Natural or deliberate outbreak in Pakistan: how to prevent or detect and trace its origin: biosecurity, surveillance, forensics.

Over the last few decades biosecurity and biosafety have emerged as a prominent public health concern due to some high-profile accidents. Effective strategies to deal with the outbreak, whether deliberate or non-deliberate requires a multidisciplinary approach and coordinated decision-making by various state departments such as health, forensics, agriculture, environment, intelligence, law and enforcement, etc. In a dynamic global environment and the overwhelming asymmetric threats from the non-state actors, it is of utmost importance to understand the biosecurity issues and initiate a coordinated global effort to cope with biosecurity and biosafety breaches and develop an as effective response mechanism. An attractive choice for the terrorists, state enemies and non-state actors is the use of biological weapons. An unwanted incident may not only bring chaos to the people, but also can inflict severe economic damage industrially and locally as was in the notorious foot-and-mouth disease outbreak. Because of special geopolitical compulsion, Pakistan is one of the hot spots where special action needs to be taken. The current review focuses on the various approaches, technologies that can be used to alleviate the chances of biosafety and biosecurity incident and emphasizes the role of modern technology that can be used in this regard.

A unique BCR-ABL1 transcript with the insertion of intronic sequence from BCR and ABL1 genes in a patient with Philadelphia-positive chronic myeloid leukemia: a case study.

The BCR-ABL1 fusion gene results from a reciprocal translocation rearrangement, t(9;22)(q34;q11.2), and is a hallmark of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). The breakpoint on chromosome 9 is mostly 5' to ABL1 exon 2, whereas on chromosome 22, the breakpoint can occur in various regions involving the major breakpoint cluster region (M-bcr) in CML and the minor breakpoint cluster region (m-bcr) in acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Described here is a rare case of Philadelphia-positive CML with intronic splice sites. This atypical BCR-ABL1 transcript was detected along with a classic e13a2 transcript, using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Nucleotide sequence analysis revealed a joining of BCR intron 13 with ABL1 intron 1a. Both transcripts were detected when the patient was on hydroxyurea treatment; with imatinib mesylate therapy, the atypical transcript disappeared. To our knowledge, this is the first report of BCR-ABL1 transcript with breakpoint occurring within both BCR and ABL1 introns and fusion of intronic sequences from both BCR and ABL1 genes.

Immediate-early gene regulation by interplay between different post-translational modifications on human histone H3.

In mammalian cells, induction of immediate-early (IE) gene transcription occurs concomitantly with histone H3 phosphorylation on Ser 10 and is catalyzed by mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs). Histone H3 is an evolutionarily conserved protein located in the core of the nucleosome, along with histones H2A, H2B, and H4. The N-terminal tails of histones protrude outside the chromatin structure and are accessible to various enzymes for post-translational modifications (PTM). Phosphorylation, O-GlcNAc modification, and their interplay often induce functional changes, but it is very difficult to monitor dynamic structural and functional changes in vivo. To get started in this complex task, computer-assisted studies are useful to predict the range in which those dynamic structural and functional changes may occur. As an illustration, we propose blocking of phosphorylation by O-GlcNAc modification on Ser 10, which may result in gene silencing in the presence of methylated Lys 9. Thus, alternate phosphorylation and O-GlcNAc modification on Ser 10 in the histone H3 protein may provide an on/off switch to regulate expression of IE genes.

Impact of foods nutritionally enhanced through biotechnology in alleviating malnutrition in developing countries.

According to United Nations (UN) projections, the world's population will grow from 6.1 billion in 2000 to 8 billion in 2025 and 9.4 billion in 2050. Most (93%) of the increase will take place in developing countries. The rapid population growth in developing countries creates major challenges for governments regarding food and nutrition security. According to current World Health Organization estimates, more than 3 billion people worldwide, especially in developing countries, are malnourished in essential nutrients. Malnutrition imposes severe costs on a country's population due to impaired physical and cognitive abilities and reduced ability to work. Little progress has been made in improving malnutrition over the past few decades. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN would like to see more nutrient-rich foods introduced into these countries, because supplements are expensive and difficult to distribute widely. Biofortification of staple crops through modern biotechnology can potentially help in alleviating malnutrition in developing countries. Several genetically modified crops, including rice, potatoes, oilseeds, and cassava, with elevated levels of essential nutrients (such as vitamin A, iron, zinc, protein and essential amino acids, and essential fatty acids); reduced levels of antinutritional factors (such as cyanogens, phytates, and glycoalkaloid); and increased levels of factors that influence bioavailability and utilization of essential nutrients (such as cysteine residues) are advancing through field trial stage and regulatory processes towards commercialization. The ready availability and consumption of the biofortified crops would have a significant impact in reducing malnutrition and the risk of chronic disease in developing countries.

Development of agribiotechnology and biosafety regulations used to assess safety of genetically modified crops in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is on the verge of adopting genetically modified (GM) crops for commercial cultivation and consumption as feed and food. Most of the laboratories are engaged in tissue culture and molecular characterization on plants, whereas some have started living modified organism research with shortages of trained manpower, infrastructure, and funding. Nutritionally improved Golden Rice, biotech brinjal, and late blight-resistant potato are in contained trials in a greenhouse, and potato ring spot virus-resistant papaya is in the process of approval for a field trial. The government has taken some initiative in support of GM organism research, which include the formation of a Biotechnology Department in all institutes and the formation of the apex body, the National Task Force Committee on Biotechnology of Bangladesh under the chairpersonship of the Prime Minister. Biosafety policy guidelines and related aspects of biotechnology issues have been approved, and the laws are in the process of being promulgated. Being a party to the Cartagena Protocol, proper biosafety measures are regulated by the appropriate authority as stated. Although there are no laws made yet directly for biosafety of GM crops/foods, the relevant laws on agriculture, medicine, food, import, trade, environment, etc. may suffice and explain the situation.