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Selected AbstractsTool Box,Headache Web SitesHEADACHE, Issue 2 2009Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Dartmouth Headache Center, Dartmouth Medical School Co-director, Morris Levin MDAssociate Professor of Neurology No abstract is available for this article. [source] Prediction of the Solubility, Activity Coefficient and Liquid/Liquid Partition Coefficient of Organic CompoundsMOLECULAR INFORMATICS, Issue 9 2004H. Hilal Abstract Solvation models, based on fundamental chemical structure theory, were developed in the SPARC mechanistic tool box to predict a large array of physical properties of organic compounds in water and in non-aqueous solvents strictly from molecular structure. The SPARC self-interaction solvation models that describe the intermolecular interaction between like molecules (solute-solute or solvent-solvent) were extended to quantify solute-solvent interaction energy in order to estimate the activity coefficient in almost any solvent. Solvation models that include dispersion, induction, dipole-dipole and hydrogen bonding interactions are used to describe the intermolecular interaction upon placing an organic solute molecule in any single or mixed solvent system. In addition to estimation of the activity coefficient for 2674 organic compounds, these solvation models were validated on solubility and liquid/liquid distribution coefficient in more than 163 solvents including water. The RMS deviations of the calculated versus observed activity coefficients, solubilities and liquid/liquid distribution coefficients were 0.272,log mole fraction, 0.487,log mole fraction and 0.44,log units, respectively. [source] Caenorhabditis elegans proteomics comes of agePROTEINS: STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND BIOINFORMATICS, Issue 4 2010Yhong-Hee Shim Abstract Caenorhabditis elegans, a free-living soil nematode, is an ideal model system for studying various physiological problems relevant to human diseases. Despite its short history, C. elegans proteomics is receiving great attention in multiple research areas, including the genome annotation, major signaling pathways (e.g. TGF-, and insulin/IGF-1 signaling), verification of RNA interference-mediated gene targeting, aging, disease models, as well as peptidomic analysis of neuropeptides involved in behavior and locomotion. For example, a proteome-wide profiling of developmental and aging processes not only provides basic information necessary for constructing a molecular network, but also identifies important target proteins for chemical modulation. Although C. elegans has a simple body system and neural circuitry, it exhibits very complicated functions ranging from feeding to locomotion. Investigation of these functions through proteomic analysis of various C. elegans neuropeptides, some of which are not found in the predicted genome sequence, would open a new field of peptidomics. Given the importance of nematode infection in plants and mammalian pathogenesis pathways, proteomics could be applied to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying plant, or animal,nematode pathogenesis and to identify novel antinematodal drugs. Thus, C. elegans proteomics, in combination of other molecular, biological and genetic techniques, would provide a versatile new tool box for the systematic analysis of gene functions throughout the entire life cycle of this nematode. [source] A PCR-based ,molecular tool box' for in planta differential detection of Verticillium dahliae vegetative compatibility groups infecting artichokePLANT PATHOLOGY, Issue 3 2009M. Collado-Romero A multiplex-nested-PCR procedure was developed for in planta detection of Verticillium dahliae isolates infecting artichoke and assessment of their vegetative compatibility groups (VCGs). PCR markers were identified and assigned to V. dahliae VCGs, including: i) a 334 bp marker amplified from VCG1A or VCG2B334 isolates; ii) a 688 bp marker amplified from VCG2A or VCG4B isolates; and iii) a 688 bp and a 964 bp PCR marker amplified from VCG2B824 isolates. The infecting V. dahliae VCGs were identified in artichoke tissues according to specific patterns of amplified markers after two rounds of PCR. The PCR-based ,molecular tool box' was first optimized using DNA extracted from artichoke plants artificially inoculated with isolates representative of known VCGs. Thereafter, the efficiency of the molecular procedure was tested using DNA extracted from naturally-infected artichoke plants showing a range of symptom severity as well as from symptomless plants. The novel multiplex-nested-PCR assay was clearly superior in detecting the pathogen compared to conventional isolation procedures, and in addition was informative about the VCGs. Moreover, the PCR method allowed the detection and VCG identification of V. dahliae infections in symptomless but infected plants, which had yielded false negatives when checked by microbiological isolation procedures. This ,molecular tool box' has uncovered the presence of several V. dahliae VCGs infecting the same artichoke plants in the Comunidad Valenciana Region. In addition, it is useful for genetic and pathogenicity diversity studies of V. dahliae populations infecting artichoke, and may help in predicting the severity of verticillium wilt epidemics. [source] |