Cellular Protein HuR Regulates the Switching of Genomic RNA Templates for Differential Functions during the Coxsackievirus B3 Life Cycle

A positive-strand RNA virus must balance the availability of its genomic template for different viral processes at different stages of its life cycle. A few host proteins are shown to be important to help the virus in switching the usage of a template between these processes.

Determination of cytogenetic and epigenetic effects of manganese and copper on Zea mays L.

Heavy metal accumulation and its possible effects are prominent problem for not only human health but also for the environment and plant systems due to that heavy metals are non-biodegradable. In this research, it was aimed to examine the impacts of heavy metals on toxicity and genotoxicity in maize. Seeds of corn were subjected to various concentrations of MnSO4 and CuSO4 for determining their effects on DNA methylation, DNA damage levels, protein and phytohormone alterations. The results revealed that an increase in copper and manganese concentrations causes decrease in soluble protein levels, genomic template stability (GTS) and mitotic index but causes an increase in RAPD profile alterations and DNA hypermethylation. Additionally, HPLC analyses show that CuSO4 and MnSO4 contamination reduces growth-promoting hormones, like gibberellic acid (GA), zeatin (ZA) and indole acetic acid (IAA), and increases the abscisic acid (ABA). This study obviously indicated that CuSO4 and MnSO4 have epigenetic and genotoxic effects. A decrease in the phytohormone level (ZA, GA, and IAA) and an increase in the ABA level under CuSO4 and MnSO4 are thought to be a part of the defense system of maize to struggle with stress.

The cytological and molecular investigation of the toxic effects of the herbicide Roundup on Cucumis sativus

In the current study, it is aimed to investigate the toxic effects of a widely used herbicide Roundup containing active ingredient glyphosate on cucumber (Cucumis sativus) by cytological and molecular investigation. Three different concentrations (0.6%, 1.2% and 2.4%) of Roundup were applied to cucumber for 48 and 72 hours. At the end of the application procedure, the germination percentage, mean root length, mitotic frequency and mitotic abnormalities, RAPD profiles and Genomic template stability (GTS) were determined in root apical meristematic cells. For RAPD PCR analysis 10 RAPD primers were used, 8 of them produced band patterns and it was found that 5 RAPD primers among them produced unique polymorphic band patterns and subsequently were used to produce a total of 24 bands. Observed percentage of polymorphism was 26%. The changes in RAPD profiles after Roundup treatment was included variations as gain and/or loss of bands compared with the control group. Genomic template stability changed in RAPD profiles at various Roundup concentrations.

Overexpression of Some Stress Tolerance Genes Confers Enhanced Pesticide Tolerance in 5-Aminolevulinic Acid Treated Bean Seedlings

Overdose of pesticides leads to a decrease in yield and quality of plants such as bean. The unconscious use of deltamethrin, one of the synthetic insecticides, increases the amount of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by causing oxidative stress in plants. In this case, plants tolerate to stress by activating the antioxidant defense mechanism and many genes. 5-Aminolevulinic acid (ALA) improves tolerance to stress by external administration in low doses. There are many gene families that are effective in the regulation of this mechanism. In addition, one of the response mechanisms at the molecular level against environmental stressors in plants is retrotransposon movements. In this study, the expression levels of SOD, GPX, CAT and SAP genes were determined by Q-PCR in deltamethrin (0.5 ppm) and various doses (20, 40 and 80 mg/l) of ALA treated bean seedlings. It was determined that while deltamethrin increased the expression of these genes, 20 and 40 mg/l ALA gradually increased the expression of genes at levels close to control, but 80 mg/l ALA increased almost the same level as deltamethrin. In addition, REMAP was performed to determine the polymorphism caused by retrotransposon movements. While deltamethrin treatment has caused to decrease of genomic template stability (GTS), ALA treatments have prevented this decline. Collectively, these findings demonstrated that ALA gives the utility for alleviating pesticide stress effects on bean.

Melatonin attenuates caspase-dependent apoptosis in the thoracic aorta by regulating element balance and oxidative stress in pinealectomised rats

The aim of this study was to explain the possible mechanisms by which melatonin deficiency results in cardiovascular injury and to investigate the effects of melatonin administration on important signalling pathways and element equilibrium in the thoracic aorta (TA). For this purpose, we analysed the cellular and molecular effects of melatonin deficiency or administration on oxidative stress, DNA damage, molecular chaperone response, and apoptosis induction in TA tissues of pinealectomised rats using ELISA, RAPD, qRT-PCR, and Western blot assays. The results showed that melatonin deficiency led to an imbalance in essential element levels, unfolded or misfolded proteins, increased lipid peroxidation, and selectively induced caspase-dependent apoptosis in TA tissues without significantly affecting the Bcl-2/BAX ratio (2.28 in pinealectomised rats, 2.73 in pinealectomised rats treated with melatonin). In pinealectomised rats, the genomic template stability (80.22%) was disrupted by the significantly increased oxidative stress, and heat shock protein 70 (20.96-fold), TNF-α (1.73-fold), caspase-8 (2.03-fold), and caspase-3 (2.87-fold) were markedly overexpressed compared with the sham group. Melatonin treatment was protective against apoptosis and inhibited oxidative damage. In addition, melatonin increased the survivin level and improved the regulation of element equilibrium in TA tissues. The results of the study indicate that melatonin deficiency induces TNF-α-related extrinsic apoptosis signals and that the administration of pharmacological doses of melatonin attenuates cardiovascular toxicity by regulating the increase in the rate of apoptosis caused by melatonin deficiency in TA tissue of Sprague–Dawley rats.

Malathion and dithane induce DNA damage in Vicia faba

The increasing use of pesticides such as malathion and dithane in agriculture causes environmental mutagenicity. However, their genotoxicity in edible crops is seldom assessed. In this study, the genotoxic potential of malathion and dithane was evaluated in the roots of Vicia faba L. All three concentrations (0.05, 0.1, and 0.2%) of malathion and dithane tested resulted in a significant decrease in root length and inhibited seed germination. Cytological observations showed that the mitotic frequency in the root meristematic cells decreased parallel to the increase in concentrations, and the increase in chromosome aberrations and micronuclei frequency was concentration dependent. Alkaline comet assay revealed significant onset of DNA damage at all tested concentrations. For the randomly amplified polymorphic (RAPD)-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analyses, 10 random RAPD primers were found to produce 116 unique polymorphic RAPD band fragments of 223–3139 bp. Each primer generated 3–15 RAPD bands on an average. The percentage of polymorphic DNA fragments was higher in malathion-exposed plants than dithane ones. The changes in RAPD profiles included disappearance and/or appearance of DNA bands in malathion and dithane treatment. Hence, DNA damage observed by the cytogenetic endpoints and comet assay corroborated with RAPD-PCR analysis. A total of 15 new protein bands of molecular weight ranging 11.894–226.669 kDa were observed in roots of Vicia plants that were exposed to the pesticides. The number of new protein bands was higher in malathion-treated DNA samples than in dithane-treated ones. Based on the results, we conclude that the pesticides can alter genomic template stability and change protein profiles. Malathion was more genotoxic than dithane. Therefore, RAPD assays can be useful in determining genotoxicity of pesticides in V. faba and other crops along with other quantitative parameters.