Mini Review: Protein Components of Perivitelline Fluid (PVF) of Horseshoe Crabs & Its Applications in Medical Research

The specificity and potency of venom components give them a unique advantage in developing various pharmaceutical drugs. Though venom is a cocktail of proteins, rarely are the synergy and association between various venom components studied. Understanding the relationship between various components of venom is critical in medical research. Using meta-analysis, we observed underlying patterns and associations in the appearance of the toxin families. For Crotalus, Dis has the most associations with the following toxins: PDE; BPP; CRL; CRiSP; LAAO; SVMP P-I and LAAO; SVMP P-III and LAAO. In Sistrurus venom, CTL and NGF have the most associations. These associations can predict the presence of proteins in novel venom and understand synergies between venom components for enhanced bioactivity. Using this approach, the need to revisit the classification of proteins as major components or minor components is highlighted. The revised classification of venom components is based on ubiquity, bioactivity, the number of associations, and synergies. The revised classification can be expected to trigger increased research on venom components, such as NGF, which have high biomedical significance. Using hierarchical clustering, we observed that the genera’s venom compositions were similar, based on functional characteristics rather than phylogenetic relationships.

Download Full-text

Patterns in Protein Components Present in Rattlesnake Venom: A Meta-Analysis

10.20944/preprints202009.0012.v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Anant Deshwal ◽

Phuc Phan ◽

Ragupathy Kannan ◽

Suresh Kumar Thallapuranam

Keyword(s):

Medical Research ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Pharmaceutical Drugs ◽

Minor Components ◽

Rattlesnake Venom ◽

Medical Importance ◽

Protein Components ◽

The Relationship

The specificity and potency of venom components gives them a unique advantage in development of various pharmaceutical drugs. Though venom is a cocktail of proteins rarely is the synergy and association between various venom components studied. Understanding the relationship between various components is critical in medical research. Using meta-analysis, we found underlying patterns and associations in the appearance of the toxin families. For Crotalus, Dis has the most associations with the following toxins: PDE; BPP; CRL; CRiSP; LAAO; SVMP P-I &amp; LAAO; SVMP P-III and LAAO. In Sistrurus venom CTL and NGF had most associations. These associations can be used to predict presence of proteins in novel venom and to understand synergies between venom components for enhanced bioactivity. Using this approach, the need to revisit classification of proteins as major components or minor components is highlighted. The revised classification of venom components needs to be based on ubiquity, bioactivity, number of associations and synergies. The revised classification will help in increased research on venom components such as NGF which have high medical importance.

Download Full-text

Protein components in the perivitelline fluid of the embryo of the horseshoe crab,Tachypleus tridentatus

Developmental Biology ◽

10.1016/0012-1606(79)90062-9 ◽

1979 ◽

Vol 73 (2) ◽

pp. 183-192 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Hiroaki Sugita ◽

Koichi Sekiguchi

Keyword(s):

Horseshoe Crab ◽

Tachypleus Tridentatus ◽

Perivitelline Fluid ◽

Protein Components

Download Full-text

Application of Scanning Electron Microscopy to Medical Research

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100061963 ◽

1969 ◽

Vol 27 ◽

pp. 12-13

Author(s):

J. D. Hutchison

Keyword(s):

Electron Microscopy ◽

Electron Microscope ◽

Medical Research ◽

Prosthetic Heart Valve ◽

School Of Medicine ◽

Transmission Electron ◽

Definition Of ◽

Mechanism Of Failure ◽

The Brain ◽

Scanning Electron

When the transmission electron microscope was commercially introduced a few years ago, it was heralded as one of the most significant aids to medical research of the century. It continues to occupy that niche; however, the scanning electron microscope is gaining rapidly in relative importance as it fills the gap between conventional optical microscopy and transmission electron microscopy.IBM Boulder is conducting three major programs in cooperation with the Colorado School of Medicine. These are the study of the mechanism of failure of the prosthetic heart valve, the study of the ultrastructure of lung tissue, and the definition of the function of the cilia of the ventricular ependyma of the brain.

Download Full-text

Molecular Structure of the Outermost Cell Wall Component of Spirillum Serpens

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100079218 ◽

1977 ◽

Vol 35 ◽

pp. 342-343

Author(s):

Wah Chiu ◽

David Grano

Keyword(s):

Molecular Structure ◽

Cell Wall ◽

Outer Membrane ◽

Gel Electrophoresis ◽

Electron Microscopic Examination ◽

Electron Microscopic ◽

Cell Wall Component ◽

Protein Components ◽

Exposure Technique ◽

Structural Aspects

The periodic structure external to the outer membrane of Spirillum serpens VHA has been isolated by similar procedures to those used by Buckmire and Murray (1). From SDS gel electrophoresis, we have found that the isolated fragments contain several protein components, and that the crystalline structure is composed of a glycoprotein component with a molecular weight of ∽ 140,000 daltons (2). Under an electron microscopic examination, we have visualized the hexagonally-packed glycoprotein subunits, as well as the bilayer profile of the outer membrane. In this paper, we will discuss some structural aspects of the crystalline glycoproteins, based on computer-reconstructed images of the external cell wall fragments.The specimens were prepared for electron microscopy in two ways: negatively stained with 1% PTA, and maintained in a frozen-hydrated state (3). The micrographs were taken with a JEM-100B electron microscope with a field emission gun. The minimum exposure technique was essential for imaging the frozen- hydrated specimens.

Download Full-text

Visualisation of E. coli ribosomal RNA in situ by electron spectroscopic imaging and image averaging

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100122733 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 50 (1) ◽

pp. 466-467

Author(s):

Daniel Beniac ◽

George Harauz

Keyword(s):

Ribosomal Rna ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Spectroscopic Imaging ◽

Electron Spectroscopic Imaging ◽

E Coli ◽

Microscopical Technique ◽

Quantitative Image ◽

Dimensional Reconstruction ◽

Image Averaging ◽

Protein Components

The structures of E. coli ribosomes have been extensively probed by electron microscopy of negatively stained and frozen hydrated preparations. Coupled with quantitative image analysis and three dimensional reconstruction, such approaches are worthwhile in defining size, shape, and quaternary organisation. The important question of how the nucleic acid and protein components are arranged with respect to each other remains difficult to answer, however. A microscopical technique that has been proposed to answer this query is electron spectroscopic imaging (ESI), in which scattered electrons with energy losses characteristic of inner shell ionisations are used to form specific elemental maps. Here, we report the use of image sorting and averaging techniques to determine the extent to which a phosphorus map of isolated ribosomal subunits can define the ribosomal RNA (rRNA) distribution within them.

Download Full-text

Clinical Science in the 1990s

Clinical Science ◽

10.1042/cs0780001 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 78 (1) ◽

pp. 1-1

Author(s):

M. J. Brown

Keyword(s):

Medical Research ◽

Review Process ◽

Molecular Level ◽

Short Interval ◽

Clinical Science ◽

Molecular Medicine ◽

Mutual Benefit ◽

Real Progress ◽

General Journal

From this issue, Clinical Science will increase its page numbers from an average of 112 to 128 per monthly issue. This welcome change — equivalent to at least two manuscripts — has been ‘forced’ on us by the increasing pressure on space; this has led to an undesirable increase in the delay between acceptance and publication, and to a fall in the proportion of submitted manuscripts we have been able to accept. The change in page numbers will instead permit us now to return to our exceptionally short interval between acceptance and publication of 3–4 months; and at the same time we shall be able not only to accept (as now) those papers requiring little or no revision, but also to offer hope to some of those papers which have raised our interest but come to grief in review because of a major but remediable problem. Our view, doubtless unoriginal, has been that the review process, which is unusually thorough for Clinical Science, involving a specialist editor and two external referees, is most constructive when it helps the evolution of a good paper from an interesting piece of research. Traditionally, the papers in Clinical Science have represented some areas of research more than others. However, this has reflected entirely the pattern of papers submitted to us, rather than any selective interest of the Editorial Board, which numbers up to 35 scientists covering most areas of medical research. Arguably, after the explosion during the last decade of specialist journals, the general journal can look forward to a renaissance in the 1990s, as scientists in apparently different specialities discover that they are interested in the same substances, asking similar questions and developing techniques of mutual benefit to answer these questions. This situation arises from the trend, even among clinical scientists, to recognize the power of research based at the cellular and molecular level to achieve real progress, and at this level the concept of organ-based specialism breaks down. It is perhaps ironic that this journal, for a short while at the end of the 1970s, adopted — and then discarded — the name of Clinical Science and Molecular Medicine, since this title perfectly represents the direction in which clinical science, and therefore Clinical Science, is now progressing.

Download Full-text