Cnidarians, mostly soft-bodied water organisms, produce several classes of toxins deployed in biological warfare or signalling. Cytolytic toxins, that form pores in cell membranes, form a significant part of their "weaponry". Here, we describe the physiological relevance of membrane permeabilization, and present basic data on those proteinaceous cnidarian cytolysins proven or presumed to damage cell membranes by pore formation. We describe cytolysins that have been at least partially characterized, both functionally and structurally.
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J Vis Exp
January 2025
Genetics and Aging Research Unit, MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease, Henry and Allison McCance Center for Brain Health, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School;
A method to quantitate the stabilization of Mitochondria-Associated endoplasmic reticulum Membranes (MAMs) in a 3-dimensional (3D) neural model of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is presented here. To begin, fresh human neuro progenitor ReN cells expressing β-amyloid precursor protein (APP) containing familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD) or naïve ReN cells are grown in thin (1:100) Matrigel-coated tissue culture plates. After the cells reach confluency, these are electroporated with expression plasmids encoding red fluorescence protein (RFP)-conjugated mitochondria-binding sequence of AKAP1(34-63) (Mito-RFP) that detects mitochondria or constitutive MAM stabilizers MAM 1X or MAM 9X that stabilize tight (6 nm ± 1 nm gap width) or loose (24 nm ± 3 nm gap width) MAMs, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRice (N Y)
January 2025
College of Agronomy, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, 230000, China.
Panicle elongation length (PEL), which determines panicle exsertion, is an important outcrossing-related trait. Mining genes controlling PEL in rice (Oryza sativa L.) has great practical significance in breeding cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) lines with increased PEL and simplified, high-efficiency seed production.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMetab Brain Dis
January 2025
Key Laboratory of Longevity and Aging-Related Disease of Chinese Ministry of Education, Center for Translational Medicine, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, China.
2-dodecyl-6-methoxycyclohexa-2,5-diene-1,4-dione (DMDD) is a cyclohexanedione compound extracted from the roots of Averrhoa carambola L. Several studies have documented its beneficial effects on diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer. However, its potential neuroprotective effects on Parkinson's disease (PD) have not yet been explored.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBraz J Microbiol
January 2025
Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology Laboratory, Department of Botany and Forestry, Vidyasagar University, 721102, Midnapore, West Bengal, India.
Endophytic actinomycetes are potential sources of novel pharmaceutically active metabolites, significantly advancing natural product research. In the present investigation, secondary metabolites from two endophytic actinomycetes, Streptomyces parvulus GloL3, and Streptomyces lienomycini SK5, isolated from medicinal plant taxa, Globba marantina, and Selaginella kraussiana, exhibited broad-spectrum bioactivity. Ethyl Acetate (EA) extract of SK5 showed antimicrobial activity against nine human pathogens, including Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Candida tropicalis, and C.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNaunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol
January 2025
Huai'an Hospital Affiliated to Yangzhou University, The Fifth People's Hospital of Huai'an), 1 Huaihe East Road, Huaiyin District, Huai'an City, Jiangsu Province, China.
Ginkgolide B (GB) is a bioactive constituent found in Ginkgo biloba leaves that has been long recognized as a protective agent against many neurological disorders. Our study aimed to examine the effect of GB in an in vitro Parkinson's disease (PD) model and to investigate its neuroprotective mechanism as a primary objective. SK-N-SH cells were challenged with 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP) to act as a PD-like model of neuronal damage.
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