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Topic Review
Nitric Oxide in Stem Cell Biology
Nitric oxide (NO) is a highly reactive gas with a brief life span, synthesized by the enzyme nitric oxide synthase (NOS) through L-arginine oxidation to L-citrulline. The dual role of NO in embryonic stem cells (ESCs) has been previously reported, preserving pluripotency and cell survival or inducing differentiation with a dose-dependent pattern. In this line, high doses of NO have been used in vitro cultures to induce focused differentiation toward different cell lineages being a key molecule in the regenerative medicine field. Moreover, optimal conditions to promote pluripotency in vitro are essential for their use in advanced therapies.
  • 1.9K
  • 15 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Inflorescence Meristem in Cereal Crops
Flowering plants develop new organs throughout their life cycle. The vegetative shoot apical meristem (SAM) generates leaf whorls, branches and stems, whereas the reproductive SAM, called the inflorescence meristem (IM), forms florets arranged on a stem or an axis. In cereal crops, the inflorescence producing grains from fertilized florets makes the major yield contribution, which is determined by the numbers and structures of branches, spikelets and florets within the inflorescence. The developmental progression largely depends on the activity of IM. The proper regulations of IM size, specification and termination are outcomes of complex interactions between promoting and restricting factors/signals. 
  • 1.9K
  • 14 May 2021
Topic Review
Organelle-Targeted Fluorescent Probes
Fluorescent chemical probes have been extensively used to study biochemical events within live cells. The advent of super-resolution imaging techniques and the availability of a wide variety of fluorescent probes enable effective subcellular tracking of transient metabolites and signaling molecules that are involved in important physiological processes. Probes targeting specific organelles such as mitochondria and lysosomes have been used routinely to monitor organelle functions and have become invaluable tools for the investigation of disease-relevant pathways. These probes efficiently target subcellular organelles; however, considering the complexity and diversity of biochemical processes inside the cells, probes that are not only specific to target organelles but also tailored to applications are highly desirable. 
  • 1.9K
  • 18 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Phenolic Compounds and Its Linkage
Medicinal plants, along with cereals, fruits, herbs, and vegetables, are the main sources of phenolic compounds, of which nearly 10,000 have been reported in nature to date. They are secondary metabolites produced by plants to protect them from abiotic factors (e.g., drought, extreme temperatures, floods, heavy metals, pH, radiation, salinity, and soils) and biotic factors, such as animals and pathogens attack.
  • 1.9K
  • 29 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Cline
In biology, a cline (from the Greek κλίνειν klinein, meaning "to lean") is a measurable gradient in a single character (or biological trait) of a species across its geographical range. First coined by Julian Huxley in 1938, the "character" of the cline referred to is usually genetic (e.g. allele frequency, blood type), or phenotypic (e.g. body size, skin pigmentation). Clines can show smooth, continuous gradation in a character, or they may show more abrupt changes in the trait from one geographic region to the next. A cline refers to a spatial gradient in a specific, singular trait, rather than a collection of traits; a single population can therefore have as many clines as it has traits, at least in principle. Additionally, Huxley recognised that these multiple independent clines may not act in concordance with each other. For example, it has been observed that in Australia, birds generally become smaller the further towards the north of the country they are found. In contrast, the intensity of their plumage colouration follows a different geographical trajectory, being most vibrant where humidity is highest and becoming less vibrant further into the arid centre of the country. Because of this, clines were defined by Huxley as being an "auxiliary taxonomic principle"; that is, clinal variation in a species is not awarded taxonomic recognition in the way subspecies or species are. While the terms "ecotype" and "cline" are sometimes used interchangeably, they do in fact differ in that "ecotype" refers to a population which differs from other populations in a number of characters, rather than the single character that varies amongst populations in a cline.
  • 1.9K
  • 09 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Table olives microbiota
Table olives fermentation is the result of a complex set of dynamics involving diverse microbial populations such as lactic acid bacteria, yeasts and moulds. Their metabolic activities determine the characteristics such as flavour, texture and safety of the final product. This chapter offers an overview on the main microbiota characterizing table olives and their role during fermentation.
  • 1.9K
  • 01 Jul 2020
Topic Review
Dual-Purpose Crops
Competition over land between food and fodder production, along with recurrent droughts and increasing population, has put mixed crop–livestock farming systems in the drylands of sub-Saharan Africa under pressure. Dual-purpose crops hold huge potential to ease this pressure and simultaneously improve food and fodder availability in these systems.
  • 1.9K
  • 25 May 2021
Topic Review
HIV-1 Capsid Protein
The capsid (CA) protein of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is an essential structural component of a virion and facilitates many crucial life cycle steps through interactions with host cell factors. Capsid shields the reverse transcription complex from restriction factors while it enables trafficking to the nucleus by hijacking various adaptor proteins, such as FEZ1 and BICD2. In addition, the capsid facilitates the import and localization of the viral complex in the nucleus through interaction with NUP153, NUP358, TNPO3, and CPSF-6. In the later stages of the HIV-1 life cycle, CA plays an essential role in the maturation step as a constituent of the Gag polyprotein. In the final phase of maturation, Gag is cleaved, and CA is released, allowing for the assembly of CA into a fullerene cone, known as the capsid core. The fullerene cone consists of ~250 CA hexamers and 12 CA pentamers and encloses the viral genome and other essential viral proteins for the next round of infection. As research continues to elucidate the role of CA in the HIV-1 life cycle and the importance of the capsid protein becomes more apparent, CA displays potential as a therapeutic target for the development of HIV-1 inhibitors.
  • 1.9K
  • 20 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Platelets
Recent advances in proteomic studies provided additional important information concerning the platelet biology and their response to several pathophysiological pathways. Platelets indeed are a heterogeneous small anucleate blood cell population with a central role both in physiological haemostasis and in pathological states, spanning from thrombosis to inflammation, and cancer.  Herein, a critical overview is provided on principal platelet proteomic studies focused on platelet biology from signalling to granules content, platelet proteome changes in several diseases, and the impact of drugs on platelet functions. Targeted quantification methods by means of mass spectrometry might be employed for more precise, robust and accurate quantification of selected proteins, which might be used as biomarkers for disease diagnosis, prognosis and therapy, and their strong clinical impact in the near future.
  • 1.9K
  • 07 Jul 2020
Topic Review
Explicit Memory
Explicit memory (or declarative memory) is one of the two main types of long-term human memory, the other of which is implicit memory. Explicit memory is the conscious, intentional recollection of factual information, previous experiences, and concepts. This type of memory is dependent upon three processes: acquisition, consolidation, and retrieval. Explicit memory can be divided into two categories: episodic memory, which stores specific personal experiences, and semantic memory, which stores factual information. Explicit memory requires gradual learning, with multiple presentations of a stimulus and response. Procedural memory, a type of implicit (or non-declarative) memory, refers to unconscious memories such as skills (e.g. knowing how to get dressed, eat, drive, ride a bicycle without having to re-learn the skill each time). Procedural memory learns rule-like relations, whereas explicit memory learns relations that are arbitrary. Unlike explicit memory, procedural memory learns rapidly, even from a single stimulus, and it is influenced by other mental systems. Sometimes a distinction is made between explicit memory and declarative memory. In such cases, explicit memory relates to any kind of conscious memory, and declarative memory relates to any kind of memory that can be described in words; however, if it is assumed that a memory cannot be described without being conscious and vice versa, then the two concepts are identical.
  • 1.9K
  • 23 Nov 2022
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