Novel parasitic nematode-specific protein of Setaria digitata largely localized in longitudinal muscles, reproductive systems and developing embryos

Parasitic nematodes may have common properties in parasitizing the host which are conferred by related parasitic proteins encoded by their genome. A novel protein characterized from bovine filarial nematode Setaria digitata was found to be present only in the parasitic nematodes and expressed at all the stages of the nematode’s life. In immunohistochemical staining using polyclonal antibodies prepared against recombinant S. digitata protein, the highest expression of S. digitata novel protein (SDNP) was seen in the longitudinal muscles of the body wall of adult males and females indicating its possible involvement in parasite locomotion. Moderate expression was observed in the reproductive organs of both sexes while showing gradual increase in the expression as the development of the reproductive tissue progressed suggesting its role in tissue transformation in male and female reproduction. A low level of expression was observed in the cuticle, syncytial hypodermis region, lateral line and the intestinal wall. Further, the expression of SDNP was also seen in developing microfilaria within the uterus of female worms, developing spermatozoa of males and different developmental stages of embryos implicating its involvement in nematode growth and development. Subcellular localization of SDNP carried out in yeast, Pichia pastoris using green fluorescence construct revealed that this protein localized mainly in the nucleus and partly in the cytoplasm. Comprehensive bioinformatics analyses indicated that this protein contains a nuclear localization signal, RNAP_Rpb7_N_like domain, regions that are homologous to a part of the nuclear factor localization-like domain, interdomain linkers of muscle specific twitchin kinase of Caenorhabditis elegans and calcium-dependent protein kinase isoform CDPK1 of Arabidopsis thaliana. Therefore, considering all the outcomes together, it can be suggested that the SDNP is a parasitic nematode-specific, nuclear and cytoplasmic protein that is likely to be regulated by reversible phosphorylation–dephosphorylation reaction, expressed in all the stages of nematode’s life having pivotal functional roles in muscle, reproductive systems, embryogenesis, and also in the growth and development

Solvent-Free Microwave-Assisted Extraction of Volatile Organic Compounds from Ananas comosus (Pineapple) Waste and Possible Skincare Products Development

Solvent-Free Microwave-Assisted Extraction (SFME) is a green analytical technique that uses no organic solvent in the extraction process. A significant amount of fruit waste such as seeds, rinds and peels are discarded daily by food processing operations, causing many environmental concerns. As an alternative approach to fruit-specific waste minimization, including pineapple waste, those fruit waste can be used to recover potentially valuable Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) to utilize as value-added products. This study aims to extract VOCs from different parts of matured pineapple fruit waste, including core and peel, for skincare products development. This process uses SFME to extract VOCs from pineapple waste. Extractions were performed at three different experimental conditions by varying microwave power and extraction time of 300 W for 15 min, 500 W for 10 min, and 700 W for 5 min, respectively. The highest yield of 47.20% was obtained for the extraction performed with 500 W power and 10 min extraction time. Volatile Organic Compounds extracted by SFME were identified and characterized using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC/MS). Major VOCs extracted from the pineapple waste include Heptadecane, γ-dodecalactone, Hexadecane, γ-decalactone and Decanal. However, the highest VOCs were found in the pineapple core over the peel. Extracted VOCs were used to formulate a moisturizing cream and tested for its organoleptic properties, pH and spreadability. Result suggests favourable organoleptic properties such as white to off-white, non-greasy and no phase separation. The formulated moisturizing cream was able to retain the pH of 6.32±0.01 at the temperature of 27±2 ℃, and the spreadability of 4.76±0.11. Findings of the study reveal that SFME extracted VOCs of pineapple waste show promising potential in natural skincare products development. Keywords: Pineapple waste, Volatile Organic Compounds, Solvent-free Microwave-Assisted Extraction, GC-MS, Moisturizing crea