scholarly journals Biocrystals in Plants: A Short Review on Biomineralization Processes and the Role of Phototropins into the Uptake of Calcium

Crystals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mayra Cuéllar-Cruz ◽  
Karina Sandra Pérez ◽  
María Eugenia Mendoza ◽  
Abel Moreno
Keyword(s):  
Calcium Uptake ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Short Review ◽  
Inorganic Materials ◽  
Organic Crystals ◽  
Biomineralization Process ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
Life On Earth

The biomineralization process is a mechanism inherent to all organisms of the Earth. Throughout the decades, diverse works have reported that the origin of life is tied to crystals, specifically to biominerals of silica that catalyzed RNA, and had some influence in the homochirality. Although the mechanism by which crystals surfaces (minerals) gave origin to life has not yet been proven, the truth is that, up to the present, biominerals are being synthetized by the organisms of different kingdoms in two basic ways: biologically induced and biologically controlled biomineralization. Paradoxically, this fact makes a fundamental difference between inorganic materials and those formed by living organisms, as the latter are associated with macromolecules that are bound to the mineral phase. Conserving growth and formation of these biogenic organic crystals inside cells is a fascinating subject that has been studied mainly in some of the kingdoms, like Monera (bacteria), Fungi (yeasts), and Animalia (Homo sapiens). Notwithstanding in the Plantae kingdom, the formation, conservation, and functions of crystals has not yet been completely elucidated and described, which is of particular relevance because life on Earth, as we know it, would not be possible without plants. The aim of the present work is to revise the different crystals of calcium oxalate synthetized inside the cells of plants, as well as to identify the mechanism of their formation and their possible functions in plants. The last part is related to the existence of certain proteins called phototropins, which not only work as the blue-light sensors, but they also play an important role on the accumulation of calcium in vacuoles. This new trend is shortly reviewed to explain the characteristics and their plausible role in the calcium uptake along with the biomineralization processes.

V. I. Vernadsky and development of the theoretical foundations of ecology

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 120-123
Author(s):  
V. P. Pishak
Keyword(s):  
Elemental Composition ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Genomic Medicine ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Chemical Transformations ◽  
Russian Scientist ◽  
Living Substance ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
Cyclic Changes

150-years have passed since the birth of famous Ukrainian and Russian scientist, academician V. I. Vernadsky (1863–1945) – the founder and the first president of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (UAS), as well as the first scientific library in Ukraine. The genius of scientific predictions of V. I. Vernadsky is undeniable: he is the founder of geochemistry, biochemistry and genetic mineralogy; the doctrine about living substance and its role in the evolution of the biosphere and the noosphere theory; the reasoning of the concept of the biosphere – the sphere of living organisms, their place and role in placental scope; the development of biogeochemistry. "There is no more stable "acting" chemical force on the Earth than all the living organisms" – V. I. Vernadsky pointed (Vernadsky, 1965). The scientist pointed that even in the early stages of life nascence the populations and communities always have been evolved. Thus, there is a set of organisms that are closely interacted with each other and with inanimate nature has arisen. According to Vernadsky, from the very beginning of the emergence of the biosphere, the living components (biomonomers and biopolymers) were differed by a great variety. Without such an initial heterogeneity of living systems on Earth, the conversion of solid, liquid and gaseous substances could not be carried out. Thus, the heterogeneity of the biosphere correlated with a variety of physical and chemical organization of different parts of the earth's surface. The chemical elemental composition of the earth's surface as well as elemental composition of living organisms, which are directly involved in chemical transformations on Earth, have never been significantly changed during whole geological history. "The variety of living substance, and life have always performed various biogeochemical functions at the same time" – V. Vernadsky pointed. The chemical transformations, the circulation of substance are evolving in the same time, they are interconnected with the circulation of chemicals, which in turn depend on rain, seasonal and other cyclic changes of light, temperature, pressure – meaning the chronoperiodic changes – V. I. Vernadsky followed the idea of continuity of living substance in outer space. Both – tasks and methodological bases of geochemistry and biogeochemistry were based in the theoretical ecology – environmental aspects of evolution, the principles of systemic analysis, biocenology problems, mathematical modeling, chronoperiodic reaction etc. Theoretical principles of ecology, developed by V. I. Vernadsky, their practical solution in some sections of biology led to the formation of different ecological areas: animal’s, plant’s and microorganism’s ecology, engineering ecology and others. Scientist drew the great attention to human ecology. With the changing of socio-economic formations, a role of a human in biosphere life has increased, especially in an era of scientific and technological revolution. The human activities as a source of energy, the active economic activity of Homo sapiens, the appearance of chemicals of anthropogenic origin, – these and many other directions of human activity allowed V. I. Vernadsky substantiate the place and role of new environmental factor – the noosphere, and hence a new research area – noospherology. Theoretical bases of ecology, developed by V. I. Vernadsky, find their practical implementation in medicine: the development of molecular genetics, genomic medicine, and detection of genetic predisposition to many diseases, so-called multifactorial diseases, environmental protection, the formation of new medicine areas – predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory one. Nowadays, the biomedical community, motivated by works of V. I. Vernadsky, feces the new horizons of therapy, diagnostics and prevention of diseases, based on the environmental factors.

scholarly journals THE ROLE OF COMPLEXITY IN TEACHING

2020 ◽  
Vol 78 (6) ◽  
pp. 881-883
Author(s):  
Saša A. Horvat
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Complex Compounds ◽  
Student Experiences ◽  
Problem Solver ◽  
Complex Task ◽  
Teaching Process ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Basic Concepts ◽  
Life On Earth

Why complex problems are important in the modern teaching process? How to determine how complex a task or content is? The key to complexity lies in the origin of life. With the increase in complexity, from simple compounds, complex compounds were formed and from complex compounds life was formed. It is the same in teaching, by solving simple problems basic concepts are formed, and the growing complexity of the problem leads to the formation of knowledge. But as all started from simple and later everything got more complex in Praoceaa, can it be determined what the complex task is made of? What are the conditions that influenced the formation of life on Earth, what are the conditions that affect how the student experiences the complexity of the problem task? Does the assessment of a task have to take into account the subjective component or characteristics of the problem solver? Is there a difference between the complexity and difficulty of the problem?

scholarly journals Role of plant pathogens in food insecurity

2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Richard Strange
Keyword(s):  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Plant Pathogens ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Crop Plants ◽  
Infectious Agents ◽  
Primary Means ◽  
Living Organisms

Plants are the primary means by which food is produced for living organisms. These include the species Homo sapiens ? all 7 billion plus of us. But we are far from being the only species that depends on plants. There are many herbivores with which we compete, some of the most devastating being insects. Moreover, plants deemed useful as sources of food may be outcompeted by other plants of less practical use: these are often regarded as weeds. More insidiously, there are many infectious agents ranging from viroids, consisting of a few hundred nucleotides, through viruses, bacteria, mycoplasmas, nematodes and fungi to plants themselves that parasitise those crop plants we use as sources of food.

scholarly journals Heterogeneous radiolysis of urea. Implications in astrobiology and prebiotic chemistry

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abigail E. Abigail E. Cruz-Hernández, ◽  
Maria Colin-Garcia ◽  
Alejandro Heredia-Barbero ◽  
Alicia Negron-Mendoza ◽  
Sergio Ramos-Bernal
Keyword(s):  
Organic Molecule ◽  
Prebiotic Chemistry ◽  
Solid Surfaces ◽  
Mineral Surfaces ◽  
Primitive Earth ◽  
High Doses ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
Emergence Of Life

AbstractUrea is an organic molecule present in most living organisms. Historically, it was the first organic molecule synthesized in the laboratory. In prebiotic chemistry, urea readily forms in different laboratory simulations using different energy sources. Furthermore, the role of solid surfaces, particularly minerals, might have been crucial to increase the complexity of the organic matter which may have led to the subsequent emergence of life on Earth. In this work, the radiolysis of urea in presence of a clay is studied to determine to what extent the mineral surfaces influence the decomposition of organics. The results indicate that urea is relatively stable to ionizing radiation in aqueous solutions and up to 20 kGy no decomposition is observed. Moreover, the presence of sodium montmorillonite, by a mechanism until now unknown, affects the radiolytic behavior and urea remains in the heterogeneous solution without a change in concentration even at very high doses (140 kGy). These results indicate that solids could have protected some organics, like urea, from degradation enabling them to remain in the environment on the primitive Earth.

Dynamics of bioenergetic microcompartments

2013 ◽  
Vol 394 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin B. Busch ◽  
Gabriele Deckers-Hebestreit ◽  
Guy T. Hanke ◽  
Armen Y. Mulkidjanian
Keyword(s):  
Energy Loss ◽  
Protein Complexes ◽  
Electron Flow ◽  
Atp Generation ◽  
Membrane Protein Complexes ◽  
Electron Transfer Pathways ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
Energy Converting

Abstract The vast majority of life on earth is dependent on harvesting electrochemical potentials over membranes for the synthesis of ATP. Generation of membrane potential often relies on electron transport through membrane protein complexes, which vary among the bioenergetic membranes found in living organisms. In order to maximize the efficient harvesting of the electrochemical potential, energy loss must be minimized, and this is achieved partly by restricting certain events to specific microcompartments, on bioenergetic membranes. In this review we will describe the characteristics of the energy-converting supramolecular structures involved in oxidative phosphorylation in mitochondria and bacteria, and photophosphorylation. Efficient function of electron transfer pathways requires regulation of electron flow, and we will also discuss how this is partly achieved through dynamic re-compartmentation of the membrane complexes into different supercomplexes. In addition to supercomplexes, the supramolecular structure of the membrane, and in particular the role of water layers on the surface of the membrane in the prevention of wasteful proton escape (and therefore energy loss), is discussed in detail. In summary, the restriction of energetic processes to specific microcompartments on bioenergetic membranes minimizes energy loss, and dynamic rearrangement of these structures allows for regulation.

The role of metal ions in biological oxidation - the past and the present

2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Kleczkowski ◽  
M. Garncarz
Keyword(s):  
Metal Ions ◽  
Cell Damage ◽  
Transition Metal Ions ◽  
Biological Oxidation ◽  
Organic Substances ◽  
The Past ◽  
Inorganic Substances ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Life On Earth

The role of metal ions in biological oxidation - the past and the presentTwo theories, one based on the metabolism of inorganic substances, the other on metabolism of organic substances, have played an important role in the explanation of the origin of life. They demonstrate that the original environment of life on Earth was seawater containing micronutrients with structural, metabolic and catalytic activity. It is assumed that the first primitive organisms lived around 3.8 billion years ago and it was also then that the first catalytic reaction involving metal ions occurred. Biological oxidation leading to oxidative stress and cell damage in animals represents one of these types of reactions which are responsible for many animal diseases. The role of prooxidative and antioxidative actions of transition metal ions as well as their neuropathological consequences have therefore been the topic for many research projects. There is hope that metal chelates and antioxidants might prove to be a modern mode of therapy for i.e. neurogenerative diseases. The aim of this review is to show the evolution of scientific knowledge on metal ions, their biological oxidation, and an overview of their role in physiology and in pathological processes.

POPDC proteins and cardiac function

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 1393-1404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Brand
Keyword(s):  
Potential Role ◽  
Striated Muscle ◽  
Short Review ◽  
Effector Proteins ◽  
Muscle Disease ◽  
Disease Genes ◽  
Protein Protein Interaction ◽  
Interaction Partners ◽  
And Function

Abstract The Popeye domain-containing gene family encodes a novel class of cAMP effector proteins in striated muscle tissue. In this short review, we first introduce the protein family and discuss their structure and function with an emphasis on their role in cyclic AMP signalling. Another focus of this review is the recently discovered role of POPDC genes as striated muscle disease genes, which have been associated with cardiac arrhythmia and muscular dystrophy. The pathological phenotypes observed in patients will be compared with phenotypes present in null and knockin mutations in zebrafish and mouse. A number of protein–protein interaction partners have been discovered and the potential role of POPDC proteins to control the subcellular localization and function of these interacting proteins will be discussed. Finally, we outline several areas, where research is urgently needed.

Role of the Structural Characteristics of Dendrimers in the Manifestation of the Antiamyloid Properties

INEOS OPEN ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. A. Sorokina ◽  
◽  
Yu. Yu. Stroilova ◽  
V. I. Muronets ◽  
Z. B. Shifrina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neurodegenerative Diseases ◽  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Short Review ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Amyloid Aggregation ◽  
Amyloid Proteins ◽  
Molecular Parameters ◽  
Amyloid Aggregates ◽  
Aggregation Processes

Among the compounds able to efficiently inhibit the amyloid aggregation of proteins and decompose the amyloid aggregates that cause neurodegenerative diseases, of particular interest are dendrimers, which represent individual macromolecules with the hypercrosslinked architectures and given molecular parameters. This short review outlines the peculiarities of the antiamyloid activity of dendrimers and discusses the effect of dendrimer structures and external factors on their antiamyloid properties. The potential of application of dendrimers in further investigations on the aggregation processes of amyloid proteins as the compounds that exhibit the remarkable antiamyloid activity is evaluated.

Recent Progress in the Analysis of Captopril Using Electrochemical Methods: A Review

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 198-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarfaraz Ahmed Mahesar ◽  
Saeed Ahmed Lakho ◽  
Syed Tufail Hussain Sherazi ◽  
Hamid Ali Kazi ◽  
Kamran Ahmed Abro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Enzyme Inhibitor ◽  
Modified Electrodes ◽  
High Sensitivity ◽  
Pharmaceutical Formulations ◽  
Inorganic Materials ◽  
Electrochemical Methods ◽  
Nano Particles ◽  
Moderate Heart Failure ◽  
Analytical Instrumentation

Background: Captopril is the synthetic dipeptide used as an angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor. Captopril is used to treat hypertension as well as for the treatment of moderate heart failure. Analytical instrumentation and methodology plays an important role in pharmaceutical analysis. Methods: This review presents some important applications of electrochemical modes used for the analysis of captopril. So far captopril has been analyzed by using different bare and modified working electrodes with a variety of modifiers from organic and inorganic materials to various types of nano particles/materials. Results: This paper presents some of the methods which have been published in the last few years i.e. from 2003 to 2016. This review highlights the role of the analytical instrumentation, particularly electrochemical methods in assessing captopril using various working electrodes. Conclusion: A large number of studies on voltammetry noted by means of various bare and modified electrodes. Among all of the published voltammetric methods, DPV, SWV, CV and miscellaneous modes were trendy techniques used to analyze captopril in pharmaceutical formulations as well as biological samples. Electrodes modified with nanomaterials are promising sensing tools as this showed high sensitivity, good accuracy with precision as well as selectivity. In comparison to chromatographic methods, the main advantages of electrochemical methods are its cheaper instrumentation, lower detection limit and minimal or no sample preparation.

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