Tracing the genetic root of Trinket cattle: an endangered cattle population of a small isolated island of Nicobar group of islands

Trinket cattle are the inhabitant of a small island called Trinket, which is one of the picturesque islands of Andaman. This herd is thought to be of Danish leftover during their dynasty in Nicobar archipelago. When the island was abandoned by foreign invaders, indigenes utilized the animals for the purpose of meat. As a result, the cattle became semi-feral in nature. After the Great Sumatra earthquake and tsunami of Indian Ocean in 2004, Trinket island was left abandoned by indigenes and the cattle became totally feral in nature. To trace the genetic root of the cattle, this study has been undertaken based on the sequence information of the mitochondrial D-loop and cytochrome b gene. The genomic DNA was extracted from the blood samples of the Trinket cattle and was used for amplification of mitochondrial markers, and the sequence information was generated by Sanger sequencing. The analysis of sequence information revealed that the Trinket cattle belongs to Bos indicus (I) haplotype, sub-haplotype I2. The presence of I2 sub-haplotype in Trinket cattle may be due to the expansion of this I2 haplotype towards Southeast Asian countries. This is a novel input for the formulation of breeding strategy towards conservation of eco-friendly sustainable livestock in the isolated island ecosystem.

Complete mitogenome sequencing of Andaman buffalo: an endangered germplasm of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India

Andaman buffalo is an indigenous buffalo of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. Over the last decade, it has witnessed a rapid decline in population, necessitating its immediate characterization and conservation. The present study reports the complete mitogenome profile of Andaman buffalo which is 16,359 bp in length and comprised of 37 genes, including 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNAs and two ribosomal RNAs. In addition, one A + T rich region (D-loop) was also present. A biasness towards A and T base was observed in all the genes. All the PCGs except ND6 were present on heavy strand. Start codons for all the 13 PCGs were ATN codon and abbreviated/truncated stop codons were observed in ND1, ND2, COX3, ND3 and ND4. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that the Andaman buffalo is closely related to buffalo from India and China. The results from this study will help in sketching the conservation plan of the threatened breed.

Variability of the EG95 antigen-coding gene of Echinococcus granulosus in animal and human origin: implications for vaccine development

In the present study, the genetic variability of the EG95 protein-coding gene in several animal and human isolates of Echinococcus granulosus was investigated. A total of 24 isolates collected from cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat, dog and man were amplified by Eg95-coding gene-specific primers. From the generated sequence information, a conceptual amino acid sequence was deduced. Phylogenetically, the Eg95 coding gene belongs to the Eg95-1/Eg95-2/Eg95-3/Eg95-4 cluster. Further confirmation on the maximum composite likelihood analysis revealed that the overall transition/transversion bias was 2.913. This finding indicated thatthere is bias towards transitional and transversional substitution. Using artificial neural networks, a B-cell epitope was predicted on primary sequence information. Stretches of amino acid residues varied between animal and human isolates when hydrophobicity was considered. Flexibility also varied between larval and adult stages of the organism. This observation is important to develop vaccines. However, cytotoxic T-lymphocyte epitopes on primary sequence data remained constant in all isolates. In this study, agretope identification started with hydrophobic amino acids. Amino acids with the same physico-chemical properties were present in the middle. The conformational propensity of the Eg95-coding gene of 156 amino acid residues had α-turns and β-turns, and α-amphipathic regions up to 129, 138–156 and 151–155 residues, respectively. The results indicated potential T-cell antigenic sites. The overall Tajima’s D value was negative (−2.404165), indicative of negative selection pressure.

Reemergence of Foot and Mouth Disease in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is an acute highly contagious viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals which has been discovered more than 100 years ago. The causative organism is a RNA virus belongs to the Aphthovirus genus, Picornaviridae family. The disease is endemic in India and every year the economic loss due to direct and indirect cause is more than USD 4 billion annually. The Andaman & Nicobar Islands also suffered due to the outbreak of FMD in the year 2005 which was due to serotype O. However, in the present study the reemergence of FMD virus almost after a gap of 13 years has been reported from the South Andaman district of the A & N Islands. The outbreak was confirmed as serotype O and is mainly affected more than 800 cattle, goat and buffalo population. The reemergence of the FMD virus in the islands has posed a serious concern to the livestock of this island which is now being considered as almost free from many of the dreaded disease. Based on the epidemiological investigation it could be concluded that the virus might have entered through the transport of straws which is being used as packing materials for vegetable and fruits from mainland

In silico Analysis of 3D-QSAR and Molecular Docking for Bcl-2 Inhibitors to Potential Anticancer Drug Development.

Apoptosis control is characterized by a delicate balance between homo and hetero dimerization of pro- and anti-apoptosis members of the protein family. Inhibiting this protein protein interaction is one viable approach to cancer therapy. Anti-apoptosis the prosurvival family members Bcl-2, Mcl-1, and Bcl-XL are current targets for anti-cancer drug design. The chemotherapy has aroused many researchers‟ interests and a great deal of current efforts has been focusing on the design and development of various anticancer drugs. Ligand-based drug designing methods approaches through pharmacophore mapping and Three Dimention- Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship (3D-QSAR) are used in drug discovery as well as molecular docking to seek potential binding sites of the Bcl-2 protein and its inhibitors interactions. Dynamically predictive 3D-QSAR model with Pearson-r value (0.74), F (62.5), Standard Deviation (0.285) of the regression and Root Mean Square Deviation RMSE (0.321), Q2(0.514) that was obtained for binding affinity of Bcl-2 protein respectively. The bioinformatics techniques were proved that the development of good potential activity drug compound to cancer. To our knowledge the results describes anti-tumour activity of HEQ-1 drug compound promising to convey anti-tumour drug development.

Assessment of factors influencing adherence to anti-retroviral therapy for human immunodeficiency virus positive mothers and their infected children.

Background and Objectives: Mothers and children are biologically related and dependent. They should be considered as a single unit which is very important regarding adherence to anti-retroviral therapy (ART). Very high levels of adherence are required for effective ART. We therefore carried out this study to examine the adherence levels and different factors associated with adherence among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive mothers and their HIV-positive children receiving ART. Design and Setting: A hospital-based cross-sectional study. Materials and Methods: Ninety-four HIV-positive mothers and their 94 HIV-positive children under ART attending the ART center of a tertiary care hospital were recruited in this study. Consenting mothers were asked to complete the "Case Study Form" containing socio-demographic and care-giving details. Mothers were also asked to complete the Beck's depression inventory, State trait anxiety inventory, and Ways of coping inventory. Adherence was assessed using pill count. Criteria for good and poor adherence were defined. Current CD4 counts were retrieved from the hospital record. Results: Fifty-six percent of respondent mothers and 65.8% of respondent children showed good adherence to ART. Different factors were associated with poor adherence in both mothers and their children. Conclusion: Adherence of HIV-positive mothers and their HIV-positive children to ART is influenced by multiple factors and identification of these factors is necessary to get complete adherence to ART. There is statistically significant relationship between maternal and pediatric adherence to ART.