RNA Viruses: RNA Roles in Pathogenesis, Coreplication and Viral Load.

The review intends to present and recapitulate the current knowledge on the roles and importance of regulatory RNAs, such as microRNAs and small interfering RNAs, RNA binding proteins and enzymes processing RNAs or activated by RNAs, in cells infected by RNA viruses. The review focuses on how non-coding RNAs are involved in RNA virus replication, pathogenesis and host response, especially in retroviruses HIV, with examples of the mechanisms of action, transcriptional regulation, and promotion of increased stability of their targets or their degradation

Molecular Mechanisms in Plant Abiotic Stress Response

Improved crop varieties are needed to sustain the food supply, to fight climate changes, water scarcity, temperature increase and a high variability of rainfalls. Variability of drought and increase in soil salinity have negative effects on plant growth and abiotic stresses seriously threaten sustainable agricultural production. To overcome the influence of abiotic stresses, new tolerant plant varieties and breeding techniques using assisted selection are sought. A deep understanding of the mechanisms that respond to stress and sustain stress resistance is required. Here is presented an overview of several mechanisms that interact in the stress response. Localised synthesis of plant hormones, second messengers and local effectors of abiotic stress response and survival, the signaling pathways regulated by plant hormones are today better understood. Metabolic networks in drought stress responses, long distance signaling, cross-talk between plant organs finalised to tissue-specific expression of abiotic stress relieving genes have been at the centre of most recent studies

Non-coding RNAs change their expression profile after Retinoid induced differentiation of the promyelocytic cell line NB4

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The importance of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) as fine regulators of eukaryotic gene expression has emerged by several studies focusing on microRNAs (miRNAs). miRNAs represent a newly discovered family of non coding-RNAs. They are thought to be crucial players of human hematopoiesis and related tumorigenesis and to represent a potential tool to detect the early stages of cancer. More recently, the expression regulation of numerous long ncRNAs has been linked to cell growth, differentiation and cancer although the molecular mechanism of their function is still unknown.</p> <p>NB4 cells are promyelocytic cells that can be induced to differentiation upon retinoic acid (ATRA) treatment and represent a feasible model to study changes of non coding RNAs expression between cancer cells and their terminally differentiated counterpart.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>we screened, by microarray analysis, the expression of 243 miRNAs and 492 human genes transcribing for putative long ncRNAs different from miRNAs in NB4 cells before and after ATRA induced differentiation. Our data show that 8 miRNAs, and 58 long ncRNAs were deregulated by ATRA induced NB4 differentiation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>our data suggest that ATRA-induced differentiation lead to deregulation of a large number of the ncRNAs that can play regulatory roles in both tumorigenesis and differentiation.</p

Non-protein coding RNA biomarkers and differential expression in cancers: a review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In these years a huge number of human transcripts has been found that do not code for proteins, named non-protein coding RNAs. In most cases, small (miRNAs, snoRNAs) and long RNAs (antisense RNA, dsRNA, and long RNA species) have many roles, functioning as regulators of other mRNAs, at transcriptional and post-transcriptional level, and controlling protein ubiquitination and degradation. Various species of npcRNAs have been found differentially expressed in different types of cancer. This review discusses the published data and new results on the expression of a subset of npcRNAs.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results underscore the complexity of the RNA world and provide further evidence on the involvement of functional RNAs in cancer cell growth control.</p

Emerging Concepts on the Role of ADP-Ribosylation

NAD+ has emerged as a crucial element in both bioenergetic and signaling pathways, since it acts as a key regulator of cellular and organism homeostasis. NAD+ is a coenzyme in redox reactions, a donor of adenosine diphosphate-ribose (ADPr) moieties in ADP-ribosylation reactions, and a substrate for sirtuins, a group of histone deacetylase enzymes that use NAD+ to remove acetyl groups from proteins. NAD+ is also a precursor of cyclic ADP-ribose, a second messenger in the release and signaling of Ca++, and of diadenosine tetraphosphate (Ap4A) and oligoadenylates (oligo2&prime;-5&prime;A)&mdash;two immune response-activating compounds. In the biological systems considered in this review, NAD+ is mostly consumed in ADP-ribose (ADPr) transfer reactions. In this review, the roles of these chemical products are discussed in biological systems, such as in animals, plants, fungi and bacteria. In the review, ADP-ribosylating enzymes are introduced, as well as the importance to restore the NAD+ pools in these systems. Finally, a special attention is presently focused on viral macrodomains, aimed to develop inhibitors to improve the immune response to viruses

Innovations in Detection of Deliberate or Accidental Contamination with Biological Agents in Environment and Foods

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Embryogenesis Explained. By Natalie K. Gordon and Richard Gordon. World Scientific: Hackensack, NJ, USA, 2016; 784 pp.; SGD 281; ISBN: 978-981-4350-48-8

In Fall, 2016 a new book on embryo development at the molecular and cellular level of comprehension was released by World Scientific Publishing, “Embryogenesis Explained”.[...

On Energy Resources, Climate Change, Fossil Fuels, and Drilling. Challenges in Tackling Problems by Governments in Europe and USA

This month in Italy a public consultation will decide (by majority, in case 50% of voters will participate) whether to renew the ongoing concessions between Italian government and drilling companies at the end of their contracts, even if the fossil fuels have not been extracted completely.[...

Mono(ADP-ribosyl)ation Enzymes and NAD+ Metabolism: A Focus on Diseases and Therapeutic Perspectives

Mono(ADP-ribose) transferases and mono(ADP-ribosyl)ating sirtuins use NAD+ to perform the mono(ADP-ribosyl)ation, a simple form of post-translational modification of proteins and, in some cases, of nucleic acids. The availability of NAD+ is a limiting step and an essential requisite for NAD+ consuming enzymes. The synthesis and degradation of NAD+, as well as the transport of its key intermediates among cell compartments, play a vital role in the maintenance of optimal NAD+ levels, which are essential for the regulation of NAD+-utilizing enzymes. In this review, we provide an overview of the current knowledge of NAD+ metabolism, highlighting the functional liaison with mono(ADP-ribosyl)ating enzymes, such as the well-known ARTD10 (also named PARP10), SIRT6, and SIRT7. To this aim, we discuss the link of these enzymes with NAD+ metabolism and chronic diseases, such as cancer, degenerative disorders and aging