6 research outputs found
Quantitative and Functional Characterization of the Hyper-Conserved Protein of Prochlorococcus and Marine Synechococcus
A large fraction of any bacterial genome consists of hypothetical protein-coding open reading frames (ORFs). While most of these ORFs are present only in one or a few sequenced genomes, a few are conserved, often across large phylogenetic distances. Such conservation provides clues to likely uncharacterized cellular functions that need to be elucidated. Marine cyanobacteria from the Prochlorococcus/marine Synechococcus clade are dominant bacteria in oceanic waters and are significant contributors to global primary production. A Hyper Conserved Protein (PSHCP) of unknown function is 100% conserved at the amino acid level in genomes of Prochlorococcus/marine Synechococcus, but lacks homologs outside of this clade. In this study we investigated Prochlorococcus marinus strains MED4 and MIT 9313 and Synechococcus sp. strain WH 8102 for the transcription of the PSHCP gene using RT-Q-PCR, for the presence of the protein product through quantitative immunoblotting, and for the protein\u27s binding partners in a pull down assay. Significant transcription of the gene was detected in all strains. The PSHCP protein content varied between 8±1 fmol and 26±9 fmol per ug total protein, depending on the strain. The 50 S ribosomal protein L2, the Photosystem I protein PsaD and the Ycf48-like protein were found associated with the PSHCP protein in all strains and not appreciably or at all in control experiments. We hypothesize that PSHCP is a protein associated with the ribosome, and is possibly involved in photosystem assembly
Quantitative and Functional Characterization of the Hyper-Conserved Protein of Prochlorococcus and Marine Synechococcus
A large fraction of any bacterial genome consists of hypothetical protein-coding open reading frames (ORFs). While most of these ORFs are present only in one or a few sequenced genomes, a few are conserved, often across large phylogenetic distances. Such conservation provides clues to likely uncharacterized cellular functions that need to be elucidated. Marine cyanobacteria from the Prochlorococcus/marine Synechococcus clade are dominant bacteria in oceanic waters and are significant contributors to global primary production. A Hyper Conserved Protein (PSHCP) of unknown function is 100% conserved at the amino acid level in genomes of Prochlorococcus/marine Synechococcus, but lacks homologs outside of this clade. In this study we investigated Prochlorococcus marinus strains MED4 and MIT 9313 and Synechococcus sp. strain WH 8102 for the transcription of the PSHCP gene using RT-Q-PCR, for the presence of the protein product through quantitative immunoblotting, and for the protein\u27s binding partners in a pull down assay. Significant transcription of the gene was detected in all strains. The PSHCP protein content varied between 8±1 fmol and 26±9 fmol per ug total protein, depending on the strain. The 50 S ribosomal protein L2, the Photosystem I protein PsaD and the Ycf48-like protein were found associated with the PSHCP protein in all strains and not appreciably or at all in control experiments. We hypothesize that PSHCP is a protein associated with the ribosome, and is possibly involved in photosystem assembly
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Effect of mobile application user interface improvements on minimum expected home visit coverage by community health workers in Mali: a randomised controlled trial.
Proactive community case management (ProCCM) has shown promise to advance goals of universal health coverage (UHC). ProCCM community health workers (CHWs) face operational challenges when pursuing their goal of visiting every household in their service area at least twice monthly to proactively find sick patients. We developed a software extension (UHC Mode) to an existing CHW mobile application featuring user interface design improvements to support CHWs in planning daily home visits. We evaluated the effect of UHC Mode on minimum expected home visit coverage. We conducted a parallel-group, two-arm randomised controlled trial of ProCCM CHWs in two separate regions in Mali. CHWs were randomly assigned to UHC Mode or the standard mobile application (control) with a 1:1 allocation. Randomisation was stratified by health catchment area. CHWs and other programme personnel were not masked to arm allocation. CHWs used their assigned intervention for 4 months. Using a difference-in-differences analysis, we estimated the mean change in minimum expected home visit coverage from preintervention to postintervention between arms. Enrolment occurred in January 2019. Of 199 eligible CHWs randomised to the intervention or control arm, 196 were enrolled and 195 were included in the analysis. Households whose CHW used UHC Mode had 2.41 times higher odds of minimum expected home visit coverage compared with households whose CHW used the control (95% CI 1.68 to 3.47; p<0.0005). Minimum expected home visit coverage in the UHC Mode arm increased 13.6 percentage points (95% CI 8.1 to 19.0) compared with the control arm. Our findings suggest UHC Mode is an effective tool that can improve home visit coverage and promote progress towards UHC when implemented in the ProCCM context. User interface design of health information systems that supports health workers' daily practices and meets their requirements can have a positive impact on health worker performance and home visit coverage. NCT04106921