A novel synthetic chemistry approach to linkage-specific ubiquitin conjugation.

Ubiquitination is of great importance as the post-translational modification of proteins with ubiquitin, or ubiquitin chains, facilitates a number of vital cellular processes. Herein we present a facile method of preparing various ubiquitin conjugates under mild conditions using michael acceptors based on dibromo-maleimides and dibromo-pyridazinediones

Current iodine status and progress over the last decade towards elimination of iodine deficiency in Rajkot District, Gujarat

Objective: To find out prevalence of goitre in primary school children; to compare prevalence with previous survey; to determine median urinary iodine concentration; to assess level of iodine in salt samples at household and retail shop level; and to study profile of salt sold at retail shops. Design & Settings: 30 cluster survey study in primary schools of Rajkot district. Subjects: Children studying in 1st to 7th standard. Methods: Total 70 students including five boys and five girls from 1st to 7th standard present in class on the day of visit were selected randomly for Goitre examination, so, total 2100 students were examined in schools. Urine sample was collected from one boy & one girl from each standard in each cluster. From community, 28 students including two boys and two girls from each standard in same age group were examined and also salt samples were tested from their households. From each village, one retail shop was visited and salts were purchased and tested for iodine on the spot with spot kit. Results: Goitre prevalence was found 8.8% among primary school children compare to 5.6% in 1999. As the age increases the Goitre prevalence also increases except in age group of 12 years. Median urinary iodine excretion level was found 110 µg/L. Iodine level >15 ppm was found in 81% salts samples tested at household level. Conclusion: Present study showed mild Goitre prevalence in primary school children in Rajkot district of Gujarat but still iodine content of salt found inadequate at household level

The renaissance of chemically generated bispecific antibodies

Bispecific antibodies (bsAbs) target two different epitopes. These are an up-and-coming class of biologics, with two such therapeutics (emicizumab and blinatumomab) FDA approved and on the market, and many more in clinical trials. While the first reported bsAbs were constructed by chemical methods, this approach has fallen out of favour with the advent of modern genetic engineering techniques and, nowadays, the vast majority of bsAbs are produced by protein engineering. However, in recent years, relying on innovations in the fields of bioconjugation and bioorthogonal click chemistry, new chemical methods have appeared that have the potential to be competitive with protein engineering techniques and, indeed, hold some advantages. These approaches offer modularity, reproducibility and batch-to-batch consistency, as well as the integration of handles, whereby additional cargo molecules can be attached easily, e.g. to generate bispecific antibody–drug conjugates. The linker between the antibodies/antibody fragments can also be easily varied, and new formats (types, defined by structural properties or by construction methodology) can be generated rapidly. These attributes offer the potential to revolutionize the field. Here, we review chemical methods for the generation of bsAbs, showing that the newest examples of these techniques are worthy competitors to the industry-standard expression-based strategies

Absolute Mean Graceful Labeling in Path Union of Various Graphs

Present paper aims to focus on absolute mean graceful labeling in path union of various graphs. We proved path union of graphs like tree, path Pn, cycle Cn, complete bipartite graph Km, n, grid graph PM × Pn, step grid graph Stn and double step grid graph DStn are absolute mean graceful graphs

A novel approach to the site-selective dual labelling of a protein via chemoselective cysteine modification

Local protein microenvironment is used to control the outcome of reaction between cysteine residues and 2,5-dibromohexanediamide. The differential reactivity is exploited to introduce two orthogonal reactive handles onto the surface of a double cysteine mutant of superfolder green fluorescent protein in a regioselective manner. Subsequent elaboration with commonly used thiol and alkyne containing reagents affects site-selective protein dual labelling

Standardization of leaf age for radical scavenging activity in Terminalia arjuna

Terminalia arjuna is one of the many such plant that used in indigenous system of medicine for curing different diseases. For effective formulation of herbal drug selection of proper age of the plant is imperative. In the present study, the T. arjuna plant (leaves) was collected from the Botanical garden of Saurashtra University. The leaves were grouped in to various size and growth analysis was performed. Each extract homogenized in methanol and was used for chlorophyll estimation and antioxidant activities. Radical scavenging activity of the methanol extract of different stages leaves were determined using a stable free radical 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH), using Micro plate assay. Further the phenolic compounds were separated by Reverse phase high pressure liquid chromatography analysis (RP-HPLC). At the leaf stage when maximum antioxidant activity was observed, phenol like Gallic acid showed distinct peak. The role of phenolic compounds in antioxidant activities is discussed

Molecular and Computational Analysis of Chlorophyll Pigment-binding Protein cp47 from Selected Species of Semi Arid Region of Western India

Photosynthesis means “synthesis with the help of light”, involves the composite functioning of various protein complexes. CP47 is a pigment-binding protein of PSII of a molecular mass of about 56 kDa. CP47, encoded by the chloroplastic psbB gene, is an integral part of the oxygen-evolving complex of PS -II centres. In the present study, analysis of a psbB gene was performed from various tree, shrub, vine and herb species of Saurashtra region. The genomic DNA was isolated from the 46 samples and psbB gene was amplified using specific primers (60R-61F) in PCR. The amplified gene was sequenced from all plant samples and submitted to NCBI database. The length of the amplified sequence was ~300 bp, was translated to the protein sequence. The obtained sequences were analyzed with the help of CPH and Pyre2 tools. The Pyre2 tools showed 40 reliable structure prediction out of 46. ProtParam was used for carrying out the protein physico-chemical analysis of all the proteins showing variations in the protein properties. The number of residues in favored region, as observed in the Ramachandran plot analysis, indicates reliability of the protein structure prediction. The obtained results for the sequence and structure analyses may help to understand the functional application of these proteins

Aluminium surface impregnated with nano constituents for enhanced mechanical performance

YesAluminium alloys are widely used structural materials in automotive, aerospace, and transportation, among several other notable industries. However, aluminium alloys' low hardness and poor tribological performance prevent potential use in applications requiring high contact pressures and wear resistance. This paper presents a novel two-step technique for enhancing the mechanical properties of the aluminium alloy by impregnating the surface with Ni-coating containing hard TiO2 nanoparticles using a high-intensity electric arc generated during tungsten inert gas welding. The results show that the process significantly changes the Microstructure and mechanical properties. The surface hardness increased from 0.48 GPa to 0.65 GPa with a corresponding change of Young's modulus from 15 GPa to 24 GPa of the treated surface

A mild TCEP-based para-azidobenzyl cleavage strategy to transform reversible cysteine thiol labelling reagents into irreversible conjugates

It has recently emerged that the succinimide linkage of a maleimide thiol addition product is fragile, which is a major issue in fields where thiol functionalisation needs to be robust. Herein we deliver a strategy that generates selective cysteine thiol labelling reagents, which are stable to hydrolysis and thiol exchange