Nanoarchitectonics Design Strategy of Metal-Organic Framework and Bio-Metal-Organic Framework Composites for Advanced Wastewater Treatment through Adsorption.

Freshwater depletion is an alarm for finding an eco-friendly solution to treat wastewater for drinking and domestic applications. Though several methods like chlorination, filtration, and coagulation-sedimentation are conventionally employed for water treatment, these methods need to be improved as they are not environmentally friendly, rely on chemicals, and are ineffective for all kinds of pollutants. These problems can be addressed by employing an alternative solution that is effective for efficient water treatment and favors commercial aspects.

Laccase driven biocatalytic oxidation to reduce polymeric surface hydrophobicity: An effective pre-treatment strategy to enhance biofilm mediated degradation of polyethylene and polycarbonate plastics.

Plastic pollution is a major global environmental issue due to its structural complexity and poor biodegradability. Biological approaches are appropriate due to cost effectiveness and environmental friendliness, however effective polymer degradation is still in its infancy. As biological treatments are slower than physical and chemical approaches, they could be applied in conjunction with pre-treatment techniques such as photo-oxidation, heat treatment, and chemical treatments.

High-throughput bioamphiphile production by ethyl methane sulphonate induced mutant of hydrocarbonoclastic Enterobacter xiangfangensis STP-3: In depth structural elucidation and application to petroleum refinery oil sludge bioremediation.

The environmental release of noxious petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs) from the petroleum refining industries is an intractable global challenge. Indigenous PHCs degrading microbes produce insufficient yield of amphiphilic biomolecules with trivial efficiency makes the bioremediation process ineffective. In this concern, the present study is focused on the production of high yield multi-functional amphiphilic biomolecule through the genetic modification of Enterobacter xiangfangensis STP-3 strain using Ethyl methane sulphonate (EMS) induced mutagenesis.

The novel pyridazine pyrazolecarboxamide insecticide dimpropyridaz inhibits chordotonal organ function upstream of TRPV channels.

Background: Pyridazine pyrazolecarboxamides (PPCs) are a novel insecticide class discovered and optimized at BASF. Dimpropyridaz is the first PPC to be submitted for registration and controls many aphid species as well as whiteflies and other piercing-sucking insects.

Results: Dimpropyridaz and other tertiary amide PPCs are proinsecticides that are converted in vivo into secondary amide active forms by N-dealkylation.

Supramolecular bioamphiphile facilitated bioemulsification and concomitant treatment of recalcitrant hydrocarbons in petroleum refining industry oily waste.

Bioremediation of real-time petroleum refining industry oily waste (PRIOW) is a major challenge due to the poor emulsification potential and oil sludge disintegration efficiency of conventional bioamphiphile molecules. The present study was focused on the design of a covalently engineered supramolecular bioamphiphile complex (SUBC) rich in hydrophobic amino acids for proficient emulsification of hydrocarbons followed by the concomitant degradation of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) in PRIOW using the hydrocarbonoclastic microbial bio-formulation system. The synthesis of SUBC was carried out by pH regulated microbial biosynthesis process and the yield was obtained to be 450.

TRPV channel nanchung and TRPA channel water witch form insecticide-activated complexes.

We have previously shown that insect vanilloid-type transient receptor potential (TRPV) channels Nanchung (Nan) and Inactive (Iav) form complexes, which can be over-stimulated and eventually silenced by commercial insecticides, afidopyropen, pymetrozine and pyrifluquinazon. Silencing of the TRPV channels by the insecticides perturbs function of the mechano-sensory organs, chordotonal organs, disrupting sound perception, gravitaxis, and feeding. In addition to TRPV channels, chordotonal organs express an ankyrin-type transient receptor potential (TRPA) channel, Water witch (Wtrw).

Afidopyropen: New and potent modulator of insect transient receptor potential channels.

The commercial insecticides pymetrozine and pyrifluquinazon control plant-sucking pests by disturbing their coordination and ability to feed. We have previously shown that these compounds act by overstimulating and eventually silencing vanilloid-type transient receptor potential (TRPV) channels, which consist of two proteins, Nanchung and Inactive, that are co-expressed exclusively in insect chordotonal stretch receptor neurons. Here we show that a new insecticidal compound, afidopyropen, modulates chordotonal organs of American grasshoppers (Schistocerca americana) in the same fashion.

TRP Channels in Insect Stretch Receptors as Insecticide Targets.

Defining the molecular targets of insecticides is crucial for assessing their selectivity and potential impact on environment and health. Two commercial insecticides are now shown to target a transient receptor potential (TRP) ion channel complex that is unique to insect stretch receptor cells. Pymetrozine and pyrifluquinazon disturbed Drosophila coordination and hearing by acting on chordotonal stretch receptor neurons.

High-throughput automated confocal microscopy imaging screen of a kinase-focused library to identify p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase inhibitors using the GE InCell 3000 analyzer.

The integration of fluorescent microscopy imaging technologies and image analysis into high-content screening (HCS) has been applied throughout the drug discovery pipeline to identify, evaluate, and advance compounds from early lead generation through preclinical candidate selection. In this chapter we describe the development, validation, and implementation of an HCS assay to screen compounds from a kinase-focused small-molecule library to identify inhibitors of the p38 pathway using the GE InCell 3000 automated imaging platform. The assay utilized a genetically modified HeLa cell line stably expressing mitogen-activated, protein-activating protein kinase-2 fused to enhanced green fluorescent protein (MK2-EGFP) and measured the subcellular distribution of the MK2-EGFP as a direct readout of p38 activation.

Assay development and case history of a 32K-biased library high-content MK2-EGFP translocation screen to identify p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase inhibitors on the ArrayScan 3.1 imaging platform.

This chapter describes the conversion and assay development of a 96-well MK2-EGFP translocation assay into a higher density 384-well format high-content assay to be screened on the ArrayScan 3.1 imaging platform. The assay takes advantage of the well-substantiated hypothesis that mitogen-activated protein kinase-activating protein kinase-2 (MK2) is a substrate of p38 MAPK kinase and that p38-induced phosphorylation of MK-2 induces a nucleus-to-cytoplasm translocation.

Development and implementation of three mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway imaging assays to provide MAPK module selectivity profiling for kinase inhibitors: MK2-EGFP translocation, c-Jun, and ERK activation.

This chapter describes the development and implementation of three independent imaging assays for the major mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling modules: p38, JNK, and ERK. There are more than 500 protein kinases encoded in the human genome that share an ATP-binding site and catalytic domain conserved in both sequence and structure. The majority of kinase inhibitors have been found to be competitive with ATP, raising concerns regarding kinase selectivity and potency in an environment of millimolar intracellular concentrations of ATP, as well as the potential for off-target effects via the many other cellular proteins that bind and/or utilize ATP.

Generation and characterization of a stable MK2-EGFP cell line and subsequent development of a high-content imaging assay on the Cellomics ArrayScan platform to screen for p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase inhibitors.

This chapter describes the generation and characterization of a stable MK2-EGFP expressing HeLa cell line and the subsequent development of a high-content imaging assay on the Cellomics ArrayScan platform to screen for p38 MAPK inhibitors. Mitogen-activated protein kinase activating protein kinase-2 (MK2) is a substrate of p38 MAPK kinase, and p38-induced phosphorylation of MK-2 induces a nucleus to cytoplasm translocation (Engel et al., 1998; Neininger et al.

The multidrug resistance protein 5 (ABCC5) confers resistance to 5-fluorouracil and transports its monophosphorylated metabolites.

5'-Fluorouracil (5-FU), used in the treatment of colon and breast cancers, is converted intracellularly to 5'-fluoro-2'-deoxyuridine (5-FUdR) by thymidine phosphorylase and is subsequently phosphorylated by thymidine kinase to 5'-fluoro-2'-dUMP (5-FdUMP). This active metabolite, along with the reduced folate cofactor, 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate, forms a stable inhibitory complex with thymidylate synthase that blocks cellular growth. The present study shows that the ATP-dependent multidrug resistance protein-5 (MRP5, ABCC5) confers resistance to 5-FU by transporting the monophosphate metabolites.