Influence of Spring Wheat Growing Conditions on Alpha-Amylase Activity in Grain

The meteorological conditions in which organogenesis stages take place and hydrothermal regime can determine the phenotypic manifestation of quantitative signs, such as, for example, the activity of alpha-amylase. The purpose of our work was to determine what factors (temperature, precipitation, heterothermal coefficient) affect the enzyme activity, at what time of the vegetation, and in what way this influence is evident. The analysis of weather conditions and falling number (FN) for the period from 2011 to 2020 was carried out. Analysis of the FN value over 10 years showed that it can vary from 90 s to 429 s, and at that, the nature of its change is the same, regardless of whether we are considering one variety or the average value for a group of varieties. The correlation coefficient between the FN of a group of varieties and individual FN is 0.94-0.98. Generally, during the vegetation season, the alpha-amylase activity was influenced to a greater extent by the amount of precipitation than by temperature. This dependence is negative - an increase in precipitation leads to a decrease in the FN, and, consequently, to an increase in the enzyme activity. However, it was found that in different phases of ontogeny the influence of temperature and precipitation can be diametrically opposite.

Phenotypic manifestation of α-synuclein strains derived from Parkinson’s disease and multiple system atrophy in human dopaminergic neurons

Abstractα-Synuclein is critical in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease and related disorders, yet it remains unclear how its aggregation causes degeneration of human dopaminergic neurons. In this study, we induced α-synuclein aggregation in human iPSC-derived dopaminergic neurons using fibrils generated de novo or amplified in the presence of brain homogenates from Parkinson’s disease or multiple system atrophy. Increased α-synuclein monomer levels promote seeded aggregation in a dose and time-dependent manner, which is associated with a further increase in α-synuclein gene expression. Progressive neuronal death is observed with brain-amplified fibrils and reversed by reduction of intraneuronal α-synuclein abundance. We identified 56 proteins differentially interacting with aggregates triggered by brain-amplified fibrils, including evasion of Parkinson’s disease-associated deglycase DJ-1. Knockout of DJ-1 in iPSC-derived dopaminergic neurons enhance fibril-induced aggregation and neuronal death. Taken together, our results show that the toxicity of α-synuclein strains depends on aggregate burden, which is determined by monomer levels and conformation which dictates differential interactomes. Our study demonstrates how Parkinson’s disease-associated genes influence the phenotypic manifestation of strains in human neurons.

Drosophila architectural protein CTCF is not essential for fly survival and is able to function independently of CP190

CTCF is the most likely ancestor of proteins that contain large clusters of C2H2 zinc finger domains (C2H2) and is conserved among most bilateral organisms. In mammals, CTCF functions as the main architectural protein involved in the organization of topology-associated domains (TADs). In vertebrates and Drosophila, CTCF is involved in the regulation of homeotic genes. Previously, null mutations in the dCTCF gene were found to result in death during the stage of pharate adults, which failed to eclose from their pupal case. Here, we obtained several new null dCTCF mutations and found that the complete inactivation of dCTCF appears to be limited to phenotypic manifestations of the Abd-B gene and fertility of adult flies. Many modifiers that are not associated with an independent phenotypic manifestation can significantly enhance the expressivity of the null dCTCF mutations, indicating that other architectural proteins are able to functionally compensate for dCTCF inactivation in Drosophila. We also mapped the 715-735 aa region of dCTCF as being essential for the interaction with the BTB (Broad-Complex, Tramtrack, and Bric a brac) and microtubule-targeting (M) domains of the CP190 protein, which binds to many architectural proteins. However, the mutational analysis showed that the interaction with CP190 was not essential for the functional activity of dCTCF in vivo.

Epitranscriptomics in Normal and Malignant Hematopoiesis

Epitranscriptomics analyze the biochemical modifications borne by RNA and their downstream influence. From this point of view, epitranscriptomics represent a new layer for the control of genetic information and can affect a variety of molecular processes including the cell cycle and the differentiation. In physiological conditions, hematopoiesis is a tightly regulated process that produces differentiated blood cells starting from hematopoietic stem cells. Alteration of this process can occur at different levels in the pathway that leads from the genetic information to the phenotypic manifestation producing malignant hematopoiesis. This review focuses on the role of epitranscriptomic events that are known to be implicated in normal and malignant hematopoiesis, opening a new pathophysiological and therapeutic scenario. Moreover, an evolutionary vision of this mechanism will be provided.

Copper-Induced Epigenetic Changes Shape the Clinical Phenotype in Wilson Disease

: Wilson disease is a congenital disorder of copper metabolism whose pathogenesis remains, al least in part, unknown. Subjects carrying the same genotype may show completely different phenotypes, differing for the age at illness onset or for the hepatic, neurologic or psychiatric clinical presentation. The inhability to find a unequivocal correlation between the type of mutation in the ATPase copper transporting beta (ATP7B) gene and the phenotypic manifestation, induced many authors to look for epigenetic factors interacting with the genetic changes. Here the evidences regarding the ability of copper overload to change the global DNA methylation status are discussed.