detail the laboratory investigation, model study, field trials and gas emission monitoring studies carried out on SiMn Granulated Slag of Manarashatra Electrosmelt Limited (MEL) during stowing at Durgapur Rayatwari Colliery (DRC) – No. 4 mine of Western Coalfields Limited, Chandrapur area. This study was undertaken to investigate the suitability of slag as a hydraulic stowing material for underground coal mines by comparing results on different properties of slag with the established paradigm of any stowing material. This paper also throws light on the stowing trials carried out at DRC with different proportion of slag and send and its applicability for stowing in anti-gradient. The study revealed that granulated slag has several advantages over river sand with respect to physical, chemical and drainage characteristics, if used as a fill material. The main hurdle, which is apprehended in slag stowing, was its compressibility is within permissible limit. At DRC about 2000 cu.m of SiMn granulated slag was stowed successfully. It is expected that the success of this study will open a new horizon on utilizing Granulated slag as an alternative to sand as a stowing material which is getting scarcer day by day. The result of this study will instill confidence among practicing mining engineer to use granulated slag as an alternative to sand for hydraulic stowing

Kinetic and thermodynamic analysis of taxol-induced polymerization of purified tubulin

The kinetic and thermodynamic behavior of in vitro taxol-induced polymerization of purified tubulin has been studied. The assembly of tubulin initiated by taxol has a critical concentration of 0.1 mg/mL at 37 &#176;C and consists of two consecutive pseudo first-order processes, a fast phase followed by a slow phase. The rate constants of the fast and slow phase polymerizations increase linearly with increasing tubulin concentration. This implies that the polymerization is a true pseudo first-order process. The In (1/t<SUB>0.5</SUB>) of polymerization for both fast and slow phases follows a linear function with ln [tubulin] fulfilling one of the criteria of condensation polymerization mechanism. From the Arrhenius plot, the temperature dependence of the rate of tubulin polymerization in the presence of taxol is biphasic. The apparent activation enthalpies for the overall polymerization reaction are 13.0 and 50.8 kcal/mol (1 cal = 4.1868 J), respectively, above and below 26 &#176;C. The apparent activation enthalpies for the elongation reaction have also been determined. The values are 11.6 and 28.4 kcal/mol above and below 28 &#176;C. The temperature dependence of the equilibrium constants as revealed by the van't Hoff plot is also biphasic. The standard enthalpy and entropy values are &#916;H&#176; = 7.4 and 22.5 kcal/mol above and below 30 &#176;C, and &#916;S&#176; = 50.3 and 101.0 cal/(deg&#183;mol), at high and low temperatures, respectively. This suggests that the taxol-induced assembly of purified tubulin is a process driven by the effect of entropy