Research Aspects in Biological Science Vol. 9

The controversy among biologists about whether viruses are living or not continues to this day, in light of the corona virus Covid 19's pandemic spread. This, however, is based on the claim that since viruses are unable to synthesise adenosine triphosphate (ATP) on their own, they must rely on other living bacteria that can do so in order to obtain the energy that ATP delivers upon hydrolysis. Viruses are confined to an ill-defined space that divides living things from nonliving things primarily because of this distinction. However, it appears that viruses have an innate ability that allows them to penetrate this invisible barrier and connect with the ATP molecule, which sustains their activities. A review of these difficulties in relation to physics, biochemistry, and microbiology is provided here.

The growth and plasmid stability of the E. coli JM109 host system are described in this paper. Plasmids are important tools for biotechnology, an understanding of the biology of plasmids is highly needed for improved industrial applications. To confirm the colony forming units and the concentration and stability of plasmids, the host system was exposed to a range of medication and chemical concentrations as well as radiation frequencies. Acridine orange, a chemical, had the greatest impact on the growth of DH5a, but dantron, a medicine, had the greatest impact on the growth of the organism. The largest inhibitory effects were observed for microwave radiation at 2GHz and low intensity. Nevertheless, exposure to UV rays had no significant impact on growth. The current study found that drugs, chemicals, radio frequency, and microwave radiation have a significant impact not only on organism growth, but also on the concentration and stability of plasmids.

Different types of human chronic diseases can develop the autoimmune disease process. Autoimmunity is the third most common cause of illness and mortality in the Western World as a set of disorders. However, the mechanism of most autoimmune disorders remains unknown. Aside from genetic variables and cytokine activity, viral infection is the most important factor in the development of autoimmune disorders. Various methods have been postulated through which viral infection could disrupt self-tolerance and initiate an autoimmune cascade, eventually leading to the destruction of a specific kind of cell or a whole-body organ. The autoimmune attack can be understood through the different immune systems and other possible mechanisms such as molecular mimicry, bystander activation and epitope spreading. Other environmental variables, including as bacterial, parasite, and fungal infections, are implicated in addition to genetic and viral influences. Various animal models, however, have been tested and provide compelling evidence that viruses caused AIDs as well as accelerated and enlarged lesions in settings where self-tolerance was disrupted. In this review, we explored virus-induced autoimmunity and the molecular mechanism that underpins this occurrence. We also covered the several viruses that affect the development of AIDs as well as its biologic treatment, such as rubella virus, enteroviruses, measles virus, human T-lymphotropic virus type 1, human cytomegalovirus, human herpes virus-6, Epstein-Barr virus, rotavirus, and others.

SNPs are punctual mutations that can lead to amino acid changes in proteins and therefore affect their function. Available algorithms in the internet can be used to evaluate the functional and structural impact of these variations. The present work utilized three of these tools, SIFT, PolyPhen and EFIN, with different approaches, such as alignment with homologous sequences, analysis of the structural characteristics and analysis of random forests methods. All the 232 SNPs found in the dbSNP were analysed, related to the PGC-1\(\alpha\), NRF-1, NRF-2, PPAR\(\alpha\), ERR\(\alpha\) e MEF-2 genes, the main regulators of mitochondrial biogenesis pathway, with the intention of verifying which nsSNPs could be considered damaging. This analysis resulted in a group of 40 nsSNPs probably damaging consensus, therefore, predicted as damaging for the three tools. These SNPs were also analyzed by a molecular modeling tool to estimate their effects in the interactions for protein energetic stability. Our results aided in the definition of deleterious nsSNPs present in genes coding proteins involved in the mitochondrial biogenesis and, therefore, predicted to potentially disturb the homeostasis of this metabolic pathway, which is of maximum importance to the maintenance of the corporal energy, lipid levels, as well as other vital biochemical processes to the maintenance of life. The SNPs were also compared to OMIM, and only four presented some association with disease. Besides, among the analyzed variants determined as probably damaging, some characteristics were verified for the suggestion of suitable candidates for future molecular dynamics studies.

With this book chapter, we aimed to summarize the state of the art of the fascinating interplay between autophagy and the mechanotransduction machinery associated with adhesions that we named ¨Mechanoautophagy¨. Mechanical and chemical signals from the extracellular matrix in normal and in pathological conditions are sensed by the integrin-mediated adhesions, also known as focal adhesions. Different mechanical forces and physical cues originating from the environment are exposed to by cells, and they react to them. Autophagy is one of the key players in this interplay, which has been observed to differentially control a variety of cellular activities for the preservation of homeostasis. In addition, autophagy has been suggested to regulate mechanical functions of the cells including their interaction with the environment. In this minireview, we summarize the state of the art of the fascinating interplay between autophagy and the mechanotransduction machinery associated with cell adhesions, that we name ¨Mechanoautophagy¨ Autophagy is clearly involved in a large number of mechanically related cellular functions, which we only have started to appreciate. Additionally, while we have only discussed the role of mechanoautophagy in cancer transformation, there is a whole plethora of physio/ pathological contexts where the study of mechanoautophagy is needed, such as development and/or obesity where the study of autophagy and mechanical forces per se, but not their synergy, has been considered.

Recent advances in high-throughput sequencing technologies such as whole genome sequencing, single-cell, and others, have boosted the understanding of complex diseases. However, extracting biological meaning using the data generated by these methods is not straightforward. Various analysis techniques, including machine learning algorithms, have been proposed recently. These techniques have recently proven to be beneficial in the medical field. Unsupervised learning methods using neural networks, such as autoencoders (AEs) or variational autoencoders (VAEs), have shown promising results among such approaches. Several applications have been presented on various types of data and in different contexts, spanning from cancer to healthy patient tissues. In this book chapter, we discuss how AEs and VAEs have been used in biomedical settings. Specifically, here we discuss their current applications and the improvements achieved in the diagnostic and survival of patients.

Present study was carried out in Cyamopsis tetragonoloba plant leaves grown in various soil samples and calculated values of Chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b, Total chlorophyll from leaves of Cyamopsis tetragonoloba. A green pigment called chlorophyll can be found in juvenile branches and leaves of plants and trees. The amount of leaf chlorophyll and the type of photosynthetic mechanism present, which in turn affect crop production and yield, are crucial parameters to measure. The synthesis of chlorophyll needs through a series of enzymatic reactions, with the temperatures that are too high or low inhibiting the enzyme reaction, even destroying the original chlorophyll. It was found that total chlorophyll concentration is high in cluster bean or Cyamopsis tetragonoloba grown in agriculture soil and low in deforested soil. Chlorophyll a:b ratio is used to characterize physiological state of plants under water and salinity stress conditions. Chlorophyll a:b ratio is high for Cyamopsis tetragonoloba plant grown in deforested soil and low for agriculture soil.

This study was conducted during summer season to know the prevalence of insect pests in heat tolerant country bean (IPSA Seem 2) field. Insect prevalence was recorded from early vegetative to reproductive stage. During the study period, Bean pod borer, Maruca vitrata Gey (Crambidae: Lepidoptera); Cotton ballworm, Helicoverpa armigera Hub (Noctuidae: Lepidoptera); Leaf eating caterpillar, Plusia oricalchea Fab (Noctuidae: Lepidoptera); Hairy caterpillar, Spilarctia obliqua Wal (Erebidae: Lepidoptera); Green semilooper, Chrysodeixis acuta Fab (Noctuidae: Lepidoptera); Bean shoot borer, Crocidosema aporema Wals (Tortricidae: Lepidoptera); Aphid, Aphis craccivora Koch (Aphididae: Hemiptera); Lablab bug, Coptosoma cribrarium Fab (Plataspididae: Hemiptera); Bean bug, Riptortus pedestris Fab (Alydidae: Hemiptera); Southern green stink bug, Nezara viridula Lin (Pentatomidae: Hemiptera); Brown stink bug, Euschistus servus Say (Pentatomidae: Hemiptera); Brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys Stal (Pentatomidae: Hemiptera); Hooded hopper, Leptocentrus Taurus Fab (Membracidae: Hemiptera); Leaf beetle, Madurasia obscurella Jacoby (Chrysomelidae: Coleoptera) and Leaf weevil, Blosyrus oniscus Oliv (Curculionidae: Coleoptera) were identified. There were differences in the prevalence of these insects at different growth stages. However, very few insects were commonly present in all growth stages of country bean.

In order to study the impact of heat on the Degree of Hydrolysis (DH) of the Lotus Seed Protein (LSP), a heat-pretreatment before enzymolysis under high-power microwave irradiation was carried out. Additionally, parameters of enzymatic hydrolysis including substrate concentration, pH, temperature, papain concentration, and enzymolysis time were optimized using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The results showed that under high-power microwave irradiation sub bonds of the protein break, causing disaggregation and unfolding of the secondary structure, precisely a decrease in the intermolecular aggregate structure and increase in the random coil structure, making the protein bonds susceptible to papain during the enzymolysis. As for the analysis of the optimization results by RSM, it revealed that the optimal enzymolysis conditions were at a protein substrate concentration of 15 g/L, pH of 5.5, enzymolysis temperature of 57°C, papain amount of 0.5 g/L, and enzymolysis time of 45 min, for which the predicted value of the DH was 35.64%. The results of this study showed that microwaves also have significant potential applications in the field of food enzymolysis.

\(\alpha\)-synuclein (Lewy Body) pathology is commonly found in the enteric nervous system (ENS) of patients diagnosed with Neurocognitive Disorder with Lewy Bodies (NCDLB) and Parkinson’s Disease (PD). Lewy body pathology in the ENS can produce symptoms of bowel immotility, including constipation, obstipation, and bowel impaction. The specific mechanism through which \(\alpha\)-synuclein (Lewy Body) pathology impairs bowel function is explained. These symptoms significantly reduce the quality of life for the patient, producing hardship for the patient and care providers. Hypothetically, medical intervention using acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs) can significantly reduce or alleviate bowel immotility in Lewy body patients. The rationale for the use of the cholinergic agonist Donepezil to alleviate \(\alpha\)-synuclein bowel impairment is explained, including a description of its mechanism of action. Longitudinal case studies are described in which the hypothesis that AChEIs can mitigate Lewy Body-induced bowel immotility was tested. Over a five-year period, Donepezil demonstrated efficacy for mitigating bowel impairment in Lewy body patients.