Introduction: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) isolated from bone marrow have different developmental origins, including neural crest. MSCs can differentiate into neural progenitor-like cells (NPCs) under the influence of bFGF and EGF. NPCs can terminally differentiate into neurons that express beta-III-tubulin and elicit action potential. The main aim of the study was to identify key genetic markers involved in differentiation of MSCs into NPCs through transcriptomic analysis. Method: Total RNA was isolated from MSCs and MSCs-derived NPCs followed by cDNA library construction for transcriptomic analysis. Sample libraries that passed the quality and quantity assessments were subjected to high throughput mRNA sequencing using NextSeq®500. Differential gene expression analysis was performed using the DESeq2 R package with MSC samples being a reference group. The expression of eight differentially regulated genes was counter validated using real-time PCR. Results: In total, of the 3,252 differentially regulated genes between MSCs and NPCs with two or more folds, 1,771 were upregulated genes, whereas 1,481 were downregulated in NPCs. Amongst these differential genes, 104 transcription factors were upregulated, and 45 were downregulated in NPCs. Neurogenesis related genes were upregulated in NPCs and the main non-redundant gene ontology (GO) terms enriched in NPCs were the autonomic nervous system, cell surface receptor signalling pathways), extracellular structure organisation, and programmed cell death. The main non-redundant GO terms enriched in MSCs included cytoskeleton organisation cytoskeleton structural constituent, mitotic cell cycle), and the mitotic cell cycle process Gene set enrichment analysis also confirmed cell cycle regulated pathways as well as Biocarta integrin pathway were upregulated in MSCs. Transcription factors enrichment analysis by ChEA3 revealed Foxs1 and HEYL, amongst the top five transcription factors, inhibits and enhances, respectively, the NPCs differentiation of MSCs. Conclusions: The vast differences in the transcriptomic profiles between NPCs and MSCs revealed a set of markers that can identify the differentiation stage of NPCs as well as provide new targets to enhance MSCs differentiation into NPCs.

Environmental toxins pose significant threats to ecosystems and human health. Monitoring and assessing these toxins are crucial for effective environmental management and public health protection. Recently, plant species have garnered increasing attention as potential bioindicators for identifying and evaluating ecological toxins. Since plants often come into touch with harmful compounds in soil, water, and the atmosphere, they are particularly valuable for analyzing how human activities influence the terrestrial ecosystem, the aquatic system, and the atmosphere. This review paper emphasizes using plant species as a resource for tracking environmental pollution and analyzing contaminants. We focused on plants because they are significant indicators of soil, water, and air quality changes. Many plants have been used as bio-indicators to assess and predict pollution, toxicity, and environmental changes. These include Allium cepa, Vicia faba, Pisum sativum, Zea mays, Nicotiana tabacum, lichens, and mosses. The idea of bioindicators is discussed in the current paper, with a focus on plants as possible candidates for bioindicators for toxin assessment and related outcomes.

The occurrence and persistence of pharmaceuticals in the food chain, particularly edible crops, can adversely affect human and environmental health. In this study, the impacts of the absorption, translocation, accumulation, and degradation of paracetamol in different organs of the leafy vegetable crop spinach (Spinacia oleracea) were assessed under controlled laboratory conditions. Spinach plants were exposed to 50 mg/L, 100 mg/L, and 200 mg/L paracetamol in 20% Hoagland solution at the vegetative phase in a hydroponic system. Exposed plants exhibited pronounced phytotoxic effects during the eight days trial period, with highly significant reductions seen in the plants’ morphological parameters. The increasing paracetamol stress levels adversely affected the plants’ photosynthetic machinery, altering the chlorophyll fluorescence parameters (F_v/F_m and PSII), photosynthetic pigments (Chl a, Chl b and carotenoid contents), and composition of essential nutrients and elements. The LC-MS results indicated that the spinach organs receiving various paracetamol levels on day four exhibited significant uptake and translocation of the drug from roots to aerial parts, while degradation of the drug was observed after eight days. The VITEK^® 2 system identified several bacterial strains (e.g., members of Burkhulderia, Sphingomonas, Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus, Stenotrophomonas and Kocuria) isolated from spinach shoots and roots. These microbes have the potential to biodegrade paracetamol and other organic micro-pollutants. Our findings provide novel insights to mitigate the risks associated with pharmaceutical pollution in the environment and explore the bioremediation potential of edible crops and their associated microbial consortium to remove these pollutants effectively.

Azo dyes in textile industry effluent are one of the major toxic contaminants causing a severe threat to life. Bioremediation is the most cost-effective and environmentally beneficial innovative biotechnologically technique used to mitigate dyes’ toxic effects in aquatic environments. The purpose of the present study was to determine the azo dyes degradation potential of a ciliate, Paramecium caudatum, isolated from industrial wastewater. Under optimum conditions, P. caudatum was found to possess a 90.86% decolorizing ability of RR2 (reactive red), 83.06% of RB5 (reactive blue) and 85.43% of LY (Levafix reactive yellow) dyes. The P. caudatum showed maximum growth at 25 °C and pH 7.5 in the presence of azo dyes at a concentration of 20 ppm (0.02 mg/mL). After being exposed to RR2, RB5, and LY azo dyes, the level of GSH in P. caudatum increased for the control i.e., 54, 43, and 23%, respectively. Sequentially, the GSSG level decreased by 26% after treatment with the LY azo dye, while exposure to RR2 and RB5 enhanced the value by more than twofold and by 0.86%. The results for the decolorization and biodegradation of azo dyes indicated that P. caudatum is a potential candidate for the treatment of textile industry effluents.

Genetic polymorphisms, causing variation in casein genes (CSN1S1, CSN1S2, CSN2, and CSN3), have been extensively studied in goats and cows, but there are only few studies reported in camels. Therefore, we aimed to identify alleles with functional roles in the United Arab Emirates dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius) population to complement previous studies conducted on the same species. Using targeted next-generation sequencing, we sequenced all genes in the casein gene cluster in 93 female camels to identify and characterize novel gene variants. Most variants were found in noncoding introns and upstream sequences, but a few variants showed the possibility of functional impact. CSN2 was found to be most polymorphic, with total 91 different variants, followed by CSN1S1, CSN3 and CSN1S2. CSN1S1, CSN1S2 and CSN2 each had at least two variants while CSN3 had only one functional allele. In future research, the functional impact of these variants should be investigated further.