Verrucosamide,a Cytotoxic 1,4-Thiazepane-Containing Thiodepsipeptide from a Marine-Derived Actinomycete

A new cytotoxic thiodepsipeptide, verrucosamide (1), was isolated along with the known, related cyclic peptide thiocoraline, from the extract of a marine-derived actinomycete, a Verrucosispora sp., our strain CNX-026. The new peptide, which is composed of two rare seven-membered 1,4-thiazepane rings, was elucidated by a combination of spectral methods and the absolute configuration was determined by a single X-ray diffraction study. Verrucosamide (1) showed moderate cytotoxicity and selectivity in the NCI 60 cell line bioassay. The most susceptible cell lines were MDA-MB-468 breast carcinoma with an LD₅₀ of 1.26 µM, and COLO 205 colon adenocarcinoma with an LD₅₀ of 1.4 µM. Also isolated along with verrucosamide were three small 3-hydroxy(alkoxy)-quinaldic acid derivatives that appear to be products of the same biosynthetic pathway.     

Documentation and determination of consensus about phytotherapeutic veterinary practices among the Tharu tribal community of Uttar Pradesh,India

Purpose  

The aim of the present investigation was to document the phytotherapeutic knowledge and veterinary healthcare management practices among the Tharu tribal community of Uttar Pradesh, India and to determine the consensus of such practices, in order to evaluate the potential for new veterinary drugs of herbal origin.     

Traditional uses of medicinal plants for dermatological healthcare management practices by the Tharu tribal community of Uttar Pradesh, India

The aim of present study was to explore and document medicinal plants used for the traditional dermatological healthcare management practices by the the Tharu tribal community of Uttar Pradesh. The study was conducted during 2000–2004. Information was gathered from 230 informants residing in 46 villages in Terai region of Indo-Nepal boarder using questionnaires; oral interviews and group discussions. Total 92 medicinal plant species were cited for the preparation of 113 crude drug formulations. Voucher specimens of cited plant species were collected and identified as belonging to 82 genera and 49 families. Thirty-nine medicinal plant species were reported for the first time for dermatological healthcare problems from India. The dermatological healthcare problems managed were cut and wounds, ringworm, leprosy, eczema, scabies, leucoderma, boils, carbuncles, pimples, skin blemishes, spots, eruption, and burns etc. The most commonly and popularly used medicinal plant species for management of dermatological healthcare problems in the study area were Curcuma longa L., Azadirachta indica A. Juss and Melia azedarach L. It is concluded that dermatological healthcare management practice in the study area depends largely on wildly growing medicinal plant species. There is an urgent need to properly conserve the medicinal plant species growing in this area for human welfare. There is also need for further phytopharmacological studies to provide scientific explanation for the usages of 57 medicinal plant species for which to the best of our knowledge phytopharmacological literatures are not available.     

Changing trend in the seroprevalence and risk factors of human leptospirosis in the South Andaman Island,India

Seroprevalence of leptospirosis among a healthy population of the South Andaman Island was assessed through random sampling. Previous studies have high seroprevalences of up to 55% in general population and 65% in agricultural labourers. The study subjects (1,181 in total, 781 rural and 400 urban) were interviewed and tested for antibodies against Leptospira. Multivariate models were developed to determine the risk factors in the rural and the urban population. The overall seroprevalence was 10.9%, with rural (12.9%) being higher than the urban subjects (7.0%). The commonest infecting serogroup was Icterohaemorrhagiae (53.5%), followed by Grippotyphosa (13.2%). Compared to the earlier observation, seroprevalence was lower and an apparent shift in the infecting serogroup was found. This shift was in concordance with the changing trend in animal population. Significant difference in risk factors, both in rural and urban areas, was also observed. Similar trends in seroprevalence are being observed around the world. Therefore, time to time prevalence studies are needed for the development of effective control measure.     

Production of recombinant capsid protein of Macrobrachium rosenbergii nodavirus (r‐MCP43) of giant freshwater prawn,M. rosenbergii (de Man) for immunological diagnostic methods

White tail disease (WTD) caused by Macrobrachium rosenbergii nodavirus (MrNV) and extra small virus (XSV) is a serious problem in prawn hatcheries. The gene for capsid protein of MrNV (MCP43) was cloned into pRSET B expression vector. The MCP43 protein was expressed as a protein with a 6‐histidine tag in Escherichia coli GJ1158 with NaCl induction. This recombinant protein, which was used to raise the antiserum in rabbits, recognized capsid protein in different WTD‐infected post‐larvae and adult prawn. Various immunological methods such as Western blot, dot blot and ELISA techniques were employed to detect MrNV in infected samples using the antiserum raised against recombinant MCP43 of MrNV. The dot blot assay using anti‐rMCP43 was found to be capable of detecting MrNV in WTD‐infected post‐larvae as early as at 24 h post‐infection. The antiserum raised against r‐MCP43 could detect the MrNV in the infected samples at the level of 100 pg of total protein. The capsid protein of MrNV estimated by ELISA using anti‐rMCP43 and pure r‐MCP43 as a standard was found to increase gradually during the course of infection from 24 h p.i. to moribund stage. The results of immunological diagnostic methods employed in this study were compared with that of RT‐PCR to test the efficiency of antiserum raised against r‐MCP43 for the detection of MrNV. The Western blot, dot blot and ELISA detected all MrNV‐positive coded samples as detected by RT‐PCR.     

Analysis of differential strategies to enhance detection of low‐abundance proteins in the bovine serum proteome

Serum‐based biomarkers hold propitious applications for addressing livestock health, and management. However, discovery of protein biomarkers in complex biological fluids like serum is wholly intractable due to the large dynamic range of protein concentrations; that is, ?10–12 high abundance proteins constitute >90% of the total protein content and effectively mask proteomic detection of low‐abundance biomarkers. Toward addressing this limitation, we test a continuous elution size‐based fractionation method, and two approaches that use affinity interaction‐based separation of proteins in preparing bovine serum, and compare liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry protein identification to neat serum. Our results identify the high‐abundance proteins in bovine serum, and demonstrate dynamic range compression and improved protein identification with the different enrichment methods. Although these findings indicate the highest protein number identified in bovine serum (445 proteins, all methods combined), and by any single sample processing method (312 proteins) to date, they still remain lower than levels deemed necessary for biomarker discovery. As such, this investigation revealed limitations to resolving the bovine serum proteome, and the need for species‐specific tools for immunodepleting high‐abundance proteins. In concert, this study represents a step toward advancing sample preparation methods for bovine serum biomarker identification.     

Isolation and partial characterization of bacteriophages infecting Vibrio harveyi from shrimp farm effluent water

Bacteriophage isolated from the semi-intensive culture of Pacific white leg shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei infects the luminous bacteria Vibrio harveyi. Lytic activity and lytic spectrum results revealed that the isolated phage had strong lytic activity in V. harveyi, V. parahaemolyticus, and V. vulnificus. Biofilm inhibition activity was performed against different pathogenic vibrios on high-density polyethylene (HDPE) template and the result revealed that the phage effectively inhibited the biofilm formation in V. harveyi. Spectrophotometric assay performed for lytic activity of the isolated phage in V. harveyi liquid culture showed that the phage significantly decreased the V. harveyi cell densities at different time intervals (P?<?0.05). To study the stability of phage at different temperature and pH revealed that the phage withstands the temperature ranged between 40 and 70 °C and the pH of 4 and 9 at a significant level (P?<?0.001). One-step growth curve depicted that the burst size gradually increased to a significant level and reached the maximum of 90% at 180 min (P?<?0.05). This study concluded that the isolated phage had specific activity against pathogenic V. harveyi infections.