21-Hy­droxy­pregna-1,4-diene-3,20-dione

The title compound, C21H28O3, is a fungal transformed metabolite of decoxycorticosterone acetate, consisting of four fused rings A, B, C and D. Ring A is nearly planar, with a maximum deviation of 0.010 (3) Å from the least-squares plane, while the trans-fused rings B and C adopt chair conformations. The five-membered ring D is in an envelope conformation. The orientation of the side chain is stabilized by an intramolecular O—H⋯O hydrogen bond. In the crystal, adjecent mol­ecules are linked by C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds into extended zigzag chains along the a axis

{2-[(3-Bromo­benzyl­idene)amino]-5-chloro­phen­yl}(phen­yl)methanone

In the title compound, C20H13BrClNO, the azomethine double bond [C=N = 1.246 (4) Å] adopts an E conformation. The bromo- and chlorophenyl rings are inclined to one another by 13.70 (11)°, and form dihedral angles of 76.68 (10) and 74.24 (7)°, respectively, with the phenyl ring. In the crystal, mol­ecules are linked by C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds to form double stranded chains propagating along the b-axis direction

Early fate of exogenous promoters in E. coli

Gene gain by horizontal gene transfer is a major pathway of genome innovation in bacteria. The current view posits that acquired genes initially need to be silenced and that a bacterial chromatin protein, H-NS, plays a role in this silencing. However, we lack direct observation of the early fate of a horizontally transferred gene to prove this theory. We combine sequencing, flow cytometry and sorting, followed by microscopy to monitor gene expression and its variability after large-scale random insertions of a reporter gene in a population of Escherichia coli bacteria. We find that inserted promoters have a wide range of gene-expression variability related to their location. We find that high-expression clones carry insertions that are not correlated with H-NS binding. Conversely, binding of H-NS correlates with silencing. Finally, while most promoters show a common level of extrinsic noise, some insertions show higher noise levels. Analysis of these high-noise clones supports a scenario of switching due to transcriptional interference from divergent ribosomal promoters. Altogether, our findings point to evolutionary pathways where newly-acquired genes are not necessarily silenced, but may immediately explore a wide range of expression levels to probe the optimal ones

1,2,4-Trimeth­oxy­dibenzo[b,d]furan-3-ol

The title compound, C15H14O5, is a natural product, isolated from Sorbus lanata Syn. Pyrus lanata (D. Don) found in Pakistan. The compound is composed of three spiro-fused rings. The dihedral angle between the mean planes of the benzene rings is 4.81 (13)°. The meth­oxy groups are oriented at dihedral angles of 74.44 (14), 83.0 (2) and 66.3 (2)° with respect to the planes of the benzene rings to which they are attached. The mol­ecule is consolidated by three intra­molecular O—H⋯O and C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds. In the crystal, mol­ecules are linked by inter­molecular O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming infinite chains along the b axis

5,5-Dimethyl-2,2-bis­(pyridin-2-yl)-1,3-diazinane

In the mol­ecule of the title compound, C16H20N4, the 1,3-diazinane ring adopts a chair conformation and the dihedral angle formed by the pyridine rings is 78.64 (8)°. The mol­ecular conformation is stabilized by an intra­molecular C—H⋯N hydrogen bond, forming an S(6) ring motif. In the crystal, centrosymmetrically related mol­ecules are linked into dimers by pairs of N—H⋯N hydrogen bonds, generating rings of R 2 2(10) graph-set motif

Dredging induced changes in zooplankton community and water quality in Dal Lake, Kashmir, India

A study was conducted from July 2013 to June 2014 to assess the outcome of dredging activity on the water characteristics and zooplankton community structure in Dal Lake. An assessment was done with respect to alterations in physico-chemical  parameters and zooplankton community changes in predredged and post-dredging periods. The results showed a considerable  reduction in Secchi transparency while water depth, conductivity, total dissolved solids, nitrate and total phosphorous concentrations increased noticeably in post dredging scenario. Variations in the values of dissolved oxygen, pH and temperature as a result of dredging were not statistically significant. The environmental changes as a result of dredging activity affected the structure and distribution of zooplankton community; the abundance of rotifers decreased, while the crustaceans increased. The prominent taxa were Brachionus sp., Keratella cochlearis, Bosmina longirostris, Chydorus sphaericus and Diaptomus sp.Key words: Dredging, water quality, zooplankton, rotifer, crustacean

17-(Pyrimidin-2-yl)-8,16-dioxa-17-aza­tetra­cyclo­[7.7.1.02,7.010,15]hepta­deca-2,4,6,10,12,14-hexa­ene

In the title compound, C18H13N3O2, the benzene rings form a dihedral angle of 78.49 (9)°. The dihedral angles between the benzene rings and the pyrimidine ring are 76.53 (10) and 27.73 (11)°. The two cis-fused six-membered heterocyclic rings adopt half-chair confirmations. In the crystal, mol­ecules are linked by C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming chains parallel to the b axis

Influence of Periodic Administration of Garlic Extract on Blood Parameters of Grazing Lambs

The study was carried out to investigate the effects of periodic  administration of garlic extract drench on haematology and serum biochemistry of grazing lambs. Twelve West African dwarf sheep with an average weight of 12.00 ±0.77 kg were allotted to 3 treatment groups with 4 animals per group in a completely randomized design which lasted for 10 weeks. Treatment 1 (T1) served as control with no garlic extract, Treatment (T2) were given 5ml garlic extract weekly and Treatment T3 received 5ml garlic extract every 2 weeks. Results of haematological analysis showed that PCV significantly (P<0.05) differs among treatment groups while RBC, MCV, WBC, LYM and GRA all show no significant (P>0.05) difference. The lowest PCV of 19.68% was observed in T1 while T2 recorded the highest PCV of 29.68%. The results from serum biochemical indices shows that cholesterol and ALT differ significantly (P<0.05) among treatment groups while total protein, albumin, globulin, glucose, urea and AST all show no significant (P>0.05) difference among treatment means. The lowest serum cholesterol value of 0.78 was observed in T2 while the control group  recorded the highest value of 1.30. The study suggests that garlic extract could be used to reduce the level of serum cholesterol in grazing lamb thereby improving meat quality.Keywords: Garlic Extract, West African Dwarf Sheep, Haematology, Biochemistry

Identification of genetic variants of bGH, GHR and IGF1 gene and their association with lactation persistency in Tharparkar cattle

Persistency can be explained as number of days during which the high level of milk production is maintained after the peak milk yield. The aim of this study was to identify genetic variants of bovine-Growth Hormone (bGH), Growth Hormone Receptor (GHR) and Insulin like Growth Factor1 (IGF1) gene and their association with lactation persistency in Tharparkar cattle. Study was carried out using data of daily milk yield, monthly test days, total milk yield and peak yield of 372 lactation records of 190 Tharparkar cattle maintained at Livestock Research Centre of ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute from 1996-2019. Lactation persistency was estimated using Woods and Wilminks method and its least squares means were 2.37±0.08 and -5.4±0.56, respectively. Investigations on polymorphism were performed using seven reported primers for amplifying targeted regions of bGH, GHR and IGF1 gene. In PCR-RFLP, bGH-MspI RFLP had shown polymorphism in intron 3 and its genotypic frequencies were TT 0.49, CT 0.39 and CC 0.12. The allelic frequency of C and T were 0.31 and 0.69, respectively. The bGH-AluI RFLP had shown monomorphism in exon 5. GHR-AluI had shown polymorphism in exon 10 with only two genotypes AA and AG with frequency of 0.92 and 0.08, respectively. The frequency of A and G allele was 0.96 and 0.04, respectively. In GHR-StuI and IGF1-TasI in promoter region, RsaI in exon 3 and SnaB I in exon 1 had shown monomorphism. No significant association was found between genetic variants of bGH and GHR with lactation persistency in Tharparkar cattle