Two-component systems (TCSs), which contain paired sensor kinase and response regulator proteins, form the primary apparatus for sensing and responding to environmental cues in bacteria. TCSs are thought to be highly specific, displaying minimal cross-talk, primarily due to the co-evolution of the participating proteins. To assess the level of cross-talk between the TCSs of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, we mapped the complete interactome of the M. tuberculosis TCSs using phosphotransfer profiling. Surprisingly, we found extensive cross-talk among the M. tuberculosis TCSs, significantly more than that in the TCSs in Escherichia coli or Caulobacter crescentus, thereby offering an alternate to specificity paradigm in TCS signalling. Nearly half of the interactions we detected were significant novel cross-interactions, unravelling a potentially complex signalling landscape. We classified the TCSs into specific 'one-to-one' and promiscuous 'one-to-many' and 'many-to-one' circuits. Using mathematical modelling, we deduced that the promiscuous signalling observed can explain several currently confounding observations about M. tuberculosis TCSs. Our findings suggest an alternative paradigm of bacterial signalling with significant cross-talk between TCSs yielding potentially complex signalling landscapes.

Lightweight, porous, high-performance electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding and fire-resistant materials are highly demanded in aerospace and defense applications. Due to the lightweight, open porosity and high surface area, carbon foam has been considered as one of the most promising candidates for EMI shielding applications. In the present investigation, we demonstrate the development of novel carbon-red mud hybrid foams with excellent EMI shielding effectiveness (SE). The carbon-red mud hybrid foams are prepared using phenolic resin as a carbon source and red mud (industrial waste) as filler. We observed that the inclusion of red mud in carbon-red mud hybrid foams significantly enhances their dielectric, magnetic, EMI shielding and thermal properties. The EMI shielding results show that absorption is the main contributor to the total EMI SE. The maximum total EMI shielding effectiveness is achieved to be 51.4 dB in the frequency range of 8.2-12.4 GHz for carbonred mud hybrid foam having 20 wt. % of red mud. The CF-RM20 also showed excellent fire resistance and high thermal stability at elevated temperatures.

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Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) is an additive manufacturing technology that has been utilized in developing numerous components from various material for various application. However, in particular, the properties of PLA embedded with coconut wood are still limited. Coconut wood is well known for its environmentally friendly, biodegradable materials, thermal resistance and corrosion resistance. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to investigate the properties of Coconut wood-PLA at different infill percentage (25%, 50%, 75%) and infill pattern (Rectilinear, honeycomb, grid, concentric and octagram spiral) by using FDM technique. The infill percentage refers to the amount of material in percentage used to print corresponding infill patterns. The specimen is printed according to ASTM D790. After that, the bending test been carried out to investigate the mechanical properties. Two mechanical properties were analyzed which are flexural strength and flexural modulus. After the experiment, the results obtained are then further analyzed by using response surface methodology to determine which parameter gives significant effect to mechanical properties. Mathematical models of the mechanical properties were also introduced using response surface methodology which can be used to predict desired mechanical properties with varying infill percentage and infill pattern. The results show that concentric infill pattern and 75% infill percentage achieved maximum properties in bending testing. The optimum parameters combination is concentric infill pattern with 75% infill percentage. Its optimum mechanical property is 22.666MPa for flexural strength and 0.4823GPa for flexural modulus.