Project description:Dalbergia sissoo is a woody plant with economic and medicinal value. As the pharmacological qualities and properties of the wood from this plant primarily depend on its extractives, in this study, the metabolomic analysis of extractives from its stems was carried out using UPLC-MS/MS. A total of 735 metabolites were detected from two groups of samples, heartwood and sapwood, with the largest number of terpenoids in type and the largest number of flavonoids in quantity. The PCA and cluster analysis showed significant differences in the metabolite composition between the two groups. The differential metabolites were mainly organic oxygen compounds, flavonoids, and isoflavones. Among the 105 differential metabolites, 26 metabolites were significantly higher in relative content in sapwood than in heartwood, while the other 79 metabolites were significantly higher in relative content in heartwood than in sapwood. KEGG metabolic pathway enrichment analysis showed that these differential metabolites were mainly enriched in three metabolic pathways: Flavonoid biosynthesis, isoflavonoid biosynthesis, and flavonoid and flavonol biosynthesis. This study provides a reference for metabolomics studies in Dalbergia and other woody plants.
Project description:In this study, cerium oxide nanorods (CeO2-NRs) were synthesized by using the phytochemicals present in the Dalbergia sissoo extract. The physiochemical characteristics of the as-prepared CeO2-NRs were investigated by using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-VIS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). The SEM and UV-VIS analyses revealed that the acquired nanomaterials possessed a rod-like morphology while the XRD results further confirmed that the synthesized NRs exhibited a cubic crystal lattice system. The antioxidant capacity of the synthesized CeO2-NRs was investigated by using several in vitro biochemical assays. It was observed that the synthesized NRs exhibited better antioxidant potential in comparison to the industrial antioxidant of the butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) in 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. The biochemical assays, including lipid peroxidation (LPO), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and catalase activity (CAT), were also performed in the human lymphocytes incubated with the CeO2-NRs to investigate the impact of the NRs on these oxidative biomarkers. Enhanced reductive capabilities were observed in all the assays, revealing that the NRs possess excellent antioxidant properties. Moreover, the cytotoxic potential of the CeO2-NRs was also investigated with the MTT assay. The CeO2-NRs were found to effectively kill off the cancerous cells (MCF-7 human breast cancer cell line), further indicating that the synthesized NRs exhibit anticancer potential as well. One of the major applications studied for the prepared CeO2-NRs was performing the statistical optimization of the photocatalytic degradation reaction of the methyl orange (MO) dye. The reaction was optimized by using the technique of response surface methodology (RSM). This advanced approach facilitates the development of the predictive model on the basis of central composite design (CCD) for this degradation reaction. The maximum degradation of 99.31% was achieved at the experimental optimized conditions, which corresponded rather well with the predicted percentage degradation values of 99.58%. These results indicate that the developed predictive model can effectively explain the performed experimental reaction. To conclude, the CeO2-NRs exhibited excellent results for multiple applications.
Project description:Promyelocytic Leukemia Nuclear Bodies (PML NBs) are nuclear membrane-less organelles physically associated with chromatin underscoring their crucial role in genome function. The H3.3 histone chaperone complex HIRA accumulates in PML NBs upon senescence, viral infection or IFN-I treatment in primary cells. Yet, the molecular mechanisms of this partitioning and its function in regulating histone dynamics have remained elusive. Here, by using specific siRNAs and protein Affimers, we identify intermolecular SUMO-SIM interactions as an essential mechanism for HIRA recruitment in PML NBs. In addition, we demonstrate that HIRA localization in the nuclear bodies is intimately linked to the presence of a soluble pool of H3.3-H4 dimers inside PML NBs, that is not found in cancer cells. Transcription inhibition prevents HIRA accumulation in PML NBs underscoring the importance of transcriptional activity to drive HIRA through PML NBs. Finally, in the context of inflammatory responses, HIRA and PML are necessary for the prolonged H3.3 deposition at the transcriptional end sites of interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs), well beyond the peak of transcription. We thus propose that HIRA partitioning in PML NBs is essential to regulate H3.3 deposition on transcriptionally active regions.