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Fungal Ribotoxin
Fungal ribotoxins are a group of extracellular ribonucleases (RNases) secreted by fungi. Their most notable characteristic is their extraordinary specificity. They inactivate ribosomes by cutting a single phosphodiester bond of the rRNA that is found in a universally conserved sequence. This cleavage leads to cell death by apoptosis. However, since they are extracellular proteins, they must first enter the cells that constitute their target to exert their cytotoxic action. This entry constitutes the rate-determining step of their action. No protein receptor has been found. Thus, in order to penetrate the cells, they must take advantage of changes in permeability and the biophysical properties of the membranes, produced by phenomena such as tumour transformation or a viral infection. This is why α-sarcin, the most representative member of the group, was originally discovered as an antitumoural agent. However, it turned out not to be as safe as needed and the research in this fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viral Infection
A viral disease (or viral infection) occurs when an organism's body is invaded by pathogenic viruses, and infectious virus particles (virions) attach to and enter susceptible cells. Examples include the common cold, gastroenteritis, COVID-19, the flu, and rabies. Structural characteristics Basic structural characteristics, such as genome type, virion shape and replication site, generally share the same features among virus species within the same family. * Double-stranded DNA families: three are non-enveloped (''Adenoviridae'', ''Papillomaviridae'' and ''Polyomaviridae'') and two are enveloped (''Herpesviridae'' and ''Poxviridae''). All of the non-enveloped families have icosahedral capsids. * Partly double-stranded DNA viruses: ''Hepadnaviridae''. These viruses are enveloped. * One family of single-stranded DNA viruses infects humans: ''Parvoviridae''. These viruses are non-enveloped. * Positive single-stranded RNA families: three non-enveloped (''Astroviridae'', ''Calicivirid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metarhizium Anisopliae
''Metarhizium anisopliae'' is a fungus, the type species in the ''Metarhizium'' genus. It grows naturally in soils throughout the world and causes disease in various insects by acting as a parasitoid. Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, Ilya I. Mechnikov named it ''Entomophthora anisopliae'' after the insect species from which it was originally isolated – the beetle ''Anisoplia austriaca'' and from these early days, fungi such as this have been seen as potentially important tools for pest management. It is a mitosporic fungus with asexual reproduction. Synonymy The taxonomy of the ''Metarhizium'' has been subject to many reviews since the 1990s, before which the genus consisted of less than ten "species", based on morphological characteristics only. Many genetic isolate, isolates have long been recognised to be specific, and some were initially assigned Variety (biology), variety status, with ''M. anisopliae'' ''sensu stricto'', ''Metarhizium majus, M.a. var. major'', ''Metarhizium lepidio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sequence Identity
In bioinformatics, a sequence alignment is a way of arranging the sequences of DNA, RNA, or protein to identify regions of similarity that may be a consequence of functional, structural, or evolutionary relationships between the sequences. Aligned sequences of nucleotide or amino acid residues are typically represented as rows within a matrix. Gaps are inserted between the residues so that identical or similar characters are aligned in successive columns. Sequence alignments are also used for non-biological sequences such as calculating the distance cost between strings in a natural language, or to display financial data. Interpretation If two sequences in an alignment share a common ancestor, mismatches can be interpreted as point mutations and gaps as indels (that is, insertion or deletion mutations) introduced in one or both lineages in the time since they diverged from one another. In sequence alignments of proteins, the degree of similarity between amino acids occupying ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hirsutella Thompsonii
''Hirsutella'' is a genus of asexually reproducing fungi in the Ophiocordycipitaceae family. Originally described by French mycologist Narcisse Théophile Patouillard in 1892, this genus includes species that are pathogens of insects, mites and nematodes; there is interest in the use of these fungi as biological controls of insect and nematode pests. The teleomorphs of ''Hirsutella'' species are thought to belong to the genus '' Ophiocordyceps''. Species *'' Hirsutella abietina'' *''Hirsutella acerosa'' *''Hirsutella acridiorum'' *''Hirsutella aphidis'' *'' Hirsutella asiae'' *''Hirsutella atewensis'' *''Hirsutella barberi'' *''Hirsutella besseyi'' *''Hirsutella brownorum'' *''Hirsutella citriformis'' *''Hirsutella clavispora'' *''Hirsutella coccidiicola'' *''Hirsutella crinita'' *''Hirsutella cryptosclerotium'' *''Hirsutella danubiensis'' *''Hirsutella darwinii'' *''Hirsutella dendritica'' *''Hirsutella dipterigena'' *''Hirsutella entomophila'' *''Hirsutella exoleta'' *''Hirsutel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aspergillus Restrictus
''Aspergillus restrictus'' is a species of fungus in the genus ''Aspergillus''. It is from the ''Restricti'' section. The species was first described in 1931.Smith, G. 1931, J. Textile Res. Inst. 22: 115 It is xerophilic, frequently found in house dust. Studies have suggested that it is an allergen implicated in asthma. In 2016, the genome of ''A. restrictus'' was sequenced In genetics and biochemistry, sequencing means to determine the primary structure (sometimes incorrectly called the primary sequence) of an unbranched biopolymer. Sequencing results in a symbolic linear depiction known as a sequence which succi ... as a part of the ''Aspergillus'' whole-genome sequencing project - a project dedicated to performing whole-genome sequencing of all members of the genus ''Aspergillus''. The genome assembly size was 23.26 Mbp. Growth and morphology ''A. restrictus'' has been cultivated on both Czapek yeast extract agar (CYA) plates and Malt Extract Agar Oxoid (MEAOX) plates. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aspergillus Giganteus
''Aspergillus giganteus'' is a species of fungus in the genus ''Aspergillus'' (from Latin "aspergillum," meaning "holy water sprinkler") that grows as a mold. It was first described in 1901 by Wehmer, Wehmer 1901, Mem. Soc. Phys. Genève 33(2): 85 and is one of six ''Aspergillus'' species from the ''Clavati'' section of the subgenus ''Fumigati''. Its closest taxonomic relatives are '' Aspergillus rhizopodus'' (Rai et al., 1975) and '' Aspergillus longivescia'' (Huang and Raper, 1971). Morphology Like the majority of ''Aspergillus'' species, ''A. giganteus'' reproduces asexually, and has not been observed in a sexual state. Similar to other species in ''Clavati'', ''A. giganteus'' produces numerous conidiophores that are characterized by glassy and translucent stem-like structures called stipes and club-shaped aspergilla that taper towards the tips. Blue-green colored asexual spores called conidia form on these tips. On a macroscopic level, ''A. giganteus'' colonies are charac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protein Structure
Protein structure is the three-dimensional arrangement of atoms in an amino acid-chain molecule. Proteins are polymers specifically polypeptides formed from sequences of amino acids, which are the monomers of the polymer. A single amino acid monomer may also be called a ''residue'', which indicates a repeating unit of a polymer. Proteins form by amino acids undergoing condensation reactions, in which the amino acids lose one water molecule per reaction in order to attach to one another with a peptide bond. By convention, a chain under 30 amino acids is often identified as a peptide, rather than a protein. To be able to perform their biological function, proteins fold into one or more specific spatial conformations driven by a number of non-covalent interactions, such as hydrogen bonding, ionic interactions, Van der Waals forces, and hydrophobic packing. To understand the functions of proteins at a molecular level, it is often necessary to determine their three-dimensiona ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eating
Eating (also known as consuming) is the ingestion of food. In biology, this is typically done to provide a heterotrophic organism with energy and nutrients and to allow for growth. Animals and other heterotrophs must eat in order to survive – carnivores eat other animals, herbivores eat plants, omnivores consume a mixture of both plant and animal matter, and detritivores eat detritus. Fungi digest organic matter outside their bodies as opposed to animals that digest their food inside their bodies. For humans, eating is more complex, but is typically an activity of daily living. Physicians and dieticians consider a healthful diet essential for maintaining peak physical condition. Some individuals may limit their amount of nutritional intake. This may be a result of a lifestyle choice: as part of a diet or as religious fasting. Limited consumption may be due to hunger or famine. Overconsumption of calories may lead to obesity and the reasons behind it are myriad, however, it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Immunotoxins
An immunotoxin is an artificial protein consisting of a targeting portion linked to a toxin. When the protein binds to that cell, it is taken in through endocytosis, and the toxin kills the cell. They are used for the treatment of some kinds of cancer and a few viral infections. Design These chimeric proteins are usually made of a modified antibody or antibody fragment, attached to a fragment of a toxin. The targeting portion is composed of the Fab portion of an antibody that targets a specific cell type. The toxin is usually an AB toxin, a cytotoxic protein derived from a bacterial or plant protein, from which the natural binding domain has been removed so that the Fv directs the toxin to the antigen on the target cell. Sometimes recombinant fusion proteins containing a toxin and a growth factor are also referred to as recombinant immunotoxins, although they do not contain an antibody fragment. A more specific name for this latter kind of protein is recombinant fusion toxin. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drugs
A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestion, absorption via a patch on the skin, suppository, or dissolution under the tongue. In pharmacology, a drug is a chemical substance, typically of known structure, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. A pharmaceutical drug, also called a medication or medicine, is a chemical substance used to treat, cure, prevent, or diagnose a disease or to promote well-being. Traditionally drugs were obtained through extraction from medicinal plants, but more recently also by organic synthesis. Pharmaceutical drugs may be used for a limited duration, or on a regular basis for chronic disorders. Classification Pharmaceutical drugs are often classified into drug classes—groups of related drugs that hav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible Signs and symptoms of cancer, signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal bleeding, prolonged cough, unexplained weight loss, and a change in defecation, bowel movements. While these symptoms may indicate cancer, they can also have other causes. List of cancer types, Over 100 types of cancers affect humans. Tobacco use is the cause of about 22% of cancer deaths. Another 10% are due to obesity, poor Diet (nutrition), diet, sedentary lifestyle, lack of physical activity or Alcohol abuse, excessive alcohol consumption. Other factors include certain infections, exposure to ionizing radiation, and environmental pollutants. infectious causes of cancer, Infection with specific viruses, bacteria and parasites is an environmental factor cau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
