Comparative genomic analysis of innate immunity reveals novel and conserved components in crustacean food crop species

Abstract Background Growing global demands for crustacean food crop species have driven large investments in aquaculture research worldwide. However, large-scale production is susceptible to pathogen-mediated destruction particularly in developing economies. Thus, a thorough understanding of the immune system components of food crop species is imperative for research to combat pathogens. Results Through a comparative genomics approach utilising extant data from 55 species, we describe the innate immune system of the class Malacostraca, which includes all food crop species. We identify 7407 malacostracan genes from 39 gene families implicated in different aspects of host defence and demonstrate dynamic evolution of innate immunity components within this group. Malacostracans have achieved flexibility in recognising infectious agents through divergent evolution and expansion of pathogen recognition receptors genes. Antiviral RNAi, Toll and JAK-STAT signal transduction pathways have remained conserved within Malacostraca, although the Imd pathway appears to lack several key components. Immune effectors such as the antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have unique evolutionary profiles, with many malacostracan AMPs not found in other arthropods. Lastly, we describe four putative novel immune gene families, potentially representing important evolutionary novelties of the malacostracan immune system. Conclusion Our analyses across the broader Malacostraca have allowed us to not only draw analogies with other arthropods but also to identify evolutionary novelties in immune modulation components and form strong hypotheses as to when key pathways have evolved or diverged. This will serve as a key resource for future immunology research in crustacean food crops

Determinants of liquidity in nationalised banks of India

The purpose of this paper is to identify the determinants of liquidity among government owned nationalised banks in India. Nationalised banks in India are the biggest group of banks and any issue with nationalised banks can have the potential of affecting liquidity of entire banking system in India. The data covers a period from 1996 to 2012. Results of OLS regression show that the most significant factors influencing liquidity in nationalised banks of India are: call rate, cash reserve ratio and statutory liquidity ratio, gross domestic products, among the macroeconomic factors and capital to total assets and log of total assets for bank specific factors. Others factors have very little influence on liquidity of banks in India. Cash reserve ratio has a positive and expected relationship with liquidity ratios. As such statutory liquidity ratio are not very effective instruments of managing liquidity in nationalised banks of India. Supervision of each bank may become necessary for proper implementation of regulatory measures in India