Purification and characterization of prophenoloxidase from cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera

Phenoloxidases are oxidative enzymes, which play an important role in both cell mediated and humoral immunity. Purification and biochemical characterization of prophenoloxidase from cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) were carried out to study its biochemical properties. Prophenoloxidase consists of a single polypeptide chain with a relative molecular weight of 85 kDa as determined by SDSPAGE, MALDITOF MS and LCESI MS. After the final step, the enzyme showed 71.7 fold of purification with a recovery of 49.2%. Purified prophenoloxidase showed high specific activity and homology with phenoloxidase subunit-1 of Bombyx mori and the conserved regions of copper binding (B) site of phenoloxidase. Purified prophenoloxidase has pH optima of 6.8 and has high catalytic efficiency towards the dopamine as a substrate in comparison to catechol and L-Dopa. The PO activity was strongly inhibited by phenylthiourea, thiourea, dithiothreitol and kojic acid.

Biochemical characterization of C4 protein of cotton leaf curl Kokhran virus-Dabawali

Background: Cotton leaf curl Kokhran Virus-Dabawali (CLCuKV-Dab) is a monopartite begomovirus encoding two proteins V1 and V2 in the virion sense and four proteins Cl, C2, C3 and C4 in the complementary sense. The C4 protein of monopartite begomoviruses has been implicated to play a role in symptom determination and virus movement. The present work aims at the biochemical characterization of this protein. Methods: The C4 protein of CLCuKV-Dab was purified in fusion with GST and tested for the ability to hydrolyze ATP and other phosphate containing compounds. ATPase activity was assayed by using radiolabeled gamma-32P]-ATP and separating the product of reaction by thin layer chromatography. The hydrolysis of other compounds was monitored by the formation of a blue colored phosphomolybdate complex which was estimated by measuring the absorbance at 655 nm. Results: The purified GST-C4 protein exhibited metal ion dependent ATPase and inorganic pyrophosphatase activities. Deletion of a sequence resembling the catalytic motif present in phosphotyrosine phosphatases resulted in 70% reduction in both the activities. Mutational analysis suggested arginine 13 to be catalytically important for the ATPase and cysteine 8 for the pyrophosphatase activity of GST-C4. Interaction of V2 with GST-C4 resulted in an increase in both the enzymatic activities of GST-C4. Conclusions: The residues important for the enzymatic activities of GST-C4 are present in a motif different from the classical Walker motifs and the non-classical ATP binding motifs reported so far. General significance: The C4 protein of CLCuKV-Dab, a putative natively unfolded protein, exhibits enzymatic activities.

Process Development for Functionalization of Cotton with Silver Nanoparticles Synthesized by Bio-based Approaches

Cotton is a widely used raw material for textiles but drawbacks regarding their poor mechanical properties often limit their applications as functional materials. The present investigation involved process development for one step coating of cotton with silver nanoparticles (SNP) synthesized using Azadirachta indica and Citrus limon extract to develop functional textiles. Addition of starch to functional textiles led to efficient binding of nanoparticles to fabric and led to drastic decrease in release of silver from fabricated textiles after ten washing cycles enhancing their environment friendliness. Differential scanning calorimetry, scanning electron microscopy, FT-IR analysis and mechanical studies demonstrated efficient binding of nanoparticles to fabric through bio-based processes. The functionalized textiles developed by the bio-based methods showed significant antibacterial activity against E. coli and S. aureus (with 99% microbial reduction). Present work offers a simple procedure for coating SNP using bio-based approaches with promising applications in specialized functions.

On nonequilibrium of pyrolysis process in the manufacture of ethene

Nonequilibrium process for cracking ethane and n-buthane in the manufacture of ethene has been analytically and numerically investigated in a Heavi-side function temperature field and through a normal shock wave. The results demonstrate that, while the reaction temperature increases, the maximum value of ethene yield is increased, and the optimal reaction duration is sharply shortened. For the identical initial reaction temperature, the maximum value of ethene yield through a stationary normal shock wave is less than that in a Heavi-side function temperature field. However, the ethene consumption after the maximum value in the former case is less than that in the latter. Higher ethene yield will be obtained by using the gasdynamic heating method than by using the current methods.

Processing Simulation of Virtual Manufacture in Laser Surface Treatmenthang

Processing simulation is at the bottom of the coral technology of VM and is also difficult due to the complexity of mechanism and diversity of parameters. Previously much research has been mainly carried out on the geometrical simulation or physical simulation respectively. The aim of this paper is to study the processing simulation in laser surface treatment based on the mechanism, put forward the architecture of the whole processing simulation and give the models of the processing. As a result the data structure layers in the whole simulation is presented.

Preliminary studies of the dual role of cotton-seed cake as fish feed and fish pond fertilizer in aquaculture

Many locally available fish feeds have been tried in fish culture. These include guinea corn, soya bean, groundnut cake and rice bran. Cotton seed cake has been successfully used as a fishpond organic fertilizer at Ado-Ekiti Government fish farm. Three fishponds stocked respectively with common carps, Heterotis, Tilapia spp., Clarias lazera and Heterobranchus were fed with cotton seed cake. Carps, Tilapia and Heterotis increased rapidly in weight and length while the catifishes did not grow