Topic Review
Allotetraploid Cotton
Allotetraploid cotton (Gossypium hirsutum and Gossypium barbadense) are cultivated worldwide for its white fiber. Since centuries, conventional breeding approaches increase cotton yield at the cost of extensive erosion of natural genetic variability. Sea Island cotton (G. barbadense) is known for its superior fiber quality, but show poor adaptability as compared to Upland cotton. Hence, there is a dire need to improve the current germplasm resources of Sea Island cotton to develop diverse breeding lines with improved adaptability and excellent agronomic and economic traits. Ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) is an excellent mutagenic agent that induces genome-wide point mutations to activate the mutagenic potential of plants. In current study, we determined the optimal EMS experimental procedure suitable for construction of cotton mutant library. At M6 generation, mutant library comprised of lines with distinguished phenotypes of the plant architecture, leaf, flower, boll and fiber. Genome wide analysis of SNP distribution and density in yellow leaf mutants reflected the better quality of mutant library. Our mutant collection will serve as the valuable resource for basic research on cotton functional genomics, as well as cotton breeding.
  • 903
  • 09 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Asian Carp, an Alternative Material for Surimi Production
Asian carp is a general designation for grass carp, silver carp, bighead carp, and black carp. These fish species belong to the family Cyprinidae. In 2018, more than 18.5 million tons of Asian carp were produced globally. Asian carp can be used for producing surimi, a stabilized myofibrillar protein concentrate that can be made into a wide variety of products such as imitation crab sticks, fish balls, fish cakes, fish tofu, and fish sausage. Surimi is usually made from marine fish, but Asian carp have been widely used for surimi production in China. The quality of surimi is affected by various factors, including the processing methods and food additives, such as polysaccharides, protein, salt, and cryoprotectant. With an impending shortage of marine fish due to overfishing and depletion of fish stocks, Asian carp have a potential to serve as an alternative raw material for surimi products thanks to their high abundancy, less emissions of greenhouse gases from farming, desirable flesh color, and sufficient gel forming ability.
  • 903
  • 06 Jun 2022
Topic Review
L19-TNF
Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is used as a pro-inflammatory payload to trigger haemorrhagic necrosis and boost anti-cancer immunity at the tumor site. There is  a depotentiated version of TNF (carrying the single point mutation I97A), which displayed reduced binding affinity to its cognate receptor tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (TNFR-1) and lower biocidal activity. 
  • 903
  • 29 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Aging Stress Response
Aging induces several stress response pathways to counterbalance detrimental changes associated with this process. These pathways include nutrient signaling, proteostasis, mitochondrial quality control and DNA damage response. At the cellular level, these pathways are controlled by evolutionarily conserved signaling molecules, such as 5'AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR), insulin/insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and sirtuins, including SIRT1. Peroxisome proliferation-activated receptor coactivator 1 alpha (PGC-1α), encoded by the PPARGC1A gene, playing an important role in antioxidant defense and mitochondrial biogenesis, may interact with these molecules influencing lifespan and general fitness. Perturbation in the aging stress response may lead to aging-related disorders, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the main reason for vision loss in the elderly. This is supported by studies showing an important role of disturbances in mitochondrial metabolism, DDR and autophagy in AMD pathogenesis. In addition, disturbed expression of PGC-1α was shown to associate with AMD. Therefore, the aging stress response may be critical for AMD pathogenesis, and further studies are needed to precisely determine mechanisms underlying its role in AMD.
  • 903
  • 28 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Cerebral Organoid Glioma ‘GLICO’ Model for Drug Screening
Glioblastoma, a grade IV astrocytoma, is regarded as the most aggressive primary brain tumour with an overall median survival of 16.0 months following the standard treatment regimen of surgical resection, followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy with temozolomide. The ability to understand and manipulate complex cancers such as glioblastoma requires disease models to be clinically and translationally relevant and encompass the cellular heterogeneity of such cancers. Therefore, brain cancer research models need to aim to recapitulate glioblastoma stem cell function, whilst remaining amenable for analysis. The development of 3D cultures has overcome some of these challenges, and cerebral organoids are emerging as cutting-edge tools in glioblastoma research. The opportunity to generate cerebral organoids via induced pluripotent stem cells, and to perform co-cultures with patient-derived cancer stem cells (GLICO model), has enabled the analysis of cancer development in a context that better mimics brain tissue architecture.
  • 902
  • 31 Jan 2023
Topic Review
Circadian System and Light Govern Rhythmic Brain Function
Life on earth has evolved under the influence of rhythmic changes in the environment, such as the 24 h light/dark cycle. Living organisms have developed internal circadian clocks, which allow them to anticipate these rhythmic changes and adapt their behavior and physiology accordingly. 
  • 902
  • 17 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Pain
The phenomenon of pain sensation is defined differently, depending on the specialty. From the point of view of psychology or psychiatry, pain is a difficult to define and a subjective experience. Being a result of awareness of nerve impulses reaching the brain and caused by noxious stimuli of adequate strength, pain can be also defined as a psychic factor, triggering defensive reflexes. From a biological point of view, pain is a warning signal about a danger or tissue injury. Pain is a sensory impression, formed by the action of various stimuli that damage tissues; therefore, pain provides information about the action site of the harmful factor (stressor). Pain can be experienced as a local sensation or as widespread pain when the response to stimulus is intense and the effect of the damage lasts for an extended duration. Controversies still exist regarding nomenclature and definitions specifying the phenomenon of pain. According to the Taxonomy Committee of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), pain is defined as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage.
  • 902
  • 02 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is becoming the leading cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), liver-related mortality, and liver transplantation. There is sufficient epidemiological cohort data to recommend the surveillance of patients with NAFLD based upon the incidence of HCC. The American Gastroenterology Association (AGA) expert review published in 2020 recommends that NAFLD patients with cirrhosis or advanced fibrosis estimated by non-invasive tests (NITs) consider HCC surveillance. NITs include the fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) index, the enhanced liver fibrosis (ELF) test, FibroScan, and MR elastography. The recommended surveillance modality is abdominal ultrasound (US), which is cost effective and noninvasive with good sensitivity. However, US is limited in obese patients and those with NAFLD. In NAFLD patients with a high likelihood of having an inadequate US, or if an US is attempted but inadequate, CT or MRI may be utilized. The GALAD score, consisting of age, gender, AFP, the lens culinaris-agglutinin-reactive fraction of AFP (AFP-L3), and the protein induced by the absence of vitamin K or antagonist-II (PIVKA-II), can help identify a high risk of HCC in NAFLD patients. Innovative parameters, including a Mac-2 binding protein glycated isomer, type IV collagen 7S, free apoptosis inhibitor of the macrophage, and a combination of single nucleoside polymorphisms, are expected to be established. Considering the large size of the NAFLD population, optimal screening tests must meet several criteria, including high sensitivity, cost effectiveness, and availability.
  • 902
  • 19 Aug 2020
Topic Review
HSP60
Heat shock proteins are generally responsible for preventing damage to proteins in response to high levels of heat. Heat shock proteins are classified into six major families based on their molecular mass: small HSPs, HSP40, HSP60, HSP70, HSP90, and HSP110 HSP60 is implicated in mitochondrial protein import and macromolecular assembly. It may facilitate the correct folding of imported proteins, and may also prevent misfolding and promote the refolding and proper assembly of unfolded polypeptides generated under stress conditions in the mitochondrial matrix. HSP60 interacts with HRAS and with HBV protein X and HTLV-1 protein p40tax. HSP60 belongs to the chaperonin (HSP60) family. Note: This description may include information from UniProtKB. Alternate Names: 60 kDa chaperonin, Chaperonin 60, CPN60, Heat shock protein 60, HSP-60, HuCHA60, Mitochondrial matrix protein P1, P60 lymphocyte protein, HSPD1 Heat shock protein 60 (HSP60) is a mitochondrial chaperonin that is typically held responsible for the transportation and refolding of proteins from the cytoplasm into the mitochondrial matrix. In addition to its role as a heat shock protein, HSP60 functions as a chaperonin to assist in folding linear amino acid chains into their respective three-dimensional structure. Through the extensive study of groEL, HSP60’s bacterial homolog, HSP60 has been deemed essential in the synthesis and transportation of essential mitochondrial proteins from the cell's cytoplasm into the mitochondrial matrix. Further studies have linked HSP60 to diabetes, stress response, cancer and certain types of immunological disorders.
  • 902
  • 22 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Baobab (Adansonia digitata L.)
Baobab (Adansonia digitata L.), which belongs to the Malvaceae family, is an indigenous African tree widespread in arid savannah regions of Madagascar, mainland Africa, the Arabian peninsula, and Australia, and it was once classified as the “lost crop” of Africa. 
  • 902
  • 18 Oct 2021
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