Topic Review
Xia-Gibbs Syndrome
Xia-Gibbs syndrome is a neurological disorder characterized by weak muscle tone (hypotonia), mild to severe intellectual disability and delayed development.
  • 990
  • 24 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Salt Sensation
Taste sensation and regulation are highly conserved in insects and mammals. Research conducted over recent decades has yielded major advances in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the taste sensors for a variety of taste sensations and the processes underlying the regulation of ingestion depending on our internal state. Salt (NaCl) is an essential ingested nutrient. The regulation of internal sodium concentrations for physiological processes, including neuronal activity, fluid volume, acid-base balance, and muscle contraction, are extremely important issues in animal health. Both mammals and flies detect low and high NaCl concentrations as attractive and aversive tastants, respectively. These attractive or aversive behaviors can be modulated by the internal nutrient state. However, the differential encoding of the tastes underlying low and high salt concentrations in the brain remains unclear.
  • 989
  • 11 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Mango Peel Pectin: Recovery, Functionality and Sustainable Uses
Mango peel is the byproduct of agro-processing and has been used for high value-added components such as polysaccharide biopolymers. Pectin derived from the peel is yet to be exploited to its greatest extent, particularly in terms of its separation and physiochemical properties, which limit its applicability to dietary fiber in culinary applications. The functionality of the mango peel pectin (MPP) strongly depends on the molecular size and degree of esterification which highlight the importance of isolation and characterisation of pectin from this novel resource.
  • 989
  • 29 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Hydrogenases in Plants
Hydrogenases catalyze the reversible oxidation of H2, and are found in many organisms, including plants. One of the cellular effects of H2 is the selective removal of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS), specifically hydroxyl radicals and peroxynitrite. Therefore, the function of hydrogenases and the action of H2 needs to be reviewed in the context of the signalling roles of a range of redox active compounds. Enzymes can be controlled by the covalent modification of thiol groups, and although motifs targeted by nitric oxide (NO) can be predicted in hydrogenases sequences it is likely that the metal prosthetic groups are the target of inhibition.
  • 989
  • 25 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Partington Syndrome
Partington syndrome is a neurological disorder that causes intellectual disability along with a condition called focal dystonia that particularly affects movement of the hands. Partington syndrome usually occurs in males; when it occurs in females, the signs and symptoms are often less severe.
  • 988
  • 17 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Polycomb Proteins
Embryonic development is a highly intricate and complex process. Different regulatory mechanisms cooperatively dictate the fate of cells as they progress from pluripotent stem cells to terminally differentiated cell types in tissues. A crucial regulator of these processes is the Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2). By catalyzing the mono-, di-, and tri-methylation of lysine residues on histone H3 tails (H3K27me3), PRC2 compacts chromatin by cooperating with Polycomb Repressive Complex 1 (PRC1) and represses transcription of target genes. Proteomic and biochemical studies have revealed two variant complexes of PRC2, namely PRC2.1 which consists of the core proteins (EZH2, SUZ12, EED, and RBBP4/7) interacting with one of the Polycomb-like proteins (MTF2, PHF1, PHF19), and EPOP or PALI1/2, and PRC2.2 which contains JARID2 and AEBP2 proteins. MTF2 and JARID2 have been discovered to have crucial roles in directing and recruiting PRC2 to target genes for repression in embryonic stem cells (ESCs).
  • 988
  • 23 Aug 2022
Topic Review Video
Bee Nutritional Ecology
For bees, pollen quality determines the overall quality of the larval food, influences the development of individuals and shapes their populations. Not all plants produce pollen that satisfies the nutritional requirements of bees, and we do not know how different plant pollens impact bees’ nutritional demands. Our understanding of the differential contribution of various nutrients to bees’ growth and development is minimal. Are there species-specific key nutrients or nutrient ratios linked to development? Based on this, can bee fitness be co-limited by several nutrients? Are such key nutrients associated with specific key plant species? The framework of ecological stoichiometry is a promising approach to this issue. It allows questions about the most basic mechanism that shapes the nutritional ecology of bees, i.e., balancing the larval diet to enable larval growth, development and pupation into the adult body equipped with all the structures needed for maximal fitness.
  • 988
  • 30 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Bacterial Potential in Degradation of Azo Dyes
The use of dyes dates to ancient times and has increased due to population and industrial growth, leading to the rise of synthetic dyes. These pollutants are of great environmental impact and azo dyes deserve special attention due their widespread use and challenging degradation. Among the biological solutions developed to mitigate this issue, bacteria are highlighted for being versatile organisms, which can be applied as single organism cultures, microbial consortia, in bioreactors, acting in the detoxification of azo dyes breakage by-products and have the potential to combine biodegradation with the production of products of economic interest. These characteristics go hand in hand with the ability of various strains to act under various chemical and physical parameters, such as a wide range of pH, salinity, and temperature, with good performance under industry, and environmental, relevant conditions. 
  • 988
  • 11 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Benign Migratory Stomatitis
Geographic tongue, also known by several other terms,[note 1] is a condition of the mucous membrane of the tongue, usually on the dorsal surface. It is a common condition, affecting approximately 2–3% of the general population. It is characterized by areas of smooth, red depapillation (loss of lingual papillae) which migrate over time. The name comes from the map-like appearance of the tongue, with the patches resembling the islands of an archipelago. The cause is unknown, but the condition is entirely benign (importantly, it does not represent oral cancer), and there is no curative treatment. Uncommonly, geographic tongue may cause a burning sensation on the tongue, for which various treatments have been described with little formal evidence of efficacy.
  • 988
  • 24 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Urbanization alters soil microbial communities
Urban development is one of the leading causes of biodiversity change. Understanding how soil microorganisms respond to urbanization is particularly important because they are crucial for the provisioning of ecosystem functions and services. Our results showed that microbial richness and community composition exhibited nonsignificant changes over time regardless of the location. Soil fungal richness was lower in moderately and highly urbanized locations, but soil bacterial/archaeal richness was not significantly different among locations. Both bacteria/archaea and fungi exhibited significant differences in community composition across locations. After inferring potential functional groups, soils in the highly urbanized location had lower proportions of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and soil saprotrophic fungi but had higher proportions of bacterial taxa involved in aromatic compound degradation, human pathogens, and intracellular parasites. Furthermore, ammonia-oxidizing bacteria were more abundant in the highly urbanized location, but ammonia-oxidizing archaea were more abundant in lowly and moderately urbanized locations. Together, these results highlight the significant changes in belowground microbial communities across an urbanization gradient, and these changes might have important implications for aboveground–belowground interactions, nutrient cycling, and human health.
  • 988
  • 21 Jul 2021
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