No abstract

Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-A (VEGFA) signaling is crucial to the cellular processes involved in angiogenesis. Previously, we assembled a network of molecular reactions induced by VEGFA in human umbilical vein endothelial cell populations. Considering transcriptome as a read-out of the transcriptional and epigenomic regulatory network, we now present an analysis of VEGFA-induced temporal transcriptome datasets from 6 non-synchronized studies. From these datasets, applying a confidence criterion, a set of early VEGFA-responsive signature genes were derived and evaluated for their co-expression potential with respect to multiple cancer gene expression datasets. Further, inclusive of a set of ligand-receptor pairs, a list of ligand and receptor signaling systems that potentially fine-tune the endothelial cell functions subsequent to VEGFA signaling were also derived. We believe that a number of these signaling systems would concurrently and/or hierarchically fine-tune the signaling network of endothelial cell populations towards the processes associated with angiogenesis through autocrine, paracrine, juxtacrine, and matricrine modes. By further analysis of published literature on VEGFA signaling, we also present an improved update-version of our previous VEGFA signaling network model in endothelial cells as a platform for analysis of crosstalk with these signaling systems.

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Peptides were synthesized with very high purity and yield on a highly solvating copolymer of 1,4‐butanediol dimethacrylate cross‐linked polystyrene support (PS‐BDODMA). The polymer was synthesized by radical aqueous suspension polymerization using toluene as the diluent and 1% polyvinyl alcohol as the suspension stabilizer. The supports were highly resistant to various chemical reagents and solvents that are frequently used in polypeptide synthesis. The peptides synthesized on this support were designed from the core (C), envelope (E1 and E2) and nonstructural protein (NS1–NS5) regions of the prototype hepatitis C viral (HCV) polyprotein, and were used to develop a peptide‐based immunoassay (PBEIA) for the detection of HCV antibodies. The purity of these peptides was tested by HPLC. Peptide identity was confirmed by amino acid analysis and MALDI‐TOF‐MS. A single peptide chosen from a conserved area (E2/NS1) at the C‐terminus of the hypervariable region (HVRI) was found to be sufficient for effective and reliable diagnosis of HCV infection in infected individuals, as well as also apparently healthy individuals. The CD spectrum of the peptide shows no preference for any ordered secondary structure. When used, peptide mixtures from various protein regions of HCV reduced the sensitivity and reliability of the diagnosis partly because of epitope masking.

Acknowledging the effectiveness of plants and their products in the treatment of diseases, the WHO recognizes that medicinal plants play an important role in the low-cost primary healthcare of about 80% of world's population in developing countries including India. Plant and other natural products are gaining popularity as an alternative and system of medicine all over the world. Cayratia pedata is an indigenous endangered medicinal herb of south India belonging to the family Vitaceae. Traditionally, the leaves of this plant have been used as a dietary ingredient in the treatment of ulcers and diarrhoea. In Ayurveda the extract from Cayratia pedata is used to prepare formulations prescribed to treat microbial infections, ulcers, inflammations and arthritis. We have identified this plant to be a good source of phytochemicals like alkaloids, tannins, phenolic compounds, flavonoids and terpenoids. Correct identification of any medicinal plant is an absolute requirement in order to avoid errors in collection of the plants used for the formulations whose effectiveness depends on the natural products contained in them. DNA barcoding is a reliable tool in scientifically identifying medicinal plants. The current study explains how DNA barcode analysis of the plant Cayratia pedata helps in the proper identification based on nucleotide diversity of short DNA segments. DNA from the leaves of the plant was extracted and the chloroplast gene rbcL was amplified by PCR and sequenced. The sequence was subjected to a BLAST analysis to compare it with that of other species and a phylogenetic tree was constructed. The results confirmed that the plant belonged to the family Vitaceae. DNA bar-code analysis is a powerful technique for the identification, vouching and registration of medicinal plants especially when there is high species diversity. This helps in collecting the precise species that has the maximum yield of the active principles needed by the unskilled user as well as the pharmaceutical industry.