REVIEW: Properties of Cereal Brans: A Review

Cereal brans are functional ingredients with high nutritive value and enormous health properties. Cereal brans have not been fully utilized in food systems despite their health benefits. This review presents an overview on the physical, chemical, microbiological, functional, and sensory properties of cereal brans for possible comparisons and selection to enhance the utilization of this underutilized milling fraction.     

Inhibition of human acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells by immunotoxins: potentiation by chloroquine

Immunotoxins containing pokeweed antiviral protein and monoclonal antibodies against human T cells or human transferrin receptor efficiently killed acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells. Chloroquine specifically enhanced the rate of protein synthesis inhibition by immunotoxin. Depending on its concentration, chloroquine (10 to 100 micromolar) reduced by up to 65-fold the amount of immunotoxin required to inhibit protein synthesis in the target cells 50 percent.     

Characterization of an extremely large, ligand-induced conformational change in plasminogen

Native human plasminogen has a radius of gyration of 39 angstroms. Upon occupation of a weak lysine binding site, the radius of gyration increases to 56 angstroms, an extremely large ligand-induced conformational change. There are no intermediate conformational states between the closed and open form. The conformational chang is not accompanied by a change in secondary structure, hence the closed conformation is formed by interaction between domains that is abolished upon conversion to the open form. This reversible change in conformation, in which the shape of the protein changes from that best described by a prolate ellipsoid to a flexible structure best described by a Debye random coil, is physiologically relevant because a weak lysine binding site regulates the activation of plasminogen.     

Energy flow through a village ecosystem with slash and burn agriculture in North-eastern India

This paper deals with the pattern of energy flow through four major sub-systems (jhum, valley, animal and domestic) of a typical Khasi village ecosystem with ‘slash and burn’ agriculture (jhum) at an elevation of 1540 m in the north-eastern hill region of India. The energetic efficiency (output:input ratio) of jhum in 5 ha of land worked out at 7·53 and that of valley cultivation on 2 ha of land at 40·14. The animal husbandry sub-system had swine husbandry as its predominant component. This had an energetic efficiency of 3·04. The village ecosystem as a whole, however, had an efficiency of 1·57. Animal husbandry formed an important link in the detritus food chain by utilising the garbage and vegetable waste of the agricultural system. The forest, apart from providing the basis for agriculture, also meets part of the fuel requirement of the village. The compost pit is a very important component in the functioning of the village ecosystem as it provides feed for secondary production and generates organic manure both of plant and animal origin, which is cycled back into agriculture. The intricate relationship existing between the production and consumption compartments of the village ecosystem has been worked out from both the economic and the energetic points of view and is discussed.     

Growth strategy of trees related to successional status II. Leaf dynamics

The leaf dynamics of two early (Alnus nepalensis and Schima khasiana) and three late (Machilus kingii, Quercus dealbata and Q. griffithii) successional tree species of a subtropical humid, evergreen, montane forest at Upper Shillong (1900 m) in north-eastern India has been studied using demographic techniques. The open-grown early successional species show greater leaf production and higher turnover rate than the open-grown late successional species. The latter, under forest situations, have still slower turnover rates but with leaves of several age groups. It is suggested that the early successional species are attuned to environments of temporary resource availability while the late successional species are adapted to the relatively predictable but highly competitive environments of closed forests.     

A Serine12Stop mutation in PB1-F2 of the 2009 pandemic (H1N1) influenza A: a possible reason for its enhanced transmission and pathogenicity to humans

As the scientific community scrambles to define the ancestry and lineages of the eight segments of new pandemic H1N1 strain, we looked for unique genetic events in this virus''s genome to explain the newly found enhanced virulence and transmissibility among humans. Genome annotations of this virus identified a stop mutation replacing serine at codon 12 (S12Stop) of the PB1-F2 protein, a virulence factor in influenza A viruses. Here, we discuss the significance of this finding and how it may contribute to host specialization, explaining the virtual absence of the H1N1 influenza A virus strain in pig populations. This finding is expected to lead to a better understanding of the transmission and pathogenesis of the 2009 pandemic strain.     

Concomitant production of lipase, protease and enterocin by Enterococcus faecium NCIM5363 and Enterococcus durans NCIM5427 isolated from fish processing waste

Enterococci are widely distributed in the environment ranging from foods to humans and are gaining industrial importance due to their technological traits. In the present study, enterococci (Enterococcus faecium NCIM5363 (EF-63) and Enterococcus durans NCIM5427 (ED-27)) which are native to fish processing waste with an ability to produce lipase, protease and enterocin concomitantly were characterised. Lipase assay was performed by titrimetry and protease activity and was estimated using haemoglobin and casein as substrates in the presence of buffers at acidic, basic and neutral pH. Furthermore, enterocin produced by the isolates was characterised. Enterocin was also checked for its stability at different pH, temperature and proteolytic enzymes. Lipase production was found to be 22 and 10 U/ml in the absence of tributryin and increased to 40 and 24 U/ml in its presence for EF-63 and ED-27, respectively, indicating that the lipase produced is substrate dependent. Protease production was confirmed by protease assay, and the protease produced showed more affinity towards the acidic substrate. Enterocin produced was stable at low pH (2 to 3) and high temperature (121°C, 15 min) and had a molecular weight of approximately 6 kDa. It exhibited antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative food-borne pathogens. Proteinase K inactivated enterocin completely, whereas trypsin did not. Novelty of this work lies in the immense industrial importance these cultures hold as they are capable of producing lipase, protease and enterocin apart from being useful in recovering proteins and lipids from fish processing wastes.     

Structure of the 70S ribosome complexed with mRNA and tRNA

The crystal structure of the bacterial 70S ribosome refined to 2.8 angstrom resolution reveals atomic details of its interactions with messenger RNA (mRNA) and transfer RNA (tRNA). A metal ion stabilizes a kink in the mRNA that demarcates the boundary between A and P sites, which is potentially important to prevent slippage of mRNA. Metal ions also stabilize the intersubunit interface. The interactions of E-site tRNA with the 50S subunit have both similarities and differences compared to those in the archaeal ribosome. The structure also rationalizes much biochemical and genetic data on translation.     

Decoding in the absence of a codon by tmRNA and SmpB in the ribosome

In bacteria, ribosomes stalled at the end of truncated messages are rescued by transfer-messenger RNA (tmRNA), a bifunctional molecule that acts as both a transfer RNA (tRNA) and a messenger RNA (mRNA), and SmpB, a small protein that works in concert with tmRNA. Here, we present the crystal structure of a tmRNA fragment, SmpB and elongation factor Tu bound to the ribosome at 3.2 angstroms resolution. The structure shows how SmpB plays the role of both the anticodon loop of tRNA and portions of mRNA to facilitate decoding in the absence of an mRNA codon in the A site of the ribosome and explains why the tmRNA-SmpB system does not interfere with normal translation.