Ancestral paralogs and pseudoparalogs and their role in the emergence of the eukaryotic cell

Gene duplication is a crucial mechanism of evolutionary innovation. A substantial fraction of eukaryotic genomes consists of paralogous gene families. We assess the extent of ancestral paralogy, which dates back to the last common ancestor of all eukaryotes, and examine the origins of the ancestral paralogs and their potential roles in the emergence of the eukaryotic cell complexity. A parsimonious reconstruction of ancestral gene repertoires shows that 4137 orthologous gene sets in the last eukaryotic common ancestor (LECA) map back to 2150 orthologous sets in the hypothetical first eukaryotic common ancestor (FECA) [paralogy quotient (PQ) of 1.92]. Analogous reconstructions show significantly lower levels of paralogy in prokaryotes, 1.19 for archaea and 1.25 for bacteria. The only functional class of eukaryotic proteins with a significant excess of paralogous clusters over the mean includes molecular chaperones and proteins with related functions. Almost all genes in this category underwent multiple duplications during early eukaryotic evolution. In structural terms, the most prominent sets of paralogs are superstructure-forming proteins with repetitive domains, such as WD-40 and TPR. In addition to the true ancestral paralogs which evolved via duplication at the onset of eukaryotic evolution, numerous pseudoparalogs were detected, i.e. homologous genes that apparently were acquired by early eukaryotes via different routes, including horizontal gene transfer (HGT) from diverse bacteria. The results of this study demonstrate a major increase in the level of gene paralogy as a hallmark of the early evolution of eukaryotes

Сельское хозяйство и аграрное образование Эквадора

The article is dedicated to the questions of cooperation between Russia and Ecuador in the areas of agriculture and agrarian education. The perspectives of cooperation are deeply connected with trade-economic relations. Economics of Ecuador is characterized by positive dynamics. In world list of competitiveness Ecuador is on 71-st place between 148 countries. GDP in 2012 is 84,5 billion USD. The main subjects of bilateral trade between Russia and Ecuador are bananas and cut flowers, some of Russian importers have their own banana plantations in Ecuador. Import from Russia consists of iron, steel, electric medical equipment, parts for cars, paper, fertilizers. Russian People’s Friendship University (RUDN) is unique to have lots of connections with graduates in Ecuador, that will foster cooperation in agriculture and agrarian education. Totally RUDN educated over 5000 specialists for 29 Latin American countries, 550 — for Ecuador. In 2012 during the visit of RUDN’s delegation the Working Program between RUDN and Agrarian University of Ecuador for years 2013-2018 was developed. Nowadays the bachelo’sr and specialist’s educational programs are developed at agrarian universities, faculties of technical and political universities. Nevertheless the post-diploma programs are not enough, but according to new law on education universities of Ecuador have to enlarge number of professors who have Maer and PhD level. Actual educational reform in both countries give challenge to find new mutual projects to improve competitiveness on global markets.Данная статья посвящена вопросам сотрудничества России и Эквадора в сферах образования и сельского хозяйства. Перспективы сотрудничества тесно связаны с торгово-экономическими отношениями. В целом экономика Эквадора характеризуется положительной динамикой. Из 148 стран Эквадор в мировом рейтинге конкурентоспособности переместился на 71-е место. ВВП в 2012 г. составил 84,5 миллиарда долларов США. Основная доля в товарообороте наших стран приходится на поставки бананов и срезанных цветов, причем ряд российских импортеров бананов имеют в Эква-доре собственные банановые плантации. Импорт из России: железо, сталь, электромедицинские приборы, запчасти для автомобилей, бумага, удобрения. РУДН отличает наличие связей, как с вуза-ми, так и с выпускниками в Эквадоре, что может содействовать сотрудничеству в образовательной и научной сферах. Всего РУДН подготовил более 5000 специалистов для 29 стран Латинской Америки, из них 550 — для Эквадора. В 2012 г. во время визита делегации аграрного факультета в Эквадор была разработана Рабочая программа сотрудничества между РУДН и Аграрным университетом Эквадора на 2013—2018 гг. Следует отметить, что в Эквадоре существуют бакалавриаты и специалитеты в аграрных университетах, факультетах технических и политехнических университетов. Вместе с тем постдипломных программ недостаточно, а согласно новому закону об образовании университеты обязуются повысить процент остепененных преподавателей. Текущая образовательная реформа в обеих странах способствуют поиску новых совместных проектов для повышения конкурентоспособности на мировых рынках

MECHANOCHEMICAL ACTIVATION OF PHARMACEUTICAL SUBSTANCES AS A FACTOR FOR MODIFICATION OF THEIR PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES

Objective: Study the influence of the mechanical preparation methods (grinding, fluidization) of solid pharmaceutical substances (PS) and herbal raw material on their physicochemical properties and biological activities. Methods: Test substances and solvents-Lactose monohydrate (DFE Pharma, Germany). Sodium chloride, bendazol hydrochloride (all Sigma-Aldrich, USA) and herbal raw material (Callisia fragrans). The dispersity and native structure of pharmaceutical substances were analyzed by several methods: optical microscopy–Altami BIO 2 microscope (Russia); low angle laser light scattering (LALLS) method (Malvern Instruments, UK); Spirotox method–Quasichemical kinetic of cell transition of cellular biosensor Spirostomum ambiguum; Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy–the analysis in the middle IR region was carried out using an IR Cary 630 Fourier spectrometer (Agilent Technologies, USA). The analysis of dried leaves of C. fragrans before and after mechanical activation was performed using Shimadzu EDX-7000 X-ray fluorescence spectrophotometer without mineralization (Shimadzu, Japan). Results: It was established that the mechanical change, such as dispersion and drying, alters the biological activity of PS and herbal raw materials. The observed increase in the influence of the dispersed substance on the biosensor S. ambiguum is quantitatively estimated from the values of the activation energy (obsEa), which turns to be valued 1,5 (P≤0,05) times more than for the native form substance. In the study of the dependence of the availability of chemical elements K, Ca, Zn on the degree of dispersion of herbal raw materials was established a quantitative 4-fold (P≤0,05) increase in the concentration of elements in mechano-activated raw materials. Conclusion: By the example of the biological model of Spirotox (single-celled biosensor S. ambiguum) and herbal raw materials obtained from C. fragrans, the increase of biological activity of PS at the dispersion of initial preparations was proved

Small CRISPR RNAs guide antiviral defense in prokaryotes

Prokaryotes acquire virus resistance by integrating short fragments of viral nucleic acid into clusters of regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs). Here we show how virus-derived sequences contained in CRISPRs are used by CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins from the host to mediate an antiviral response that counteracts infection. After transcription of the CRISPR, a complex of Cas proteins termed Cascade cleaves a CRISPR RNA precursor in each repeat and retains the cleavage products containing the virus-derived sequence. Assisted by the helicase Cas3, these mature CRISPR RNAs then serve as small guide RNAs that enable Cascade to interfere with virus proliferation. Our results demonstrate that the formation of mature guide RNAs by the CRISPR RNA endonuclease subunit of Cascade is a mechanistic requirement for antiviral defense

Peculiarities of electronic structure and composition in ultrasound milled silicon nanowires

The combined X-ray absorption and emission spectroscopy approach was applied for the detailed electronic structure and composition studies of silicon nanoparticles produced by the ultrasound milling of heavily and lowly doped Si nanowires formed by metal-assisted wet chemical etching. The ultrasoft X-ray emission spectroscopy and synchrotron based X-ray absorption near edges structure spectroscopy techniques were utilize to study the valence and conduction bands electronic structure together with developed surface phase composition qualitative analysis. Our achieved results based on the implemented surface sensitive techniques strongly suggest that nanoparticles under studies show a significant presence of the silicon suboxides depending on the pre-nature of initial Si wafers. The controlled variation of the Si nanoparticles surface composition and electronic structure, including band gap engineering, can open a new prospective for a wide range Si-based nanostructures application including the integration of such structures with organic or biological systems. © 202

Comparative genomic analysis reveals independent expansion of a lineage-specific gene family in vertebrates: The class II cytokine receptors and their ligands in mammals and fish

BACKGROUND: The high degree of sequence conservation between coding regions in fish and mammals can be exploited to identify genes in mammalian genomes by comparison with the sequence of similar genes in fish. Conversely, experimentally characterized mammalian genes may be used to annotate fish genomes. However, gene families that escape this principle include the rapidly diverging cytokines that regulate the immune system, and their receptors. A classic example is the class II helical cytokines (HCII) including type I, type II and lambda interferons, IL10 related cytokines (IL10, IL19, IL20, IL22, IL24 and IL26) and their receptors (HCRII). Despite the report of a near complete pufferfish (Takifugu rubripes) genome sequence, these genes remain undescribed in fish. RESULTS: We have used an original strategy based both on conserved amino acid sequence and gene structure to identify HCII and HCRII in the genome of another pufferfish, Tetraodon nigroviridis that is amenable to laboratory experiments. The 15 genes that were identified are highly divergent and include a single interferon molecule, three IL10 related cytokines and their potential receptors together with two Tissue Factor (TF). Some of these genes form tandem clusters on the Tetraodon genome. Their expression pattern was determined in different tissues. Most importantly, Tetraodon interferon was identified and we show that the recombinant protein can induce antiviral MX gene expression in Tetraodon primary kidney cells. Similar results were obtained in Zebrafish which has 7 MX genes. CONCLUSION: We propose a scheme for the evolution of HCII and their receptors during the radiation of bony vertebrates and suggest that the diversification that played an important role in the fine-tuning of the ancestral mechanism for host defense against infections probably followed different pathways in amniotes and fish

Dynamics of activity free radical oxidation reactions in students with cerebral palsy results over the course of the educational process

The dynamics of changes activity of reactions is studied freely radical oxidize for students with the consequences of child's cerebral paralysis. 20 students took part in an experiment. Found that the course of study they have more active free radical oxidation reactions and decreases the activity of antiradical protection. Given the use of additional physical activity in aerobic training indicators intracellular antioxidant defense system increased, decreased content of reaction products of lipid peroxidation. However, increased rates of maximum oxygen consumption and increased tolerance of students with cerebral palsy to the consequences of physical activity. It is set that the pathological changes of metabolism for students ground the necessity of application of the differentiated physical loadings. The optimum forms of physical rehabilitation of the aerobic training is the dosed walking, medical swimming, dosed after distance, sometimes and by the corner of getting up pedestrian ascents. Loading is increased due to a volume, but not intensity of exercises