Surgical treatment of congenital malenocytic nevus of cheek in adult: an interesting case report

Congenital melanocytic nevus (CMN) is a rare disease, which is present from birth. CMN has pigmented surface and hairs. CMN are classified in three types according to their size, small size less than 2 cm, medium size 2-20 cm and large or giant size more than 20 cm. If CMN is present over the cheek it causes significant aesthetic deformity. It poses a great challenge to aesthetic and reconstruction surgeon to excise and reconstruct this lesion over the cheek. Cheek is central facial unit and make the largest part of face. Here author presents a case of 20 years old young female who had medium size congenital melanocytic nevi over the left cheek at malar aesthetic subunit. Author planned a single stage excision followed by primary closure. Wound healed well without any complication and sutureline was camouflaged in left nasolabial crease with good aesthetic result

Truncated hemoglobin, HbN, is post-translationally modified in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and modulates host-pathogen interactions during intracellular infection

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is a phenomenally successful human pathogen having evolved mechanisms that allow it to survive within the hazardous environment of macrophages and establish long term, persistent infection in the host against the control of cell-mediated immunity. One such mechanism is mediated by the truncated hemoglobin, HbN, of Mtb that displays a potent O2-dependent nitric oxide dioxygenase activity and protects its host from the toxicity of macrophage-generated nitric oxide (NO). Here we demonstrate for the first time that HbN is post-translationally modified by glycosylation in Mtb and remains localized on the cell membrane and the cell wall. The glycan linkage in the HbN was identified as mannose. The elevated expression of HbN in Mtb and M. smegmatis facilitated their entry within the macrophages as compared with isogenic control cells, and mutation in the glycan linkage of HbN disrupted this effect. Additionally, HbN-expressing cells exhibited higher survival within the THP-1 and mouse peritoneal macrophages, simultaneously increasing the intracellular level of proinflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF-α and suppressing the expression of co-stimulatory surface markers CD80 and CD86. These results, thus, suggest the involvement of HbN in modulating the host-pathogen interactions and immune system of the host apart from protecting the bacilli from nitrosative stress inside the activated macrophages, consequently driving cells toward increased infectivity and intracellular survival

Data from: Phylogenetic analyses reveal molecular signatures associated with functional divergence among Subtilisin like Serine Proteases are linked to lifestyle transitions in Hypocreales

Background: Subtilisin-like serine proteases or Subtilases in fungi are important for penetration and colonization of host. In Hypocreales, these proteins share several properties with other fungal, bacterial, plant and mammalian homologs. However, adoption of specific roles in entomopathogenesis may be governed by attainment of unique biochemical and structural features during the evolutionary course. Due to such functional shifts Subtilases coded by different family members of Hypocreales acquire distinct features according to respective hosts and lifestyle. We conducted phylogenetic and DIVERGE analyses and identified important protein residues that putatively assign functional specificity to Subtilases in fungal families/species under the order Hypocreales. Results: A total of 161 Subtilases coded by 10 species from five different families under the fungal order Hypocreales was included in the analysis. Based on the presence of conserved domains, the Subtilase genes were divided into three subfamilies, Subtilisin (S08.005), Proteinase K (S08.054) and Serine-carboxyl peptidases (S53.001). These subfamilies were investigated for phylogenetic associations, protein residues under positive selection and functional divergence among paralogous clades. The observations were co-related with the life-styles of the fungal families/species. Phylogenetic and Divergence analyses of Subtilisin (S08.005) and Proteinase K (S08.054) families of proteins revealed that the paralogous clades were clear-cut representation of familial origin of the protein sequences. We observed divergence between the paralogous clades of plant-pathogenic fungi (Nectriaceae), insect-pathogenic fungi (Cordycipitaceae/Clavicipitaceae) and nematophagous fungi (Ophiocordycipitaceae). In addition, Subtilase genes from the nematode-parasitic fungus Purpureocillium lilacinum made a unique cluster which putatively indicated that the fungus might have developed distinctive mechanisms for nematode-pathogenesis. Our evolutionary genetics analysis revealed evidence of positive selection on the Subtilisin (S08.005) and Proteinase K (S08.054) protein sequences of the entomopathogenic and nematophagous species belonging to Cordycipitaceae, Clavicipitaceae and Ophiocordycipitaceae families of Hypocreales. Conclusions: Our study provided new insights into the evolution of Subtilisin like serine proteases in Hypocreales, a fungal order largely consisting of biological control species. Subtilisin (S08.005) and Proteinase K (S08.054) proteins seemed to play important roles during life style modifications among different families and species of Hypocreales. Protein residues found significant in functional divergence analysis in the present study may provide support for protein engineering in future

Do environmentally induced DNA variations mediate adaptation in Aspergillus flavus exposed to chromium stress in tannery sludge?

Abstract Background Environmental stress induced genetic polymorphisms have been suggested to arbitrate functional modifications influencing adaptations in microbes. The relationship between the genetic processes and concomitant functional adaptation can now be investigated at a genomic scale with the help of next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies. Using a NGS approach we identified genetic variations putatively underlying chromium tolerance in a strain of Aspergillus flavus isolated from a tannery sludge. Correlation of nsSNPs in the candidate genes (n = 493) were investigated for their influence on protein structure and possible function. Whole genome sequencing of chromium tolerant A. flavus strain (TERIBR1) was done (Illumina HiSeq2000). The alignment of quality trimmed data of TERIBR1 with reference NRRL3357 (accession number EQ963472) strain was performed using Bowtie2 version 2.2.8. SNP with a minimum read depth of 5 and not in vicinity (10 bp) of INDEL were filtered. Candidate genes conferring chromium resistance were selected and SNPs were identified. Protein structure modeling and interpretation for protein-ligand (CrO4 − 2) docking for selected proteins harbouring non-synonymous substitutions were done using Phyre2 and PatchDock programs. Results High rate of nsSNPs (approximately 11/kb) occurred in selected candidate genes for chromium tolerance. Of the 16 candidate genes selected for studying effect of nsSNPs on protein structure and protein-ligand interaction, four proteins belonging to the Major Facilitator Superfamily (MFS) and recG protein families showed significant interaction with chromium ion only in the chromium tolerant A. flavus strain TERIBR1. Conclusions Presence of nsSNPs and subsequent amino-acid alterations evidently influenced the 3D structures of the candidate proteins, which could have led to improved interaction with (CrO4 − 2) ion. Such structural modifications might have enhanced chromium efflux efficiency of A. flavus (TERIBR1) and thereby offered the adaptation benefits in counteracting chromate stress. Our findings are of fundamental importance to the field of heavy-metal bio-remediation

Protein Sequence of Serine Proteases of Purpureocillium_lilacinum_TERI_BC1

A total of 44 serine protease sequences present in Purpureocillium lilacinum genome are provided here

Additional file 6: Figure S5. of Phylogenetic analyses reveal molecular signatures associated with functional divergence among Subtilisin like Serine Proteases are linked to lifestyle transitions in Hypocreales

Conserved Motifs identified by MEME in Proteinase K (S08.054). (DOCX 36 kb

Additional file 8: Figure S6. of Phylogenetic analyses reveal molecular signatures associated with functional divergence among Subtilisin like Serine Proteases are linked to lifestyle transitions in Hypocreales

Functional divergence in Subtilisin (S08.005) protein sequences among clades Nectriaceae and Cordycipitaceae/Clavicipitaceae. (a) The RVS (Rate Variation among Sites) amino acids sites are identified by DIVERGE 3.0 mapped on the Subtilisin structure (Cyan colour) of a member (fx|XP5977|Fusarium oxysporum) of the Nectriaceae clade. The identified RVS sites are shown in stick (Magenta). (b) The highlighted (encircled) RVS sites are also observed in TYPE II divergence (Nectriaceae vs. Cordycipitaceae/Clavicipitaceae). Figure S7. Functional divergence type II and RVS sites on 3D structure of Subtilisin (S08.005) protein sequences among clades Nectriaceae and Cordycipitaceae/Clavicipitaceae. (a) The RVS (Rate Variation among Sites) amino acids sites are identified by DIVERGE 3.0 mapped on Subtilisin structure (Red colour) of a member (bb|XP2612|Beauveria bassiana) of the Cordycipitaceae/Clavicipitaceae clade. The identified RVS sites are shown in stick (Green). (b) The highlighted RVS sites are also observed in TYPE II divergence (Nectriaceae vs. Cordycipitaceae/Clavicipitaceae). The catalytic triad is shown in yellow colour. Figure S8. Functional divergence in Subtilisin (S08.005) when Nectriaceae and Ophiocordycipitaceae clades are compared. (a) The RVS (Rate Variation among Sites) amino acids sites are identified by DIVERGE 3.0 mapped on Subtilisin structure (Blue colour) of a member (pl|XP5939|Purpureocillium lilacinum) of the Ophiocordycipitaceae clade. The identified RVS sites are shown in stick (Yellow). (b) The highlighted (encircled) RVS sites are also observed in TYPE II divergence (Nectriaceae vs. Ophiocordycipitaceae). The putative catalytic triad and substrate binding pocket are shown in blue colour on the 3 D structure of the protein. (DOCX 844 kb

Investigation of Gender-Specific Exhaled Breath Volatome in Humans by GCxGC-TOF-MS

Exploring gender-specific metabolic differences in biofluids provides a basic understanding of the physiological and metabolic phenotype of healthy subjects. Many reports have shown gender-specific metabolome profiles in the urine and serum of healthy subjects; however, limited studies focusing on exhaled human breath are available in the literature. In this study, we profiled the exhaled breath (∼450 mL) volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of 47 healthy volunteers (age: 19–47; 23 male (M) and 24 female (F)) using a multidimensional gas chromatography and mass spectrometry and employed chemometric analysis to identify gender-specific VOCs. Eleven exhaled breath VOCs were identified from both uni and multivariate analysis from a training set (M = 15, F = 15) that could differentiate the genders within a healthy population. A partial least-squares discriminate analysis (PLS-DA) model built using these putative markers showed high accuracy in predicting (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve >0.9) a hold out/test sample set (<i>n</i> = 17). The outcomes of this report open up new avenues to undertake larger studies to elucidate the association of exhaled breath metabolites with gender-specific disease phenotypes and pharmacokinetics in the future