Drought susceptible rice cultivar PTT1 (Pathumthani1) was treated with drought (−72 kPa) and CPPU (N-2-(chloro-4-pyridyl)-N-phenyl urea) @ 5 mg/L at tillering and grain-filling stages. Plants were tested for the effect of synthetic cytokinin on the parameters influencing the process of photosynthesis. Exogenous spray of CPPU improved the stomatal conductance of rice leaves, which was severely reduced by drought. The abundance intensities of proteins, associated with the stomatal conductance (ZEP, NCED4, PYL9, PYL10, ABI5, SnRK4, Phot1, and Phot2), were also in agreement with the positive impact of CPPU on the stomatal conductance under drought stress. Among the photosynthetic pigments, Chl b contents were significantly reduced by drought stress, whereas CPPU treated plants retained the normal contents of Chl b under drought stress. Subsequently, we examined the abundance intensities of chlorophyll synthase and HCR proteins, implicated in the biosynthesis of chlorophyll pigments and the conversion of Chl b to Chl a, respectively. The results indicated a drought-mediated suppression of chlorophyll synthase. However, CPPU treated plants retained normal levels of chlorophyll synthase under drought stress. In addition, drought stress induced HCR proteins, which might be the cause for reduced Chl b contents in drought stressed plants. Further, CPPU treatment helped the plants sustain photosynthesis at a normal rate under drought stress, which was comparable with well-watered plants. The results were further confirmed by examining the abundance intensities of two key proteins, RAF1 and Rubisco activase, implicated in the assembly and activation of Rubisco, respectively. CPPU treatment reversed the drought mediated suppression of these proteins at both of the growth stages of rice under drought stress. Based on the results, it can be suggested that synthetic cytokinins help the plants sustain photosynthesis at a normal rate under drought stress by positively influencing the determinants of photosynthesis at a molecular level.

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a recently re-emerged public health problem in many countries bordering the Indian Ocean and elsewhere. Chikungunya fever is a relatively self limiting febrile disease, but the consequences of chikungunya fever can include a long lasting, debilitating arthralgia, and occasional neurological involvement has been reported. Macrophages have been implicated as an important cell target of CHIKV with regards to both their role as an immune mediator, as well evidence pointing to long term viral persistence in these cells. Microglial cells are the resident brain macrophages, and so this study sought to define the proteomic changes in a human microglial cell line (CHME-5) in response to CHIKV infection. GeLC-MS/MS analysis of CHIKV infected and mock infected cells identified some 1455 individual proteins, of which 90 proteins, belonging to diverse cellular pathways, were significantly down regulated at a significance level of p<0.01. Analysis of the protein profile in response to infection did not support a global inhibition of either normal or IRES-mediated translation, but was consistent with the targeting of specific cellular pathways including those regulating innate antiviral mechanisms.

Many mosquito transmitted viruses of the genera Alphavirus and Flavivirus are human pathogens of significant concern, and there is currently no specific antiviral for any member of these two genera. This study sought to investigate the broad utility of orlistat (tetrahydrolipstatin) in reducing virus infection for several mosquito borne viruses including flaviviruses (dengue virus (DENV; nine isolates analyzed), Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV; one isolate analyzed) and Zika virus (ZIKV; 2 isolates analyzed)) as well as an alphavirus (chikungunya virus; CHIKV; 2 isolates analyzed). Three different treatment regimens were evaluated, namely pre-treatment (only), post-treatment (only) and pre- and post-treatment, and three factors were evaluated, namely level of infection, virus titer and genome copy number. Results showed that all three treatment modalities were able to significantly reduce virus titer for all viruses investigated, with the exception of three isolates of DENV in the pre-treatment only regimen. Pre- and post-treatment was more effective in reducing the level of infection and genome copy number of all viruses investigated than either pre-treatment or post-treatment alone. Collectively, these results suggest orlistat has potential as a broad-spectrum agent against multiple mosquito transmitted viruses.

Here the current status of knowledge on some well-characterized transporters located in the vacuolar membrane is reviewed. As different cellular compartments and even different cells may be involved in certain steps of a biosynthetic pathway, the regulation of the flux is not only dependent on structural genes encoding enzymes catabolizing certain steps but also transport has a major regulatory function. The aim of the present review is to give an overview of the present knowledge of transport of secondary metabolites in plants, and to use this information in the context of our knowledge about Catharanthus roseus alkaloid biosynthesis. This should lead to further insight in the possible role of various transporters in the regulation of the biosynthesis of these alkaloids.

The production of secreted recombinant proteins from E. coli is pivotal to the biotechnological industry because it reduces the cost of downstream processing. Proteins destined for secretion contain an N-terminal signal peptide that is cleaved by secretion machinery in the plasma membrane. The resulting protein is released in an active mature form. In this study, Bacillus subtilis chitosanase (Csn) was used as a model protein to compare the effect of two signal peptides on the secretion of heterologous recombinant protein. The results showed that the E. coli secretion machinery could recognize both native bacillus and E. coli signal peptides. However, only the native bacillus signal peptide could generate the same N-terminal sequence as in the wild type bacteria. When the recombinant Csn constructs contained the E. coli OmpA signal peptide, the secreted enzymes were heterogeneous, comprising a mixed population of secreted enzymes with different N-terminal sequences. Nevertheless, the E. coli OmpA signal peptide was found to be more efficient for high expression and secretion of bacillus Csn. These findings may be used to help engineer other recombinant proteins for secretory production in E. coli.