Tea Is an Elixer of Life

Green tea is a commonly consumed beverage in the world and it is a rich source of polyphenolic compounds, which are known as the tea flavonoids. Polyphenolic compounds are effective against oxidative damage in various pathological conditions. Many herbal medicines are used in traditional medicine for their protective and therapeutic properties against various diseases. Among their bioactive components, tea catechins have been found to be active against all kind of diseases including cancer. Extensive report is available that green tea displays a wide range of healthy properties, such as antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic and chemopreventors against reactive oxygen and nitrogen species. This review aims to critically analyze the available literature regarding the effects of green tea or tea catechins with special emphasis on its phytoremediation against various health disorders elicited by different chemical compounds. Overall, data in literature show tea catechins appear to be a promising elixir to recover the illness of human beings

Metallothioneins: Diverse Protein Family to Bind Metallic Ions

Metallothionein’s (MTs) are the lower molecular weight (6-7 kDa) proteins that are found to be present in almost all organism types ranging from prokaryotes to eukaryotes species. MT are the metal detecting proteins that can mitigate the effect caused by the excess metal ions. They are also found to be involved in cellular process such as cell growth regulation, ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species) and DNA repair. The protein was termed as Metallothionein due to the unusual higher metal (metallo) and the sulfur (thiol) content. They are further grouped into 3 classes viz., class I, II and III. The Class I and II MTs are polypeptides that were obtained from direct gene products, the class III MTs are from the cysteine-rich non-translational molecules that are termed as phytochelatins. The metal ions are been sequestered through the MTs with Cys rich motifs. All the cysteines are present in the reduced form and are been co-ordinated through the mercaptide bonds. The cysteines present in the MTs are preserved across the species, it is supposed that, cysteines are essential for the function and the MTs are required for the life. Metallothionins structure, conservation in evolution, their ubiquitous nature of occurrence, the genes redundancy and the programmed MTs synthesis in development, regeneration and reproduction of living organisms are some of the weighty arguments in suspecting MTs to also serve others and perhaps the high particular metal-related cellular roles. In this chapter, there is a detailed discussion about Metallothionein its structure, occurrence and function