36 research outputs found
Exposure to Plasma From Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Patients Affects Hepatocyte Viability, Generates Mitochondrial Dysfunction, and Modulates Pathways Involved in Fat Accumulation and Inflammation
Changes of lipidic storage, oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction may be involved in the pathogenesis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Although the knowledge of intracellular pathways has vastly expanded in recent years, the role and mechanisms of circulating triggering factor(s) are debated. Thus, we tested the hypothesis that factors circulating in the blood of NAFLD patients may influence processes underlying the disease. Huh7.5 cells/primary human hepatocytes were exposed to plasma from 12 NAFLD patients and 12 healthy subjects and specific assays were performed to examine viability, H2O2 and mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) release, mitochondrial membrane potential and triglycerides content. The involvement of NLRP3 inflammasome and of signaling related to peroxisome-proliferator-activating-ligand-receptor-γ (PPARγ), sterol-regulatory-element-binding-protein-1c (SREBP-1c), nuclear-factor-kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-kB), and NADPH oxidase 2 (NOX2) was evaluated by repeating the experiments in the presence of NLRP3 inflammasome blocker, MCC950, and through Western blot. The results obtained shown that plasma of NAFLD patients was able to reduce cell viability and mitochondrial membrane potential by about 48 and 24% (p < 0.05), and to increase H2O2, mitochondrial ROS, and triglycerides content by about 42, 19, and 16% (p < 0.05), respectively. An increased expression of SREBP-1c, PPARγ, NF-kB and NOX2 of about 51, 121, 63, and 46%, respectively, was observed (p < 0.05), as well. Those effects were reduced by the use of MCC950. Thus, in hepatocytes, exposure to plasma from NAFLD patients induces a NAFLD-like phenotype by interference with NLRP3-inflammasome pathways and the activation of intracellular signaling related to SREBP-1c, PPARγ, NF-kB and NOX2
Georeferenced soil information system: assessment of database
Land-use planning is a decision-making process that
facilitates the allocation of land to different uses that
provide optimal and sustainable benefit. As land-use
is shaped by society–nature interaction, in land-use
planning different components/facets play a significant
role involving soil, water, climate, animal (ruminant/
non-ruminant) and others, including forestry
and the environment needed for survival of mankind.
At times these components are moderated by human
interference. Thus land-use planning being a dynamic
phenomenon is not guided by a single factor, but by a
complex system working simultaneously,which largely
affects the sustainability. To address such issues a
National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP) on
‘Georeferenced soil information system for land-use
planning and monitoring soil and land quality for
agriculture’ was undertaken to develop threshold
values of land quality parameters for land-use planning
through quantitative land evaluation and crop
modelling for dominant cropping systems in major
agro-ecological sub-regions (AESRs) representing
rice–wheat cropping system in the Indo-Gangetic
Plains (IGP) and deep-rooted crops in the black
soil regions (BSR). To assess the impact of landuse
change, threshold land quality indicator values
are used. A modified AESR map for agricultural landuse
planning is generated for effective land-use planning
Soil information system: use and potentials in humid and semi-arid tropics
The articles presented in this special section emanated from the researches of consortium members of the National Agricultural Innovative Project (NAIP, Component 4) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi. These researches have helped develop a soil information system (SIS). In view of the changing scenario all over the world, the need of the hour is to get assistance from a host of researchers specialized in soils, crops, geology, geography and information technology to make proper use of the datasets. Equipped with the essential knowledge of data storage and retrieval for management recommendations, these experts should be able to address the issues of land degradation, biodiversity, food security, climate change and ultimately arrive at an appropriate agricultural land-use planning. Moreover, as the natural resource information is an essential prerequisite for monitoring and predicting global environmental change with special reference to climate and land use options, the SIS needs to be a dynamic exercise to accommodate temporal datasets, so that subsequently it should result in the evolution of the soil information technology. The database developed through this NAIP would serve as an example of the usefulness of the Consortium and the research initiative of ICAR involving experts from different fields to find out the potentials of the soils of humid and semi-arid bioclimatic systems of the country
Data_Sheet_2_Orb weaver aggregate glue protein composition as a mechanism for rapid evolution of material properties.PDF
IntroductionOrb web and cobweb weaving spiders in the superfamily Araneoidea are distinguished by their ability to make a chemically sticky aqueous glue in specialized aggregate silk glands. Aggregate glue is an environmentally responsive material that has evolved to perform optimally around the humidity at which a spider forages. Protein components and their post-translational modifications confer stickiness to the glue, but the identities of these proteins have not been described for orb web weavers.MethodsUsing biomechanics, gene expression data, and proteomics, we characterized the glue’s physical properties and molecular components in two congeners that live in different environments, Argiope argentata (dry southwest US) and Argiope trifasciata (humid southeast US).ResultsThe droplets of A. argentata are less hygroscopic than those of A. trifasciata and have proportionately smaller viscoelastic protein cores, which incorporate a smaller percentage of absorbed water as humidity increases. Argiope argentata protein cores were many times stiffer and tougher than A. trifasciata protein cores. Each species’ glue included ~30 aggregate-expressed proteins, most of which were homologous between the two species, with high sequence identity. However, the relative contribution and number of gene family members of each homologous group differed. For instance, the aggregate spidroins (AgSp1 and AgSp2) accounted for nearly half of the detected glue composition in A. argentata, but only 38% in A. trifasciata. Additionally, AgSp1, which has highly negatively charged regions, was ~2X as abundant as the positively charged AgSp2 in A. argentata, but ~3X as abundant in A. trifasciata. As another example, A. argentata glue included 11 members of a newly discovered cysteine-rich gene family, versus 7 members in A. trifasciata.DiscussionCysteines form disulfide bonds that, combined with the higher potential for electrostatic interactions between AgSp1 and AgSp2, could contribute to the greater stiffness of A. argentata glue. The ability to selectively express different glue protein genes and/or to extrude their products at different rates provides a faster mechanism to evolve material properties than sequence evolution alone.</p
Table_1_Orb weaver aggregate glue protein composition as a mechanism for rapid evolution of material properties.XLS
IntroductionOrb web and cobweb weaving spiders in the superfamily Araneoidea are distinguished by their ability to make a chemically sticky aqueous glue in specialized aggregate silk glands. Aggregate glue is an environmentally responsive material that has evolved to perform optimally around the humidity at which a spider forages. Protein components and their post-translational modifications confer stickiness to the glue, but the identities of these proteins have not been described for orb web weavers.MethodsUsing biomechanics, gene expression data, and proteomics, we characterized the glue’s physical properties and molecular components in two congeners that live in different environments, Argiope argentata (dry southwest US) and Argiope trifasciata (humid southeast US).ResultsThe droplets of A. argentata are less hygroscopic than those of A. trifasciata and have proportionately smaller viscoelastic protein cores, which incorporate a smaller percentage of absorbed water as humidity increases. Argiope argentata protein cores were many times stiffer and tougher than A. trifasciata protein cores. Each species’ glue included ~30 aggregate-expressed proteins, most of which were homologous between the two species, with high sequence identity. However, the relative contribution and number of gene family members of each homologous group differed. For instance, the aggregate spidroins (AgSp1 and AgSp2) accounted for nearly half of the detected glue composition in A. argentata, but only 38% in A. trifasciata. Additionally, AgSp1, which has highly negatively charged regions, was ~2X as abundant as the positively charged AgSp2 in A. argentata, but ~3X as abundant in A. trifasciata. As another example, A. argentata glue included 11 members of a newly discovered cysteine-rich gene family, versus 7 members in A. trifasciata.DiscussionCysteines form disulfide bonds that, combined with the higher potential for electrostatic interactions between AgSp1 and AgSp2, could contribute to the greater stiffness of A. argentata glue. The ability to selectively express different glue protein genes and/or to extrude their products at different rates provides a faster mechanism to evolve material properties than sequence evolution alone.</p
Data_Sheet_1_Orb weaver aggregate glue protein composition as a mechanism for rapid evolution of material properties.DOCX
IntroductionOrb web and cobweb weaving spiders in the superfamily Araneoidea are distinguished by their ability to make a chemically sticky aqueous glue in specialized aggregate silk glands. Aggregate glue is an environmentally responsive material that has evolved to perform optimally around the humidity at which a spider forages. Protein components and their post-translational modifications confer stickiness to the glue, but the identities of these proteins have not been described for orb web weavers.MethodsUsing biomechanics, gene expression data, and proteomics, we characterized the glue’s physical properties and molecular components in two congeners that live in different environments, Argiope argentata (dry southwest US) and Argiope trifasciata (humid southeast US).ResultsThe droplets of A. argentata are less hygroscopic than those of A. trifasciata and have proportionately smaller viscoelastic protein cores, which incorporate a smaller percentage of absorbed water as humidity increases. Argiope argentata protein cores were many times stiffer and tougher than A. trifasciata protein cores. Each species’ glue included ~30 aggregate-expressed proteins, most of which were homologous between the two species, with high sequence identity. However, the relative contribution and number of gene family members of each homologous group differed. For instance, the aggregate spidroins (AgSp1 and AgSp2) accounted for nearly half of the detected glue composition in A. argentata, but only 38% in A. trifasciata. Additionally, AgSp1, which has highly negatively charged regions, was ~2X as abundant as the positively charged AgSp2 in A. argentata, but ~3X as abundant in A. trifasciata. As another example, A. argentata glue included 11 members of a newly discovered cysteine-rich gene family, versus 7 members in A. trifasciata.DiscussionCysteines form disulfide bonds that, combined with the higher potential for electrostatic interactions between AgSp1 and AgSp2, could contribute to the greater stiffness of A. argentata glue. The ability to selectively express different glue protein genes and/or to extrude their products at different rates provides a faster mechanism to evolve material properties than sequence evolution alone.</p
Table_2_Orb weaver aggregate glue protein composition as a mechanism for rapid evolution of material properties.XLS
IntroductionOrb web and cobweb weaving spiders in the superfamily Araneoidea are distinguished by their ability to make a chemically sticky aqueous glue in specialized aggregate silk glands. Aggregate glue is an environmentally responsive material that has evolved to perform optimally around the humidity at which a spider forages. Protein components and their post-translational modifications confer stickiness to the glue, but the identities of these proteins have not been described for orb web weavers.MethodsUsing biomechanics, gene expression data, and proteomics, we characterized the glue’s physical properties and molecular components in two congeners that live in different environments, Argiope argentata (dry southwest US) and Argiope trifasciata (humid southeast US).ResultsThe droplets of A. argentata are less hygroscopic than those of A. trifasciata and have proportionately smaller viscoelastic protein cores, which incorporate a smaller percentage of absorbed water as humidity increases. Argiope argentata protein cores were many times stiffer and tougher than A. trifasciata protein cores. Each species’ glue included ~30 aggregate-expressed proteins, most of which were homologous between the two species, with high sequence identity. However, the relative contribution and number of gene family members of each homologous group differed. For instance, the aggregate spidroins (AgSp1 and AgSp2) accounted for nearly half of the detected glue composition in A. argentata, but only 38% in A. trifasciata. Additionally, AgSp1, which has highly negatively charged regions, was ~2X as abundant as the positively charged AgSp2 in A. argentata, but ~3X as abundant in A. trifasciata. As another example, A. argentata glue included 11 members of a newly discovered cysteine-rich gene family, versus 7 members in A. trifasciata.DiscussionCysteines form disulfide bonds that, combined with the higher potential for electrostatic interactions between AgSp1 and AgSp2, could contribute to the greater stiffness of A. argentata glue. The ability to selectively express different glue protein genes and/or to extrude their products at different rates provides a faster mechanism to evolve material properties than sequence evolution alone.</p
Data_Sheet_3_Orb weaver aggregate glue protein composition as a mechanism for rapid evolution of material properties.pdf
IntroductionOrb web and cobweb weaving spiders in the superfamily Araneoidea are distinguished by their ability to make a chemically sticky aqueous glue in specialized aggregate silk glands. Aggregate glue is an environmentally responsive material that has evolved to perform optimally around the humidity at which a spider forages. Protein components and their post-translational modifications confer stickiness to the glue, but the identities of these proteins have not been described for orb web weavers.MethodsUsing biomechanics, gene expression data, and proteomics, we characterized the glue’s physical properties and molecular components in two congeners that live in different environments, Argiope argentata (dry southwest US) and Argiope trifasciata (humid southeast US).ResultsThe droplets of A. argentata are less hygroscopic than those of A. trifasciata and have proportionately smaller viscoelastic protein cores, which incorporate a smaller percentage of absorbed water as humidity increases. Argiope argentata protein cores were many times stiffer and tougher than A. trifasciata protein cores. Each species’ glue included ~30 aggregate-expressed proteins, most of which were homologous between the two species, with high sequence identity. However, the relative contribution and number of gene family members of each homologous group differed. For instance, the aggregate spidroins (AgSp1 and AgSp2) accounted for nearly half of the detected glue composition in A. argentata, but only 38% in A. trifasciata. Additionally, AgSp1, which has highly negatively charged regions, was ~2X as abundant as the positively charged AgSp2 in A. argentata, but ~3X as abundant in A. trifasciata. As another example, A. argentata glue included 11 members of a newly discovered cysteine-rich gene family, versus 7 members in A. trifasciata.DiscussionCysteines form disulfide bonds that, combined with the higher potential for electrostatic interactions between AgSp1 and AgSp2, could contribute to the greater stiffness of A. argentata glue. The ability to selectively express different glue protein genes and/or to extrude their products at different rates provides a faster mechanism to evolve material properties than sequence evolution alone.</p