The electrostatic profile of consecutive Cβ atoms applied to protein structure quality assessment.

The structure of a protein provides insight into its physiological interactions with other components of the cellular soup. Methods that predict putative structures from sequences typically yield multiple, closely-ranked possibilities. A critical component in the process is the model quality assessing program (MQAP), which selects the best candidate from this pool of structures. Here, we present a novel MQAP based on the physical properties of sidechain atoms. We propose a method for assessing the quality of protein structures based on the electrostatic potential difference (EPD) of Cβ atoms in consecutive residues. We demonstrate that the EPDs of Cβ atoms on consecutive residues provide unique signatures of the amino acid types. The EPD of Cβ atoms are learnt from a set of 1000 non-homologous protein structures with a resolution cuto of 1.6 Å obtained from the PISCES database. Based on the Boltzmann hypothesis that lower energy conformations are proportionately sampled more, and on Annsen's thermodynamic hypothesis that the native structure of a protein is the minimum free energy state, we hypothesize that the deviation of observed EPD values from the mean values obtained in the learning phase is minimized in the native structure. We achieved an average specificity of 0.91, 0.94 and 0.93 on hg_structal, 4state_reduced and ig_structal decoy sets, respectively, taken from the Decoys `R' Us database. The source code and manual is made available at https://github.com/sanchak/mqap and permanently available on 10.5281/zenodo.7134

Development of Feeding System Based on Azolla (\u3cem\u3eAzolla pinnata\u3c/em\u3e) and Sheanut Cake (\u3cem\u3eVitellaria paradoxa\u3c/em\u3e) for Nellore Sheep Reared in Different Production Systems

Since protein sources such as ground nut cake and soya bean are too expensive to feed as supplements to livestock in India, steps have been taken to reduce cost by utilizing alternative feedstuffs to replace the traditional sources in ration formulation (Parashuramului et al. 2013). Azolla which is a free-floating nitrogen fixing water fern has a potential to be used as a protein supplement for ruminants (Ahirwar and Leela, 2012). Sheanut cake (Vitellaria paradoxa) which is produced after extraction of fats use in cosmetics and as a cocoa butter substitute in chocolate making, is also a rich in carbohydrates and protein, but the presence of anti-nutritional factors (e.g. theobromine and tannins) may limit its use as animal feed supplement (Od-doye et al. 2012). Both Azolla and Sheanut cake have been used as protein and energy supplement for sheep in India (Reddy et al. 2011), but further research is needed to formulate suitable rations for sheep. The experiments reported here were conducted to assess: (1) The effect of diets based on Azolla (Azolla pinnata) and Sheanut Cake (Vitellaria paradoxa) on growth performance, DMI and nutrient utilization by Nel-lore weaners; (2) The influence of Azolla and Sheanut cake diets on blood biochemical profiles, liver function tests, haemotocrit values and carcass traits of the Nellore wean-ers; and (3) The influence of diets on nutrient utilization of adult sheep. Both intensive and semi-intensive systems were compared in all the experiments

Studies on Aspergillus oryzae Mutants for the Production of Single Cell Proteins from Deoiled Rice Bran

Ethyl methyl sulphonate was used to induce point mutation in Aspergillus oryzae (MTCC 1846). Incubation with ethyl methyl sulphonate for 1 h resulted in 98 % killing of spores. By screening the survived colonies three hypermorphs were found (Shan1, Shan2 and Shan3). These three mutants along with the A. oryzae (MTCC 1846) were used for the production of single cell proteins. They grew profusely on deoiled rice bran and produced higher percentage of protein. Among the three mutants Shan2 had higher protein content in the pH range of 3–7 and temperatures 36–45 °C, maintaining low quantities of nucleic acids. The specific growth rate of Shan2 was higher on the media containing substrates like glucose, maltose and cellulose. Shan2 had higher content of amino acids when compared with FAO standard and A. oryzae (MTCC 1846), but the amino acid content of Shan2 was approximately equal to that of soyabean meal. The comparative protein content of Shan2 and A. oryzae (MTCC 1846) was 57 and 43 %, respectively, while their nucleic acid content was 3 and 7.2 %, respectively. Protein enrichment of 18.9 % in Shan2 resulted from the cultivation on deoiled rice bran as compared to protein content of the A. oryzae (MTCC1846) indicating that Shan2 possessed good amenability for SCP production

Generators for vector bundles on generic hypersurfaces

We prove that on a generic hypersurface in Pm+1 of dimension at least 3, a vector bundle with r ≤ m generators must be split if m is odd. If m is even, then the same is true if the degree of X is at least 3

Examining A Decade Of Named Marketing Chairs In The United States

Named chairs in the academic field of marketing are examined for ten years providing time series and cross-sectional analysis to determine a profile of their personal characteristics and their schools

Production of biogas from palm oil mill effluent

Malaysia with an average crude palm oil production of more than 13 million tons per year is estimated produce total of palm oil mill effluent (POME) of 53 million tons/year. Batch anaerobic digestion of 8l palm oil mill effluent was studied in a 25l bioreactor at 30°C (thermophilic condition) and pH controlled at 7. POME activated sludge and cow manure at ratio of 1:2.5 POME was used. The biogas produced is 7.825l at hydraulic retention time of 44 days. The peak biogas production occurs at day 24 until day 34 and the production starts to decrease after day 35 due to the availability of nutrient that has decreased tremendously. Modeling studies showed that the linear plots of biogas production rates with the R2 of rising and failing limb ranged from 0.926 to 0.954 while the exponential plot shows the R2 range from 0.775 to 0.940